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A World In Pictures
The Orbus Pictus published by Comenius captivated learners with illustrated subjects represented in a way that was universally understood and effective in uniting the abstract and the physical, greatly reducing the barrier to entry for educators to engage students through the use of sensory examples to provide meaningful lessons. -
The Lancastarian Method
The model of instruction pioneered by Joseph Lancaster utilized innovative classroom designs to accommodate large numbers of students for relatively low costs in addition to organizing subject matter by grade. Methods of instruction included using chalkboards, slates, and desks that featured a thin layer of sand, which students used to practice writing. -
Froebel's Kindergarten and Object Learning
Inspired by Comenius' illustrations and the power of socialized learning, Froebel crafted his instructional method for early education based around learning through the act of play. The idea being that students can have personal, organic experiences that are meaningful to the individual by utilizing interactive objects that could be used to impart symbolic representations of abstract concepts. This method of sensory teaching would be expanded upon by Pestalozzi & Herbart to more advanced levels. -
School Museums
Serving as a hub for supplemental visualizations of various lessons taught at school in the early 1900s, school museums' exhibits included the use of slides, films, print, and other instructional media to provide bold presentations for many subjects. -
Audiovisual Movement and Instructional Radio
With the rapid expansion of radio technology and the formation of the Dept. of Visual Instruction, large efforts were made to broadcast educational content over the airwaves for people to listen to in the 1920's and 30's. Although the impacts of these efforts didn't reach its full potential during this time, the widespread adoption of radios and the exciting new field of creating instructional media in this way would play a massive role in how millions would learn in the years to come. -
WWII and the Influence of Instructional Films
Audiovisual training materials presented to soldiers in WWII proved to be a massively successful exercise in quickly and effectively providing instruction to large groups of people. This sparked confidence in the medium and a huge push was given in the form of research and investment into the production of instructional films across the nation directed at all stages of learning after the war. -
Instructional Television
Thanks to a huge public push from the government and the Ford Foundation, schools were able to present instructional programs to an unprecedented number of students in the 50s and 60s. While the effort ultimately did not revolutionize the classroom curricula as rapidly as many had predicted, the developments incentivized many companies to embrace the medium of TV and film as a means to engage with and deliver information to millions of people at home over the next few decades. -
Programmed Instruction: The Roots of Instructional Design
B.F. Skinner and other psychologists observing the efficacy of instructional media led the Programmed Instruction movement of the 50s and 60s. In their findings, they concluded that by presenting material in small steps, learners have more opportunities to give and take feedback from the material, thus providing the researchers with more incremental data which they could use to identify instructional weaknesses and positive reinforcement. This helped guide practices for crafting good objectives. -
Gagné's Conditions of Learning
In his research, Gagné settled on organizing a hierarchy of skills (or 'domains') by which learning of difficult topics or expertise can occur incrementally and naturally through the acquisition of smaller sub-skills. His work has largely influenced the world of Instructional Design and its concept of 'mastery' and is regarded as one of the cornerstones of the field today regarding the evaluation of educational media and materials. -
Embracing the Systems Approach to Instruction
By the 1970s, it was clear that the most effective instructional programs were those whose materials were produced in tandem with high-quality evaluative practices. These types of hierarchical learning systems required deep levels of research to prove their efficacy before being deemed worthy of investment and implementation, so the field of instructional design as an academic specialization like we know today really began to form around this time. -
Early Computer Usage in Education
With the advent of the microcomputer in the 80s, once-massive devices were capable enough to find their way onto students' desktops. During this time, the instructional potential of computers was still rather modest, most being used to practice drills and word processing, though it was a much-appreciated asset to IDs and researchers in terms of collecting and evaluating performance data of students and professionals. This data allowed for nuanced analysis for crafting effective curricula. -
Expanding the Scope of Instructional Design
With the digital revolution beginning to hit all industries during the 90s, the work of IDs began to intersect and diverge on a large scale. The prospect of data collection and analysis among employers introduced a rapidly growing need to maximize job performance and professional training. The collaborative nature of the internet allowed for this type of research to be conducted quickly and shared amongst many different fields, showcasing the benefits of the constructivist approach in a new age. -
Distance Learning and Online Spaces
The most common form of instructional design today can be found in the facilitation of courses in online learning management systems such as Canvas or Google Classroom. By expanding access, forgoing capacity constraints, and allowing for increased participation/expression among students and teachers, distance learning represents a paradigm shift in how educators communicate learners. -
Teaching with Portals
Using the 3D video game Portal 2, instructors have taught physics concepts such as spatial reasoning, momentum, gravity and inertia to middle-and-high-school-aged students through the game's Puzzle Maker feature, where individuals can create their own unique levels, effectively acting as a virtual science lab simulation and physics sandbox. This initiative has gotten support from Portal's developer, Valve Software, and the company has partnered with some schools to provide the game for free. -
Video Conferencing in Distance Learning
Communication in synchronous and asynchronous courses has seen great benefits from the capabilities of real-time video conferencing tools such as Zoom and Skype. Not only does it make distance learning more accessible for students and faculty to express themselves, but it also allows guest speakers and subject matter experts to address groups of students with ease.
Note: Video conferencing in education has been around since the 90s, but I chose 2017 as that is when UF Canvas and Zoom partnered. -
Surgery Simulations in VR with Haptic Feedback
While learning via simulations for people like pilots practicing flying has been common for a relatively long time, very recent research has found that, in a virtual reality surgery simulator developed by FundamentalVR, there are significant improvements in users' training performance with the integration of haptic feedback into the equipment than users without. This supports the idea that increased sensory stimulation in the act of learning results in more effective learning experiences.
