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3000 BCE
The Abacus
Abacus is a Latin word that has its origins in the Greek words abax or abakon (meaning "table" or "tablet"). The abacus, also called a counting frame, is a calculating tool used primarily for performing arithmetic processes. The abacus was in used centuries before the adoption of the modern numeral system. It is considered one of the first computing systems in our history. -
Period: 3000 BCE to
The Mechanical Age
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1440
The Printing Press
Johannes Gutenberg is usually cited as the inventor of the printing press. Gutenberg developed a press perfectly suited for printing. The first printing press allowed for an assembly line-style production process for the mass production of books. He is noted as printing the first book known - the Bible! -
The Slide Rule
The first slide rule was invented by William Oughtred, a cleric teaching math in England. It was based on John Napier's discovery of logarithms. In its simplest form, the slide rule adds and subtracts lengths in order to calculate a total distance. Slide rules can also handle multiplication and division, find square roots, and do other sophisticated calculations. -
Magin Cataoprica "Magic Latern"
Magic lanterns projected images printed on glass slides. Oil lamps and candles served as light sources for the magic lantern. Filmstrips were used to show educational films in classrooms. -
The Industrial Revolution
The Industrial Revolution era existed from 1760-1840. It caused a transition in production methods. This transition witnessed a shift from a predominantly handmade production method to a machine-assisted production method. The Industrial Revolution brought several important changes to the field of American Education. It was during this era that education became accessible for students of all socioeconomic backgrounds by setting laws to make education a requirement. -
The Zoetrope
The zoetrope invented by William George Horner. It served as an early form of a motion picture projector. The materials used to construct a zoetrope consisted of a drum containing a set of still images, that when turned in a circular fashion, created the illusion of motion. -
Bowie State University - Founded
Bowie State College was founded on January 9, 1865. The school was founded and was dedicated to offering educational opportunities for black citizens. Bowie State College began as a two-year professional curriculum in teacher education program. In 1988, Bowie State College became Bowie State University. To date, it is one of the most comprehensive universities that remains committed to preparing students for success in a highly technological, global society. -
The Telephone
Alexander Graham Bell invented the first electrical speech machine. This speech machine later became known as the telephone. This machine would one day make distance learning and the Internet possible. -
One Room Schools
One room schools served as the early sites of education in the early 1900s. Blackboards and chalk were used in classrooms by teachers and students. Many schools also provided slates for individaul use. -
The Pencil
The creation of the pencil was introduced for usage. -
The Radio
The invention of the radio was created which impacted learning opportunities for students. -
The Filmstrip Projector
Filmstrips were used to show educational films in classrooms, serving as a predecessor of videocassettes, DVDs and Blu-ray technology. Filmstrip projectors allowed teachers to pause presentations for class discussions by turning a knob, and the projectors were widely used in classrooms. -
The Television
The world’s first electronic television was created by a 21 year old inventor named Philo Taylor Farnsworth. That inventor lived in a house without electricity until he was age 14.
Television provided a means for children to learn from educational programming. To date, there are numerous television programs geared toward teaching students fundamental social-emotional learning skills. -
The Projector
The earliest known device comparable to the overhead projector was the episcope which came out in the early 1930s. It was widely used by teachers to provide students demonstrations of the work being studied. -
Period: to
The Electronic Age
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The Videotape
Videotapes were used in classrooms to support teachers provide instruction. They used films, especially in history classes, to make connections from theory to practical, real-life explorations. -
The Whiteboard
Martin Heit, a Korean War veteran, discovered while working with photographic film that he could write on the negatives with Sharpie pens. Heit went on to invent the first whiteboard in the mid-1950s using the same laminate material used in film negatives. After his first whiteboard was lost in a fire prior to being released to the public, he sold the invention to the Dry-Mark company, which began marketing whiteboards to public schools in the 1960s. -
The Photocopier
The photocopier was invented in 1959. It allowed teachers to quickly for mass produce materials for student usage for learning -
COBOL
Common Business Oriented Language (COBOL) was developed as a computer programming language. Many school districts have packaged their computer science programs to support students in learning how to code using this programming language. -
The Mouse
CAD and Sketchpad were first introduced and a patent was received on the mouse pointing device. -
Floppy Disks
IBM began producing floppy disks. It served the purpose of storing files and other information generated from computers. -
The Pocket Calculator
The first modern calculator was invented by Texas Instruments. It was the first hand-sized calculator that printed the results to paper. -
Period: to
The Information/Digital Age
The Information/Digital Age is the shift from mechanical and analogue electronic technology to digital electronics. -
The Scantron
The Scantron system of testing allowed teachers to grade tests more quickly and efficiently. Teachers could gain access to student achievement on formative and/or summative assessments in moments of using the scantron system. -
Apple I
Steve Jobs and Steve Wozniak start Apple Computers on April 1st with the roll out of the Apple I, the first computer with a single-circuit board. This visionary work led to what is known as the most impactful modern day technology. Today, several Apple products are used in schools to support the facilitation of learning. -
The Original Personal Computer
The first IBM personal computer, code-named “Acorn,” is introduced. As a result of this invention, students gained immediate access to digital learning. -
The World Wide Web
Tim Berners-Lee, a British scientist at CERN, invented the World Wide Web (WWW) in 1989. As a result, teachers supported students learning by providing them access to exploring concepts through applications provided through the internet. -
Power Point Presentation
PowerPoint is a presentation graphic package. It is a collection of individual slides that contain information on an idea or topic. Powerpoint's are used by educators training and for instructional learning. -
The SmartBoard
The SMART Board is an interactive whiteboard manufactured by SMART Technologies. SMART introduced the first SMART Board interactive whiteboard. Since that time, the boards are now used in classrooms, lecture halls, group meetings and presentations across the world. -
Virtual Schools
Virtual schools are similar to traditional K-12 "School-House" schools. Students remain responsible for receiving academic services and are responsible for accountability requirements. Teachers are responsible for overseeing and managing student learning, and ensuring that students are meeting all academic progress and accountability requirements. This provides an alternative solution for students to complete their education by providing internet resources or offering online learning courses. -
Web-Based Learning
Web-based learning uses the Internet as a means for delivery for learning and instruction. It provides access to information and knowledge sources on an unlimited basis. -
Blackboard
Blackboard is a learning management system with implementation services and training to create new learning experiences. It focuses on technology and services to help students learn. This technology is used as a platform for online distance learning. -
Wi-Fi
The term Wi-Fi becomes part of the computing language and users begin connecting to the Internet without wires. -
Classroom Response System - Clickers
A classroom response system is a set of hardware and software that facilitates teaching activities.
1. A teacher poses a question to students via a computer projector.
2. Each student submits an answer to the question using a a “clicker”.
3. Software on the teacher’s computer collects the students’ answers and produces a bar chart showing how many students chose each of the answer choices.
4. The teacher makes “on the fly” instructional choices in response to the bar chart. -
Modern Distance Learning
Distance learning, sometimes called e-learning, is a formalized teaching and learning system specifically designed to be carried out remotely by using electronic communication. Distance learning is less expensive to support and is not constrained by geographic considerations. By 2006, approximately 89% of 4-year public colleges in the U.S. offer classes online. -
The Laptop - MacBook Pro
Apple introduces the MacBook Pro. As the evolution of technology continued to impact teaching and learning, school districts began to leverage this tool, specifically, to initiate the 1:1 laptop initiative. This provide equitable access for student learning at school and at home. -
Cloud-based Computing
Practice for storing student privacy data in the “cloud”
A platform for teachers, administrators, parents, and students to immediately access information regarding educational resources.
-No more expensive textbooks
-No more outdated learning materials
-No expensive hardware required
-No expensive software required -
The iPad
The iPad was announced on January 27, 2010, by Steve Jobs at an Apple press conference. It is through this invention that school districts have studied and implemented the 1:1 model for students to access technology beyond the classroom. -
Google Classroom
Google Classroom is a blended learning platform developed by Google for schools that aims to simplify creating, distributing and grading assignments in a paperless way.
