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Association for Educational Communications Technology
Today, the field is fascinated with the instructional possibilities presented by the computer as a medium of communication and as a tool for integrating a variety of media into a single piece of instruction. Video has replaced the educational film, and television can be two-way and interactive.
At the turn of this century a number of technological inventions and developments were made that provided new, and in some cases, more efficient means of communication. In the 1920s, the motion picture passed through the stage of being a mere curiosity to a serious medium of expression, paralleling live theater. Its usefulness and influence on learning was explored. This educational research continued into the 1930s, when new instructional projects such as teaching by radio were implemented. Within 20 years both film and radio became pervasive communication systems, providing both entertainment and information to the average citizen.
The advent of World War II created many demands for a new skilled workforce. Media took a prominent place in educational and training systems attempting to fill such needs, and much research centered on the use of these media in a wide variety of teaching and learning situations. Media were among the innovations that made possible the changes and growth in the industrial complex that were so essential to the defense of the western world.
After the war, schools and industry alike attempted to settle back into the old, familiar methods of operation. Within a few years, however, the increase in the birth rate and public school enrollment forced a re-evaluation of the older and slower approaches to education. Again, media were employed, this time to upgrade the curriculum of the public schools.
With the late 1940s and early 1950s came considerable experimentation with television as an instructional tool. Industry was expanding and began to develop its own in-house educational systems. Simultaneously, a search was begun for more efficient and effective means by which such education could be accomplished.
Concurrent with the introduction and development of the study of instructional media, the notion of a science of instruction was evolving. The educational psychologists provided a theoretical foundation which focused on those variables which influenced learning and instruction. The nature of the learner and the learning process took precedence over the nature of the delivery media.
Some of the early audiovisual professionals referred to the work of Watson, Thorndike, Guthrie, Tolman, and Hull. But it was not until the appearance of Skinner’s (1954) work with teaching machines and programmed learning that professionals in the field felt that they had a psychological base. Skinner’s work in behavioral psychology, popularized by Mager (1961), brought a new and apparently more respectable rationale for the field. Lumsdaine (1964) illustrated the relationship of behavioral psycholo