How computing technology has evolved in the classroom

Canva For many middle and high school students, the COVID-19 pandemic marked a major departure from the models of education they had been accustomed to for most of their lives. Instead of interacting with their peers and engaging with their teachers, eating lunch together in the cafeteria, and perhaps going to band practice or art class, they attended school within the confines of their homes, seeing the faces of their friends in small thumbnails on Zoom. It would have been difficult for most people just decades–or even only a few years–ago to imagine that remote learning could so rapidly and completely take the place of traditional in-person schooling. While the sentiment behind the adage “necessity is the mother of invention” certainly holds true in the case of the pandemic, the technological innovations that made everything from video conferencing to online learning management systems possible have been in the works for decades. Just as remote learning represented a major shift in how educators, students, and parents alike conceptualized school, the advent of technology like pocket calculators, personal computers, and the World Wide Web similarly blew open entrenched ways of teaching and learning, allowing for more ease and exploration in the classroom. More quickly than initial reluctance or suspicion of technology would lead many to expect, new innovations become assimilated into what students perceive as the norm. While not without its challenges and setbacks, computing technology has opened the door to different styles of learning and greater educational accessibility. To trace how technology used in classrooms has changed over the past six decades, EDsmart consulted a variety of news, education, and technology industry sources and highlighted some of the most influential innovations. 1970s: Floppy disks enter the scene Canva The ’70s brought several crucial technological innovations to classrooms and beyond, including the first pocket-sized LED calculators. Prior to 1970, calculators were large, tabletop machines that cost roughly $1,000. In 1971, the HANDY calculator entered the market, boasting a handheld size, an LED display, and a nearly $400 price tag–the equivalent of nearly $3,000 today. Despite its inaccessible price point, the calculator paved the way for smaller and cheaper models in the following years, changing how people engaged with math inside and outside the classroom. The 1970s also saw the advent of word processors, a massive leap forward from typewriters that enabled people to keep a record of their writings separate from physical copies. This was made possible largely through the invention of floppy disks in the early 70s, capable of storing between 80 and 100 written pages–a massive departure from previous storage media, which could only hold about one page. The first iteration of Apple computers debuted in the mid-’70s. Steve “Woz” Wozniak created the prototype for the Apple-1 computer in 1975, revolutionizing how computers looked with its built-in keyboard and television screen monitor. The Apple-1 began selling in 1976 after Wozniak partnered with Steve Jobs. 1980s: Personal computers establish themselves in schools Monkey Business Images // Shutterstock While personal computers began entering the market in the 1970s, they didn’t take off until IBM introduced its own version in 1981. Businesses began buying PCs en masse, and schools began investing hundreds of millions of dollars in computers and software. Soon after IBM’s PC debut, other companies began producing similar models, offering more choice–and better prices–to consumers. Companies like IBM marketed directly to schools by asserting the role of computers in the future of children’s education. Part of this marketing was through the development of school-specific software like typing programs, math and logic games, and spelling and reading activities. Even software specializing in things like SAT prep began making its way into classrooms. The ’80s also saw the emergence of the first graphing calculators, which could handle complex mathematical computations and visualize them. 1990s: The World Wide Web is born