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The first school museum was opened in St. Louis in 1905, and shortly thereafter school museums were opened in Reading, Pennsylvania, and Cleveland, Ohio. Although few such museums have been established since the early 1900s, the district-wide media center can be considered a modern equivalent.
Besides magic lanterns (lantern slide projectors) and stereopticons (stereograph viewers), which were used in some schools during the second half of the nineteenth century (Anderson, 1962), the motion picture projector was one of the first media devices used in schools. In the United States, the first catalog of instructional films was published in 1910.
During the remainder of the 1920s and through much of the 1930s, technological advances in such areas as radio broadcasting, sound recordings, and sound motion pictures led to increased interest in instructional media. With the advent of media incorporating sound, the visual instruction movement became known as the audiovisual instruction movement (Finn, 1972; McCluskey, 1981).
In spite of the adverse economic effects of the Great Depression, the audiovisual instruction movement continued to evolve. According to Saettler (1990), one of the most significant events in this evolution was the merging, in 1932, of the three existing national professional organizations for visual instruction. As a result of this merger, leadership in the movement was consolidated within one organization, the Department of Visual Instruction (DVI), which at that time was part of the National Education Association. Over the years, this organization, which was created in 1923, and which is now called the Association for Educational Communications and Technology (AECT), has maintained a leadership role in the field of instructional design and technology.
The origins of instructional design procedures have been traced to World War II (Dick, 1987). During the war, a large number of psychologists and educators who had training and experience in conducting experimental research were called upon to conduct research and develop training materials for the military services. These individuals, including Robert Gagne, Leslie Briggs, John Flanagan, and many others, exerted considerable influence on the characteristics of the training materials that were developed, basing much of their work upon instructional principles derived from research and theory on instruction, learning
During the war, training films also played an important role in preparing civilians in the United States to work in industry. In 1941, the federal government established the Division of Visual Aids for War Training. From 1941 to 1945, this organization oversaw the production of 457 training films. Most training directors reported that the films reduced training time without having a negative impact on training effectiveness, and that the films were more interesting and resulted in less absenteeism than traditional training programs (Saettler, 1990).
With the onset of World War II, the growth of the audiovisual instruction movement in the schools slowed; however, audiovisual devices were used extensively in the military services and in industry. For example, during the war the U.S. Army Air Force produced more than 400 training films and 600 filmstrips and during a two-year period (from mid-1943 to mid-1945) it was estimated that there were over 4 million showings of training films to U.S. military personnel. Although there was little time and opportunity to collect hard data regarding the effect of these films on the performance of military personnel, several surveys of military instructors revealed that they felt that the training films and filmstrips used during the war were effective training tools (Saettler, 1990).
Perhaps the most important factor to affect the audiovisual movement in the 1950s was the increased interest in television as a medium for delivering instruction. Prior to the 1950s, there had been a number of instances in which television had been used for instructional purposes (Gumpert, 1967; Taylor, 1967). During the 1950s, however, there was a tremendous growth in the use of 20 SECTION I Defining the Field instructional television. This growth was stimulated by at le st two major factors. 0 e factor that spurred the growth of instructional televisio was the 1952 decision by the Federal Communication Commission to set aside 242 television channels for educational purposes. This decision led to the rapid development of a large number of public (then called "educational") television stations. By 1955, there were seventeen such stations in the United States, and by 1960 that number had increased to more than fifty (Blakely, 1979). One of the primary missions of these stations was the presentation of instructional programs. As Hezel (1980) indicates: "The teaching role has been ascribed to public broadcasting since its origins. Especially prior to the 1960s, educational broadcasting was seen as a quick, efficient, inexpensive means of satisfying the nation's instructional needs" (p. 173).
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. E Skinner's article entitled "The Science of Learning and the Art of Teaching" began what might be called a minor revolution in the field of education. In this article and later ones (e.g., Skinner, 1958), Skinner described his ideas regarding the requirements for increasing human learning and the desired characteristics of effective instructional materials. Skinner stated that such materials, called programmed instructional materials, should present instruction in small steps, require active responses to frequent questions, provide immediate feedback, and allow for learner self-pacing. Moreover, because each step was small, it was thought that learners would answer all questions correctly and thus be positively reinforced by the feedback they received.
Much of the early work in computer-assisted instruction (CAI) was done in the 1950s by researchers at IBM, who developed the first CAI author language and designed one of the first CAI programs to be used in the public schools. Other pioneers in this area included Gordon Pask, whose adaptive teaching machines made use of computer technology (Lewis & Pask, 1965; Pask, 1960; Stolorow & Davis, 1965), and Richard Atkinson and Patrick Suppes, whose work during the 1960s led to some of the earliest applications of CAI at both the public school and university levels (Atkinson & Hansen, 1966; Suppes & Macken, 1978). Other major efforts during the 1960s and early 1970s included the development of CAI systems such as PLATO and TICCIT. However, in spite of the work that had been done, by the end of the 1970s, CM had had very little impact on education (Pagliaro, 1983).
In early and mid-1960s, the concepts that were being developed in such areas as task analysis, objective specification, and criterion-referenced testing were linked together to form a process, or model, for systematically designing instructional materials. Among the first individuals to describe such models were Gagne (1962b), Glaser (1962, 1965), and Silvern (1964). These individuals used terms such as "instructional design," "system development," "systematic instruction," and "instructional system" to describe the models they created. Other instructional design models created and employed during this decade included those described by Banathy (1968), Barson (1967), and Hamerus (1968).
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 Gagne (1965b). In this book, Gagne 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. Gagne also provided detailed descriptions of these conditions for each type of learning outcome. In the same volume, Gagne also described nine events of instruction, or teaching activities, that he considered essential for promoting the attainment of any type of learning outcome. Gagne also described which instructional events were particularly crucial for which type of outcome, and discussed the circumstances under which particular events could be excluded. Now in its fourth edition (Gagne, 1985), Gagne's description of the various types of learning outcomes and the events of instruction remain cornerstones of instructional design practices.
In the early 1960s, another important factor in the development of the instructional design process was the emergence of criterion-referenced testing. Until that time, most tests, called norm-referenced tests, were designed to spread out the performance of learners, resulting in some students doing well on a test and others doing poorly. In contrast, a criterion-referenced test is intended to measure how well an individual can perform a particular behavior or set of behaviors, irrespective of how well others perform. As early as 1932, Tyler had indicated that tests could be used for such purposes (Dale, 1967). And later, Flanagan (1951) and Ebel (1962) discussed the differences between such tests and the more familiar norm-referenced measures. However, Robert Glaser (1963; Glaser & Klaus, 1962) was the first to use the term "criterion-referenced measures." In discussing such measures, Glaser (1963) indicated that they could be used to assess student entry-level behavior and to determine the extent to which students had acquired the behaviors an instructional program was designed to teach. The use of criterion-referenced tests for these two purposes is a central feature of instructional design procedures.
Those involved in designing programmed instructional materials often began by identifying the specific objectives learners who used the materials would be expected to attain. In the early 1960s, Robert Mager, recognizing the need to teach educators how to write objectives, wrote Preparing Objectives for Programmed Instruction (1962). This small, humorously written programmed book, now in its third edition (Mager, 1997), has proved to be very popular, and has sold over 1.5 million copies. The book describes how to write objectives that include a description of desired learner behaviors, the conditions under which the behaviors are to be performed, and the standards (criteria) by which the behaviors are to be judged. Many current day adherents of the instructional design process advocate the p
In 1957, when the Soviet Union launched Sputnik, the first orbiting space satellite, there began a series of events that would eventually have a major impact on the instructional design process. In response to the launching of Sputnik, the U.S. government, shocked by the success of the Soviet effort, poured millions of dollars into improving math and science education in the United States. The instructional materials developed with these funds were usually written by subject matter experts and produced without tryouts with learners. Years later, in the mid-1960s, when it was discovered that many of these materials were not particularly effective, Michael Scriven (1967) pointed to the need to try out drafts of instructional materials with learners prior to the time the materials were in their final form. This process would enable educators to examine the materials and, if necessary, revise them while the materials were still in their formative stages. Scriven coined this tryout and revision process formative evaluation, and contrasted it with what he labeled summative evaluation, the testing of instructional materials after they are in their final form.
During the 1970s, interest in the instructional design process flourished in a variety of different sectors. In 1975, several branches of the U.S. military adopted an instructional design model (Branson et al., 1975) intended to guide the development of training materials within those branches. In academia, during the first half of the decade, many instructional improvement centers were created with the intent of helping faculty use media and instructional design procedures to improve the quality of their instruction (Gaff, 1975; Gustafson & Bratton, 1984). Moreover, many graduate programs in instructional design were created (Partridge & Tennyson, 1979; Redfield & Dick, 1984; Silber, 1982). In business and industry, many organizations, seeing the value of using instructional design to improve the quality of training, began adopting the approach (cf. Mager, 1977; Miles, 1983). Internationally, many nations, such as South Korea, Liberia, and Indonesia, saw the benefits of using instructional design to solve instructional problems in those countries (Chadwick, 1986; Morgan, 1989). These nations supported the design of new instructional programs, created organizations to support the use of instructional design, and provided support to individuals desiring training in this field. Many of these developments were chronicled in the Journal of Instructional Development, a journal that was first published during the 1970s.
In many sectors, the interest in instructional design that burgeoned during the previous decade continued to grow during the 1980s. Interest in the instructional design process remained strong in business and industry (Bowsher, 1989; Galagan, 1989) the military (Chevalier, 1990; Finch, 1987; McCombs, 1986;) and in the international arena (Ely & Plomp, 1986: Morgan, 1989). In contrast to its influence in the aforementioned sectors, during the 1980s, instructional design had minimal impact in other areas. In the public school arena, some curriculum development efforts involved the use of basic instructional design processes (e.g., Spady, 1988), and some instructional design textbooks for teachers were produced (e.g., Dick & Reiser, 1989; Gerlach & Ely, 1980; Sullivan & Higgins, 1983). However, in spite of these efforts, evidence indicated that instructional design was having little impact on instruction in the public schools (Branson & Grow, 1987; Burkman, 1987b; Rossett & Garbosky, 1987). In a similar vein, with a few exceptions (e.g., Diamond, 1989), instructional design practices had a minimal impact in higher education. Whereas instructional improvement centers in higher education were growing in number through the mid-1970s, by 1983 more than onefourth of these organizations were disbanded and there was a general downward trend in the budgets of the remaining centers (Gustafson & Bratton, 1984). Burkman (1987a, 1987b) provides an enlightening analysis of the reasons why instructional design efforts in schools and universities have not been successful, and contrasts these conditions with the more favorable conditions that exist in business and the military.
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 (Center for Social Organization of Schools, 1983).
Beginning in the 1990s and continuing on into the current century, one of the trends that has had a major impact on the field has been the human performance improvement movement (see Section 4 of this book). This movement, with its emphasis on on-the-job performance (rather than learning), business results, and non-instructional solutions to performance problems, has broadened the scope of the instructional design field. During the 1990s, another factor that began to have a major influence on the field was the growing interest in constructivist views of teaching and learning. For example, the constructivist emphasis on designing "authentic" learning tasks—tasks that reflect the complexity of the real world environment in which learners will be using the skills they are learning—has had an effect on how instructional design is being practiced and taught. During the 1990s, instructional designers also began to have an interest in using computers not only as an instructional tool to enhance learning, but also as an aid to improve on-the-job performance. In particular, it was during this decade that an interest in using electronic performance support tools and systems to support on-the-job performance began to flourish. In addition, during this decade instructional designers began to discuss the use of computer-based knowledge management systems to support learning and performance (viz., Schwen, Kalman, Hara & Kisling, 1998).
During the first decade of the twenty-first century, several developments have had a major influence on the field of instructional design. One such development involves the increasing use of the Internet as a means of presenting instruction to learners. As noted in an earlier section of this chapter, during this decade there has been significant growth in online learning in business and industry and the military, as well as K-12 and higher education. Along with this growth has come the realization that instructional designers play a vital part in the creation of online courses. This realization has opened new job opportunities for those in the instructional design field and has also presented new challenges as instructional design professionals attempt to identify interesting and effective means of delivering instruction online. Another recent development that has had a major impact on the instructional design field has been the increasing reliance on informal methods, as opposed to formal training, as a means of improving learning and performance in the workplace. For example, in 2008, 75 percent of employees in business and industry reported that they used knowledge bases to help them learn and perform their jobs, 74 percent reported using performance support tools, and 67 percent reported using online communities of practice (American Society for Training and Development, 2009). Moreover, as discussed earlier, the increasing use of social media to share knowledge and skills serves as another example of the burgeoning reliance on the use of informal methods to improve learning and performance. As interest in using these informal mechanisms increases, it is likely that many instructional designers will have to learn how to design, implement, and support these alternate means of acquiring knowledge and skills.
During the past ten years, rapid advances in computers and other digital technology, including the Internet, have led to a rapidly increasing interest in, and use of, these media for instructional purposes. This conclusion appears to be true across a wide variety of training and educational settings, including businees and industry, higher education, K-12 education, and the military. In buisness and industry, surveys reveal that during the past decade there has been a substantial increase in percentage of training that is presented via instructional media. A recent survey of over three hundred companies in the United States indicated that more than 30 percent of the total amount of training hours during 2008 was presented via technology, with more than 24 percent of that training delivered online (Amercian Society for Training & Development, 2009). In comparison, in 1999, less than 10 percent of the training in business and industry was presented via technology (American Society for Training & Development, 2004).
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