This week’s readings have brought together an interesting mix of theory and technology advancements. From videos to on-line courses, it is amazing technology has changed the presentation of information to facilitate learning. I enjoy the concept of free open on-line courses. I have taken a few when I have had that whim to learn something interesting. I don’t have a teaching background but I can appreciate the use of technology to provide the course work in an interesting format for students. In our weekly reading, I gain a good sense of the advancement of this technology as each tool faded. (Bonk & Wiley, 2020) It was amazing to see how a major crisis can pull in the current technology and test its capabilities and challenge current learning theories. As I saw my kids go from in-class learning to hybrid and complete on-line learning, I was reminded what kind of event is required to keep this technology in the spotlight for the purpose of education.
I enjoyed reading the other articles on how the military used research on learning theories and technology to shape the training of people. Countries used the technology of the era to train large populations of people particularly for combat. Of course, these countries also used this technology to spread a desired message to unify a country. (Molenda, 2008) I have studied military innovation in times of transition between wars but never from the learning perspective. It is an irony though that institutions that could have benefitted the most, made the least progress; our public school systems and higher educational institutions. It would seem that budget cuts prevented schools from experimenting with instructional design. As highlighted by Dr. Reiser (2018) in his article, conditions were and probably still favorable for private business and the military. (Reiser, 2018)
Ed
Bonk, C. J., & Wiley, D. (2020). Preface: Reflections on the waves of emerging learning technology. Educational Technology Research and Development (ETR&D), 68(4), 1595-1612. DOI 10.1007/s11423-020-09809-x.
Molenda, M. (2008). Historical foundations. In J. M. Spector, M. D. Merrill, J. V. Merriënboer, & M. P. Driscoll (Eds.), Handbook of research on educational communications and technology (3rd ed.) (pp. 3-20). New York: Taylor & Francis Group.
Reiser, R. A. (2018). A history of instructional design and technology. In R. A. Reiser, & J. V. Dempsey (Eds.), Trends and issues in instructional design and technology (4thed.) (pp. 8-22). Boston, MA: Pearson Education, Inc.
Ed's Reflections for IU courses 
3 replies on “Week 8 Blog – History of IT”
Ed, I appreciate your personal experiences and insights into the role of the military within instructional design. It has been very helpful to learn from everyone’s different experiences with the field in various capacities. I hadn’t considered it before, but you are likely correct that business and the military have benefited the most from advances in instructional design and technology if only because of funding. So often in education, I have seen amazing ideas that are not able to be implemented only because a lack of funding or budget cuts. This quote from your blog post this week really summarized a lot of my reflections on our readings this week: “It was amazing to see how a major crisis can pull in the current technology and test its capabilities and challenge current learning theories.” We have seen major crises advance technology and learning theories again and again. It is interesting what we have learned from each crisis.
-Shanna Sanders
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Ed,
Before taking this class, I did not realize the major impact the military has had on the field of instructional technology. I too have never looked at learning from the military perspective. I agree that private business and the military probably have the biggest benefits in our field. I also agree this is probably due to limited budgets. However, like you said, schools both K-12 and higher education could probably benefit the most from our field if they had the resources available to them.
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Hi Ed,
I am a military brat – my father serving in the Air Force until my early 20s. I have many things to be thankful to the military for, but one of them has been unexpected as I have gone through my college career and into life. I am thankful that the military spends so much money on researching things the general public won’t do – invariably that research helps the general populace once it is released. I think education, and learning skills and strategies are some of those things.
-km
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