Historical Evolution of Instructional Technology in Teacher Education Programs
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Historical Evolution of Instructional Technology in Teacher Education Programs by Anthony K. Betrus and Michael Molenda ontrary to popular perception, EARLY VISUAL INSTRUCTION the present status of the visual instruc- C technology is not new to COURSES:1920S AND 1930s tion courses in the United States [as] teacher education programs in the While it is not clear when the first the instructors in these courses have U.S. Skills in using technological course that focused on the use of little to guide them in preparing their media in teaching have been in- technology to support instruction was syllabi" (p. 315). cluded since the early 1900s. We will taught to pre-service teachers, "Prob- After conducting a survey of the in- review the evolving content and ably the first official credit course in structors who taught visual instruction methods of technology training in visual instruction was given at the courses, Starnes made recommenda- American teacher education, tracing University of Minnesota in 1918 by tions for the course content based on the changes from the 1920s to the Albert M. Field" (Saettler, 1990, p. the most frequently taught topics, in- early 2000s. We will show that this 149). In the 1920s, Anna V. Dorris cluding a sample course outline. In this evolutionary process was dramatically analyzed survey results from 30 nor- course outline, the first topic he pro- affected by the popularization of com- mal schools and 37 universities re- posed was "a brief history of visual in- puter technology in the 1980s, leading garding their provisions for teaching struction," followed by "the to a situation in which we now have visual instruction. She determined psychological background for the use of the co-existence of two rather differ- that the normal schools were begin- visual aids" and then % discussion of ent types of pre-service instructional ning to teach separate courses in vi- results of experimentation with visual technology courses-those that feature sual instruction in summer sessions, aids" (Stames, 1937, p. 13). After a balanced treatment of the various although the content of these courses foundation was placed, the 10 units traditional and computer-based media had yet to become consistent. Film that followed were related to the use of and ~hose that focus primarily on collections were also beginning to various media , including flat pictures, computers. Although we do not have proliferate, especially in universities globes, object-specimen-model materi- good information about what media (Dorris, 1928). als, motion picture, and others are being used and how they are be- in the next decade, Stracke (Statues, 1937, p. 13). ing used by teachers and students, (1932) documented the number and Starnes found that visual instruc- there are indications that the "com- content of introductory courses in vi- tion courses also included some non- puter-focused" courses may be ne- sual instruction, and five years after device-related topics such as "the glecting an area of training that is that, Starnes (1937) conducted a history of visual education" and the still needed by teachers-how to suc- similar survey at the end of what he "psychological justification for the cessfully integrate traditional media referred to as the "pioneer stage" of use of visual aids," as well as many de- into classroom instruction as well as the visual instruction movement. The vice-related topics ( p. 316). Some of computer media. purpose of his study was to "determine these device-related topics included 18 TechTrends Volume 46, Issue5 "technique in using Table 1. Ranks of Various Items of Content Included in introductory Courses with advocacy for the stereoscope," in Educational Media the systems ap- "technique in the use proach in the pro- Item Rank of motion pictures," fessional field, were lg47 1957 1967 1977 "technique in the use reflected in the in- 5 5 7 11 of lantern slides, film 1. History and philosophy of educational media 1 troductory technol- 3 1 3 slides, and opaque pro- 2. Operation of equipment ogy course through jectors," and "me- 3. Production of audio-visual materials the addition of two a. Photographic materials 8 8 10 l0 chanics of projectors 4 new topics. Neither 7 6 5 and projection" b. Non-photographic materials 6 "theory of commu- 9 9 8 (Stames, 1937, p. c.Radio script writing, transcriptions and recordings nication" nor "in- 10 10 12 9 316). Another major d. Video structional systems" - 13 12 consideration was the e. Other types of productions were listed as being 2 4 2 3 advantages and limita- 4. Selection of materials 2 taught in the intro- I 2 I tions to using the vari- 5. Utilization of materials 5 ductory technology 4 3 4 ous instructional 6. Evaluation of materials course in 1957, but 6 7 11 13 devices. These devices 7. Administration of educational media were ranked six and 6 7 were assumed to be 8. Theory of communication nine respectively in 9 8 used primarily by 9. Instructional systems 1967 and seven and 11 11 14 14 teachers in the class- 10. Other items eight respectively room setting, rather than by students. the course (Table 1). in 1977 (DeKieffer & DeKieffer, 1977, There were a few notable exceptions The period between 1947 and 1957 p. 61). that called for involving students in us- saw a rapid increase in the number of Concomitant with these changes ing technology, including pupil-made institutions offering an introductory was a significant drop in popularity in glass slides, photography, and models course in audiovisual instruction. Ini- the topic "history and philosophy of (Starnes). tially extension divisions offered these educational media" from number 1 in new courses, and later schools of edu- 1937, to number 5 in 1947 and 1957, cation offered them (DeKieffer & to number 7 in 1967, and finally to A GRADUAL EVOLUTION OF CONTENT: DeKieffer, 1970) . In 1957, the Soviet number 11 in 1977. DeKieffer & 1940s, 1950s, AND 1960s Union launched the first space satel- DeKieffer's interpretation was that "In In the ten years following Starnes's lite, Sputnik. Together with other in- the area of history and philosophy of 1937 study, there were many changes fluences, this resulted in the United education media, there appears to have in the landscape of media in education. States Congress passing the National been a de-emphasis with the increased Access to technology grew as did the Defense Education Act (NDEA) in importance on the theory of communi- use of media in schools. New technolo- 1958. This proved to have a significant cation and instructional systems" (p. gies emerged, especially those associ- influence on the introductory technol- 62). They also noted that that "... over ated with audio recording and ogy course. The NDEA spurred mo- the years there has been very little shift playback. This evolution is reflected in mentum for teaching with technology, in the ranking of the four basic ingredi- the name of AECT's predecessor orga- with a primary focus on winning the ents, namely, operation of equipment, nization, which began in 1923 as the "space race" with the Soviet Union. selection, utilization, and evaluation of Department of Visual Instruction The federal grant funding opportuni- materials" (p. 61). (DVI), a unit of the National Educa- ties associated with the NDEA during Thus, you could say that by the late tion Association. DVI changed its the "golden years" of the 1960s were 1960s the educational media course name to the Department of Audio-Vi- discussed at "systems" conference held had assumed an archetypal form: focus- sual Instruction (DAVI) in 1947 at Syracuse University in 1964 (Ely, ing on teacher utilization of audiovi- (Saertler, 1990). Not surprisingly, the 1998, p. 14). Along with discussing sual media, with an emphasis on the content of the introductory technology various federal funding opportunities, a skills of utilization, selection, opera- course taught to pre-service teachers national trend was identified, recogniz- tion, evaluation, and production of au- also expanded to include audio materi- ing that: "With an increasing interest dio and visual materials; all of which als. in a comprehensive approach to in- was animated by theoretical notions Through four national surveys of structional development, a systems ap- drawn from communications and sys- educational media courses-in 1947, proach was being advocated by leaders terns theory. This template is still visible 1957, 1967, and 1977, DeKieffer & in the field" (Ely, 1998, p. 15). in the older or "classic" form of the in- DeKieffer (1977) documented this ex- By 1967, recent innovations in troductory instructional technology pansion, along with other changes in communications technology, along course. Volume 46, Issue 5 TechTrends 19 THE INFORMATIONAGE: 1980S AND technology was: "Computers are per- members of the Association for Educa- 1990S vasive in schools and higher education tional Communications and Technol- Throughout the 1980s and 1990s, institutions. Virtually every student in ogy (AECT), successor to DAVI. It there was an increase in digital tech- formal education has access to a com- maintained a balanced concern for all nology innovations. The proliferation puter" (Ely, 1996, p. 15). The prolifera- sorts of media, including computer- of the computer in society during this tion of the computer in education and based media. The "new" course time accelerated the transition from an society at large spurred an important emerged in the 1980s, and 1990s pri- industrial age to an information age. evolutionary step in the changing na- marily to teach computer technologies, Teachers began to incorporate a new ture of the introductory media course. ignoring the earlier technologies, and is tool in their classrooms. Saettler more closely associated with the con- (1990) articulated this point: tent interests of the membership of In- Two CATEGORIESOF IN'mOOUaORY A new hope for the use of the com- ternational Society for Technology in puter in education arose m the late COURSE Education (ISTE).