Association for Educational Communications and Technology

Professional Associations

Assignment 1

Christina Rogoza

ITDE 7006

Foundations of Instructional Technology

Dr. Charles Schlosser

Sept. 11, 2005

1 Association for Educational Communications and Technology

History

The Association for Educational Communications and Technology (AECT) was formed in 1923 as the Department of Visual Instruction (DVI) of the National Education Association

(NEA). It remained part of the NEA, located within its Washington, DC headquarters, for 48 years until 1971. At this time there was an increasing interest in the potential of visual media, i.e., slides and motion pictures in schools, colleges, and university extension divisions for instructional purposes.

In its first seven years, the DVI had no permanent staff, disseminated no publications, and offered no services to its members. It took form only at the NEA summer convention where members met and paid their annual fee of one dollar.

The first presidents in the 1920’s were all affiliated with public schools. However, the trend began in the 1930’s with representation from higher education and continued after World

War II with 23 of 25 presidents working in higher education (AECT, 2001).

1932-1945

By the mid 1930’s, training teachers to use the new media became the major focus of

DVI and membership grew to over 600 by the start of World War II. An issue that arose during this period was the replacement of silent films with sound films for educational purposes. Silent film advocates argued for the value of the personalization of the film by the teacher’s narration which also kept the teacher central to the presentation. Although research supported their claims, commercialism won out at the end and “talkies” became the medium most used.

2 As the war drew near large conventions were not allowed to be held and since the association was essentially built around convention activity, it remained inactive until 1946

(AECT, 2001).

1946 – 1957

After the war a large group of specialists who had been trained in audio-visual technology came back to jobs in schools and colleges that were incorporating this media in their curricula. DVI became the Department of Audio-Visual Instruction (DAVI) and now had a permanent staff at NEA. DAVI now began its own separate convention and its own journals,

Audio-Visual Communication Review and Audio-Visual Instruction (AECT, 2001).

1958-1970

The launch of the Sputnik satellite by the Soviet Union shocked the nation and resulted in a major federal effort in the U.S. to improve the teaching of math, science, and foreign languages. The National Defense Education Act (NDEA) of 1958 provided funding for equipment, materials, research, and college scholarships. The act specifically referred to radio, television, film, and audiovisual media. Schools now needed specialized professional staff to oversee the use of the media and thousands of new jobs were created. As a result, DAVI membership grew from 3000 to 11,000.

During this period the concept of programmed instruction using machines was made popular by B.F. Skinner and was reflected in DIVA’s definition for educational technology. It was oriented around audiovisual communications and was defined in 1963 as “that branch of educational theory and practice primarily concerned with the design and use of messages which control the learning process” (AECT, 2001).

3 1971-1982

After reorganization, the association adopted a new name, the Association for

Educational Communications and Technology (AECT). AECT became an “umbrella” organization with nine special interest Divisions and ten National Affiliates. The journals were renamed Educational Communication and Technology Journal and Instructional Innovator, and a new journal was added, Journal of Instructional Development.

During the 1970’s, the videocassette player-recorder was changing the face of audiovisual use in the classroom. It was easy to use and teacher’s clearly preferred it to 16mm film. This coupled with education funding cuts during the recession of the early 1970’s resulted in the loss of many AV jobs in schools and colleges. The librarians now became the overseers of the educational technology resources.

AECT now adopted a new definition that eliminated the audiovisual label of 1963 and focused on process. The 1972 definition appeared as, “Educational technology is a field involved in the facilitation of human learning through the systematic identification, development, organization, and utilization of a full range of learning resources and through the management of these processes” (AECT, 2001).

In 1977 this was further re-defined with a focus on a systematic problem-solving process as “Educational technology is a complex, integrated process, involving people, procedures, ideas, devices, and organization, for analyzing problems and devising, implementing, evaluating, and managing solutions to those problems, involved in all aspects of human learning” (AECT, 2001).

1983-1999

This was the era of the computer and digital media and more members now came from

4 the higher education sector than the school sector. In 1985, Instructional Innovator became

TechTrends and the Journal of Instructional Development (JID) and Educational Communication and Technology (ECTJ) merged under the new name of Educational Technology Research and

Development (ETR&D).

AECT’s 1994 definition of instructional technology illustrated the continuing shift toward a process focus, moving away from the audiovisual media definition (1963) and the problem-solving process (1977) and now placed the instructional design process at the center,

”Instructional Technology is the theory and practice of design, development, utilization, management, and evaluation of processes and resources for learning” (AECT, 2001).

Headquarters and Membership

In 1999, AECT moved their headquarters to Bloomington, Indiana to share space with the Agency for Instructional Technology (AIT). It continues as an umbrella organization with professors and graduate students comprising about 60% of the membership, while school media specialists comprise about 30% reflecting a change from the original composition of school administrators and school visual instruction coordinators. As of July 2005, AECT had 2,219 members (Lowell, 2005).

Mission

The mission of the Association for Educational Communications and Technology is to

provide international leadership by promoting scholarship and best practices in the creation,

use, and management of technologies for effective teaching and learning in a wide range of

settings.

5 Goals:

 Define the disciplines and professional activities that comprise the field of educational

communications and technology.

 Serve and represent professionals in the field and support professional growth.

 Advance scholarship and practice that contribute to and enlarge the knowledge base of

the field.

 Promote policies that ensure the humane and ethical use of educational communications

and technology at all levels, from the personal through the international (AECT, 2005).

Conferences

Since 1923, AECT has been involved in annual conferences. As the trade show that accompanied the conventions brought in a major portion of the association’s total revenues, the conference remained the focus of AECT activities. Although the conference is important for academic networking, there should be more opportunities for dialogue than just at the conferences. Blogs are currently being promoted as an alternative for social networking (Lowell,

2005).

Offices

President (2006) Sharon Smaldino, Northern Illinois University

Executive Director – Dr. Phillip Harris

Divisional Officers (9) (see http://www.aect.org/about/DivOfficers.htm)

State Affiliates (41) with governing officers (see http://www.aect.org/Affiliates/default.htm)

Chapters (8) with governing officers (see http://www.aect.org/Chapters/default.htm)

Committees (21) (see http://www.aect.org/about/committees.asp)

6 Personal Membership

The concept of the Agora in ancient Greek times was to provide a public meeting place for political, social, educational, and other forums. This was how people came to ‘know’.

Learning happened with social interaction. This concept continues today not only with the conference concept but in the virtual world as well. It is clear that in this ever evolving field of educational technology that interaction with other professionals is key to knowledge building.

Membership in associations is a primary method for connecting with others in the same field or discipline. My professional goals lie in research and align with AECT goals. The association continues to attract professionals interested in research in instructional technology and design in higher education. In addition, it houses a substantial resource of publications concerning instructional technology.

References

Association for Educational Communications and Technology. (2001). In the 20th century: A

brief history. Retrieved Sept. 10, 2005 from

http://www.aect.org/About/History/#independence

Lowell, Nate. (2005). Core and context. Terra Incognita Exploring new dimensions of

membership Retrieved Sept. 10, 2005 from

http://durandus.com/incognita/lowell/55/core-and-context

Lowell, Nate. (2005). Membership numbers. Terra Incognita Exploring new dimensions of

membership Retrieved Sept. 10, 2005 from

http://durandus.com/incognita/membership/60/membership-numbers