Timeline: The History of Educational Technology

30,000 BCE

ORAL COMMUNICATION

One of the oldest teaching was oral communication which was the daily speech of people and the interaction among them. People communicated with each other with narrating or telling some stories, folklore, histories, and news in ancient times. Therefore, teaching could be executed verbally.

3000 BCE

CUNEIFORM WRITING

Cuneiform is a system of writing invented by Sumerians of Mesopotomia. People used clay tablets for writing or keeping their records such as grain, sheep and cattle entering or leaving their stores and farms thus; it was much easier to memorize them. Moreover, these were the first exapmles of written language.

1450

PRINTING PRESS

The printing press was invented by Johannes Gutenberg and his invention also started Printing Revolution. People reached books easily thanks to this invention. Additionally, the invention of printing press contributed to manufacturing paper which was also beneficial for education, development of ink, and even distribution of eyeglasses.

1600

PUBLIC SCHOOL

Students started to learn in the school. Learning environment became more effective with founding public schools.

1700

BLACBOARD

Teachers could give instructions to their students easily because learners could understand when the teacher wrote down the board the topic of that day; furthermore, blackboards could be a visual material for students. Thus, blacboards facilitated comprehension of classes.

1800

BOOK

As everyone knows that books are the signficant part of a human life not only students but also all type of learners. Written form of whole information about humans, world, environment helps people. In the history, the first book is a epic which called Gilgamesh. Lately, books make people's lives meaningful and valuable.

1920

RADIO

Radio was used for listening news, getting information about world, or listening to music from some channels. After that, the radio began using for education with broadcasting instructive programs. For example, The British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) started to broadcast educational radio programs for schools.

1930

FILM STRIP PROJECTORS

A filmstrip is one of the projective audio visual tool. Teachers used it in their classes, so the classes were more attractive and interesting for students.

1960

TELEVISION

Television was invented by Philo Taylor Farnsworth in 1927; however, the television was first used in education in the 1960s. there were some television programs which were educational and appropriate for students as radio programs.

1977

COMPUTER

In 1977, microcomputers were used for education and teachers started to manage instructional and administrative application from data offices. In 1980, these applications were improved in software publishing and teacher authoring software. Now computers are crucial part of education.

1991

WHITEBOARD

Thanks to using of white boards in schools, classes were more interactive in terms of students and teachers. The classes were more understandable and effective.

2010

DIGITAL LEARNING

Digital learning includes online education, educational applications, and e-books. As there are some vital and emergency situations such as COVID-19, education can be stopped but not permanently. As a result of this, distance education can provide opportunities to learners for maintaining learning with the help of some instructional platforms.

2020