The History of Instructional design and Technology

The history of instructional design and technology is important as it describes past events as well as advances and current trends in the field.
Instructional media was all the physical aspects of instruction presented to learners.  Students learned by any tools used in instruction other than the teacher.  Which meant chalkboards, textbooks, overheads etc.  In the early 20th century teachers Begin using school museums and its resources as supplemental means of presenting instruction in the classroom.  Museums had things such as films, slides and pictures which aided in what they called the "Visual instruction" movement.  Beginning in the 1930's There were advances in technology that led to the "Audiovisual" Instruction movement.  Educators used radio broadcasting, sound recordings, and movies with sound to implement into the instructional model in the classroom.  The most influential factor affecting the audiovisual movement in the 1950's was Television and the instructional television programs for education purposes.  Although short lived still played an important part.  Computers became a technological innovation that aided in educational instruction in the 1980's.  And obviously has had a major impact in instructional practices in schools today.

Recent developments in instructional technology have increased the use of technology in the classroom as a necessary tool in which teachers use to help students gain knowledge and mastery of objectives as well as help teachers conduct formative and summative evaluations and maintain records in the classroom.  The Internet is rapidly growing in higher education and in business, industry and the military.  In the classroom there is a widely diverse student population that benefits from the use of computers and the Internet and is easily accessible and can address specific learners needs. 

K-12 Education
In the area of K-12 Education we are constantly advancing and changing.  We use technology in so many areas and it proves over and over again to benefit the realm of education and increases learning.  We can incorporate not only computers and the Internet, we use Wiki's, blogs, personal websites, web quests and things like brain pop, united streaming, podding and email to enhance the learning environment. 

Higher Education
I have three classes left in getting my Masters degree in Library science and technology and have done all of it online.  Its convenient and very technology oriented in all aspects. So I feel there are more and more colleges that will increase their number of online programs and classes allowing students to complete all higher education classes via the computer and implementing other tools of technology, such as this blog, to complete and master classes.

Adult Education
There are always professional development classes on advancing and mastering different types of technology.  Teachers will always need to have these available to attend in order to learn how to successfully implement the technology into our classrooms.