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Period: 100,000 BCE to 3200 BCE
Oral Communication
Earliest sign of formal education can be linked to human speech. Information was maintained by stories and folklore. -
3200 BCE
Clay Tablets
Throughout the Bronze Age and far into the Iron Age, clay tablets were utilized as a writing medium. Students in ancient Babylonia and Sumeria engraved their writing on clay tablets using a stylus. These may be used wet and then wiped to create a fresh document, or baked to create a permanent document. -
Period: 3200 BCE to
Written Communication
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3000 BCE
Papyrus
Papyrus is a paper made from the papyrus plant which grows around the Nile river. Papyrus was used as a writing material as early as 3,000 BCE in ancient Egypt and it was the most popular writing material for the ancient Greeks and Romans. -
150 BCE
Parchment
Parchment was a writing medium made out of animal skin, it was a great alternative to papyrus since it was much more inexpensive. -
105
Invention of Paper
Although paper was created in China around 100 BCE it became more available in 105 AD when Ts'ai Lun, a government official in China during the Han Dynasty emperor Ho-Ti's reign, establish a paper-making industry. -
1440
Gutenberg Printing Press
Around 1440, the printing press was invented in the Roman Empire by the German Johannes Gutenberg. Before the printing press, all writings had to be handwritten or done by typographic hand-printing. The printing press is widely recognized as one of the most important innovations of all time. The Gutenberg Bible was completed in 1454 and was the first big book produced by the press. -
Hornbook
This device was used in the 1600s to teach consonants, vowels and the alphabet. It was also used in religious studies to teach the Lord's Prayer. The lesson material was laminated to prevent damage from everyday use. -
Slate Boards
A slate is a small, rectangular blackboard made from slate stone. In the 1800s individual slates were used to teach students reading, writing and math. Slated were prefered in schools because they were more inexpensive than paper and ink. -
Chalkboard
Although individual slate boards were used, the classroom chalkboard were introduced to schools in 1841 and it had become a permanent fixture in most schools by the late 1800s. -
Magic Lantern
The Magic Lantern was an early sort of image projector that used paintings, prints, or photographs on transparent plates (typically made of glass), one or more lenses, and a light source. -
Period: to
Broadcasting and Video
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Radio
The first electronic medium utilized by educators to instruct at a distance was educational radio. The British Broadcasting Corporation began broadcasting educational radio programs for schools in the 1920s. -
Filmstrip Projector
The filmstrip projector was a fixture in the classroom until the 2000s. It projected images onto celluloid film for students. This visual tool helped students better understand material delivered in class as diagrams and graphics. -
Overhead Projector
An overhead projector, utilizes light to project an enlarged image on a screen, allowing a large audience to see a small document or picture. It was widely used by the United States Military to train personnel during World War II in the 1930s, and the device eventually spread to schools. -
Mimeograph
This technology made it simple to make copies for classes and distribute them. This eased the cost on students as not everyone could afford a textbook. This was an early preset to the photocopier. -
Skinner's Teaching Machine
In 1954, Skinner developed the first teaching machine that made us of programmed learning. The machine is a rectangular wooden box with a hinged metal lid with windows. Various paper discs fit inside, with questions and answers written along radius of the discs. The student advances the mechanism by writing an answer on a paper tape to the right. This exposes the right response while concealing their answer, preventing it from being modified. -
The Photocopier
In the late 1950s, Xerox introduced the first photocopying machine. Teachers may now produce copies for lessons faster and more effectively after introducing this into the classroom. -
Educational Television
Educational technology with television was well underway by 1962. With the production of shows like Sesame Street, children watched familiar characters and learned educational content as well. Television shows and instructional content were increasingly used to teach students. -
Handheld Calculator
In the 1970s, handheld calculators made their appearance in schools. Basic mathematical operations such as multiplication, long division, and addition were computed using the calculator. -
Period: to
Computer Age
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Personal Computers
Although the earliest computers were built in the 1930s, the first personal computer was introduced by IBM in the early 1980s. The Plato computer was introduced to classrooms. It was utilized as a learning tool as well as a calculator, and it eventually supplanted typewriters. -
The World Wide Web
Tim Berners-Lee, a British scientist, invented the World Wide Web (WWW) in 1989, while working at CERN. The Web was originally conceived and developed to meet the demand for automated information-sharing between scientists in the universities and institues around the world. -
Interactive Whiteboard
The interactive whiteboard began replacing blackboards in the 1990's. This process took sometime as many were not familiar with how to use the technology in a learning setting. Today, classrooms all around the world have interactive whiteboards installed. -
Period: to
Social Media
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Google
Google was founded in 1997 with the goal of making web searching easier and more efficient. The research component of educational programs was improved as a result of this. Students could now discover information for projects, papers, and assignments more quickly. -
Wikipedia
In the late 1990s, the first Wikipedia site was launched. It allowed regular individuals to generate material and add information to a platform that could be seen by others. This signaled the beginning of a new era of information exchange and access. -
YouTube
YouTube was founded in 2005 and was purchased by Google in 2006. Short educational clips that may be downloaded and integrated into online courses are increasingly being used. -
The Rise of Online Learning
Due to Covid-19 online education became necessary all around the world. Platforms such as Zoom, Teams, Google Meets etc. became very popular in education. -
References
https://tinyurl.com/h3v8nyms
https://tinyurl.com/y7x3rdvb
https://tinyurl.com/wpwdcwns
https://www.britannica.com/topic/papyrus-writing-material
https://www.history.com/topics/inventions/printing-press
https://wi101.wisc.edu/2020/02/10/object-history-slate/
https://tinyurl.com/yu5f564r
https://tinyurl.com/2rzzzfzs
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Educational_television
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Calculator
https://home.cern/science/computing/birth-web
