-
1450
Gutenberg printing press
The problem of availability of manually copied manuscripts had improved after 1450 when the Gutenberg printing press was invented. -
Horn-books
In the 1600s, horn-books were used as the media that transmitted knowledge in a written form to the students.The hornbook consisted of a wooden paddle with an easy to hold handle. Lessons were tacked on and covered by a piece of transparent horn. A hole was put in the handle so a leather thong could be tied to it and the child could carry it on his/her belt or around his/her neck. -
Slate
In early schools, each child owned a book-sized writing slate encased in a wood frame. The student scratched the slate with a slate pencil, which was a cylinder of rock. Eventually, the slate pencil was replaced by soft chalk, making it easier to write. Students did not preserve any of their work. Memorization, therefore, was emphasized and achieved through collective recitation led by the teacher. A keen memory characterized a good student. -
Magic Lantern
In the 1800s the magic lantern was introduced to schools. The magic lantern was the earliest form of a slide projector which projected images onto walls in dark classrooms. It used pictures and photos on transparent plates (usually made of glass), one or more lenses, and a light source. -
Blackboard
Teachers and students wrote with chunks of chalk and erased with cloth rags. James Pillans, headmaster and geography teacher at the Old High School in Edinburgh, Scotland, is credited with inventing the first modern blackboard when he hung a large piece of slate on the classroom wall. In America, the first use of a wall-mounted blackboard occurred at West Point in the classroom of instructor George Baron. -
Shorthand Postcards
The first distance education course in the modern sense was provided by Sir Isaac Pitman in the 1840s, who taught a system of shorthand by mailing texts transcribed into shorthand on postcards and receiving transcriptions from his students in return for correction. The element of student feedback was a crucial innovation of Pitman's system. -
Radio
In the 1910s the radio emerged, allowing students to learn from radio programmes. Children could be found leaping and stretching to the commands on the radio. -
Film Projector
In the 1920s the film projector was invented. The use of filmstrips as an educational and promotional aide was taken up in about the 1930s. By the late 1940s filmstrips were being produced by units within the Departments of Education in various Australian states and New Zealand. -
Ballpoint Pen
The ballpoint pen was invented by the Biro brothers. At first the pen relied on gravity for the ink to be pushed down toward the tip and having to hold the pen straight up. Soon after the ball at the tip was able to soak up the ink and be used without gravity. -
Mimeograph
The mimeporaph was a duplicating machine which produced copies from a stencil consisting of a coated fibre sheet through which ink is pressed. They helped teachers to retype their materials and spread homework assignments to the entire class but the teachers' fingers were painted dark blue because of the ink. -
Television
First headphones and TVs arrived to schools in the 1950s. -
Overhead Projector
Overhead projectors first appeared in schools in the late 1950s allowing teachers to print their materials on plastic sheets and also write directly to the plastic sheets with a non-permanent washable marking pen. It was in the education sector that overhead projectors saw the most growth. -
Skinner Teaching Machine
The Skinner Teaching Machine produced a combined system of teaching and testing, providing reinforcement for correct answers so that the student can move on to the next lesson. The teaching machine is composed of a system of combined teaching and test items that carries the student gradually through the material to be learned. The machine is composed by a fill-in-the-blank method on either a workbook or in a computer. -
Photocopier
The photocopier came to the classroom in 1959 which allowed for mass production of material on the fly. -
VHS, VCR and Audio Tapes
In the 1960s, with the emergence of the information age, VHS, VCR and audio tapes could be used to enrich lessons. -
Handheld Calculator
Through the 1960s large numbers of electronics components were required in a calculator. So electronic calculators were then very large, consumed a lot of power, and only AC-powered desktop models were available. Therefore, only in 1972 had the first handheld calculator arrived to schools, allowing pupils to type in the operands and perform mathematical operations in a single click. -
Scantron System of Testing
The Scantron system of testing, introduced by Michael Sokolski in 1972, allowed educators to grade tests more quickly and efficiently. A Scantron test scoring system is a multiple-choice, fill-in-the-bubble form. -
IBM PC
On August 12, 1981, IBM joined the computer race when it introduced the IBM 5150 PC. The first IBM PCs arrived in 1981 to the classrooms, however, their use was limited to word processing. -
World Wide Web
English engineer and computer scientist Sir Timothy John Berners-Lee invented the World Wide Web in 1989 and it was made public in 1991. The appearance of the World Wide Web allowed pupils to send e-mails and research the Internet. -
Interactive Whiteboard
The first interactive whiteboard was released in 1991, and it appeared that the technology was cementing itself as a permanent mainstay in the classroom — helping teachers to embrace technology and promoting 21st Century skills in students. -
Personal Digital Assistant
In 1993, Apple Inc manufactured the first Personal Digital Assistants (PDA’s) used in classrooms. -
iPads
The proliferation of iPads in the classroom will only keep accelerating. With these powerful mobile devices come a lot of possible benefits for educators and students alike. The iPad in the classroom brings education to life. Children can have endless access to information such as dictionaries and thesauruses and the interactive technology makes learning more engaging and memorable.
