TEL Quality and Innovation: What can be learned from the history of computer science

As TEL becomes more professionalised we consider what lessons can be learned from another discipline which has gone through a similar transition. Through the lense of the development of computer science this presentation will... [ view full abstract ]

As TEL becomes more professionalised we consider what lessons can be learned from another discipline which has gone through a similar transition. Through the lense of the development of computer science this presentation will look at key moments in this area which might be used to inform or influence how we approach TEL quality and innovation. As part of this we will highlight the approaches adopted by early pioneers like Alan Kay whose attributed to defining the conceptual basics of laptop and tablet computers as part of his work in the 1970s on the Dynabook. Kay (2014) argues when creating future concepts the present inevitably takes all of our focus making anything we do incremental rather than inspirational. Kay’s suggests that by ignoring the present this opens us to the opportunity to take greater inspiration from the past allowing us to dream of a future not constrained by the present.

We also consider some of the cultures which have their origins in computer science including the open source and freeware movements as well as ‘hacking’. Whilst the term ‘hacker’ has taken on a more sinister definition, referring to those subverting computer security, the original hacker communities founded by Richard Greenblatt and Bill Gosper in the 1960s were focused on the “intellectual challenge of creatively overcoming and circumventing limitations of systems to achieve novel and clever outcomes” - Wikipedia https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hacker_culture

Finally, we take a more abstract look of some technical developments in computing which might be used to influence how we approach TEL and education in more general, including how ‘computational thinking’ is being applied to other disciplines (Sharples et al. 2015).

Reference

Kay, A., (2014) - ‘The Future Doesn’t Have to Be Incremental’, Founder School Session Retrieved April 16, 2018, from 

Sharples, M., Adams, A., Alozie, N., Ferguson, R., FitzGerald, E., Gaved, M., McAndrew, P., Means, B., Remold, J., Rienties, B., Roschelle, J., Vogt, K., Whitelock, D. & Yarnall, L. (2015). Innovating Pedagogy 2015: Milton Keynes: The Open University.