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20+ Years of EdTech

I have used every one of these devices in fulfillment of my duties as a classroom teacher. These were the tools available to me since I became an educator.
It makes me feel rather old, but proud nonetheless, to have mastered these valuable communication technologies for teaching and learning.
01
I figured out how this thing worked.
02
Even managed to get the hang of this bad boy.
03
I could tune in radio stations on AM AND FM. Shortwave was hit and miss.

04
I could drop my needle on any music track I wanted and weighted the stylus with pennies to compensate for scratches.
05
I could load film and flash, knew how many pictures were left, and where to take it for developing.
06
I mastered the hand-crank Gestetner...

07
... how to make spirit masters in the Thermofax...
08
and how to fill the electric Gestetner with copy fluid.
09
OK, never used a CB in class, but 10-4, I could work one for sure there good buddy.

10
Threading this monster was a challenge, but not impossible.
11
This was much easier, as long as the film and cassettes were rewound.
12
This vid camera was much easier to run than the16mm and the school had one. It was too valuable to use. Don't touch it.

5a
If you stood the right way holding the rabbit ears, the picture was clear...
5b
... and changing the channel with the remote was easy peasy!
6a
Typing lessons was part of a healthy fitness regime.

And some say today's technology is too complicated.

Want to talk about that?

Posted by milesmac on March 11th, 2012 Posted in Pedagogy Tagged as: ,,,,

4 Comments

  1. Richard Croxson says:
    May 22, 2012 at 5:16 AM

    Hi there

    I have just acquired a Gestetner 26 and wondered if you were able to tell me how it works?

    Many thanks
    Richard

    Reply
    • milesmac says:
      May 22, 2012 at 6:05 AM

      Haha! You're taxing my memory. As I recall there was special transfer paper like onion skin attached to carbon paper. One would draw, write or type their message on the sheet. The sheet was then attached to the large drum on the Gestetner. (vaguely remembering something about the image being flipped horizontally... Perhaps that happened during the drawing). There.was a paper tray at the bottom and a tank with an alcohol based fluid. As you turned the drum crank, the machine would grab a sheet from the feeder and press it against the spirit master sheet. Must have been a dial or two to adjust for pressure and the amount of fluid feed to the drum. Later there were thermal transfer machines that could transfer the contents of a printed page to a spirit master. Tattooists use these today to get the desired design onto the recipient's body providing a guide for the final product.
      Sorry cant dig out any more specifics than that. Hope it helps. Cheers!

      Reply
  2. Ella says:
    February 24, 2013 at 7:48 PM

    Dear Milesmac,
    I really liked you post!Most of the stuff on it look pretty cool.

    from,
    Ella

    P.S I am from 4KM.

    Reply
  3. John edelson says:
    April 11, 2013 at 6:40 AM

    Wow! I just followed the link from a comment you made on http://www.retroedtech.com
    This is the mother lode!

    Reply

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