Introduction
Education plays a crucial role in humans’ lives. People always give a huge importance to it. That can explain the great progress that knew the education especially in the use of technology. Thus, the use of technology has and continues to be the most substantial use in education. Technology is a very influential factor in the field of education. Education technology is essentially associated with learning theory and instructional theory.
The technology of education have evolved gradually where in recent times mobile phones and computers are used in the developed countries to complement the established education practices not to forget to mention its impact in the development of new learning ways like online education. Therefore, the use of technology in education not only improves the quality of education but also ensures that this education is current and is learned without any difficulty.
As stated the history of education dates back to million of years ago. Culture evolution played a significant role in the development of education. The early human beings on the earth actually used cave drawings to pass information from one person to the other. Therefore, these cave drawings were used to communicate hence this is considered as the first step in education technology. The second step was the establishment of an academy in Greece that was based on oral communication thinking and imagination. This academy was founded in 510 BCE by Pythagoras. Oral communication thinking and imagination thus was developed during this period.
The other development was the invention of paper in China in the year 105. In fact, this was an imperative step toward a qualitative progress. These papers were important in the education sector as they were a major step where the process of communication was enhanced since what was communicated could be written down. After the invention of this writing material, it was now possible to write manuscripts. This was actually in the year 382 where this paper made in china was used to write them. However, this writing required a lot of efforts and time. This was a major boost in education technology.
After the invention of paper and manuscripts, the other important step was the invention of a printer. This was in fact an improvement in education technology. Gutenberg invented this printer press in the year 1450. This machine was manual since there was no electricity. For that reason, this printing machine needed a lot of energy and time.
The period between 1600 and 1800 was a milestone in education technology. This is essentially the period when the actual education system was started. This is the period when the public education system was put in place for the first time. The students and their educators could now easily communicate through chalkboard slates and blackboards. It was an important period in education technology because the process of actual learning was introduced. After some period of time, textbooks were introduced to enhance the education system and in fact they contributed to a large extent the knowledge of both students and their educators. These books were printed by the printer press invented.
The other major development in education technology was the audiovisual age. This age lasted from 1910 to 1940. During this period, there was development of film strip, overhead projectors, and radio. In fact, this enhanced the quality of education greatly. The boredom in class was thus finished since all these inventions were used to in teaching. Therefore, the process of learning became more interesting and as a result education technology improved further since other audiovisual inventions were invented.
After the audiovisual age, the other development in education technology was the emergency of information age. From the year 1960, the audiovisual technology got improved where VHS ands VCR’s tapes, and TV’s began to be used with the emergency of information age. This was also a major boost in education because apart from listening to what was being taught; the students could see what they were being taught. Thus, education quality improved largely.
The great or key development in education technology was the invention of computers. This occurred from 1990 to 1991. These computers have made the process of learning very easy where it is possible to access all the information you require at your desk. Many researches have been made possible by these computers. There has been an establishment of online leaning where the students and their tutors or educators do not need to be in the same room. They only need to possess computers that can access internet. This has been possible through the use of the smart board interactive whitehead.
The supplementary development in education technology is the emergence of digital era. This started from the year 1995 where the information can even flow from a particular continent to the other within a second. This has basically led to the emergence of video conferences, the web, and social media like Facebook and twitter which started from the year 2000. Consequently, all these technological developments have tremendously improved education.
In a nut shell, these technological developments have made human beings to invent many important things in the society which in one way or another have made life to become simpler. They have made educate simpler and the process of research have been improved where people access various learning materials very quickly.
References
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UFwWWsz_X9s
