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School Museum
School museums came into play in the first decade of the twentieth century. The first museum opened up in St. Louis. -
Instructional Films
Instructional films was first cataloged in the United States. Thomas Edison proclaimed: "Books will soon be obsolete in the schools...in the next ten years" (Saettler, 1968) -
Visual Instruction Movement (1914-1923)
Visual instruction did grow but Edison's revolutionary change did not come as predicted. Five national professional organizations for visual instruction was established. -
Great Depression and Great Merge
The Great Depression began and caused investments to suffer. However the movement continued to strive. In 1932 the three existing national professional organizations merged. -
Audiovisual Instruction
Technology advances now include radio, sound recordings and pictures changing the visual movement to audio visual. -
Instructional Television
Increased interest in television as a medium for delivering instruction. This was sparked because of two major factors:
1.In 1952 Federal Communications set aside 242 television channels for educational purposes. (public "educational" television stations).
2. The Ford Foundation provided funding of more than $170 million on educational television. -
Computers
Computers became available to the general public in 1980 the interest grew. Three years later more than 40% of all elementary schools and more than 75% of all secondary schools used computers for instructional purposes. -
Shift in Computer Usage
The ratio of computers to students grew to 1:9 but they were not being used for instructional practices. Elementary schools were using them for practice and drills and the secondary schools were teaching computer skills. -
Online Instruction
Computers are used for online instruction and this field is growing for not only K-12, and the collegiate level but for businesses and industries. In 2014 training was up to 28%.
