Susie Byun,7 Feb 2002

In an analysis of the Learning Technologies Timeline, the many inventions that have occurred over time have greatly increased the advancement and ease of learning. Allowing for a greater population of people to read, write, and simply communicate with others, these inventions all came about through one's imagination.

Most of these inventions are tools that help aid in reading and writing. However, there were a lot of entries in the timeline that took on a different approach to what it meant to be a "learning technology." Such inventions such as the telephone and the radio were definitely means of making life easier and helping people communicate, which in turn helped people reach a larger population quickly and efficiently with knowledge. Some of the inventions listed were also technologies that made life more convenient and one's environment more enjoyable, such as Thomas Edison's light bulb, video game systems, like ATARI, and the portability and access of cellular phones. One invention that I didn't quite understand was the air conditioner, and how that in it self contributed to learning. Although someone's thought and inventiveness had to create this object, this seemed to me as more of a luxury item rather than a real advancement in knowledge.

The beginnings of the technologies were those that helped spread writing and reading in the simplest terms. Using natural items to create writings and markings, cave paintings, bones, and stone tablets were all materials that were used to write and record. However, the change in the scope and breadth of technology is shown in the timeline, as these earlier inventions were limited to reach only those directly near the user. Now however, such inventions like the Internet, allow a user to communicate and interact with the entire world. Even Gutenberg's invention of the printing press in the 1400s revolutionized reading, writing, and religion to the masses.

Inventions such as the stethoscope were also advancements in technology and science, helping others to further understand the ways in which the human body functioned. Some of these more scientific inventions, such as the USSR's launching of Sputnik, not only helped others learn about the earth and space, but showed evidence of the ways in which learning helped to create these somewhat unthinkable inventions, and further challenging other countries to do the same.

It is also interesting to see the ways in which technology has made things so much more exact and precise in learning. In the same way, learning has become almost anonymous and dehumanized. Computers and typing replaces the original character of handwriting, calculators much more efficiently add, subtract, and multiply numbers, and Xerox machines completely duplicate originals over and over again.

Technology has also greatly lessened the gap between those with disabilities. The invention of Braille in the 1820s helped the blind to read, and hearing aids and other technical devices were also means of helping those with disabilities. However, even with all of these older inventions that try to create equality, there will always be newer inventions that leave behind those who are technologically illiterate and unable to access the technologically advancing world.

From looking at all the different technologies listed, all of them seem to play one major role, which is to further advance the human mind and its capabilities. By using technology and physical materials, the human mind is pushed to think in unordinary ways. However, all of these technologies were created to help communicate and understand the world and human beings, and to help aid and make one's daily routine of doing things easier. And as for some of the future learning technologies that some "predict" will occur, I think it would be hard to rule them out as possible inventions, because there are a lot of things that can and could have only been created with the imagination of the human mind.

page last updated: Spring, 2002