History of

Educational Technology

Source: Garo,C. (2007). Teaching educational technology. Manila: Rex Publishing Company.
 Ancient Civilization
- use of pointed sticks to inscript signs and
symbols on the leaves

- use of knives to inscript signs and symbols on

the bark of trees
Egyptians (3100 B.C.)
- developed a system of picture writing called
hieroglyphics

Hieroglyphics – may represent the objects for

which they stand for or represent a sound or
group of sounds

Scribes – group of men trained on the art of

writing and came to be the country’s chronicler
of events
Ancient Greece
Spartan Education – emphasized the development of the
physical body coupled with discipline
Boys 🡪 exercises and activities that promoted bodily
strength, endurance, and vitality
🡪 activities: dancing, wrestling, horseback riding,
swimming, gymnastics
🡪 Paidonomus: the boys’ teacher; a military
commander in the public barracks

Girls 🡪 stayed at home with their mothers and were

taught housekeeping
Athens
- first to recognize the right of the individual to
develop to the fullest

- believed that the mind and the body has a strong

relationship

- prime concern of music schools, grammar

schools, and public gymnasiums / palaestra is
developing the mind and the body
 Sophists
- wandering scholars
- emphasized cognitive rules, systematic
arrangement of subject matter, use of
instructional technologies, design and
implementation of effective instructional
materials
 Medieval Era
- establishment of the Medieval University
- Emperor Frederick I of Bologna in 1158
chartered the first university
🡪 degrees offered were expanded which
required students to engage in more in depth
studies and to write their theses, defend them in
public before the deans, facultas, and rectors
- Saracens or the Arabs among the Moors of
Spain
aim of education was search for knowledge and the
application of scientific facts to their daily lives
their curriculum was the most organized and
complete in the elementary, secondary, and collegiate
levels
their universities and libraries were the models in the
entire Europe because they invented the printing
press
originated the scientific method of teaching
 Renaissance Period
- modern times began
- lines of concern: intellectual, aesthetic, and
scientific
- movements: humanism, disciplinism, and
rationalism
- Rationalism: contributed to the development of
educational technology especially along theories
and practices
- John Locke: nature of the child’s mind at birth
(tabula rasa)

- Johann Amos Comenius: developed the first

picture book known as Orbis Pictus (The World
in Pictures)
🡪 pioneer in instructional technology
development

- Maria Montessori: use of multi-sensory materials

in teaching
 Age of Naturalism
- Jean Jacques Rousseau: authored the book Emile
🡪 aim of education was the preservation of the
natural goodness of the individual and the
formation of society based upon the recognition
of natural individual rights

- Herbartian Method of Teaching: preparation,

presentation, comparison and abstraction,
generalization and application
- Pestallozi: believed that teaching is more
effective if it proceeds from concrete to abstract,
hence the use of actual and real objects that
involve most of the senses

- Froebel: father of kindergarten

🡪 emphasized the use of actual objects which
could be manipulated by the learners
🡪 recommended the use of play and songs
 th
19 Century
- John Dewey: formulated the scientific theory of
learning; pragmatist
- Edward Thorndike: laws of learning; connectionist
- paved the way to the development of effective
educational technology including the production
of books, use of blackboards, and improvement of
writing implements
- photography was invented giving way to a
movement called visual instruction
- visual media became widely accepted in 1920
- audio-visual media texts was published
- in 1926, educational films were used as
instructional media
- in 1932, the first instructional TV program was
aired at the State University of Iowa
- 16mm sound motion picture was developed\

- during the 2nd World War: movies, filmstrips,

radio, and other pictorial devices were used in
military trainings

- programmed instruction by Skinner

- Bloom’s taxonomy of educational objectives

- use of modularized instruction

 Contemporary Times
- multimedia resources and computers in
classrooms

- maintenance of an educational media center

- revision and enrichment of curricular offerings

to include courses in computer applications

- use of CAI
- use of multimedia presentations in the
classrooms
- educational organizations are linking up with
TEIs
- use of Internet and E-mail for fast-paced
interactive learning, communication, and search
for information
- computer literacy programs for ISYs and OSYs
- computers became more user-friendly