Universities arose because a supportive and protective environment conducive to face-to-face learning, scholarship, and debate was needed. Predictions that various technologies, including television, teaching machines, and Internet-based instruction and distance learning, would replace universities have not been realized. For 800 years, nothing…

This paper describes the instructional devices and innovations developed and used by Gerbert D'Aurillac (ca. 947-1003), who was elected Pope Sylvester II in 999, and their subsequent impact on education in medieval Europe. The effect of prevailing thought on Gerbert's innovations is also described. The first section examines the historical context…