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School Museum: St. Louis
In Saint Louis 1905 the first school museum was opened. This museum sparked the opening of several other museums in Pennsylvania and Ohio. -
Catalog of Instructional Films
In 1910 the first catalog of instructional films was published, and by the end of the year Rochester, New York became the pioneer of adopting educational films in a public school setting to be used for instruction. -
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Visual Instruction Movement
Thomas Edison predicted that within a 10 year period that the use of visual instruction would grow. During this period 5 professional organizations were established, 5 journals devoted to publications on visual instruction were developed, and more than 20 institutions began to offer courses to teachers on the use of visual instructioin. -
Professional Organizations
in 1932 3 of the 5 professional organizations formed between 1914-1923 merged. This single consolidated organization was called the Department of Visual Instruction and is now called the Association for Educational Communications and Technology. This organization still exists to this day. -
Divsion of Visual Aids for War Training
In 1941 during World War II the United States government founded the Division of Visual Aids for War Training. This national organization was tasked with creating training films aimed at soldiers. -
Cone of Experience
In 1946, Edgar Dale built on an idea first presented in a textbook called Visualizing the Curriculum. This established a ranking system of instructional media from very abstract to firm concrete ideas. -
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Computer Assistance
During the 1950's IBM researchers developed the first CAI language (Computer-Assisted Instruction), and specifically deisgned a program to be used in the public schools. In the following 2 decades CAI systems such as PLATO and TICCIT were developed and CAI applications were being pushed to public schools and universities, but despite all this effort CAI had a very minimal impact on instruction and education. -
FCC Educational Channels
In 1952 the Federal Communications Commission chose 242 public television channels that were strictly devoted to education and instruction. This directly led to the development of 17 stations by 1955 and more than 50 by 1960. -
B. F. Skinner
In 1954 B. F. Skinner wrote an article titled "The Science of Learning and the Art of Teaching". This article described Skinner's ideas of what it would take to increase the learning capacity of humans and the desired characteristics needed from the educational materials. Skinner proposed small steps for introducing new ideas and requiring responses to frequent questions. He would provide feedback and allow the student to set the learning pace. -
Sputnik
Odd as it may seem the Soviet Union helped the United States advance science and mathematics at a rapid pace. IN 1957 the Soviet Union launched Sputnik, which was the first orbiting satellite ever to be placed in the atmosphere. The US responded by dumping tons of resources into the production of educational materials produced by field experts. -
Criterion-Referenced Testing
Prior to the 1960s most tests were called norm-referenced tests and were used to spread out the performance of the students. However in the 1960s a new testing protocol called the criterion-referenced testing was introduced. This test allowed the individual to be tested based solely on their own without being tested compared to others. -
Our First Official Definition
In 1963 our first definition was approved by a major professional organization. This definition was set by the Department of Audiovisual Instruction and was the first to not focus on media but instead focused on the design of the messages that we use for the learning process. -
Further Definitions
In 1970 the Commission on Instructional Technology actually created a second definition. The first definition stuck with the older view on instructional technology, but this second and newer definition described what instructional technology was and that it was a process. -
Even More Defining
in 1977 the AECT adopted an even newer defition. This definition was different in many ways. First it was long, spanning 7 pages. This definition did put emphasis on the process like previous definitions but it also mentioned the analysis portion of a planning process. -
Computer-Assistance
CAI may have been very underperforming in the 1950s-1970s but by 1983 more than 40% of elementary schools and more than 3/4 of secondary schools in the United States were using CAI systems for education. This trend would only continue to grow. -
Problem Based Learning
in 1988 Howard Barrows who was working in a medical school as a faculty member developed a model for centering education around a key problem. This prompted team based problem solving and thus the Problem-Based Learning model was born. -
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Constructivism
In an educational setting constructivism came to prominence in the 1990s. It stated that learning is an active process of meaning-making, and that learning opportunities actually come from someone's encounter with a conflict or challenge, they also state that learning is a social activity and requires collaboration and participation. -
1994 Definition
Starting in 1990 the AECT began writing a book that was published in 1994. In this book they laid out a detailed description of instructional technology and listed 5 pillars describing the field. Obviously absent from this new definition was the absence of process oriented that the previous 2 had used. -
Computer-Assistance
By 1995 most US schools owned one computer for every nine students. However at this time period most schools were not using the computers for educational practices. Most instructors were using computers for drills or basic word processing. -
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Computer-Assistance
In the years following 1995 research study the use of computers in educational settings has increased. in 2002 roughly 10% of students enrolled in college were taking online classes. By 2011 this percentage had risen to 32% of students. This trend can be seen in grade schools, as well as in the business industry. -
Constructivist just doesn't work
in 2006 Kirschner, Sweller, and Clark did an analysis on a minimally guided learning experience and found that a constructivist learning environment was not only difficult to design but flat out didn't work. -
AECT 2008 Definition
In 2008 the AECT yet again produced a book defining the field of educational and instructional technology. This book did contain chapters specifically focusing on explaining each key term in the new definition. This was also the first publication to use the word ethical in the definition. -
Connectivism
in 2008 Kop & Hill argued against connectivism. They stated that a high level of learner autonomy was required for any students to be successful -
Learning
in 2014 Downes defined learning as a series of connections in a network and these networks learn by automatically adapting and adjusting these connections between neurons. So essentially learning wasn't coming through the accumulation of tons of wisdom and life experiences but rather through a more elaborate neural connection within the brain. -
Mini Computer-Assistance
In the 1950s when CAI was first being developed I'm sure that IBM could not forsee that by 2015 everyone would have a personal computer in the palm of their hands. In today's world the smartphone is as prevalent as a pair of shoes. in 2015 students in grades 4-12 41% of students reported using their smartphones for schoolwork at least 2-3 times a week.