History and Development of Instructional Design and Technology

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AbstractThe origins and evolution of instructional technology and instructional design are treated in this chapter as separate concepts, although having intertwined histories. As with other technologies, their origins can be traced to the scientific discoveries on which they are based. Early in the twentieth century, new discoveries in optics and electricity stimulated educators to the adoption of technological innovations such as projected still pictures, motion pictures, and audio recording. Individuals and, later, groups of affiliated professionals promoted enriching learning by adding visual and, later, audiovisual resources where verbal presentations previously dominated. As radio broadcasting grew in the 1930s and then television in the 1950s, these mass media were perceived as ways to reach audiences, in and out of school, with educative audiovisual programs. In the 1960s, the wave of interest in teaching machines incorporating behaviorist psychological technology engendered a shift in identity from audiovisual technologies to all technologies, including psychological ones. As computers became ubiquitous in the 1990s, they became the dominant delivery system, due to their interactive capabilities. With the global spread of the World Wide Web after 1995, networked computers took on communication functions as well as storage and processing functions, giving new momentum to distance education. Meanwhile, research during and after World War II prompted a technology of planning – systems analysis. In the 1960s, educators adapted the systems approach to instructional planning, starting the development of instructional systems design (ISD). Since the 1980s, ISD has been the reigning paradigm for instructional design, while instructional design has become the central activity of instructional technology professionals.