1 AN OVERVIEW OF PROGRESS IN UTILIZATION OF EDUCATIONAL TECHNOLOGY FOR EDUCATING THE HEARING IMPAIRED

The history of educational technology predates the invention of the term by a considerable period of time. From a historical perspective, technology applied to education must be seen in reference to the available technology of the society and the times of which we speak. When Moses brought the Ten Commandments from the mountain engraved in stone, there is no question but that it carried a greater impact than if it had been hand-lettered on Papyrus or whatever alternatives existed. One might say that engraving the Ten Commandments in stone added an appropriate kinesthetic dimension to such a weighty message, and it didn‟t discriminate against the deaf and blind. However, you can be sure that, had the technology been available, Moses would have recorded the voice of God on Memorex audiotape and played it back full volume on a stereo system with appropriate psychedelic lighting. To pursue ancient history a bit longer, we hardly need to point out the massive effect of printing technology in the dissemination of knowledge and God‟s Commandments. Printing, we might say, has been and still is the backbone technology of the world‟s various educational systems. The dawn of educational technology for the hearing impaired is generally regarded to be the year of 1958 when P.L. 85-905 established Captioned Films for the Deaf. In terms of modern communication technology, particularly electronics, this is as good a starting point as any, although there are educator