"Examines past attempts to automate instruction from the earliest use of the postal service for distance education to the current maelstrom surrounding Massive Open Online Courses (MOOCs). The author tells the stories of the entrepreneurs and visionaries who developed and promoted various instructional technologies. Ferster describes attempts to enhance the classroom experience with machines, from hornbooks, the Chautauqua movement, and correspondence courses to B.F. Skinner's teaching machine, intelligent tutoring systems, and eLearning. Teaching Machines provides invaluable insight into our current debate over the efficacy of educational technology."--Page [4] of cover.
Record details
ISBN:9781421415406 (hardcover)
Physical Description:print xiv, 199 p. : ill. ; 24 cm.
Publisher:Baltimore : Johns Hopkins University Press, 2014.
Content descriptions
Bibliography, etc. Note:
Includes bibliographical references (pages [175]-193) and index.
Formatted Contents Note:
Introduction -- The sage on the stage -- Step by step -- Byte by byte -- From the cloud -- Making sense of teaching machines.
Book
