"The
world communications net, the all-involved linkage of electric circuitry, will grow and
become more sensitive. It will also develop new modes of feedback so that communications
can become dialogue instead of monologue. It will breach the wall between "in"
and "out" of school. It will join all people everywhere. When this has happened,
we may at least realize that our place of learning is the world itself, the entire planet
we live on. The little red schoolhouse is already well on its way to becoming the little
round schoolhouse. Someday, all of us will spend our lives in our own school - the world.
"
The
credit for creating a united world through education goes not only to those who create
modern technology but also to those who first prophesized the importance of education.
Early cultures, such as the Summarians, the Babylonians, the Egyptians, and the Greeks
used the technology of their time - pictographs on clay tablets - to educate members of
their communities. These early forms of writing were used to depict money and thus spur
trade. Just as information technology has revolutionized education, early educators
revolutionized the teachings of their time - they were the innovators of education.
To
understand how today's educational system has become so high tech, it is important to
understand the evolution of education. The purpose of the next few sections of this CD is
to place distance education in historical perspective. Come and peruse the past.
