Blog Post on Rhymes of History Technology
Thornburg (2014) describes that principle of rhymes of history as the affect or impact of a new development that rekindles something from the past. I found especially noteworthy in Thornburg’s view of the rhyme of history as it relates to technology, was that the focus was not on the evolution of technology ; but the affect of the technology that is being rekindled. The example for illustrates the rhymes of history that I have decided to focus on individual presentation tools. In the 11th century, students in ancient Sumeria and Babylonia used clay tablets to display their cuneiform writing. This evolved into the creation of the slate board which was used in the 18th century. The chalkboard was developed later in the 19th century to presentation information. After the chalkboard, the invention of the dry-erase board emerged which utilized dry erase markers. Now, today we have iPads that have apps that function as interactive whiteboards. Therefore, the iPad is rekindling the idea of presenting information to convey a message to another person. However, today we can this message without using a pencil, pen, or stylus apparatus. People can now use their fingers to write or draw a message. Today the message can also be shared with not only the people who are next to you but globally. Using the Educreations app for the iPad the user can create a visual that has text and share their creation for another person via email or post on social media.
Babylonian Clay Tablet
Chalkboard and Chalk
iPad Educreations App
References
Dunn, J. (2011). The Evolution of Classroom Technology, Edudemic: Connecting Education and Technology. Retrieved from http://www.edudemic.com/classroom-technology/
Laureate Education (Producer). (2014h). David Thornburg: Rhymes of history [Video file]. Baltimore, MD: Author.
The History of the Classroom blackboard (2012) Retrieved from http://education.cu-portland.edu/blog/reference-material/the-history-of-the-classroom-blackboard/
Hi Joseph,
ReplyDeleteOf the evolutions you mentioned on your post, I believe the most interesting one is the iPad, a way of presenting information in a much more different way. I know many schools that did not even have dry-erase boards. However, the emergence of touch technology -in a way- compelled educational institutions to adopt such technology.
Mustafa
Joseph,
ReplyDeleteI can clearly see how the rhymes of history drives the emergence of Educreations Interactive Whiteboard by rekindling what people thought was missing in the chalk board and the Babylonian clay tablet from the past. The use of the clay tablets gave hard time to the users due to the amount of time, energy they exert to write a message in a single clay tablet. The Chalkboard technology partly rekindled the feeling people have on using something available to write on a flat surface. However, the emergence of Educreations Interactive White board app. has rekindled the use of something available and easy to transmit messages. What a chalkboard missed was relatively speaking, was rekindled by the Educreations Interactive White board.