Timeline: History of Educational Technology

30,000 BCE

Paintings on Cave Walls

First appearances of education dates back to 30.000 years ago. Scientists are not sure about whether paintings are used for education or not. Since there was no form of education back then paintings might have be used for educate early humans.

800 BCE

Written Education

The earliest examples of educational technology in the ancient world were the tools that students and teachers used to write. For thousands of years, wax-coated whiteboards, papyrus, clay tablets, leaves, and animal skin were used for written education.

500 BCE

Oral Communication

One of the earliest means of formal teaching was oral communication. In ancient times stories, folklore, histories, and news were transmitted by oral communication.For the ancient Greeks, oratory and speech were the means by which people learned and passed on learning.

1440

Invention of Printing Press

The invention of the printing press in Europe around the 15th century was a truly disruptive technology. It makes written knowledge much more freely available, very much in the same way as the Internet has done today.

1841

The Blackboard

While individual slates were used in classrooms during the early 1800s, it was not until 1841 that the classroom blackboard was first introduced. By the late 1800s, the blackboard had become a permanent fixture in most classrooms.

1870

Magic Lantern

This was the older version of modern projector. The first magic lanterns were illuminated by candles. By the time World War I ended, around 8,000 lantern slides were circulating through the Chicago public school system.

Apr 4, 1924

Radio/Broadcast

In 1920s radio was used to education. On April 4, 1924 BBC started to broadcasting educational radio programs.In May, the BBC appointed John S. Stobart as its first director of education.
The Radio Times (the Official Organ of the BBC) on June 15, 1924 carried on its front page an article called “A Broadcasting University.”

1945

Overhead Projectors

At the end of World War Two the U.S. Army started using
overhead projectors for training. Their use became common for lecturing, until being largely replaced by electronic projectors and presentational software such as Powerpoint around 1990.

1960

Television

In 1960s, television was started to use in education. The television programs did not use lectures as radios, but focused more on the common formats of general television, such as documentaries, demonstration of processes, and cases/case studies.

1990

Computer

In 1980s and 1990s, the use of computer based learning started in some schools. Multimedia PCs were developed, and schools were using video and compact discs to accompany textbooks and teaching.

2000

Social Media

With the development of social media, educational technology is greatly improved. Social media cover a wide range of different
technologies, including blogs, wikis, You Tube videos, mobile devices such as phones and tablets, Twitter, Skype and Facebook.

2021