Summary — A BRIEF HISTORY OF EDUCATION (& EDUCATIONAL TECHNOLOGY)

Prior to technology, word of mouth communication was the only type of education that existed.
Back then, when schools were available only to the aristocracy, the assumption would have been that leisure was synonymous with learning. In these times, speech was the primary means by which people learned and passed on learning, making accurate memorisation a critical skill.The first examples of educational technology in the ancient world were the tools that students and teachers used for writing. Then, by the time of Shakespeare’s Europe, in the 15th century, schools had more or less become the education system that can be recognised today.On the back of the printing press, schools gradually developed a curriculum in which the subjects considered most important were taught. By the mid-1600s, the modern library and the pencil were introduced, marking the first examples of educational technology.
During this period since the middle ages and until the latter half of the 20th century, learning has primarily been focused on the curriculum rather than the child. In other words, for a great many children, compulsory education has been monotonous affair, marked by rote learning and memorisation.The 20th century was a key time in education, when the ideas of philosophers like John Dewey really started to gain ground. To many educators nowadays, Dewey’s ideas appear common sense, but they were innovative and progressive at the beginning of the twentieth century.Significantly, education is much more accessible now, and teachers have the tools to communicate more engagingly than ever before.

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