Revised IDT Timeline

  • First School Museum Opens

    "Most of the media housed in school museums were visual media, such as films, slides, and photographs" (Reiser & Dempsey, 2017, p. 9).
  • "Visual Education" Movement Begins

    "Keystone View Company published Visual Education, a teacher’s guide to lantern slides and stereographs" (Reiser & Dempsey, 2017, p. 9).
  • First Catalog of Instructional Films

    The first catalog of instructional films was published this year, and educational films began being used for instruction in public schools (Reiser & Dempsey, 2017).
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    Audiovisual Instruction Movement

    Technological advances in such areas as radio broadcasting, sound recordings, and sound motion pictures led to increased interest in instructional media (Reiser & Dempsey, 2017, p. 2).
  • Department of Visual Instruction Formed

    Three existing national professional organizations for visual instruction combined to form the Department of Visual Instruction (DVI). This organization is now called the Association for Educational Communications and Technology (AECT) and is still relevant in the field of IDT (Reiser & Dempsey, 2017, p. 9).
  • Division of Visual Aids for War Training Established

    "During the war, training films also played an important role in preparing U.S. civilians to work in industry" (Reiser & Dempsey, 2017, p. 10).
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    Instructional Design Developed after WWII

    "During the late 1940s and throughout the 1950s, psychologists working for" organizations such as the American Institutes for Research "started viewing training as a system, and developed a number of innovative analysis, design, and evaluation procedures" (Reiser & Dempsey, 2017, p. 13).
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    Instructional Television Becomes Popular

    242 television channels were set aside for educational purposes in 1952. The Ford Foundation funded continued growth of instructional television (Reiser & Dempsey, 2017, p. 10).
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    Development of Computer-Assisted Instruction

    The first computer-assisted instruction (CAI) program for public schools was designed in the 1950s. Systems like PLATO and TICCIT were developed in following decades and CAI began being used in in public schools and universities more. However, CAI did not have a very big impact on instruction and education in the long run (Reiser & Dempsey, 2017).
  • B.F. Skinner wrote "The Science of Learning and the Art of Teaching"

    B.F. Skinner wrote an article about learning in humans and how educational materials need to be used to enhance learning (Reiser & Dempsey, 2017).
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    The Programmed Instruction Movement

    "The programmed instruction movement, which ran from the mid-1950s through the mid-1960s, proved to be another major factor in the development of the systems approach. In 1954, B. F. Skinner’s article, “The Science of Learning and the Art of Teaching,” began what might be called a minor revolution in the field of education" (Reiser & Dempsey, 2017, p. 13).
  • Sputnik Launched

    A satellite referred to as Sputnik was launched into the atmosphere by the Soviet Union, which led to the United States dedicating more resources to developing educational materials (Reiser & Dempsey, 2017).
  • The Popularization of Behavioral Objectives

    "In the early 1960s, Robert Mager, recognizing the need to teach educators how to write objectives, wrote Preparing Objectives for Programmed Instruction... Although Mager popularized the use of objectives, the concept was discussed and used by educators at least as far back as the early 1900s" (Reiser & Dempsey, 2017, p. 13-14).
  • The Criterion-Referenced Testing Movement

    "In the early 1960s, another important factor in the development of the instructional design process was the emergence of criterion-referenced testing" (Reiser & Dempsey, 2017, p. 14).
  • The 1963 Definition

    "In 1963, the first definition to be approved by the major pro- fessional organization within the field of educational technol- ogy was published, and it, too, indicated that the field was not simply about media. This definition, produced by a commission established by the Department of Audiovisual Instruction, was a departure from the “traditional” view of the field in several important respects" (Reiser & Dempsey, 2017, p. 2).
  • Robert M. Gagné: Domains of Learning, Events of Instruction, and Hierarchical Analysis

    "Another important event in the history of instructional design occurred in 1965, with the publication of the first edition of The Conditions of Learning, written by Robert Gagné. In this book, Gagné described five domains, or types, of learning outcomes—verbal information, intellectual skills, psychomotor skills, attitudes, and cognitive strategies—each of which required a different set of conditions to promote learning" (Reiser & Dempsey, 2017, p. 14).
  • The 1970 Definitions

    "The Commission on Instructional Technology offered a second definition that described instructional technology as a process" (Reiser & Dempsey, 2017, p. 2).
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    Number of Instructional Design Models Increase

    "During the 1970s, the number of instructional design models greatly increased. Building upon the works of those who preceded them, many individuals created new models for systematically designing instruction, several of which became “standards” in the field" (Reiser & Dempsey, 2017, p. 15).
  • The 1977 Definition

    "In 1977, the Association for Educational Communication and Technology (AECT) adopted a new definition of the field. This definition differed from the previous definitions in several ways" (Reiser & Dempsey, 2017, p. 3).
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    Growth and Redirection of IDT

    "A factor that had a major effect on instructional design practices in the 1980s was the increasing interest in the use of personal computers for instructional purposes. With the advent of these devices, many professionals in the instructional design field turned their attention to producing computer-based instruction" (Reiser & Dempsey, 2017, p. 15).
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    Widespread Use of the Computer as an Instructional Tool

    "By the early 1980s, a few years after personal computers became available to the general public, the enthusiasm surrounding this tool led to increasing interest in using computers for instructional purposes. By January 1983, computers were being used for instructional purposes in more than 40 percent of all elementary schools and more than 75 percent of all secondary schools in the United States" (Reiser & Dempsey, 2017, p. 11).
  • CAI Use Increases

    By 1983, CAI was being used much more in elementary and secondary schools (Reiser & Dempsey, 2017).
  • Problem-Based Learning Model Developed

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    Constructivism Becomes More Prominent

    Constructivism starts being used in educational settings more (Reiser & Dempsey, 2017).
  • The 1994 Definition: Beyond Viewing Instructional Technology As a Process

    "...AECT published Instructional Technology: The Definitions and Domains of the Field. This book contains a detailed description of the field, as well as the following concise definition statement:
    Instructional Technology is the theory and practice of design, development, utilization, management, and evaluation of processes and resources for learning" (Reiser & Dempsey, 2017, p. 3).
  • One Computer for Every 9 Students

    This was the case in most schools by 1995 (Reiser & Dempsey, 2017).
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    Digital Technology Advances

    "Rapid advances in computers and other digital technology, including the Internet, led to a rapidly increasing interest in, and use of, these media for instructional purposes" (Reiser & Dempsey, 2017, p. 11)
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    More College Students Taking Online Classes

    The percentage of college students taking online classes grew from 10% in 2002 to 32% in 2011 (Reiser & Dempsey, 2017).
  • Constructivism Found Ineffective

  • Smartphones Used for Schoolwork

    Many students were using smartphone to do schoolwork by this time (Reiser & Dempsey, 2017).