file · Web viewPast, Present, and Future Trends in Instructional Design and Technology. Sharon Mahabir. EDTC 6320. October 13, 2013. Throughout history, educational psychologists

Past, Present, and Future Trends in Instructional Design and Technology


Sharon Mahabir

EDTC 6320

October 13, 2013

1


Throughout history, educational psychologists and experts in the field

of education have sought to improve and develop the quality of learning

taking place in the classroom. As the methodologies used to instruct learners

have evolved, so has the field of Instructional Design and Technology.

Instructional Technologists continuously strive to meet the needs of the

“digital learners” of this generation. As Phillip Molebash (n.d.) so fittingly

described, the challenge of instructional technologists today is “to prepare

the children of today for a world that has yet to be created, for jobs yet to be

invented, and for technologies yet undreamed.” Technology continues to

grow exponentially and instructional technologists work effortlessly to

integrate these various instructional media into the classroom in a

meaningful and relevant way. Ten years ago, it would have seemed

farfetched to imagine sitting at a computer, videoconferencing with another

class thousands of miles away about the effects of global warming. Yet

instructional designers have worked hand-in-hand with educators to make

this sort of experience commonplace.

This research paper will address the evolution of Instructional Design

and Technology. As the field has changed throughout the course of history,

so has its definition. To define Instructional Design and Technology is to

examine its past, present, and future. As the extraordinary advances in both

instructional media and instructional design and theory over the last century

are analyzed, the profound impact this field has had in the realm of 2


education will become evident. The current trends in the field mark a clear

path for the future of Instructional Design and Technology in education. It is

apparent that the future remains bright for this ever-changing, ever-evolving

field of study.

The definition of Instructional Design and Technology has evolved over

the years and will continue to evolve as new theories are developed and new

technologies are discovered. Most currently, Reiser & Dempsey (2012) state

that the Association of Educational Communication and Technology, or AECT,

has defined the field as “the study and ethical practice of facilitating learning

and improving performance by creating, using, and managing appropriate

technological processes and resources.” This definition encompasses three

very important facets of the field. To begin with, according to this definition,

the instructor is viewed as a facilitator rather than a teacher. This shifts from

the traditional view of the teacher as the giver of knowledge. In this view,

students take a more active role in their learning and determining what they

will learn and how they will learn it. The definition also identifies the goal of

not just simply learning the material but also improving student

performance. This is also a shift away from traditional teaching in that it

expects that students will not simply obtain knowledge, but will be able to

apply that knowledge to new situations. Lastly, the definition addresses the

need of designers to create, use, and manage the appropriate technology

suited to the task. As such, instructional technologists must continue to keep 3


up with current trends and new technologies in order to continue to provide

the most relevant resources for students.

In 1933, Frederick Devereux wrote, “Today the world of the learner is

almost unbounded. He must acquire facts relating to a bewildering variety of

places and things…New subject matter and new devices for instruction are

being scrutinized for their potential contributions to the learning process”

(Mishra, Koehler, & Kereluik, 2009). The device that Devereux was referring

to was the “talking picture”, or motion pictures, as we know them today. As

one can perceive, even in 1933, technological advances and their

possibilities in education were creating a buzz of excitement in the field of

Instructional Design. This continued throughout the twentieth century and

into the twenty-first century. Although there remained an interest for

audiovisual technology in the early twentieth century, one of the most

influential technological advances came in the early 1970’s with the

introduction of the microcomputer. As Reiser (2001) points out, many

educators were drawn to this new invention because it was small enough to

be used on a desktop, could perform many of the functions of the larger

computers, and were cheaper in comparison to anything before it. School

districts saw the potential in this new technology and according to the U.S.

Congress’ Office of Technology Assessment in 1988, the percentage of

schools that had access to at least one computer rose from 18% in 1981 to

95% in 1987 (Aslan &Reigeluth, 2011). In addition, school districts began 4


offering professional development workshops to teachers in an effort to

teach them how to program the computers and use them within the

classroom. During this time, however, computer use in the classroom was

often limited to drill and practice and tutorial activities. Unfortunately, the

microcomputer did not have the impact that professionals in the field hoped

that it would. However, soon there would be a technological advance that

would change the face of education forever.

In 1993, the public was introduced to Mosaic, a web browser that

would provide instantaneous information to the world using the World Wide

Web. This proved to be an invaluable resource for schools, and as such, the

availability to such technology grew rapidly. In fact, by the year 2000, the

availability of microcomputers reached one in every five students. In

addition, schools having access to the Internet rose dramatically from 3% in

1994 to 94% in 2005 (Aslan & Reigeluth, 2011). More teachers began using

websites as instructional tools rather than just for drill and practice activities.

This made a dramatic turn in 2001 with the passing of the No Child Left

Behind (NCLB) initiative. Because of the growing demand for students to

meet certain norm-based standards on standardized tests, teachers moved

away from using computers as instructional resources to using them mainly

for assessment and data management. Despite this, educational leaders and

school districts continue to realize the value of technology in education, and

in recent years, there continues to be a push for teachers to return to the 5


use of technology integration within their instruction. As the World Wide Web

has developed, the world also has seen the invention of Web 2.0

technologies. With this, we ushered in an age of blogs, social media, and

interconnectivity with virtually anyone in the world. This is the world that

most students today were born into. This is the age of the “digital natives”.

Before there was the digital world, however, there was B.F. Skinner.

Skinner assisted with what became known as the “programmed instruction

movement”. In his article The Science of Learning and the Art of Teaching,

Skinner stated that instruction should be broken down into small steps,

teachers should question students frequently, and give instant feedback.

This movement is credited with the development of the systems approach in

education, which includes analyzing content and breaking it into specific

behavioral objectives. When Benjamin Bloom wrote The Taxonomy of

Educational Objectives in 1956, Bloom’s Taxonomy was created and

teachers were encouraged to develop objectives encompassing higher level

thinking skills. Today most educational objectives are written with the

thought of how students could remember, understand, apply, analyze,

evaluate, and create the knowledge to be acquired.

Another important theorist in the history of Instructional Design and

Technology is Robert Gagne. With his five conditions of learning and nine

events of instruction, Gagne revolutionized how educators would instruct

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students. This theory would also be adapted by Madeline Hunter in the mid-

1980’s, who developed the ITIP, or Instructional Theory Into Practice, a

lesson design template that would be used widely throughout school districts

across the United States. Gagne’s theory would prove to be beneficial to

educators who sought to incorporate instructional media into their lessons.

As recently as 2011, Gagne’s Nine Events of Instruction were used to plan an

online, multimedia learning module to be used with business students in

Malaysia. Combined with instructional media, the Nine Events of Instruction

were shown to be highly effective not only in student retention of knowledge,

but also in student motivation and volition (Neo, Neo & Leow, 2011).

However, perhaps the most influential theory in the field of

Instructional Design and Technology is that of constructivism. Constructivism

values problem solving and collaboration among peers, and views the

teacher’s role as a ‘facilitator’ of learning. Constructivism has been

developed and refined as a result of the contributions of four influential

theorists. Jean Piaget contributed his idea that people learn by building on

past experiences and learning. His idea that we must connect prior

knowledge is an essential component of constructivism. In addition, John

Dewey believed that education should be rooted in real and relevant

experiences, and that inquiry should be an important part of the learning

process. This again forms an essential building block of the constructivist

approach. Lev Vygotsky also played a part in forming the foundation of 7


constructivism by contributing his social aspect of learning. His belief in

collaboration among peers is evident in constructivism today. Finally,

Seymour Papert’s innovative use of computers and instructional media has

led to the extensive use of planning constructivist lessons using instructional

media appropriate to the task.

Constructivism enjoys widespread use today and is a foundation for

many school districts. Spring Branch ISD’s Five-Year-Initiative, coined T-2-4,

embraces constructivism as a way to prepare students to successfully

complete higher education. T-2-4 ambitiously sets the goal of doubling the

number of students completing a four-year, two-year, or technical degree by

2017. Teachers are encouraged to actively use the constructivist approach to

improve student performance and adequately prepare students to be

successful not only in tomorrow’s college setting, but in the ever-evolving

digital society as well.

As one examines the present day field of Instructional Design and

Technology, it is evident that this field has made profound and significant

advances in recent years. In regard to technological resources, the last

decade has seen the development of was to be coined “Web 2.0”. The term,

named by Dale Dougherty, Vice President at O’Reilly Media, refers to the

new age of collaborative digital media available online. These include blogs;

social networking sites, such as Facebook, Twitter, and Edmodo;

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videoconferencing capabilities; and online document sharing, such as

GoogleDocs and Photobucket. What used to seem like impossible tasks in

classroom instruction are now a reality. Students skype with classes across

the country as they investigate similar topics. When field trips are a financial

impossibility, students are able to videoconference with experts within the

field of their investigative topic. There continues to be a wide array of

possibilities for the design of instructional lessons that incorporate the latest

and best in digital technology.

With the ever-growing push to incorporate digital technology comes a

great need to provide teachers with professional development in this area.

Currently, few trainings are offered, and the ones that are offered often tend

to focus on simply learning how to use the technology rather than how to

implement its integration within the lesson design. As a result, teachers are

hesitant to utilize the resources available to them and, with the ever-growing

demands placed on teachers, many have little motivation to acquire

additional technology training. As reported by Aslan and Reigeluth (2011), on

average fifth graders spend only 24 minutes a week using computers and

eighth graders spend only 38 minutes a week. This statistic is quite shocking,

due to the fact that, as stated before, 95% of schools have Internet access

and there is a 1:5 ratio of computers to students. This indicates that much of

the technology available to schools is simply going unused.

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How then should Instructional Designers approach educating teachers

to successfully integrate technology into their classrooms? First, it needs to

be realized that each training will bring a multitude of individuals with

different levels of expertise and experience using technology. Therefore,

much as teachers would create a constructivist lesson involving exploration

and peer collaboration for their students, so must designers create

professional developments for their teachers. In addition, the trainings must

not only focus on learning how to use a given technology, but more

importantly, how to successfully implement it into the instructional day. Sam

Carlson (2002), Executive Director at World Links, also suggests that a

minimum of eighty hours of professional development are needed before a

successful integration of technology resources into the classroom can be

seen consistently. Furthermore, training should also be provided for school

administration as well. This training should not only incorporate the non-

educational uses of technology relevant to the administration, but also

instructional uses so as to allow principals and school leaders the opportunity

to fully comprehend and offer support to teachers as they integrate

technology in the classroom.

This then leads to the problem of many teachers’ lack of motivation

and volition to receive training and commit to utilizing it within the

instructional day. Carlson (2002) presents five suggestions for providing both

extrinsic and intrinsic motivation for teachers to attend such trainings. These 10


include: providing opportunities to receive a certification of technology that

correlates with salary increases, the opportunity to receive public

recognition, the willingness by school leaders to build the professional

development into the school day, providing the knowledge that utilizing the

information from the training will increase productivity in the classroom, and

finally, the opportunity for teachers to become trainers or experts in the

area. It is important for school leaders and instructional designers to take

into consideration teacher motivation when planning technology trainings.

Without the motivation to attend professional developments and the volition

to utilize what was learned within the classroom, it is unlikely that school

districts will see a large increase of technology use in the lesson design of its

teachers.

With the increased use of digital media and the Internet, another main

concern for today’s students and teachers alike is the issue of CyberEthics.

CyberEthics, a term used to describe ethical usage of the Internet and its

features, has been a very gray area for many. As more teachers have begun

incorporating digital technology into their classrooms, the issue of ethics in

educational technology has become more apparent. From copyright

infringement and plagiarism to the hacking of personal information, many

students, teachers, and even administrators are unsure of where the line of

ethics falls when dealing with the Internet. As Janna Baum (2005) reports, in

a poll conducted by Scholastic, Inc. of 47,235 elementary and middle school 11


students, 48% of them do not consider hacking to be a crime. Baum (2005)

also reports on a national study in The Chronicle of Higher Education in

which 25% of post-secondary students admit to copying and pasting text

from websites without appropriately citing the source. Furthermore, although

teachers would like to teach the issue of cyber ethics more in depth, many

teachers are unaware of how to approach this. In a recent study conducted

by Microsoft and the National Cyber Security Alliance regarding if and how

cyber ethics is taught, only 23% of the teachers surveyed discussed with

students the importance of passwords. In addition, only 34% of the teachers

discussed the importance of not sharing personal information, and only 33%

discussed the issue of respecting privacy. On the surface, it appears that

American teachers are simply not doing their jobs. However, upon further

examination, it was also reported that 76% of the teachers surveyed had

received less that thee hours of the proper training and 36% received no

training at all. This is an alarming statistic, considering the amount of

accessibility students have to digital media, both at school and at home.

How do school districts and educational leaders then ensure that cyber

ethics becomes as important to students as the media it protects? Baum

(2005) suggests a systematic approach to teaching students about the

importance of cyber ethics. This includes developing a cyber ethics

curriculum, teaching cyber ethics in the classroom, using the internet as a

tool to teach cyber ethics, creating an acceptable use policy, and having 12


students take a pledge to be responsible Internet users. Many districts have

already started this process, primarily as a result of the requirements of the

federal government’s E-rate funding program. In order to receive funding to

purchase new technological equipment, the Children’s Internet Protection

Act (CIPA) requires that a district provide training for students in regards to

appropriate online behavior, including the use of social networking websites

and the intolerance of cyber-bullying. As a result, school districts have

purchased cyber ethics curriculum, such as that provided by Common Sense

Media, and teachers are trained and expected to implement that curriculum

in the classroom. In addition, students and parents sign an acceptable use

policy agreeing to adhere by the policies for Internet usage set forth by the

school district. As instructional technology and digital media becomes more

commonplace in the classroom, this is definitely a step in the right direction.

Instructional Design and Technology continues to grow and change

each year, especially in the field of education. As more technologies are

discovered and more theories refined, Instructional Design and Technology

must change and adapt to fit the needs of the next generation. Many new

technologies are entering or will enter the classroom in the near future. The

digital world of Web 3.0, also known as the “semantic web”, holds exciting

possibilities for education. The ability to customize and personalize

applications to fit the needs of individual students opens up vast possibilities

for individualized instruction. As the Windows 8 hybrid, the laptop and tablet 13


in one, makes its debut this fall, it holds great potential for classrooms across

America.

Instructional Design and Technology is a rapidly growing field. As more

school districts begin to realize the value of employing such individuals, the

demand for this growing field will continue to increase. As schools move

toward utilizing online learning programs and more complex digital media,

Instructional Designers will be an integral and necessary part of every school

district. From designing relevant professional developments for teachers to

working alongside teachers to develop engaging and meaningful lessons for

students, Instructional Designers prove themselves daily to be an invaluable

resource to educators and administrators.

In conclusion, Instructional Design and Technology has grown

exponentially from the early twentieth century until now. Resources that

were once overhead projectors and instructional radios have become digital

networks and videoconferencing. The need for the Instructional Designer

continues to grow as well. As technology continues to permeate every aspect

of society, and as the education field continues to move toward refining the

development of the constructivist classroom, individuals skilled in designing

lessons that will facilitate learning and improve performance will be in an

ever-growing demand. With this demand will come the need for Instructional

Designers to focus on effectively training teachers to successfully integrate

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the new digital media into their lesson design. In addition, it will be essential

for teachers and school leaders to work together with Instructional Designers

to develop an effective cyber ethics curriculum in schools. As Web 3.0 takes

hold, and the potential for true individualized learning becomes a reality, the

field of Instructional Design and Technology will play a vital role in education

for many years to come.

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Baum, J. (2005). CyberEthics: The New Frontier. TechTrends, 49 (6), 54-55

Carlson, S. (2002). The Missing Link in Educational Technology: Trained Teachers.

TechKnowLogia. 7-11. Retrieved from www.TechKnowLogia.org

Educational Broadcasting Corporation (2004). What is the history of constructivism,

and how has it changed over time?. Retrieved from http://www.thirteen.org/edonline/concept2class/constructivism/index_sub4.html

Mishra, P., Koehler, M.J., & Kereluik, K. (2009). Looking Back to the Future of Educational Technology. TechTrends, 53 (5), 48-53.

Lunenberg, F.C. (1998). Constructivism and Technology: Instructional Designs for Successful Education Reform. Journal of Instructional Psychology, 25 (2), 75-81.

Luterbach, K.J. (2012). Instructional Technologists Discovering, Sharing, Preparing. TechTrends, 56 (6), 3-5.

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http://www.thirteen.org/edonline/concept2class/constructivism/index_sub4.html

http://www.thirteen.org/edonline/concept2class/constructivism/index_sub4.html

http://www.TechKnowLogia.org/


Molebash, P. (n.d.). Technology and Education: Current and Future Trends. Retrieved from http://itari.in/categories/futuretrendsineducation/FutureofEdu-Tech.pdf

Morehead, P., & LaBeau, B. (2005). The Continuing Challenges of Technology Integration for Teachers. Retrieved from http://www.usca.edu/essays/vol152005/moreheadrev.pdf

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42-46.

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mediated learning environment using Gagne’s 9 events of instruction in a Malaysian classroom. International Journal of Instructional Media, 38(4), 379-88.

Reiser, R.A. (2001). A History of Instructional Design and Technology: Part I: A History of Instructional Media. Educational Technology, Research and Development, 49 (1), 53-64.

Reiser, R.A. (2001). A History of Instructional Design and Technology: Part II: A

History of Instructional Design. Educational Technology, Research and Development, 49 (2), 57-67.

Reiser, R.A. & Dempsey, J.V. (2012) Trends and Issues in Instructional Design and

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from http://www.ikeepsafe.org/educational-issues/should-it-be-mandatory-for-schools-to-teach-cyber-ethics/

Shattuck, G. (n.d.). The Historical Development of Instructional Technology Integration in K-12 Education. Retrieved from http://www.nowhereroad.com/technology_integration/readings/

shattuck.pdf

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http://www.nowhereroad.com/technology_integration/readings/shattuck.pdf

http://www.nowhereroad.com/technology_integration/readings/shattuck.pdf

http://www.ikeepsafe.org/educational-issues/should-it-be-mandatory-for-schools-to-teach-cyber-ethics/

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Spring Branch ISD (2012). Define Success. Retrieved from http://cms.springbranchisd.com/district/SearchResults/tabid/29460/Default.aspx?Search=T24

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Documents

file · Web viewPast, Present, and Future Trends in Instructional Design and Technology. Sharon Mahabir. EDTC 6320. October 13, 2013. Throughout history, educational psychologists