I have a few memories from my elementary school days in regards to technology. First, I remember having an old Mac computer in our school that we would take turns playing games on. I have no idea what type of games they were or even if they were educational, but I remember waiting patiently for my turn on the computer. At home, my sister and I loved the hour once a week that we were allowed to play on our ATARI video game. After a few years, we were allowed to upgrade to a Nintendo and I loved playing Mario Brothers and Bubble Bobble. As I moved into high school, I remember taking a typing course as one of our electives (along with sewing, cooking, metal and woodwork). We would all sit at the computers and the teacher would cover our hands during out “typing tests.”
Once I graduated from high school (1998), I took my first online course and it was a Canadian history course. I was sent cassette tapes that I had to listen to each week and I would have to submit my papers via email. There was no back and forth dialogue with other students and we had a 2 hour block of time that we were given to email our teacher any questions that we had. It’s hard to believe that it has been 20 years since I took my first course online.
Nicole
Hi Nicole,
That’s so interesting about the cassette tapes…a lot has changed in 20 years! When reading some more dated novels with my current class some funny anecdotes have come up; sometimes they mention VHS tapes and I find myself telling the kids that you had to rewind them and you could get a fine added to your account if you didn’t!
Yes! I remember getting many fines for not rewinding the VHS tapes before returning them to the video store. Hard to believe that since then we went to DVD and now it’s almost impossible to find a Video Store.
Oh, man! The old “correspondence” classes! One-way dialogue with no feedback until it was already too late! Thanks for the trip down memory lane!
Hello Nicole,
I remember doing a distance learning for the first time and it was a similar experience for me. It was all VHS tapes and assignments with very little interaction with the instructor and none with classmates. Things have evolved so much, it’s really quite incredible. I love the MET experience but hated all previous experiences in distance education. To me, the best part of education is the exchange of ideas through interaction and today’s technology makes that possible, fortunately.
Yes, I agree with you! I love that we are able to converse with each other as sometimes this helps me better understand some of the concepts or articles that we are reading. It’s amazing to see how far we have come in just a short amount of time. A little scary to think about what things will look like in 10 or 20 years.
Hi Nicole,
It’s amazing how much has changed! That’s so interesting that you were sent cassette tapes to listen to, and how you could only contact the teacher during certain hours. At least you could email your papers, because I remember some people telling me they used to have to mail their papers in!
Hi Nicole,
Amazing that you were sent cassette tapes! Takes me back to the days of trying to record my favourite songs onto the tapes and then rewinding them so I could listen to the songs again and again.. so much has changed. I remember my teacher covering my hands for typing tests as well and we had to practice on ‘All the Right Type’ on a regular basis. I wonder how technology will have evolved twenty years from today… kind of scary.
In elementary school, I remember helping the teachers with the film strips and the movie projectors. You needed to make sure the “loop” was not too big or small. This was before VHS was available.
Where will be in 10, 20 100 years from now?
Christopher
We have gone from movie projectors, VHS, DVD, to BlueRay. These have almost become “obsolete” as more and more people use Netflix or they purchase their movies through iTunes or their cable provider. What comes next?
It’s hard to imagine where we will be in even 5 years from now. There is so much technology available and everyone has their preference as to the type or types of devices that they use. Social media has completely changed the way that students engage and interact with each other. I can’t keep up with all the platforms that they use. What will the role of the teacher be in 10 years?