Trends and Issues in
Instructional Design & Technology

Questions Related to the Readings

Readings 2-5 | Reading 8 | Reading 9

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Reading 1

  1. In the early days of the field (prior to the first formal definition) what was the field of instructional technology equated with?
  2. In 1970, the Commission on Instructional Technology prepared two definitions of the field. How did the first definition reflect the past? How did the second definition look toward the future?
  3. How was the 1977 definition similar to the second 1970 definition? How did the 1977 definition go beyond previous definitions?
  4. What are two important ways in which the 1994 definition is different from its predecessors?
  5. How does the new definition proposed in this reading go beyond the 1994 definition?
  6. What reasons does the author provide for using the term "instructional design and technology", rather than "instructional technology", as the label for our field? Do you agree or disagree with this point of view? Explain why.

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Readings 2 - 5

Each of these readings describes some of the major defining features of the instructional design process (also called "the systems approach for designing instruction", "systematic design of instruction", "instructional development", etc.) Some of them also provide a succinct (one sentence) definition of the instructional design process.

  1. Of the succinct (one sentence) definitions of instructional design given in the readings, which one do you like the best? Why?
  2. Identify the defining features (not the steps!) of the instructional design process that are most frequently referred to in the readings.
  3. Identify what you consider to be three most important defining features (not the steps) of the instructional design process. Provide a brief rationale for your choices.

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Reading 8

You will be asked to read one of the following three sections of this reading:

• the history of instructional films (pp. 9 - 18)

• the history of instructional radio (pp. 19 - 26)

• the history of instructional television (pp. 27 - 40)

Also read pages 51 - 71 and l04 - 109. Then, based on these readings, answer the following questions:

  1. What sorts of predictions/expectations did educators first have regarding the medium you read about? (films, radio, or television)
  2. To what extent was this medium actually used in schools?
  3. What were some of the reasons the medium was not used to a greater extent?
  4. How can we avoid such problems in the future?

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Reading 9

• Read pages 183 – 191 of this reading (up to, but not including, the section entitled "Identifying an Instructional Goal")

• These pages focus on a variety of "events" in the history of instructional design. These events are listed below.

• As you read about each event, think about how it is related to current instructional design theories and practices, as you understand them (I realize that some of you have limited knowledge of these theories and practices!).

• During the next class session, you will be placed on a team and will participate in a game related to these events.

Events

• World War II and subsequent developments in the military

• the launching of Sputnik

• the programmed instruction movement

• the behavioral objectives movement

• criterion-referenced testing movement

• the work of Dr. Robert M. Gagne

• the evaluation movement

• the development of systems approach models

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