Overview
The surprising history of education technology and its political, financial, and social impact on higher education and our world From AI tutors who ensure individualized instruction but cannot do math to free online courses from elite universities that were supposed to democratize higher education, claims that technological innovations will transform education often fall short. Yet, as Anne Trumbore shows in The Teacher in the Machine, the promises of today's cutting-edge technologies aren't new. Long before the excitement about the disruptive potential of generative AIpowered tutors and massive open online courses, scholars at Stanford, MIT, and the University of Illinois in the 1960s and 1970s were encouraged by the US government to experiment with computers and artificial intelligence in education. Trumbore argues that the contrast between these two eras of educational technology reveals the changing role of higher education in the United States as it shifted from a public good to a private investment. Writing from a unique insider's perspective and drawing on interviews with key figures, historical research, and case studies, Trumbore traces today's disparate discussions about generative AI, student loan debt, and declining social trust in higher education back to their common origins at a handful of elite universities fifty years ago. Arguing that those early educational experiments have resonance today, Trumbore points the way to a more equitable and collaborative pedagogical future. Her account offers a critical lens on the history of technology in education just as universities and students seek a stronger hand in shaping the future of their institutions.
Full Product Details
Author: Anne Trumbore
Publisher: Princeton University Press
Imprint: Princeton University Press
ISBN: 9780691198767
ISBN 10: 0691198764
Pages: 240
Publication Date: 27 May 2025
Recommended Age: From 18 years
Audience:
College/higher education
,
Professional and scholarly
,
Professional and scholarly
,
Tertiary & Higher Education
,
Professional & Vocational
Format: Hardback
Publisher's Status: Active
Availability: Not yet available
This item is yet to be released. You can pre-order this item and we will dispatch it to you upon its release.
Reviews
""Well-researched, fluently written. . . . A stunning exposé of how universities made, and lost, the Faustian bargain with big tech."" * Kirkus Reviews *
Author Information
Anne Trumbore is Chief Digital Learning Officer at the Sands Institute for Lifelong Learning at the University of Virginia's Darden School of Business. Previously, she led Wharton Online and helped develop new forms of student-centered online education at Coursera, NovoEd, and Stanford's Online High School.
