To explore the history of educational technologies, I thought it would be interesting to see just how much, and what, I could learn using a relatively new form of educational technology – infographics – as my sole source of information.
According to Wikipedia, infographics are “graphic visual representations of information, data or knowledge intended to present information quickly and clearly.” (Incidentally, the original source of this definition was cited as Public Relations Writing: Form and Style (Newsom & Haynes, 2004), which I’m fairly certain was a textbook I used in my undergraduate studies.)
The phrase I entered in Google Search, without quotation marks, was “history of educational technologies infographic.” Here’s what I discovered as a result.
An infographic on the evolution of technology in schools
This infographic starts in 1860 and continues up to 2015, mentioning in chronological order: the blackboard, radio, overhead projector, filmstrips, videotapes, BF Skinner’s teaching machine, photocopier, whiteboard, BASIC programming language, scantrons, portable computers, BBC micro, world wide web, personal digital assistants, social media, ipads and tablets, raspberry pi, BBC micro-bit, and virtual reality.
The most startling realization? I’m not sure if it’s that so many of these inventions are still in use, or that I don’t recognize some of them at all.
An infographic on the history of technology
This infographic starts in 1947 and continues up to 2014, mentioning in chronological order: commercially available computers, hard disks, microprocessors, ARPANET, BASIC programming language, Microsoft, Apple, IBM, MS-DOS, the internet, Microsoft Word, .com domains, laptops, computer viruses, Amazon, Windows 95, Ebay, Google, Napster, Blogger, the dot com burst, Wikipedia, Windows XP, Myspace, WordPress, OpenStack, Twitter, Magento, Facebook, YouTube, responsive web design, and HTML5.
It’s interesting the only overlap between this infographic and the evolution of technology in schools is mention of BASIC programming and the internet.
An infographic on the history of classroom technology
This infographic starts in 1890 and continues up to “today,” which appears to be anything post-2010. In chronological order, the infographic mentions the chalkboard, filmstrips, BF Skinner teaching machine, overhead projector, educational programming, scantrons, desktop computers, the internet, interactive whiteboards, YouTube, audience-response devices, smartphones and tablets, and interactive mobile apps.
This infographic is most similar to the first one I looked at, including many of the same elements, though referring to them by different names (e.g., world wide web vs. Internet, blackboard vs. chalkboard).
Final thoughts
The only common element across all three infographics was the internet, and there seemed to be little agreement on when the internet was actually introduced. The first infographic mentioned “the world wide web became available to students in schools” in 1990; the second infographic said the internet was “born” in 1983, and the third infographic listed the internet as being available in schools as of 1996.
While looking at a visual representation of educational technologies in an infographic format was definitely user-friendly and easy to understand, the reliability of the content itself is up for debate, reinforcing for me that no matter the educational technology used for learning, content and credibility are always critical.
Hi Amber,
Great idea to look at history using infographics, they are widely used (some say overused) for many educational purposes.
Do you think that infographics, although visually appealing and easy to read, oversimplify things and as a result students may miss out on greater details of the subject?
Steve
Thanks for the comment, Steve. I think an infographic, like any form of communication, has its pluses and minuses. What makes it effective (or not) is the context in which it is used. An infographic might risk oversimplifying a topic, like you suggest, but I think with good visual and instructional design to support it, an infographic could also be a great way to help someone learn. I’ll cite Einstein here, with the disclaimer that I don’t know if this is a direct quote or if it has morphed over the years: “Everything should be made as simple as possible, but not simpler.”
Hi Amber!
I love the idea of using infographics to survey the field! One of the things I really liked about this approach is that I could follow right along with you without reading in-depth a lot of extra sources. I also thought that your blog post looks really great!
I think one of the interesting things that you have highlighted is that often there is an agreement on the approximate dates for the introduction of the technology (i.e. within 10-20 years), but not a precise agreement. Potentially this could have to do with what various authors are considering as you pointed out (when was it introduced (i.e. a paper or speech at a conference or the first experiments), when it was patented or when it was widely available (and this is a subjective criteria)). This is further compounded by people quoting sources and not fully conveying the context that the original author is citing. This may be true with a lot of concepts/ideas especially where the initial concept has been refined over time and where its usage increases as it evolves.
Interesting post! Looking forward to reading more from you over the coming weeks!
Lorri
Hi Lorri, thanks so much for your comments – glad you enjoyed the post. I find (dis)agreements on dates to be quite entertaining. It seems as a culture we often try to pin down exact dates for historical events when there really aren’t any. It would be more accurate to acknowledge a gradual shift in cultural or technological trends over time, but then, it would make developing timelines just that much harder!