Considers the importance of having an historical understanding or perspective of the profession of educational technology. Discusses ideas of Ralph Waldo Emerson, including knowing the person and knowing the work (as a contemporary) and knowing a person from his or her work, as an introduction to essays on James Finn. (LRW)

Traces the evolution of the theoretical foundations of the field of educational technology through the literature published between 1970 and the present. Thirty-three references are listed. (LLS)

Examines how, over time, the major definitions of the field of educational technology have reflected changes in the field itself. Major definitions from the early 1900s through 1994 are reviewed and compared; major changes in the field are identified; and thoughts regarding future definitions are presented. (Author/LRW)

Describes the content and use of the AECT (Association for Educational Communications and Technology) Archives, housed with the National Public Broadcasting Archives at the University of Maryland, College Park. Highlights include materials from audiovisual education, instructional technology, and educational technology; motivation for historical…

At the turn of the century, William Rainey Harper's concept of continuing education fostered correspondence study, a precursor of distance education. History shows the need for practices that move from emphasis on classroom instruction to appropriate and fully integrated use of new technologies that will realize the true potential of distance…

This directory of 16mm film libraries has been compiled for the use of teachers, school administrators, librarians, community leaders, and others who use or wish to use motion pictures in their educational and informational programs. It is a revision and an expansion of the Office of Education publication, "A Directory of 897 16mm Film Libraries,"…

Discusses the history of the field of instructional design and technology in the United States. Includes a definition, major features, rational for using instructional design and technology as the label for the field, history of instructional media from 1900 to the present, effects media have had on instructional practices, and the effect…

This chapter considers the history of instructional development (ID) in the military, with particular emphasis on the U.S. Navy. The ID process used at the Navy's Instructional Program Development Centers is presented, including the process for simulator development. An in-depth analysis of the problems encountered with educational technology…

For the past 33 years, since Theodore Roosevelt, then President of the United States, called the first conference of governors in American History to be held at the White House, the conservation of natural resources has been a national policy. The purpose of conservation education is to develop attitudes and ways of living which contribute to the…

Television presents a new, flexible, and inexpensive means of illustrating a lesson. Television is both audio and visual, to use the term audio-visual, applied in the past particularly to motion pictures, film strips, slides, recordings, and similar valuable aids to teaching. Television is a picture in motion with sound occurring at the same…

The recent history of instructional theory is inextricably linked to a progression of technological developments, social changes, and influential theoreticians. (Author)

This paper presents a history of the Internet and the World Wide Web, describes benefits and disadvantages of the Web for instructional programs, makes recommendations for Web-based instructional design, and provides technical information for Web-based learning. A glossary of terms is also included. (PEN)

Reviews the history of discovery-based learning, including theories of programed learning, the work of B. F. Skinner, and the impact of information technology. Rejection of discovery learning is identified, and the likelihood in the near future of a revolution in education brought about by hypermedia technology is rejected. (47 references) (MES)

For more than a decade, the Academy for Educational Development's Clearinghouse on Development Communication has collected information and chronicled trends in the application of communications technology to development--communication which has as its purpose the deliberate promotion of one or more aspects of national development. This paper…

This paper examines the tradition of research within the field of educational technology and cites problems endemic to the dominant research methods. It is suggested that a reexamination of the history of the field has intrinsic merit and is necessary at this time; furthermore, historical analysis may assist in the development of new research…