In the last 30 years, North American primary and secondary schools have gone through many changes, specifically in terms of the type of technology that is used to promote education and learning and the amount that people use technology, like computers, in class. Let’s go back in time…
1990 Three Decades Ago____________________________________
When I think about the year 1990, it seems like it was only 10 years ago, even though I know it's the year 2020. I cannot believe it has been 30 years! Back then, school was not that different─or was it?
In the picture on the right, students practice their keyboarding skills at Richardson Independent School District's Forest Lane Academy in Dallas, Texas, in 1999. A former State Board of Education Chairman suggested that it could be time to redirect textbook funds into buying laptop computers and easily updated software.
President Bill Clinton gives his weekly radio address inside a trailer used as a classroom at Glenforest Elementary School in Falls Church, Virginia, in 1998 Robert Giroux/Reuters
Students took notes on paper and computers were not available in every classroom. Google, which is arguably one of the most important components of computer use at school today, was only founded in 1998. Although computer use was becoming more popular, it was still two decades away from being commonplace.
_________________________________________2000 Two Decades Ago
While most Sentinel Secondary students were busy being born, Mr. Beetlestone was going to high school. He can attest to the fact that going to school in the early 2000s was not easy. With most information being on paper and in books, research was not just a click away. In fact, for Mr. Beetlestone, it was located on top of a hill, inside a library. Most students might be familiar with digital research databases, like Gale, wherein you input a word and
receive hundreds of peer reviewed papers, but at the library, the process of finding information was slightly more time-consuming. First, you had to look through a card catalog to find book titles pertaining to your research topic.
Then you would take the Creative Commons cards and scan the shelves to find the books you needed. Then, finally, you had your research, only now you would need to find the specific pages that could actually help you. As far as classrooms go, a regular increase in computers depended on the amount of money at a school. Computer labs were becoming more common, although this was the only time computers would be used at school. Teenagers may have started using iPhones at this time, as the first generation iPhone was released in 2007.
2010 A Decade Ago___________________________________________
All of the current Sentinel students went to school in the 2010s. I think we’re all familiar with the excitement of going to the computer lab to work,
but more importantly play Cool Math Games. In some schools, Google Classroom might have started making an appearance, as it was launched in 2014. The decade of 2010 was a time for many changes, and a grade 12 student said that while she almost never used a laptop in elementary school, her younger sister needed one as early as grade four. Some students might remember teachers using overhead projectors like the one pictured to the left. In the last ten years, the majority of these projectors have been replaced by digital projectors attached to ceilings or walls. In this decade, students were also starting to take notes on laptops, instead of pen and paper, although some teachers still do not support this.
____________________________________________________2020 Present
Nowadays, note-taking has seen some of the biggest changes, with iPads being popularized as tools to take notes on paper─digitally. Many students still use pen and paper while others prefer typing.
In a recent survey on our Instagram (@sentinelschoolblog), 59% of students preferred pen and paper, while only 41% of students enjoyed taking notes digitally on a laptop.
Laptops have nonetheless become commonplace at school, so much so that not having a charged laptop is a hindrance. Much of our school life revolves around Gmail, Google Classroom and Google Drive, and laptops are here to stay.
2030 The Future ________________________________________________
One of the next potential technologies that may enter schools are Virtual Reality headsets. One advantage of virtual reality would be the immersion into historical spaces. Have you ever wanted to know what ancient Rome was like? Using VR, time travel would be virtually possible!
It could also be used to provide hands-on experiences for students that wouldn’t be possible otherwise. Although there could be possible ramifications of VR, as prolonged use could have physical ramifications, using VR as an occasional teaching tool could expand the realm of learning as we know it.
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