Who we were. How we must become.
- Once upon a time, there was the instructor. The instructor stood firmly at the forefront of the institution of education. Until one day, he found a chalkboard. And then... for many decades, the teacher and his chalkboard stood, together, at center of learning.
- As for the learner, it was up to her to adapt and accept, the learner's experiences be damned. Until one day, there was a war. Let's back up a bit. Before the war came the roaring 20's. The 20's produced a boom in visual aids...like the chalkboard we discussed. The Visual Instruction Movement changed, to an extent, the learner's experience in the classroom. More than the aids helped the learners, visual aids such as textbooks helped the instructors to explain and demonstrate the information they desired to pass across. (Reiser, Dempsey, 2018). World War II created opportunities for educational psychologists to learn from the training experiences of soldiers (Miller, 2018). By the 1950's, media became all the rage in visual instruction. The times such as these mentioned, produced heightened focus that eventually became more than a trend, on instructional design. By the 60's and 70's, processes mattered. Timelines of how and when information was disseminated to learners began to matter. Educators were beginning to understand that learning, was in fact a process. By 1963, an official definition of instructional design became recognized and accepted (Ely, 1963). This definition included designed steps and specific attention given to how messages were passed through visual aids and other means (Dempsey & Reiser, 2018). Over several decades, this definition changed with the increase of the knowledge and accessibility of technology. It's like all came full circle, when once again, the focus was placed on the materials verses the process. Either way, the focus still seemed misplaced. From method, to medium, to process all previous definitions suggest that the goal of instruction was perhaps misplaced. Here we are today, and after much deliberation, we understand better that the learner matters most. This understanding has led to new definitions and approaches to instructional design and technology use. This website will detail for us a model of a truly learner centered eco-system. Enjoy your tour!