Below are all the annotated and general bibliographies found within this site, listed in chronological order based on date in which they were written.  Thus in a way it may be regarded as a timeline of educational research.  In many of these reading past research is referenced and explained however my intent in arranging the content in this matter is to get a better perspective of the various studies conducted and theories presented within a particular time.  In doing so, I hope to get an enhanced outlook on the transformation of instructional technology and the progression of learning theory.

In his article, Edgar Dale articulates the “cone of experience” as a visual aid summarizing concepts of direct and indirect experiences as will as concrete and abstract experiences.  He divides the cone into ten sages.  In observing these sages, we are told that each division is representative of a stage “between direct experiences and pure abstraction.” Therefore, by moving up the base we are in the order of decreasing directness and increasing abstraction.  For example, the foundation of “Direct, Purposeful Experiences” being the highest level of directness and lowest level of abstraction. Similarly, the cones pinnacle of “Verbal Symbols” being the lowest level of directness and highest abstraction.  He continues by explaining each of the ten sections, and then he notes various points to help prevent mistaken impressions about the cone.  These ten sages are further classified into three sections that involve “Doing”, “Observing”, and “Symbolizing.” Overall, the cone is meant to be a simplified visual in explaining the inter-relationships of various audio-visual materials and their individual positions in the learning process. 

In his article, B.F. Skinner begins by noting how increasing enrollment and the want for education, demands that education becomes more efficient and classroom techniques improved.  He mentions how the advent of television has lead to the reexamination of audio-visual aides that lead to the technologies of that time (i.e. film projectors, television sets, and tape recorders) entering American schools.  He suggests a danger in the use of equipment which is designed simply to present material, fearing that the student is becoming a passive receiver of instruction. He continues by giving examples of Sidney L. Pressey’s teaching machines that were designed in the 1920’s for the automatic testing of intelligence and information.  Noting that Pressey might have been the first to emphasize the importance of immediate feedback in education and to propose a system in which students could move at their own pace.  Pressey envisioned an “industrial revolution in education” but it seemed the “world of education was not ready.”  Skinner then argues that introducing a new type of “teaching machine” will provide students with an active way of learning.   That this machine itself does not teach but instead is like a good tutor.   This “good tutor” unlike lectures and textbooks, induces sustained activity and moves at the students pace allowing for thorough understanding of the material before moving on.  It would guide the student with techniques of “hinting, prompting, and suggesting” and reinforce the student for correct responses with immediate feedback that will efficiently shape his/her behavior and hold the student’s interest.  Overall, it seems Skinner is proposing we explore the possibilities of technology in the educational system so as to help motive active learning and meet the demands for education.  

In this chapter of their book, Tim O’Shea and John Self evaluate eleven approaches in the history of computer-assisted learning in education.  They being by presenting the Hydraulic Theory of Education (Paul M. Davies, 1969) to which “knowledge is a kind of liquid which resides copiously in teachers and books, as in a great vessel” and the purpose of education is to transfer that “liquid” to the “smaller vessels” (i.e. students).  The theory is then said to have its most exiting advancement with the use of “the computer and multimedia console as a means of mediating Programmed Instruction.” It is suggested that this console is able to flood every channel and passage leading to the student’s brain.  They then continue by listing and describing the various approaches while discussing their advantages and limitations.  Some of the approaches mentioned include, linear programs, mathematical models of learning, simulations, games, problem-solving, and dialogue systems.  They state the “learner as a bucket” philosophy still dominates computer-assisted learning.  They mention alternative trends from a behaviouristic to cognitive approach to teaching and learning that view computers as systems that treat students as thinking, understanding and contributing individuals.  They conclude by summarizing the various approaches and state the most promising in enhancing the educational systems are “those most concerned with methodological issues: problem-solving and dialogue systems.” Both of which are said to be based on the subject of artificial intelligence.

In her article, Catherine Fosnot argues that instructional designers have been grounded in empiricism and yet to grip the tenets of constructivism.  She begins by giving a historical review of various studies on instructional uses of media.  She then moves onto various studies regarding the constructivist model of cognitive development and explains the constructivists position in relation to media and educational technology. She notes a previous study on media research that pointed out how research has yet to support the direct influence of media on learning.  This research suggested the role of instructional designers to be one of determining the necessary conditions when analyzing instructional problems.  However, her overall attempt is to reinterpret that research within a constructivist framework as she intends to bring insights into the learning mechanism that might benefit future educational technology research.   

In her book The Second Self, Sherry Turkle explores the relationships between computer users’ and their machines. She goes beyond the basic uses of technology and investigates how this technology affects ones self.  She speaks to audiences from children to university students to AI scientists to hackers.   She divides the book into three main parts: “Growing up with computers: The animation of the machine”, “The new computer cultures: The mechanization of the mind”, and “Into a new age.”  Within these parts are topics ranging from children to video games, programmers to hackers, and artificial intelligence to “the human spirit in a computer culture.”  Her book allows one to open his/her mind to deeper contemplation of issues such as emotion, memory and thought.  It raises thought on philosophy, religion, what it means to be a hacker, finding ones self in the computer, does the computer think?  She suggests that because computers are thinking tools, they offer new models of what it means to know and to understand.  That while technology changes aspects of our lives it also changes how we see ourselves and the “virtual world as context for explorations of identity.” Towards the end she states “many of us read only what we have programmed our computers to bring to us; many of us speak…only to those with whom we agree.  Many of us communicate all the time, but with greater speed and less depth.”  And she poses the question, “If our encounters with computers don’t help us deal more compassionately and carefully with one another, then what will our attitudes, formed through our relationships with them, contribute to our fragile and threatened world?”

In this article, the authors argue that knowledge is situated, “being in part a product of the activity, context, and culture in which it is developed and used.”  That the effectiveness of teaching practices are limited when they implicitly assume that conceptual knowledge can be abstracted from the situations in which it is learned and used. They propose cognitive apprenticeships, which “honors the situated nature of knowledge” and give two examples of mathematics instruction that exhibit this approach of teaching.  Furthermore, they state that conventional schooling often ignores the influences of school culture on what is learned in school. Among the many aspects of this article, they present a figure representing “students’ progress from embedded activity to generality.  Within this figure they suggest that “as students gain more self-confidence and control, they move into a more autonomous phase of collaborative learning, where they begin to participate consciously in the culture.”  This culture would then help them develop its language and belief system and promotes the process of enculturation.  Overall, they state that the importance of activity and enculturation to learning suggests a new epistemology might hold the key to a new perspective in education and the improvement in learning.

This article by Palincsar was a response to Brown, Collins, and Duguid’s “Situated cognition and the culture of learning.”

This article by Wineburg was a response to Brown, Collins, and Duguid’s “Situated cognition and the culture of learning.”

This article was a response to the responses by Palincsar and Wineburg.

In this article, David Jonassen analyses the philosophical assumptions within instructional systems technology (IST) and its behavioral and cognitive foundations.  While these foundations are primarily objectivist, he then contrasts the philosophical assumptions of objectivism with constructivism. He begins with the shifts in learning theory in the past decades as he explains the differences between behaviorists and cognitive psychologists.  Behaviorists being only concerned with what learners do, whereas, “cognitive psychologists are interested in what learners know and how they come to acquire it.”   He goes deeper into cognitive learning theory, its influences and limitations. He then compares the objectivist and constructivist theories of thinking and learning. Afterwards he suggests the need to incorporate more the constructivist theory in instructional systems technology (IST) which is mostly objectivist.   Nonetheless, he states learning entailing both constructivist and objectivist activities, therefore “the most realistic model of learning lies somewhere on the continuum between these positions.”   

In this article, D. B. Perkins underlines the basic goals of education that are retention, understanding, and active use of knowledge and skills.  The author states that these goals have proven difficult to achieve, however feels information processing technologies and educational practices surrounding the idea of constructivism lead to positive aspirations of meeting the educational goals.  The author continues by breaking down learning environments into five facets: information banks, symbol pads, construction kits, phenomenaria, and task managers.  Then talks about the constructivist approach to technology.  The author then presents morals regarding three facets of educational design: front-end analysis of tasks, instructional strategies, and assessment.  Overall, the author is stating that independently of one another, information-processing technologies and constructivism have much to offer approaches of instruction, yet combined together they are even more effective and efficient.  

In his book, James Paul Gee gives an in-depth perspective on video games, learning and literacy; as he explores a number of popular games played on both game platforms (such as Xbox and PlayStation) and on the computer.  He expounds on the impacts of these games on the player (i.e. the learner) and the various domains associated with them. While traditionally, people think of literacy as the ability to read and write, Gee suggests that games are “intricate learning experiences that have a great deal to teach us about how learning and literacy are changing in the modern world.”  For example, he notes that images, symbols, diagrams, artifacts, and many other visual symbols are important in our modern societies which make way for a new “visual literacy” that one would need to learn how to “read.”  Similarly, when people learn to play video games, they are learning a new literacy.  Furthermore, we are exposed to what Gee argues to be thirty-six (36) important learning principles which are built into good video games, “principles that are strongly supported by current research on human learning in cognitive science such as:

• How one forms an identity.
• How one connects different sign systems such as words, symbols, artifacts and so on.
• How one chooses between different ways of solving a problem.
• How one learns from non-verbal cues.
• How one transfers abilities learned while doing one task to doing another.

Gee goes on to list and explain all thirty-six leaning principles.  In summary, it is said that Gee’s book “will open your mind to the possibility that video games are the forerunners of instructional tools that will determine how we learn in the future.”

In his research, Mark Prensky refers to developing certain types of games for learning as he also works to explain the difference between what he defines as the Digital Natives and Digital Immigrants.   He states that there are two reasons why we should use games for learning. 1-That today’s learners have changed radically.  As he believes that the digital natives, those who grew up with digital technology, think and process information differently than the digital immigrants.   2-These learners need to be motivated in new ways. Thus, computer games can help provide that motivation.  He explains how learners have changed from previous generations do to today’s learners being immersed with technology. He details his Ten Ways Digital Natives Are Different, which includes categories such as Parallel processing verses linear processing, Random access verses linear thinking, and Graphics first verses text first.   He states “games bring together combination of motivating elements not found together in any other medium” as he continues by listing those various elements.    Furthermore, we are exposed to his five learning levels of: How, What, Why, Where, When & Whether.  Overall, he is stressing that it is important to understand how computer and video games are powerful learning tools which can be used to create effective learning opportunities for the digital natives.  Noting the rich and complex relationship between computer games and learning; and highlighting “computer and video games; enormous potential for helping people learn more effectively in the future.” 

In his book, Jesper Juul gives much insight on games, “from rules and structure to aesthetics and fiction to the complexities of player experience.” He outlines a theory of what video games are, how they work with the player and how they have developed historically. He explores how games relate to the real world with reference to the relation between real rules and fiction worlds.  He also “examines how rules provide challenges, learning, and enjoyment for players…”   Furthermore, we are exposed to many interesting aspects and concepts, such as:

• Chunking
• Flow Theory
• Gameplay
• Emergent gameplay
• Emergence and progression games
• Player attachment
• Skill acquisition
• Strategy
• Projection   

His overall analysis of games allows educators to better comprehend games and sets a foundation for further study on games and learning.