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Educational Technology Then and Now
Introduction
Educational technologies have always played a vital role in the field of learning. Thus, different
types of educational technologies are brought to light with a view to help others. These different
technologies differ from theory and design. Scientists and developers have developed these
technologies time to time.
This document contains information about current educational technology and also earlier
technologies. It will portrait the goals, engagement, effectiveness, target audience including
personal experience. Later on, the two technologies will be compared and analysis will be done
to draw a conclusion.
Part 1 – Current Technology
Khan Academy
As it was mentioned before that there are a lot of educational technologies around the world.
They are all doing a great job delivering education to different people. Among the different
technologies, I have chosen Khan Academy as my current educational technology. I have used
khan academy for about a year. It is the perfect place for learning different subjects.
As we can see, Khan Academy is an online platform as well as an organization that has a
unique goal of providing quality education for free. They are a non-profit organization that aims
to change the education system for everyone.
Khan Academy is an online platform, so it can be accessed from anywhere. It has a vast
collection of resources that is available for everyone. Basically, this is the place where people of
any age can study in an amazing environment and complete the course for free.
Critical Analysis on Khan Academy
As I have experienced Khan Academy myself, thus I can easily do the analysis. After using this
technology, I was able to critically analyze this platform. After the analysis and evaluation the
following is found.
Goal of Khan Academy
The motto of khan academy is- “A free, world-class education for anyone, anywhere.”
From the motto it is clear that the main goal for Khan Academy is to provide quality education to
everyone for free. Some other goals of this technology are,
· Change the education system for everyone
· Provide an effective platform to ensure the learning
· Being online helps to reach everyone out there
· Being free encourages people to learn more
· Help adult learners
· Provide gamification of learning to attract new learners
· Provide video learning system to get effective feedback
Use of this technology
Khan Academy is widely used all over the world. Teachers around the world access online
learning resources of Khan Academy to help their students. As there is a wide range of products
and resources in the web, the cost of public access is the minimum. Besides that it provides
high quality information that can be used in any kind of educational purpose.
Part 2 - Earlier Technology
There are many earlier education technologies. Among them I have selected Educational TV
shows. The reason behind my selection is that it had an excellent impact on me when I was a
kid.
I am going to describe earlier 90’s TV shows such as Bill Bye the science guy, The magic
school bus, Sesame Street etc.
These earlier education technologies were a great success when TV was one of the toppest
means of recreation. Children felt comfortable with the shows and also learned many things
from them. So, they were relatively useful for the kids who liked to learn something new.
Primary Audience
The children aged between 5 to 13 were the main audience of these shows. Besides that many
adult and teenagers were also seen to enjoy these shows. They had a great impact to them all
as it was able to deliver something interesting.
Goals of the technology
According to my thinking, the shows were able to meet their goals. Let us know the primary
goals of these TV shows.
● Deliver something new and interesting
● Use the constructionism method of learning
● provide new means of learning
● Being free and reach anyone out there watching the shows
Part 3- Comparison
In order to compare the technologies, the following facts would be helpful.
1. Their goals
If we think carefully, we would learn that the goal of these technologies is quiet similar.
they aim for the same thing. They tried to deliver something interesting so that children
could learn something new.
2. Target audience
Here, we can find some differences. Earlier TV shows were mainly targeted for children.
But Khan Academy aims to deliver education to people of any age.
3. Use of the technologies
Khan academy is being used worldwide. Many schools use their resources for their
learning materials. but earlier Education tv shows were broadcasted locally if there was
not any international tv station.
4. Impact
Impacts of these technologies were similar.
5. Intention
Khan academy is a non-profit organization but the tv shows which were broadcasted
intended to do business.