Learning goals in educational settings are often
complex, difficult, and protracted. Throughout history,
educators have devised means to help people learn that
are easier, faster, surer, or less expensive than previous
means. Some of these means could be classified as
technological, by which we mean applying scientific
or other organized knowledge to the attainment of
practical ends, a definition proposed by John Kenneth
Galbraith (1967). These developments may take the
form of hard technologies, including materials and
physical inventions, or soft technologies, including
special work processes or carefully designed instruc-
tional templates that are applicable beyond a single
case. This chapter aims to recount some of the mile-
stones in the history of these developments.