1440
Johannes Gutenberg invents his printing press and mass produces the bible. It is difficult to find a starting point for instructional technology while there are certainly earlier signs of writing. But for this timeline, this seems to be as good as any.
Here is the information on Johannes from About.com
Here is a video of the machine at work.
1926
Kenjiro Takayanagi projects the first image onto a cathode ray tube. Thus he is deemed the "father of television."
Here are a few details from JVC's website.
1939-1945
World War II brings about the incredible impact media can have on the mind. Propaganda from all parties were huge factors in starting the war and ending it. The Nazi skillfully used film, signs, posters, and speeches to sway their audience into the value system Hitler devised. They used film for training their pilots and infantry. The allied factions knew the strength of training films and used the same tactics to develop workers in the United States as well as soldiers getting ready to be deployed.
Here is a film review of a Nazi film, The Eternal Jew.
American's used Bugs Bunny for anti-Japanese propaganda.
1943 training video.
1945
The first idea of "hypertext" was described by a series of levers. For example, someone is reading an article and reads the word "birds" and wants to know more about birds. So this person pulls a lever and here is information about a bird (or an actual bird could appear or a book). Then he or she reads the word "flight" and wants to know more about flight. So the person pulls a lever and more information appears about flight. Then they read the word "pilot" and want to know more about pilots.... and so on.
Click here to explore about Vannevar Bush and his lever system.
Here is a pdf that has information about his lever system. Use ctr+f and search for "It consists of a desk" to find the page that discusses this topic.
1956
Benjamin Bloom introduces his learning taxonomy system.
Click here to view his taxonomies.
1958
David Paul Gregg invents the laser disc. This is the predecessor to the music CD, DVD, and BluRay Disc. It allowed audio and video to be stored on a disc format.
Here is an eHow on it's creation.
1965
Ted Nelson coins the word "hypertext" which supports the lever system by Vannevar Bush via a computer in a time when computers were primarily used for number crunching.
View this article about Ted Nelson
View this webpage which briefly mentions Ted Nelson.
1967
Texas Instruments produces the first hand held calculator. It was small, and designed for basic arithmetic operations.
Click here.
1969
Jim Henson has his first broadcast of Sesame Street, the amazing learning show that has survived countless other shows. This learning show teaches counting, spelling, and arithmetic to young viewers.
Check out this page.
1976
JVC produces the VHS recorder. VHS, having survived its rival Betamax, became the world standard for video for a little more than two decades.
Here is a link.
1990
Tim Berners-Lee delivers us the internet. There were many events leading up to this moment, such as some of the previous events in this timeline with hypertext and the development of computers.
Here is a timeline that gives a greater detail of the leading up to 1990 and many of the developments of browsers and such after the launch.
1997
WebCT 1.0 and Blackboard are released and put into place.
Here is a pdf about WebCT.
2001
Wikipedia is launched by Jimmy Wales and Larry Sanger. It connects articles via hypertext and allows users to give their own input.
Here is the Wikipedia page about... Wikipedia.
2005
Google purchases the Linux powered Android Operating System. Google will take Android from here and implement it into smart phones to produce the worlds leader (in market share) for smartphones. Google also delivers this operating system through tablets as well.
Here is the news article about the purchase.
2006
Blackboard patents it's online environment.
Click here to read the patent.
2006
Dickey, M. (2006). Game design narrative for learning: appropriating adventure game design narrative devices and techniques for the design of interactive learning environments. Educational Technology, Research and Development, 54(3), 245-263. doi: 10.1007/s11423-006-8806-y
Michelle Dickey researches game based learning along with others through the decade like Gee.
2010
Apple's IPad is a color display touch screen device that serves as an eReader and as an interactive tool.
Want to watch an IPad commercial? Why not let Apple tell you what an IPad can do...
2012
While some school districts have already implemented a Bring Your Own Technology policy, others are hesitant to follow.
Here is an article from this current year about schools that are doing it, and those that aren't.