Development of Educational Technology from the 1960 to 2020

First Hand-Held Calculator

1970

• The first hand-held, battery-powered calculator was used to make quick mathematical calculations.
• The models were developed by Sanyo, Canon and Sharp and were launched in Japan.
• The ability to use calculators in a classroom avoided countless paper and pencil calculations which allowed more time to focus on mathematical concepts.
• Calculators are ideal when mathematics problems that are not able to be calculated using pen and paper arise.

Scantron

1972

• The Scantron system of testing, introduced by Michael Sokolski allowed educators to grade tests more quickly and efficiently.
• Scantrons were used as a way of grading multiple choice tests in moments.
• The Scantron Corporation in that year removed the need for grading multiple choice exams.

First Pocket Calculator

1972

• The HP-35 was Hewlett-Packard’s first pocket calculator and the world’s first handheld scientific calculator.
• It was a calculator with trigonometric and exponential functions.
• The HP-35 performed all the functions of the slide rule to ten-digit precision over a full two-hundred-decade range.
• It made solving difficult mathematics problems/calculation easy.

Altair 8800 Microcomputer

1975

• A small firm in Albuquerque, New Mexico, named MITS created the Altair 8800 which met the social as well as technical requirements for a small personal computer.
• The entire Altair 8800 system is comprised of a metal case, a power supply, a front panel with switches, and a passive motherboard with expansion slots.
• It was designed as an expandable system that opened it up to all sorts of applications.
• People were now able to own and use a computer.

Apple Computer 1

1976

• The Apple Computer 1 is a desktop computer released by the Apple Computer Company (now Apple Inc.) in 1976.
• It was designed and hand-built by Steve Wozniak.
• All one needed was a keyboard and a television set.
• It was built to play games and do BASIC functions.
• The Apple 1 was successful so Wozniak designed the Apple II, the first personal computer that had the ability to display color graphics, and BASIC programming language built-in.

First Portable Computer

1981

• The Osborne 1 was the first commercially successful portable microcomputer, released on April 3, 1981, by Osborne Computer Corporation.
• It weighed 10.7 kg (24.5 lb) and was powered directly from a mains socket as it had no on-board battery.
• It was still seen as a portable device since it could be hand carried when packed.
• Persons/students who bought one was able to perform operations on it and store data any where they were; once there was a socket nearby.

First Compact Disc

1982

• It is a digital optical data storage format that was introduced by Philips and Sony.
• It was used to store and play only sound recordings.
• It was adapted in a CD-ROM which stored data.
• Students and teachers were able to store any sound recordings and be able to play it later on.

First Hand-Held Graphing Calculator

1985

• The Casio FX-7000G Offsite Link, the first hand-held graphing calculator, was introduced by Casio Offsite Link, Tokyo, Japan in October 1985.
• The calculator offered 82 scientific functions, which could be graphed, and was capable of manual computation for basic arithmetic problems.
• The graphing calculator made far more advanced math problems/calculations much simpler as it allowed you to plot out points, do long equations and even play ‘Snake’ as a game when you are bored in class.

PowerPoint Presentation

1987

• PowerPoint was developed by Robert Gaskins who later hired a developer Dennis Austin.
• In ’97, multiple versions of the same presentation was saved in one file, the Slide Finder for locating and reusing previous slides and the ability to save presentations for use on the web, with navigation controls, frames, animations and user voice recording.
• PowerPoint was originally designed to provide visuals for group presentations within business organizations.

World Wide Web (WWW)

1989

• It was created by a British scientist ‘Tim Berners-Lee’.
• It was generally created to meet the need for automatic information-sharing between scientists in universities and institutes around the world.
• The World Wide Web is a global collection of documents and other resources, linked by hyperlinks and URLs.
• Web resources are usually accessed using HTTP, which is one of many Internet communication protocols.
• It allows students/persons to research, complete tasks and communicate.

YouTube

2005

-YouTube was created by Chad Hurley, Steve Chen, and Jawed Karim in 2005.
- It allows users to upload, view, rate, share, add to favorites, report, comment on videos, and subscribe to other users. It offers a wide variety of user-generated and corporate media videos.
It is discovered as being an effective tool for classroom learning.
- It allows teachers to easily understand a topic they want to teach and for students learn.

Interactive Mobile Apps

2015

• It is a computer program designed to run on a mobile device such as a phone/tablet or watch.
• It has become the centre of effective classroom learning.
• The wide availability of low cost apps empower teachers to provide better learning opportunities.
• And simultaneously reach a variety of different learning styles.
• In the classroom, it enhances interaction, brings entertainment, availability 24/7, no cutting down of trees to make paper and tracks students' progress.

Virtual Reality

2017

• Elements of virtual reality appeared as early as the 1860s. -As of 2017, it is being used in classrooms.
• For example: the Google Cardboard VR allows students to study locations and objects in 3D in addition to exploring current events.
• It enables large groups of students to interact with each other as well as within a three dimensional environment.
• It presents complex data in an accessible way to students which is both fun and easy to learn.

Robot

2020

• Due to the lack of required educational qualification among teachers, several educational institutes are deploying robots to assist students in learning processes.
• Wheeled robots are assembled in the shape of toys and are mainly used in elementary schools to engage and teach students. -It is predicted that robots will be teacher’s aide which will assist autistic children to develop learning and social skills.