Trends and Issues in Instructional Design and Technology

This book is intended primarily for readers who plan to become, or who already are, professionals in the field of instructional design and technology. Many texts in this field focus on the skills needed by instructional designers and technologists. However, we believe that professionals in this field should be able to do more than just perform the skills associated with it. They should also be able to clearly describe the nature of the field, be familiar with the field's history and its current status, and be able to describe recent trends and issues that are having, or are likely to have, an impact on the field. The purpose of this book is to help readers attain these goals. Together, the two editors of this book have a total of approximately forty years of experience teaching a course on trends and issues in instructional design and technology. Practically each time one of us has taught a course, we have revised it in some way to update the content and/or improve the instructional methods we have employed. Indeed, in both our cases, the trends and issues courses we teach today look very different, in terms of both content and instructional strategies, from the ones we taught ten years ago. Moreover, the changes we have made have resulted in each of us teaching a trends and issues course that students are very enthusiastic about, in terms of both what they learned and the ways in which they went about learning. In this volume, we have tried to incorporate the content and instructional strategies that have made our own trends and issues courses successful. Content This text, which includes chapters written by many of the leading figures in the field, is organized into six sections. The first section of the book, entitledDefining the Field,focuses on foundational issues. Terms such asinstructional technology, instructional design, instructional media, and instructional design and technology,each of which has long held different meanings to different people, are discussed and defined. The distinguishing features of the instructional design process are also described. Moreover, to enable readers to understand how the field has progressed, a history of the field is also presented. EntitledLearning: Foundations and Trends,the second section of the book describes the theories of learning and instruction that have long served as the basis for much of the practices in our field. It also discusses issues related to learner motivation, instructional strategies, and learning styles. This section also examines changing views of learning and instruction. It describes constructivism and situated learning theory, contrasts positivist and relativist views of learning and the design of instruction, and discusses the renewed interest in teaching problem-solving skills to learners. The third section of the book,Performance Technology,focuses on how the performance technology movement and related concepts, such as employing non-instructional solutions to solve performance problems and focusing on organizational results, have changed the nature of our field. Non-instructional solutions such as electronic performance support systems and knowledge management systems are described, and recent thinking in the areas of evaluation, return on investment, and diffusion and adoption are discussed. There are many types of settings in which instructional designers and technologists work. The fourth section of the book,Trends and Issues in Various Settings,focuses on the professional activities that are taking place in business and industry, the military, health care, public schools, higher education, and the international arena. The impact our profession has had on instruction, learning, and performance in each of these settings is discussed, as are suggestions for how we might increase that impact in the future. The fifth section,New DirectionJohn V. Dempsey is the author of 'Trends and Issues in Instructional Design and Technology', published 2001 under ISBN 9780130222978 and ISBN 0130222976.