History of Educational Technologies Timeline




1635 - Founding of the first public school in the US:
On April 23, 1635, Boston Latin School became the first public school in the United States. The school's motto, Sumus Primi, is translated as "we are first." The first classes were held in the home of Schoolmaster Philemon Pormont, until a separate schoolhouse was erected in 1645.

The school was established primarily to offer students training in the humanities, focusing on classical Greek and Latin works. Even today, students are required to complete five years of study in Latin. Additional points of emphasis included economics, and an extensive exposure to musical and artistic pursuits.

The Boston Latin School provided students with a structured learning environment and access to information and opportunities which were not widely available. Emphasis was placed on parental interaction in the children's learning process, resulting in the founding of the BLS parents' association. An early attendee of the Boston Latin School was Benjamin Franklin, although the acceptance of an internship with his brother meant that he never graduated.


2009 - Introduction of the first fully automated classroom:
On August 26, 2009, students at the Illinois Math and Science Academy in Aurora, IL began classes as usual. However, rather than spending 3rd period in Ms. Thomas' Calculus I class, students were instead registered for CalcI with FACE, a first of its kind Fully Automated Classroom Environment.

Rather than facing the usual blackboard, students instead found themselves in front of a wall-sized LCD display on which words were typed in perfect, readable English at a predetermined pace to allow for ease of notetaking. Additionally, graphs and diagrams could be displayed in a clear form, as well as pictures, and even three-dimensional images depicting real-world applications. Coupled with this visual representation was a digital audio recording of the day's lecture, prerecorded by a professional orator in order to maximize clarity and inflection in order to maintain student interest.

Students were able to take notes, as well as complete quizzes and tests by means of a personalized notepad, similar to the palm pilots of the 1990's, each equipped with handwriting recognition software calibrated to the individual student, eliminating the problems of messy assignments. Also, with the touch of a button, notes could be downloaded to the student's computer at home.

An additional feature of the notepads was the presence of a "question" button with which students could momentarily interupt the lecture by submitting a question, which would be displayed on the screen, and then answered. A large database meant that most answers could be retrieved by the automized "lecturer" and simply displayed, while more complex queries were dealt with directly by a class monitor, typically a former teacher or relative expert in the field who was able to keep tabs on multiple classes simultaneously though video surveillance. Questions answered by the monitors were immediately entered into the relevant database. These monitors also served a disciplinary function, which was obviously an issue in a teacherless classroom, by providing verbal reprimands through classroom speakers or summoning other personnel if necessary.

A final benefit of the automated classroom was the presence of various prompts or questions interspersed with the lecture material which would appear on the students notepads to assure that they were both paying attention and comprehending the material. Those students who did not consistently answer the questions correctly or seemed to fall behind could be singled out privately to receive special help.