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Educational Technology from 1960-2020
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The first computer mouse
Douglas Engelbart completely changed the way people interacted with computers when he invented the computer mouse in 1964. His creation was made from wood and had two gear-wheels that sat perpendicular to one another so as to allow movement on one axis. When you moved the mouse the horizontal wheel moved sideways and the vertical wheel slid along the surface. -
Filmstrip Viewer
A precursor to the iPad perhaps, this filmstrip viewer was a simple way to allow individual students to watch educational programs filmstrips at their own pace. -
The Hand-Held Calculator
The predecessor of the much-loved and much-used TI-83, this calculator paved the way for the calculators used today. There were initial concerns however as teachers were slow to adopt them for fear they would undermine the learning of basic skills. -
.Scantron
The Scantron Corporation removed the need for grading multiple-choice exams. The Scantron machines were free to use but the company made money by charging for their proprietary grading forms. -
Plato Computer
Public schools in the U.S. averaged about one computer for every 92 students in 1984. The Plato was one of the most-used early computers to gain a foothold in the education market. Currently, there is about one computer for every 4 students. -
CD-ROM Drive
A single CD could store an entire encyclopedia plus video and audio. The CD-ROM and eventually the CD-RW paved the way for flash drives and easy personal storage. -
Hand-Held Graphing Calculator
The successor to the hand-held calculator (see above), the graphing calculator made far more advanced math much easier as it let you plot out points, do long equations, and play ‘Snake’ as a game when you got bored in class. -
Interactive Whiteboard
The chalkboard got a facelift with the whiteboard. That got turned into a more interactive system that uses a touch-sensitive white screen, a projector, and a computer. Still getting slowly rolled out to classrooms right now, betcha didn’t know they were first around in 1999! (I didn’t know that, at least) -
World Wide Web
The World Wide Web commonly known as the web or www is a system of interlinked hypertext documents accessed via the Internet. With a web browser, one can view web pages that may contain text, images, videos, and other multimedia and navigate between them via hyperlinks. -
iClicker
There are many similar tools available now, but iClicker was one of the first to allow teachers to be able to quickly poll students and get results in real time. -
XO Laptop
The ‘One Laptop Per Child’ computer was built so it was durable and cheap enough to sell or donate to developing countries. It’s an incredible machine that works well in sunlight, is waterproof, and much more. -
Apple iPad
Just like the original school slate, could the iPad bring Thomas Edison’s statement to life? Could the iPad make it so “scholars will soon be instructed through the eye.” Only time will tell. -
Educational Technology compulsory from Pre-schooling.
Allow children to freely explore touch screens loaded with a wide variety of developmentally appropriate interactive media experiences that are well designed and enhance feelings of success. -
Graeter percentage of online learning.
The main benefits of online education, would be that it offers flexibility to students. Because they can attend classes and courses whenever and wherever there is a computer and access to the internet, they can easily plan out a schedule that would work for them. Online learning allows a more student-centered teaching approach.
