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The History of Educational Technology

  • 30 BCE

    Cave Drawings

    Cave Drawings
    The role of text or writing in education also has a long history. With the cave drawing, our ancestors tried to communicate and used them for transferring the information.According to the Bible, Moses used chiseled stone to convey the ten commandments in a form of writing, probably around the 7th century BC.
  • 7 BCE

    Written Communication

    Written Communication
    Writing has had a significant impact on education for a very long history. "According to the Bible, Moses used chiseled stone to convey the ten commandments in a form of writing, probably around the 7th century BC" (Bates, 2019, p. 215). Written language produces analytical, drawn-out lines of reasoning.
  • Period: 7 BCE to

    Written Communication

  • 1440

    The Printing Press

    The Printing Press
    The Gutenberg printing press in many ways represents a radical shift unprecedented until the arrival of computers today. With the rapid creation of books, and therefore the rapid sharing of knowledge, it was suddenly considered an incredibly important invention for the education.
  • The Magic Lantern

    The Magic Lantern
    The Magic Lantern continued the idea of the importance of images in learning, but now with the ability to have images move, and providing a way to allow the teacher to easily change the images. Use of slates to practice writing became popular.
  • Period: to

    Audiovisual Age

  • Broadcasting and Video

    Broadcasting and Video
    The British Broadcasting Corporation began broadcasting educational radio programs for schools in the 1920s. Over the next couple of decades, schools of the air began broadcasting programs to millions of students.
  • Film Projector

    Film Projector
    Similar to the motion-picture projector, Thomas Edison predicted that, thanks to the invention of projected images, “books will soon be obsolete in schools. And it helped teachers support their ideas in a better way.
  • Educational Television

    Educational Television
    Television was first used in education in the 1960s, for schools and for general adult education. The television programs did not use lectures as such, but focused more on the common formats of general television to educate all people.
  • Period: to

    Information Age

  • Learning through Computer

    Learning through Computer
    In essence the development of programmed learning aims to computerize teaching, by structuring information, testing learners’ knowledge, and providing immediate feedback to learners.
  • Period: to

    Computer Age

  • Internet Technology

    Internet Technology
    It is one of the most important inventions of technology for education. With the help of Internet, it is much more easier to publish and share information. The Word Wide Web was formally launched in 1991. The World Wide Web is basically an application running on the Internet that enables end-users to create and link documents, videos or other digital media.
  • Period: to

    Digital Age

  • Online learning environments

    Online learning environments
    In 1995, the Web enabled the development of the first learning management systems (LMSs), such as WebCT. Learning mamagement systems provide an online teaching environment, where content can be loaded and organized, as well as providing ‘spaces’ for learning objectives.
  • Social Media

    Social Media
    Social media are really a sub-category of computer technology, but their development deserves a section of its own in the history of educational technology. With the help of social media, all users can be able to access many information and content.