The History of EdTech

  • 100,000 BCE

    Oral Communication

    "The history of communication itself can be traced back since the origin of speech circa 100,000 BCE" as suggested by S. Miyagawa (2014, p. 5).
  • 30,000 BCE

    Cave Drawings

    Cave Drawings
  • 510 BCE

    Pythagoras Academy

    Pythagoras Academy
    First formal educational academy.
  • 500 BCE

    Written Communication

    Written Communication
    In the fifth century B.C., there were numerous written products; however, written communication has become much stronger with the invention of the printing press.
    On the cover: clay tablets, one of the old written documents. Some others are tree bark, metal sheet, wax tablets, stone clay, papyrus, and codex.
  • 105

    Invention of Paper in China

    Invention of Paper in China
  • 1450

    Gutenberg Printing Press

    Gutenberg Printing Press
  • Public Education

    Public Education
  • Blackboard

    Blackboard
    Blackboards were started to use in classes.
  • Books

    Books
    With the invention of printing presses, books were finally introduced to public education.
  • Invention of Mimeograph

    Invention of Mimeograph
    "A machine that produces copies of a document using a stencil" according to the Cambridge Dictionary.
    Later it was replaced with spirit duplicators in the 1960s, and lastly with photocopiers and offset printers at the present time.
  • Broadcasting and Video

    Broadcasting and Video
    Devices like radio, film strip projectors, and overhead projectors were used for educational purposes.
    On the cover: film projector, invented in 1930. Its first large-scale usage was on US soldiers during WW2.
  • Pressey Teaching Machine

    Pressey Teaching Machine
    The teaching machine created by Sidney L. Pressey offered practice exercises and questions.
  • Radio

    Radio
    A part of the audiovisual age.
  • Hypertext

    Hypertext
    Specifically, Vannevar Bush's Memex (published in the article "As We May Think" in 1945) is a conceptual system that is considered to be the base of computers we have at the present time.
  • Overhead Projector

    Overhead Projector
    Another part of the audiovisual age.
  • Programmed Instruction

    Programmed Instruction
    B.F. Skinner developed a theory based on the idea that learning happens at its best when the whole content is divided into small units, and also suggested that learners should be given immediate feedback or reward. This work of Skinner led to the emergence of computer technologies.
  • Information Age

    Information Age
    Television (1960), VCR and VHS tape (1970), and audio tape (1980) were some of the significant devices of the era.
    On the cover: audio tape.
  • Television

    Television
    An important part of the information age, also is a part of broadcasting and video.
    In the year 1959, the University of Chicago produced a television course called "Sunrise Semester".
  • CBL, CBT

    Affected by Skinner's and Bloom's innovative ideas, new instructional models called Computer Based Learning (CBL), and Computer Based Training (CBT) emerged in the 1970s. Numerous schools followed the model CBL for years.
    These models can be considered as today's Web-Based Training (WBT), as they had smaller contents, presentations, multiple choice questions, and were able to give feedback.
  • Computer Technologies

    Computer Technologies
    On the cover: a computer, invented in 1990.
  • CMC

    Computer-Mediated Communication (CMC) emerged in the 1990s and has been used since then. While CBT and CBL were focused on the interaction between the learner and the computer; the primary interaction in CMC is between the learner and the instructor, the computer is just a mediator.
    CBT and CBL refer to self-study learning, while in CMC the important part is the communication between the learner and the instructor, and also various learning activities.
  • First Smartboard

    First Smartboard
    Also called as 'interactive whiteboard', is an important part of the computer age.
  • Digital Age

    Digital Age
    The key phrase of this era is 'worldwide communication'.
  • Distance Learning

    Distance Learning
    Thanks to the developments in information and communications technology (ICT), full-time distance learning has been a success.
  • Interactive Age

    Interactive Age
    Laptops, smart response PE, documents cameras, etc. are some of the significant inventions of the era.
  • MOOC

    MOOC
    Massive open online courses have been really popular, especially for simple content delivery, and have simple student management and assessment tools.
  • References 1

    Bates, T. (2015). Teaching in a digital age : guidelines for designing teaching and learning. Sfu Document Solutions, Simon Fraser University.
    Miyagawa, S., Ojima, S., Berwick, R. C., & Okanoya, K. (2014). The integration hypothesis of human language evolution and the nature of contemporary languages. Frontiers in Psychology, 5. https://doi.org/10.3389/fpsyg.2014.00564
    https://edutechwiki.unige.ch/en/Educational_technology#A_short_history
    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UFwWWsz_X9s
  • References 2

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oT-df_zdnfI
    Definition of "mimeograph" from the Cambridge Advanced Learner's Dictionary & Thesaurus © Cambridge University Press
  • References 3

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    https://americanhistory.si.edu/collections/search/object/nmah_1367149