I’ve been writing a short two or three paragraph article a day on the Hidden History of Online Learning federated wiki. Usually I’ll start by dropping something I kinda-sorta know about educational technology into Google, do ten minutes research, and write it up.

It’s amazing what you find in that short amount of time. The subject I chose today was Pressey’s Automatic Teacher, invented in the 1920s and considered by some to be the first modern “teaching machine”. I had heard about it, but knew almost nothing. But the internet is a lovely thing: in short order, I came across this adverstisement in a journal article on the subject:

I’m fascinated by how much this echoes our current rhetoric, right down to the fact the advertisement can’t settle on whether it’s a tool for teaching, testing, or educational research. Of course, it can serve all three purposes, but the stuff I’ve read about Pressey seems to indicate that he really wanted it to be seen as a teaching and research machine, not a testing one, and it was economic necessity that pushed the testing frame to the forefront. It’s not too difficult to find history repeating itself in this regard (Are ePortfolios a teaching or assessment tool? Both! Sure. But as time goes on, however, the teaching mission gets buried under assessment needs…).

I’ll also take this opportunity to ask you to join the Hidden History of Online Learning project. It’s a great way to have an excuse to do enjoyable research for fifteen or twenty minutes a day while working on a federated wiki. Federation is the future, and you get to learn about it while studying the past. Mind blown? Leave me a comment below and I’ll get you set up. I’m including a video on “Your First Five Minutes in Smallest Federated Wiki” below, so you see how easy it is once I give you an account.