My Digital Timeline by Jasmine Tufts

The Infamous Chalk Board

jas2271677 — 2025-02-04 14:37:44 UTC

The first thing my grandma Mary spoke about during her time in school was the importance of the chalkboard. This was around the late 1950's, so obviously, there were no laptops, iPads, or internet in general. The main way she was given instruction in school was via a chalkboard with wheels, placed at the front of the room.

Nothing Like a Dixon Ticonderoga

jas2271677 — 2025-02-04 14:48:29 UTC

Because all assignments were on paper in the 1950s-60's, pencil was my grandma's main way of getting work done. She emphasized that Dixon Ticonderoga specifically was the pencil everyone liked because they were high quality. She said that her mother could not afford to buy her many school supplies, so she had to be sure to not lose them when she got a new pack every year.

Real Stories of the Reel to Reel

jas2271677 — 2025-02-04 14:52:17 UTC

According to my dad, whenever he had to watch a video in class, the teacher would take out the Reel to Reel. These were mainly used in my dad's elementary school days, during which the teacher would have to hook the tape onto the machine and the movie would be projected via quickly changing pictures.

Remote Learning in the 80's: (AKA Cassette tapes)

jas2271677 — 2025-02-04 14:57:03 UTC

In my dad's high school days, if a student wanted to do learning remotely the only way they could this was by listening to a cassette tape checked out from the school library. You had to bring the tape back before the end of the school day though, meaning that you could only really do your work for about one or two hours outside of class and then you had to wait to check them out again the next day.

Finally, A Screen!

jas2271677 — 2025-02-04 15:01:49 UTC

When I interviewed my cousin who went to school in the 1990s, she said her favorite days were "movie days", during which the teacher would wheel in the TV and play cassettes. There was only one TV per grade level though so each class had to switch off days in which they were allowed to use it.

They're Slow, But They're Computers.

jas2271677 — 2025-02-04 15:06:45 UTC

My cousin told me that computer lab days were really exciting since computers had just started becoming mainstream around this time. She said that though they were significantly slower and did far less than the computers today, they made learning much more accessible. That is, when it was finally her turn on the family computer.