Historical Evolution of the Field of IDT

  • Visual Instruction Movement Begins

  • Period: to

    Educational Film was first produced

  • First School Museum Opened

    The first school museum was opened in St. Louis in 1905. School museums "served as the central administrative unit[s] for visual instruction by [their] distribution of portable museums exhibits, stereographs [three-dimensional photographs], slides, films, study prints, charts, and other instructional materials" (8).
  • "Visual Education" was Published

    Keystone View Company published a teacher's guide to lantern slides and stereographs.
  • Increase in use of visual materials in classrooms

    (films, pictures, and lantern slides)
  • Period: to

    Shift from Visual Instruction to Audiovisual Instruction

  • Department of Visual Instruction was formed

  • Period: to

    Constructivism Popular in US Schools

  • "Visualizing the Curriculum" was Written

  • B.F. Skinner first describes Behavioral Learning Theory

  • Audiovisual Intstruction Movement in schools slowed

  • Period: to

    World War II

  • Division of Visual Aids for War Training

    Formed by the federal government in an attempt to better train soldiers
  • Psychologists & Educators Developed Training Materials for the Military

  • Period: to

    Growth in Instructional Television

  • Period: to

    Ford Foundation Provides $170 Million on Education Television

  • FCC Sets Aside 252 Television Channels for Educational Purposes

  • "The Science of Learning and the Art of Teaching" was publsihed by B.F. Skinner

  • "Taxonomy of Educational Objectives" was published by Benjamin Bloom

  • Sputnik is Launched

  • "Preparing Objectives for Programmed Instruction" was published by Robert Mager

  • "Psychological Principles in System Development" was Published by Robert B. Miller

  • Criterion-Referenced Testing Emerged

  • 1963 Definition of Instructional Technology

    Instructional technology is "the design and use of messages which control the learning process" (p. 2).
  • "Conditions of Learning" by Robert Gagne was published

  • General Systems Theory first applied

    by Silvern
  • Period: to

    1970 Definitions of Instructional Technology

    "the media born of the communications revolution which can be used for instructional purposes alongside the teacher, textbook, and blackboard...The pieces that make up instructional technology [include[: television, films, overhead projectors, computers, and other items of "hardware" and "software" (p. 2)
  • Period: to

    The ADDIE Process came into play

  • Period: to

    Cognitive Information Processing Theory rose to prominence

  • Gagne first describes his Theory of Instruction

  • US Military Adopts an Instructional Design Model

  • 1977 Definition of IT is Adopted

    AECT: "Educational technology is a complex, integrated process involving people, procedures, ideas, devices, and organization, for analyzing problems and devising, implementing, evaluating, and managing solutions to those problems, involved in all aspects of human learning." (p. 3)
  • Computers Available to the General Public

  • Growing Interest in Cognitive Psychology in Instructional Design

  • Computer Usage in the Classroom Increased

    Computers were being used in more than 40% of all elementary schools and more than 75% of all secondary schools in the US (11).
  • Increased Interest in Personal Computers for Instructional Purposes

  • Period: to

    Growing Interest in Constructionist Views of Teaching and Learning

  • 1994 Definition of IT

    Goes beyond viewing instructional technology as a process
  • Situated Learning Theory emegeres

  • The Internet Draws Interest

  • Connectivism is introduced

  • Latest AECT Definition of IT

    "Educational technology is the study and ethical practice of facilitating learning and improving performance by creating, using, and managing appropriate technological processes and resources" (p. 4).