Teach With Television

How ed tech was born: Twentieth-century teaching machines--from Sidney Pressey's mechanized test-giver to B. F. Skinner's behaviorist bell-ringing box. Contrary to popular belief, ed tech did not begin with videos on the internet. The idea of technology that would allow students to "go at their own pace" did not originate in Silicon Valley. In Teaching Machines, education writer Audrey Watters offers a lively history of predigital educational technology, from Sidney Pressey's mechanized positive-reinforcement provider to B. F. Skinner's behaviorist bell-ringing box. Watters shows that these machines and the pedagogy that accompanied them sprang from ideas--bite-sized content, individualized instruction--that had legs and were later picked up by textbook publishers and early advocates for computerized learning. Watters pays particular attention to the role of the media--newspapers, magazines, television, and film--in shaping people's perceptions of teaching machines as well as the psychological theories underpinning them. She considers these machines in the context of education reform, the political reverberations of Sputnik, and the rise of the testing and textbook industries. She chronicles Skinner's attempts to bring his teaching machines to market, culminating in the famous behaviorist's efforts to launch Didak 101, the "pre-verbal" machine that taught spelling. (Alternate names proposed by Skinner include "Autodidak," "Instructomat," and "Autostructor.") Telling these somewhat cautionary tales, Watters challenges what she calls "the teleology of ed tech"--the idea that not only is computerized education inevitable, but technological progress is the sole driver of events.

Teacher TV: Sixty Years of Teachers on Television examines some of the most influential teacher characters presented on television from the earliest sitcoms to contemporary dramas and comedies. Both topical and chronological, the book follows a general course across decades and focuses on dominant themes and representations, linking some of the most popular shows of the era to larger cultural themes. Some of these include: - a view of how gender is socially constructed in popular culture and in society - racial tensions throughout the decades - educational privileges for elite students - the mundane and the provocative in teacher depictions on television - the view of gender and sexual orientation through a new lens - life in inner-city public schools - the culture of testing and dropping out Every pre-service and classroom teacher should read this book. It is also a valuable text for upper-division undergraduate and graduate level courses in media and education as well.

"A major concern of parents everywhere is the tremendous influence television can exert on their youngsters, but few parents know what to do about it. Here, at last, is a book that not only answers parents' questions about the potentially damaging effects of television on children, but also shows parents how to use television to further a child's growth and understanding."--Jacket.

Today's students are growing up in a highly visualized world. Television, video games, and DVDs offer powerful visual images to attract the attention of children and young adults. Unfortunately for educators, the technology in the classroom is yet to catch up. Is it possible to use this exciting visual technology, which is so familiar to students, to benefit learning and education? Cameras in the Classroom brings all those possibilities to life. Filled with sound research and helpful tips, this book explains why there's such a need for visual learning and why an estimated one million teachers will be using video production over the next few years. Cameras in the Classroom offers practical advice for educators on the application of visual learning in schools, replacing archaic word-based teaching techniques with the visual competencies, how to incorporate videomaking into traditional K-12 subjects with limited resources, and more!