History of Instructional Technology
The movement in the 1920’s and 30’s paved the way for where we
are today in the world of Instructional Technology. “Technological advances in such areas as radio broadcasting,
sound recordings, and sound motion pictures led to increased interest in
instructional media.” This movement
became known as the “audiovisual instruction movement.” The great depression couldn’t keep this fast
moving technological advance from spreading rapidly. The limitations were unknown as people kept stretching this
rapidly growing phenomenon farther and farther.
This new technological advance gave our troops an added benefit
during World War II. Films were used to
train the military in a wide variety of ways.
The use of film helped the military reach a constant among its troops,
which were from a wide variety of backgrounds.
The films helped from training the troops to fight, to training the
troops on how to use the equipment properly gave our troops a much needed lift
in helping win the war.
The next movement came in the 1950’s when television was first
introduced. Television was seen as,
“educational broadcasting that was a quick, efficient, inexpensive means of
satisfying the nation’s instructional needs.”
Government and most large companies thinking television was the new wave
of Instructional Technology spent millions of dollars. However, by the 1960’s the buzz had worn off
on the use of television for instructional use. “Many of them did little more than present a teacher delivering a
lecture.”
Today, computers are seen as the next wave of instructional
use. But, will computers eventually be
second fiddle to the next great phenomenon?
Computers are just touching the surface as to how they can be used for instructional
purposes. In the mid 1990’s is when the
use of the Internet took off. With
connections to the Internet becoming faster and faster, nobody knows what the
future holds for computers in the world of instructional use.