Page 56 - Educational Technology A Primer for the 21st Century

44 2 Learning in the Context of Technologies
2.2.4.2 Humanism
Humanism emerged in the 1950s and became popular after the 1960s. Humanistic
psychologists believe that the school should integrate the concept and practice of
moral education into various teaching activities and help the students to develop a
sound personality. The main representative includes Abraham Maslow (1908–
1970) and Carl Rogers (1902–1987).
Main ideas
Humanism is a perspective that focuses on the value of the individual and personal
freedom. According to humanism, each person has the ability to develop his or her
own potential and motivation. Individuals can freely choose their own development
direction and value. Humanism focuses on human’s overall development, empha-
sizes human dignity and value, and pays attention to the health and integrity of
people. Humanism investigates mainly how to create a good environment for
learners to perceive the world from their point of view and develop an under-
standing of the world, aiming to achieve the highest level of self-realization.

2.3 Technology-Enhanced Learning

Learning theories and technologies are connected and intertwined by information
processing and knowledge acquisition (Spector & colleagues, 2014). In order to
understand the technology-enhanced learning, it is useful to look at the technologies
used in different periods of history when the different learning theories emerged and
became popularity (Fig. 2.2).
(1) From the 1920s to the 1960s, behaviorism was proposed and came to be
dominant. Some technologies were adopted in the process of teaching, such as the
automatic teaching machine, chemo-card, etc.
In 1924, the psychologist Sidney L. Pressey designed the first teaching machine,
which is suitable for rote-and-drill learning (Fig. 2.2). It was mainly used for
automated testing of students. It also includes the principle of allowing students to
set their own pace, positive response, and timely feedback. The automatic teaching
machine includes two modes of operation: quiz and learning. He believes that
“teaching machines are unique among instructional aids, in that the student not
merely passively listen, watches, or reads but actively responds. In addition, stu-
dents could find out whether his response is correct or not, and a record may be kept
which aids in improving the materials.”

Extended Reading:Teaching Machines (Benjamin, 1988)
B. F. Skinner was also interested in a teaching machine. He conceptualized
a teaching machine for the classroom for use by individual students. In 1954,
B. F. Skinner published “The Science of Learning and the Art of Teaching”