It is very interesting to read the history of instructional design and technology. Learning the history of instructional design can not only provide us a deeper look at how this subject started and developed but also help readers to find resonance from it. In the book “Trends and Issues in Instructional Design and Technology”, Chapter 1, Dr.Reiser illustrates the history and development of the instructional design.
Instructional technology was viewed as media in its early definitions in the first decade of the twentieth century. It focused on the media that were used to present the instruction. Later on, from the late 1920s to the 1940s, with the development of other technology such as sound recordings, radio broadcasting, and motion pictures with sound, this subject was more titled in media.
Things started to change from the 1960s to the 1970s, instructional technology was viewed as a process. In this period of time, some educators presented some new points of view regarding instructional technology. Finn (1960) believed that a way of looking at instructional problems and examining reasonable solutions would be more appropriate to define instructional technology. In 1963, the first definition that added extra meaning other than media to the instruction technology was focused on the design and use of messages control the learning process. In 1970, the definition of instructional technology was refined again, which reflected the importance of media, communication, and instructional purposes. Not long after that, in 1977, the definition was again modified more regarding a process with many supportive factors.
About one and a half decades after that, the concept and definition of instructional technology had changed one more to include not only the process but more. “Instructional Technology is the theory and practice of design, development, utilization, management, and evaluation of processes and resources for leering”. This definition gave both educators and learners a clearer idea about what the instructional technology should include and what the focus may be. In 2008, the definition stated by AECT contributed more meaningful key terms. The latest definition also focused on a fact that the professionals need to be at a high level of professional principle. The new definition also includes more types of processes and fields about technology to be more subjective.
References:
Cho, Y., Park, S., Jo, S. J., & Suh, S. (2013). The landscape of educational technology viewed from the ETR&D journal. British Journal of Educational Technology, 44(5). 677-694.
Reiser, R. A. (2018). A history of instructional design and technology. In R. A. Reiser, & J. V. Dempsey (Eds.), Trends and issues in instructional design and technology(4thed.) (pp. 8-22). Boston, MA: Pearson Education, Inc.
Molenda, M. (2008). Historical foundations. In J. M. Spector, M. D. Merrill, J. V. Merriënboer, & M. P. Driscoll (Eds.), Handbook of research on educational communications and technology (3rd ed.) (pp. 3-20). New York: Taylor & Francis Group.
Hi Sungling, I agree that the impact of technology on the growth of the IST field is fascinating. In particular, it reminds me of how formal language instruction, at all levels, was almost entirely books—textbooks—and then later progressed to tapes, films… Also, [American, at least] universities had designated “language labs” where one could rent language tapes to listen to or films to watch. My mother often told me about the language lab at her college; she majored in Italian (in the 1970s). There was still a physical lab for watching (digital) films at my undergrad, but by now maybe that too has changed.
Now I work with the Center for Language Technology (CeLT) here at IU, and we don’t…
Hi Sungling,
I also read the related articles of the history of instructional design and technology this week. In fact, I know that the instructional design and technology started from the media the first time. And later it experienced a series of styles such as sounds, pictures, films, and so on. Hence, the history of instructional design and technology attracted me. At the same time, I also realize that it will be very helpful for the understanding of knowledge of IT and even the future work if I can be familiar to the history of IT. In the history of IT field, there are many knowledge such as typical theories and models, the successful case, some important shifts, and so…