The modern printing press has evolved monumentally since its original design, which was believed to have been first conceived in China during the first millennium A.D. The original method, also known as block printing, utilized reversed panels of hand-carved wood blocks.  With time, this process was improved upon and made to be more efficient, offering greater speeds in printing.​​

 

However, it was not until 1440 that the printing press appeared in Europe after Johannes Gutenberg began perfecting the machine for commercial use. Finally, the speed and movable feature of the printing press allowed for mass production of books and a shift away from laborious manuscript copying.

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At this point in time, small pockets of learning existed around the world, however, it was not easy for ideas to travel. The invention of the printing press meant that ideas could spread across Europe, influencing artists, scientists, philosophers and generating a wider literate reading public. More and more books of a secular nature were printed, particularly science-based ones. Scientists were able to share their work by dispersing hundreds and thousands of copies. They could also be confident that it was accurate and not miscopied. Eventually, this distribution of knowledge led to the Scientific Revolution of the Enlightenment, which radically altered people’s views of the world and universe.

The spread of both uncensored information and opinions was also rapid and soon became a threat to established power structures, such as the church. Prior to the invention, books were only owned by monasteries, educational institutions, and very wealthy families. With the expansion of the printing press, what was once a rare and exclusive item became more accessible to lay people because of their economical prices. Eventually, large quantities of books began to spill into the bookshelves of schools and churches disrupting the relationships between educator and student.

The invention of the printing press played a significant role in transforming an oral medieval culture to a literate one that focussed on silent and private reading (Havelock 1963, Ong 1982). No longer were students wholly reliant on their educators for knowledge. People who once depended on their ministers to read scriptures to them now had access to a printed version. Their religious education was no longer at the mercy of the few who possessed a Bible and could read. Essentially, the printing press became a catalyst to an unprecedented wave of change in religion, politics, thought and society.

Eisentsein (1979) describes the changing educational landscape: “Students took full advantage of technical texts which served as ‘silent instructors’.” He asserts that given these texts, young minds began to “surpass not only their own elders but the wisdom of ancients as well” (p. 689).  The change that was triggered by the printing press can be mirrored with the impact of more recent technological innovations of today, such as the Internet. Students of the past and today have acquired newfound freedom to access information in ways they never had before.