Education and Technology

In the past 50 years, many technological advances have been introduced as products that would revolutionize education. It all started with typewriters, then movie projectors, overhead projectors, educational television, videotapes, handheld calculators, Scantron machines, personal computers, CD-ROM drives, graphic calculators, interactive “smart” boards, clickers, and finally tablets such as the Apple iPad. These products enhanced the learning environment for teachers and students; however, the rapid growth of the World Wide Web in the mid-1990s and its widespread use since then have made the most difference in [Page 448]classrooms around the world. In the past decade, the Kaiser Family Foundation (KFF) has released three surveys on the use of media by young Americans. Since 1999, the number of hours spent by young people (children ages 8 ...