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). 1970s when the first microcomputer Prior to the proliferation of the com- In a survey of a large national became available to a growing mar- puter in society and public schools, sample of instructional technology in- ket. By the early 1980s, school sys- there were many schools of education structors in 2000, Betrus found that tems began to invest heavily in that did not have an introductory me- about one-tenth of their introductory microcomputers for classroom use, dia course. As the computer became courses could be classified clearly as the and, by 1985, it was reported that more and more ubiquitous in society, classic type, with a low emphasis on there were at least one million mi- societal forces caused many schools to digital media; another seventeen per- crocomputers in American elemen- start an introductory technology course cent had a "moderate" emphasis on tary and secondary schools. By 1988, to teach pre-service teachers to use the the estimate was as high as three digital media. So, at most, only about computer. These societal pressures led million! (p. 457) one-quarter of all current courses an American Association of Colleges would fit the classic mold. McCutcheon conducted a survey in for Teacher Education (AACTE) task Both courses continued to be of- 1984 just as this trend started to force on technology to produce a paper fered through the 1990s and into the have ramifications in the content of outlining "The Challenge of Electronic early 2000s. After the introduction of the introductory technology course. Technologies for Colleges of Educa- the computer into society came the in- He surveyed instructors m the Mid- tion" (Uhlig & Tucker, 1988, p. 5). troduction of the Internet. The com- west to determine what factors deter- This paper attempted to help deans of puter, along with the Interact, helped mined the content of introductory colleges of education to address the is- media courses. He found that the the acceleration toward a global com- sue of electronic technologies in their topics taught in the course focused petitive economy. Participation in this on teaching pre-service teachers to teacher education programs. Often this worldwide community and access to produce matenals, operate equip- led to the creation of a new introduc- the information contained in computer ment, and apply materials and eqmp- tory technology course, focused on software and on the Interact required a ment to instruction (McCutcheon, computer technology, and with no ties new set of skills. Societal forces urging 1984). One topic of interest was to the introductory courses that had the teaching of computer skills in pub- "Computer-assisted instruction," evolved earlier in the twentieth cen- lic schools also encouraged pre-service which instructors covered in two- tury. Along with these new courses technology courses to inform teachers thirds of the courses. This placed it emerging to teach the computer, the how to teach their students how to use at number 40, tied with "How to content of the older or "classic" intro- computers. These forces affected the produce demonstration and display ductory technology courses shifted to boards" and "How to operate the content of both types of courses. include computer technologies, as was spirit duplicator." Another topic not The most recent and comprehen- listed in the top dozen was "How to seen in the addition of computer-based sive survey of pre-service instructional operate a microcomputer~printer," topics in newer editions of textbooks technology course content at the un- which instructors covered m just used to teach the introductory media dergraduate level is Betms' 2000 study, over half of the courses they taught. course. in which he provides a list of the dozen This topic ranked at number 46, tied Thus, there are two types of courses, most popular content items, as shown with "Instructional research related which can be categorized by the time in Table 2. to the use of media". that they were initially offered and Of these 12 topics, 9 were com- Through the late 1980s and 1990s their relative focus on computer-based puter-based topics, with the top 7 all the personal computer continued to technologies. The "classic" course being computer-based topics. The re- proliferate in public schools. By 1995 evolved from previous courses intro- maining three topics were instructional the number one trend in educational duced from 1922 through the 1970s design, technology integration, and and can be associated with interests of trends/ethics/issues. In the last national

20 TechTrends Volume 46, Issue 5 survey of the undergraduate introduc- Table 2. The 12 Most Frequently degree. For example, Molenda and Har- tory technology course conducted 23 Taught Topics in 2000 ris cite reports from regional media cen- years ago by DeKieffer (1977), there Rank Topic % d courses ters to indicate that circulation of were no computer-based topics taught. 1 Intemet/ worldwide web 95 video programs was holding steady af- Sixteen years ago, McCutcheon 2 Presentationse~me 90 ter a decline from the high point in the (1984), in his study of 39 mid-west in- 3 Wordprocessing / desktappublishing 87 late 1970s. In one small-scale survey, a stitutions, showed that no computer- 4 E-mail/ discussiongroups / ne,.~r~jroups8,4 sample of school technology coordina- based topics had broken the top 12. 5 Spreadsheets 83 tors reported that about one-third of all This demonstrates a dramatic change 6 So~oreevaluafian 80 teachers used video programs, from in the introductory technology 7 Dotobmes 76 cable or satellite systems, on a regular course--a nearly complete shift to- 8 Trends/ ethics/issues 74 basis and that about one-third of all wards an emphasis on computer-based 9 T~ml~y imegration 72 teachers use the overhead projector topics--in just 16 years. 10 Multimediaouthodng daily. (Misanchuk, Pyke, & Tuzun, 11 Instructionaldesign 60 1999). 12 Hordworeinstallation ond troubleshooting 46 Despite these indications that ,/Vk':THOOS FOe TECHNOLOGY TRAINING ;ource: Berrus, 2000 teachers tend to use the traditional au- Since the 1920s, technology training diovisual media at least as heavily as for teachers has typically taken the "strong" emphasis, fully 84 percent computers, it appears that these media form of a single, separate course. The stressed student use. The changing em- may be neglected in pre.service teacher nature of this course has evolved over phasis is consistent with the education programs. A large-scale sur- time, but not the assumption that a Constructivist pedagogical theory that vey of teachers in Virginia (Center for free-standing course is the best solu- was also increasingly taught in colleges Community Research, 1999) found tion. Actually, there have been doubt- of education since the early 1990s. that only five percent of teachers re- ers and innovators throughout the That theory encourages teachers to in- ported that they learned how to use years. In the late 1960s there was volve students in activities in which video for instruction in their pre-ser- movement to integrate technology they discover or create their own vice courses, while 63 percent said they skills in various components of the meanings rather than passively receive were self-taught. Thus, there is a po- teacher education program, particularly meanings given by teachers, textbooks, tential incongruence between what is the "general methods" course and the and mediated materials. Thus a taught in the introductory technology "practice teaching" experiences. Ex- Constructivist approach would empha- ~:ourse and what is being practiced in periments of this sort have persisted size student use of word processing, classrooms. over the years, but have always re- spreadsheet, and presentation software In summary, we find that there is a mained a minority position, at least in as opposed to teacher use. long history behind the offering of in- terms of abandoning the freestanding structional technology courses to pre- course altogether. As of 2000, fully 80 service teachers. The content of these percent of deans of education reported Ac'ru.~ CLASSROOM IMPLEMENTATION courses has evolved over time as new that technology skills were taught in a The degree to which various technolo- technologies have been introduced to separate course. Furthermore, the hours gies are taught in the introductory schools and as societal expectations of of credit were typically set at 3 hours, a technology course is one question. The student outcomes has changed. This number that has been consistent for degree to which they are actually used evolutionary process experienced a dra- many years, even as the potential con- by teachers is another. This leads to a matic jolt in the 1980s as computers tent of the course has expanded expo- significant research gap that is often proliferated and teacher education pro- nentially (Betrus, 2000). overlooked. Molenda and Harris grams responded by, in some cases, cre- (2001) reported that overall there has ating entirely new courses to deal been little research in recent years to specifically with computer competen- TEACHER USE VS. STUDENT USE track school use of the traditional au- cies. Today these courses are ubiquitous The issue of whether "teacher use" or diovisual technologies. We really don't in teacher education programs; how- "student use" of technology was of pri- have good information on the align- ever there may be a discrepancy be- mary importance has evolved greatly ment between what is taught in pre- tween what is taught in a majority of since the time of Starnes's 1937 sur- service technology courses and what pre-service instructional technology vey. Betms found that although 76 per- teachers do with technology in the courses and what is practiced by teach- cent of courses still emphasize teacher schools. ers in American schools. use of technology, half of them also put There is, however, fragmentary evi- "strong" emphasis on student use; in dence that teachers do continue to use fact, if you combine "moderate" and the traditional media to a substantial Continued on page 33

Volume 46, Issue5 TechTrends 21 Clearinghouse on Teacher Educa- Review Panelof the California Commissionon Teacher sues and trends in instructional tech- tion. Credentiding. nology. In M. A. Fitzgerald (Ed.), Volosinov, V.N. (1929). Marxism and 1660 KendallOr. #173, San Bemardino,CA 92407 Educational Media and Technology the Philosophy of Language. In P. Phone: (909) 880-5692 Yearbook 2001 (Vol. 26, pp. 3-15). Morris (Ed.) The Bakhtin Reader: F~x: (909) 880.8170 Englewood CO: Libraries Unlimited. Selected Writings of Bakhtin, tmail: [email protected] Saettler, E (1990). The evolution of Medvedev, Voloshimov, Trans. American educational technology. (1973) By L. Matejka & R. Titunik, Continued from page 21 Englewood CO: Libraries Unlimited. pp.50-61. Starnes, G. W. (1937). The present sta- Walther, J.B. (1995). Relational As- REFERENCES tus of teacher training in the use of pects of Computer-Mediated Com- Betrus, A. K. (2000). The content and visual aids. The Educational Screen, munication: Experimental emphasis of the introductory technol- 16:10, 315-316, 331. Observations Over Trine. Organiza- ogy course for undergraduate pre-ser- Stracke, G. A. (t932). What is being tion Science, 6(2), pp. 186-202 vice teachers. Unpublished doctoral taught in courses in visual instruc- Walther, J.B. (1997) Group and Inter- thesis. Bloomington, IN: Indiana Uni- tion? The Educational Screen, 11:1, personal Effects in International versity. 204. Computer-Mediated Center for Community Research. Uhlig, G. E., & Tucker, S. (1988). The Collaboration, Human Communication (1999). Virginia public television in- challenge of electronic technologies Research, 23, (3), pp 342-369. structional television survey--1999. for colleges of education. SIGTE Bul- Salem, VA: The Center for Commu- letin, 4:3, 5-8. Sharon Tettegohis an AssistantProfessor in the nity Research, Roanoke College. Deparlment of Curriculumand Instructionwith The DeKieffer, R. E., & DeKieffer, M. H. Universityof Illinois at Urban~hampnJgn.She (1970). Media milestones in teacher teachescourses in InstruclionalTechnology, and training. Pullman WA: The Educa- Identity in Cyberspacefor undergraduateand graduate tional Media Council. students. DeKieffer, R. E., & DeKieffer, M. H. (1977). Media milestones in teacher 324 EducationBuilding MC-708 training revisited. Washington 13(2: 1310 S. Sixth Slreet Information Futures. Champaign, Illinois61820 Don-is, A. V. (1928). Visual instruction in the public schools. Boston: Girm Continued from page 47 and Co. Anthony K. Betrusis an assistantprofessor in the Oepartmentof Information and Communication for Accreditation of Teacher Educa- Ely, D. P. (1996). Trends in educational Technologyat the State Universityof New York at tion. technology 1995. Syracuse NY: Center Polsdamwhere fie specia(izesin Mu(timedia Oesign Oliver, R. (2000, June). "Web tools: for Science and Technology, Syracuse and Simulations& Games. He may be reached at Flexible and reusable resources for University. [email protected]. web-based learning". Presented at the Ely, D. E (1998). The evolution of in- annual convention of World Confer- structional design & development: ence of Educational Multimedia, The Syracuse program at fifty. Syra- Hypermedia, and Telecommunica- cuse NY: Center for the Support of tions, Montreal, Canada. Teaching and Learning, Syracuse Santema, S., & Genang, R. (2000, University. June). "Rethink education: How we McCutcheon, J. W. (1984). Factors in- make our learners instructors". Pre- fluencing the content of introductory sented at the annual convention of educational media courses. Unpub- World Conference of Educational lished Doctoral dissertation, Indiana Multimedia, Hypermedia, and Tele- University, Bloomington IN. communications, Montreal, Misanchuk, M., Pyke, ]. G., & Tuzun, Canada.0 H. (1999). Trends and issues in edu- cational media and technology in K- Amy S. C. Leh is AssociateProfessor in Instructional 12 public schools in the United Technologyat CaliforniaState UniversJlySan States. Instructional Media newslet- Michael Molenda is associateprofessor in Instructional I~emQrdi~o.She h~s w~i~ moreRan 25 a~des ~r~d ter, 24(Spring), 3-5. SystemsTechnology at Indiana University. tie has o made more than 30 presentationsat inter/national Molenda, M., & Harris, P. (2001). Is- special interestin the historical roots of today's convenlions. She is servingon lfie lechaologyStandard instructionaltechnologies.

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