Key developments that I find to be most significant:
Audio visual age – film strip projectors, overhead
projectors
Information age 1960- television, VCR, audio tape, VHS tape
I believe that my choices are considered key developments
because they charted a new era of educating students. Books were initially the
sole instrument for providing information to students. When audio and video
were made accessible to teachers, slides, film strips, video and audio tapes could
broaden the material that students can learn from.
I can recall in elementary school that our class would be
so excited to see the projector or reel to reel in our classroom. It meant that
we were in for a treat. Whether it was a film about a foreign country, a National
Geographic documentary or slides about a topic that we were learning about.
In
high school, one of my electives was a TV/Video class. We learned about how to
make a film. We also learned about classic films and what made them classic. When
we saw the television and VCR in the classroom, we knew that it would be a
great day. This class was where I first
saw Citizen Kane...
and Cool Hand Luke...
The use of technology increased my learning because prior
to taking that class, I did not know how to look at a film and see what the
director was trying to say, what message he/she was putting forth to the
audience. Today, I watch various types of films (my husband always asks me if I
have heard of something that he sees is coming on cable). Although we do not
get to the movies much due to our children, I keep a subscription to
Entertainment Weekly to stay abreast of all the new films that are in
production or being released. Technological advances have made the projector, VCR,
audio and video tape obsolete but my love of the cinema was peaked from what I learned
in that class.
