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Instructional Design and Technology: A Brief History

By mlogan
  • Development of School Museums

    Development of School Museums
    Born out of the Visual Instruction Movement with its products being referred to as instructional media, the first School Museum opened in St. Louis in 1905. Other School Museums opened in Reading, PA and Cleveland, OH.
  • Visual Education

    The Keystone View Company publishes this as a teacher’s guide to lantern slides and stereographs.
  • First catalog of instructional films published

    The first catalog of instructional films is published.
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    Major growth of the Visual Instruction Movement

    Five national professional organizations for visual instruction established, five journals focusing on visual instruction began publication, more than twenty teacher-training institutions began offering courses in visual instruction, and at least a dozen large-city school systems developed bureaus of visual education.
  • Audiovisual Instruction Movement

    Audiovisual Instruction Movement
    Between 1924 and 1930 the Visual Instruction Movement became known as the Audiovisual Instruction Movement.
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    Audiovisual Instruction Movement

    The Visual Instruction Movement became known as the Audiovisual Instruction Movement.
  • Department of Visual Instruction (DVI)

    Department of Visual Instruction (DVI)
    Three national professional organizations merged, becoming the Department of Visual Instruction (DVI), later referred to as the Association for Educational Communications and Technology (AECT).
  • Visualizing the Curriculum

    Visualizing the Curriculum
    Visualizing the Curriculum was written by Charles F. Hoban, Sr., Charles F. Hoban, Jr., and Stanley B. Zissman. This was a seminal text of the field.
  • U.S. soldiers in WWII

    U.S. soldiers in WWII trained using the instructional design process. During this same time, U.S. civilians trained to work in industry in support of the U.S. efforts in the war. Much of the training materials used was developed by well-known psychologists and educators Robert Gagne, Leslie Briggs, and John Flanagan.
  • Cone of Experience

    Cone of Experience
    Edgar Dale develops the Cone of Experience.
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    Foundations and agencies contribute more than $170 million

    Foundations and agencies contribute more than $170 million to promote educational television. This resulted in a closed-circuit television system, a junior-college curriculum which was presented via public television in Chicago, a large- scale experimental research program taught via closed circuit television at Pennsylvania State University; and the Mid-west Program on Airborne Television Instruction.
  • 242 television channels devoted to educational purposes

    242 television channels devoted to educational purposes
    The Federal Communication Commission (FCC), as a result of the increased growth of instructional television, set aside 242 television channels devoted to educational purposes, which became known as educational television stations and later referred to as instructional programming. Instructional Television receives major funding from the Ford Foundation. Instructional Television receives major funding from the Ford Foundation.
  • The Science of Learning and the Art of Teaching

    The Science of Learning and the Art of Teaching
    B.F. Skinner introduced programmed instructional materials in his text The Science of Learning and the Art of Teaching.
  • Taxonomies of Educational Objectives

    Taxonomies of Educational Objectives
    Benjamin Bloom published Taxonomies of Educational Objectives, which classifies the different objectives and skills that educators set for students.
  • Soviet Union launched Sputnik

    Soviet Union launched Sputnik
    Sputnik was the first orbiting space satellite. The success of this Soviet invention prompted the U.S. government to increase funding to improve math and science education.
  • Emergence of criterion referenced testing

    Emergence of criterion referenced testing
    The early 1960s experienced the emergence of criterion referenced testing. The term was coined by Robert Glaser.
  • Psychological Principles in System Development

    Psychological Principles in System Development
    Robert Gagne edited the groundbreaking book Psychological Principles in System Development.
  • Preparing Objectives for Programmed Instruction

    Preparing Objectives for Programmed Instruction
    Robert F. Mager popularized learning objectives through the printing of his book Preparing Objectives for Programmed Instruction.
  • Early instructional design models developed

    Early instructional design models developed
    Early instructional design models developed, including Robert Gagne’s nine events of instruction, explained in The Conditions of Learning. These early models used terms such as instructional design, system development, systematic instruction, and instructional system to describe the models they created.
  • Formative evaluation and summative evaluation

    Formative evaluation and summative evaluation
    Michael Scriven coined the terms formative evaluation and summative evaluation. Formative evaluation was necessary to try out drafts of instructional materials with learners prior to their final version; summative evaluation involved testing the material with learners after their final version.
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    Systems Approach to Instructional Design

    An increase in the development of instructional design models became known as the Systems Approach to Instructional Design. By the end of the decade, more than 40 models were developed in a broad range of industries, including the U.S. military and academia. In countries outside of the U.S. – South Korea, Liberia, Indonesia – the instructional design systems approach was used to help solve instructional problems.
  • Microcomputers for instructional purposes

    Microcomputers for instructional purposes
    Beginning in the 1980s there was an increased interest in microcomputers for instructional purposes. IDT professionals began to develop computer-based instruction. By the start of 1983, 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).
  • World Wide Web

    World Wide Web
    Online learning took center stage as a result of the advent of the World Wide Web, which came to be better known as the Internet or by its acronym www.
  • Constructivism

    Constructivism
    The rise of Constructivism stemming from theories introduced independently by theorist Jean Piaget and Vygotsky. The focus was on how humans make meaning regarding their interaction between their experiences and ideas. Piaget was a cognitive psychologist; Vygotsy was a social learning theorist.
  • Human Performance Technology

    Human Performance Technology
    The rise of Human Performance Technology. Although instruction is the focal point of human performance technology, the goal is to improve the bottom line of a business more so than to focus on learning.