I’ve been doing some interesting reading on technology timelines today. It’s been interesting to read how future predictions have come true much faster than had originally been anticipated. Other have fallen by the wayside.
What’s fascinating is to watch the move from desktop to mobile, and from disc drive to Cloud. The pace of change and deployment is certainly speeding up every year!
This link provides another view on a timeline – Interesting to see BT predicting that 2010 is the year an artificially intelligent entity will reach GCSE standards of intelligence.
See this article too
Lawler, P. A. (2005). The Problem of Technology. Perspectives on Political Science, 34(3), 125-134.
I thought it would be interesting to research back a bit further and to concentrate on different sources not just UK based (I read lots and just noted down key dates from technological developments to influential publications discussing the Technological Revolution):
1912 – Edward Thorndike’s inspirational comment – “If, by a miracle of mechanical ingenuity, a book could be so arranged that only to him who had done what was directed on page one would page two become visible, and so on, much that now requires personal instruction could be managed by print” (Holmes and Gardner, 2006).
1920s – This influenced Sydney Pressey’s ‘Testing Machine,’ the mechanical beginning.
1958 – B. F. Skinner created a ‘teaching machine called the ‘Skinner Box’. (Skinner Foundation @ http://www.bfskinner.org/)
1964 – McLuhan’s influential book ‘Understanding Media: The Extensions of Man’ – discussing the impact of ‘electric media’.
1965 – First computer to be installed in a UK school.
1966 – Patrick Suppes predicts “in a few more years, millions of school children will have access to…. the personal services of a tutor as well informed and responsive as Aristotle” (Suppes, 1966). Prediciting the WWW?
1967 – The National Council for Educational Technology (NCET) is established in the UK.
1969 – NCET’s computer assisted learning initiative approved by Margaret Thatcher! who was then the Secretary of State for Education and Science. In the USA the foundations of a world wide web resource was established by the US government ARPANET, which sent the first email!I’m amazed that Margaret Thatcher was approving computer assisted learning in 1969! I think this is an important event – it highlights the Government’s recognition of technology’s place in education. Margaret Thatcher was a scientist before politics, so I suspect she was quite enthusiastic. I was fascinated to see the first computer was in a UK school in 1965 – it must have needed a whole room to put it in!
1970 – Alvin Tofler’s influential book ‘Future Shock’ discussed the potential effects of technology on society.
1973 – UK development project ‘National Development Programme for Computer Based Learning (NDPCAL),’ created academic centres of excellence in computer-based learning.
1977 – The arrival of the first microcomputers from Tandy, Apple and Commodore.
1979 – Christopher Evans’ book – ‘The Mighty Micro’ – predicting and debating the microcomputer.
1980 – 1986 – UK government set up ‘Computers for Schools’ scheme.
1983 – Tom Stonier ‘The Wealth of Information’ – discussing the advantages of technology and education. A visionary for the WWW.
1990 – Tim Berners – Lee (now Sir!) created first hypertext system or website, the first browser editor and founded the URL, HTML, HTTP standards.
it’s interesting how the understanding of computer assisted learning’s potential preceded the arrival of machines that could make it ubiquitous. Also, even today, that ubiquity hasn’t materialised and the digital divide remains.