MOJIT A Ten Year Analysis: Trends in Traditional Educational Technology Literature

A Ten Year Analysis: Trends in Traditional

Educational Technology Literature

Mona Masood
Centre for Instructional Technology and Multimedia
Universiti Sains Malaysia, Malaysia
msmona@usm.my

Abstract
The purpose of the study was to determine concepts that have emerged, grown, or diminished in the field of
educational technology in an effort to identify themes that have been most dominant in the most recent times.
Emerging themes covering a decade worth of literature as presented in the Educational Technology of Research and
Development (ETR&D) were discussed. A content analysis of journal articles for themes and tracking for concept
clusters were conducted. A total of 200 articles were reviewed.

INTRODUCTION
The field of educational echnology has grown and changed greatly over the past century, affected by various
influences including historical forces, paradigm shifts in educational psychology, emerging technologies, and
evolving approaches to inquiry. In the 1960s and 1970s, the educational technology field was heavily oriented
toward applying Behaviourist notions to the design of instruction. At the same time, cognitive information
processing theory was emerging as the dominant paradigm in educational psychology. From the 1960s to 1980s,
Gagné’s evolving “theory” of instruction, integrated cognitive with behavioral views (Reiser, 2002). In the 1980s
and 1990s, computer technology dominated the field, while in educational psychology, theories of constructivism
and situated cognition offered new ways of thinking about instruction. Toward the turn of the century, the
World Wide Web had made significant inroads in telecommunication, enabling both asynchronous and
synchronous communication and information sharing on a global scale. More recently, academia has become
highly dependent on the Internet for administrative purposes as well as for teaching and research.

The professional association with the most extensive history in the field of educational technology is the
Association for Educational Communications and Technology (AECT). The association has provided a broad
view through the publication of its research journal. The research journal began as Audiovisual Communication
Review (AVCR) in 1953, was continued as Educational Communications and Technology Journal (ECTJ) in 1978, and
became Educational Technology, Research and Development (ETR&D) in 1989. The name changes of this journal
reflect the evolution of the field as it worked to keep pace with rapid changes in the world of technology.

Since AECT has the longest history in the field of educational technology and has provided a broad view of the
field through publication of a peer reviewed research or theory journal, ETR&D, this journal was chosen to
represent the body of articles related to educational technology. Evidence from previous studies indicates that
the content of the journal reflect the changing concerns of the field over the years. Torkelson (1977) purported
that when AVCR was launched, instructional technologists were interested in audiovisual research and
communication. In reviewing 25 years of the AVCR, he contends that the older terminology of ‘audiovisual
education’ has moved to ‘audiovisual communications,’ to ‘educational media,’ and to

‘educational/instructional technology.’ He also reported that throughout the 1960s, only about six articles dealt
with communication in the social context, but in the 1970s, he pointed to Mielke’s view (cited in Torkelson,
MOJIT A Ten Year Analysis: Trends in Traditional Educational Technology Literature

1977) that research had expanded to emphasise programmed instruction, behaviourism, and media attribute
studies.

In their analysis of ECTJ, Higgins et al., (1989) found that researchers in the 1980s were most interested in media
selection or utilisation followed by effective instruction and computer applications. Villareal-Stewart et al., (as
cited in Klein, 1997) reported that many studies done in the first half of the 1990s compared computer
applications and interactive technologies. Up to 1997, there were numerous studies on instructional design for
computer technology and on aspects of instructional design and development itself.

The purpose of the present study was to identify trends in professional “conversations” about the educational
technology field as reflected in the AECT literature. Specifically, this study focuses on identifying the topics that
govern the “conversations” in the articles. The term “conversation” is used metaphorically to represent the body
of topics commonly discussed intellectually. That is, to provide a channel for discourse within the field. Research
questions include: What topics related to instructional technology have emerged within the past ten years? What
topics have diminished? Do patterns change over time? What topics dominate current work? The study
contributes to the history of the educational technology field by identifying issues and trends in the field within
the past ten years as reflected by this AECT journal, which is a significant tool for tracking the advancement of
instructional technology.

REVIEW OF THE LITERATURE

The Field Defined

Educational Technology (ET), is frequently referred to as Instructional Technology (IT), however, IT is often
bounded by institutional settings, while ET has a broader connotation usually encompassing activities and
sources to espouse learning. For the purposes of this paper, the researcher referred to the field as ET.

The definition of ET by the AECT has evolved through the passage of time. The present definition is, “…the
theory and practice of design, development, utilisation, management, and evaluation of processes and resources
for learning...” (Seels & Richey, 1994, p. 9). A newer definition, currently being proposed by Molenda &
Robinson (cited in Definition & Terminology Committee, AECT, 2004), defines the field as “the study and
ethical practice of creating, using, and managing appropriate technological processes and resources to better
facilitate learning.” This new definition goes beyond an effort to promote the field’s own identity by trying to be
self explanatory to audiences from outside the field. The definition indicates that proper resources and actions
are managed, used, and created through the means of theory and practice. These are important elements of ET
and serve as a background to the study.

Studies on Content Analysis

In 1977, Torkelson conducted a review of one-quarter century of AVCR issues of its contents, impacts, and
characterisations of the field just before AECT renamed its academic journal AVCR to ECTJ in 1978. Torkelson
attempted to search for cogent statements and critical comments in AVCR in order to characterise what was
happening in the field. He stated that an intellectual technique had been developed with respect to the profession
but that application to practical affairs was still lacking (Torkelson, 1977).

Twelve years after Torkelson’s study, Higgins et al., (1989) conducted a survey to assess AECT members’
preferences for topics and types of articles in the ETR&D journal. These preferences were compared with the

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MOJIT A Ten Year Analysis: Trends in Traditional Educational Technology Literature

actual content of ten previous issues of ECTJ and the Journal of Instructional Development (JID). Results from the
survey showed that interactive video was ranked first by AECT members and third by subscribers. Instructional
development ranked first among subscribers. This finding brought about the question of whose preferences
should be given the greatest weight in considering the journal’s content since subscribers’ preferences differed
from the preferences of the general AECT members for certain topics.

Studies on Trends
Ely et al., (1992) conducted a content analysis of educational technology in selected literature and discovered that
the rank order of content analysis categories showed that instructional processes ranked first followed by
management, then technological developments. Nonetheless, Gustafson (1995/1996) claimed that the future of
the profession depends on external forces in society: demographic changes, cultural changes, family structure,
globalisation of the economy, and globalisation of communication technology.

Klein (1997) analysed articles published in the development section of ETR&D between 1989 and 1997, using a
content analysis methodology similar to that used in the present study. Nine main topics were identified and
descriptors were used to clarify each topic. Results showed that instructional design (ID) for computer
technologies was the topic most frequently published (26%) followed by instructional design and development
(23%).

The Status of Adoption and Use of Instructional

Media and Technology

In contrast to the content analysis studies, Molenda et al., (1998, 2000, 2001, and 2002) have attempted to track
the diffusion and use of instructional technology in various sectors using quantitative data. Their study is a
continuing project and an on-going survey of activities in the field. Molenda et al., (1998) examined trends
related to media and technology in the realms of formal education and corporate training and development.
Among the issues discussed were incorporation of traditional audiovisual media into the instructional
mainstream, incorporation of computer-based media into the instructional mainstream, application of advanced
interactive technologies, and growing interest in learner-centered, inquiry-based instruction.

As a follow-up to the 1998 survey, Molenda & Harris (2001) reported that the rapid emergence of new
technological developments, the convergence of previously distinguishable media into digital format, and
accompanying changes in the affected businesses, made it increasingly difficult to be sure what the issues were
and what entities should be measured. The shift was towards patterns of use and the consequences of those
patterns of use.

Impact of Trends
Wilson (2002) discussed key trends and their impact on the future of education, distance education, and learning
technologies. Trends included the technologising of school systems, learner and user-centered philosophies,
moves to automate instructional design, digital shifts, the global market place, radical forces inspired by global
connectivity, and changing paradigms of thought in instructional design.

While scholars were reporting persistent technology trends in the United States, Seo et al., (2002) reviewed the
international section of the ETR&D. They found that articles reflected a prompt and sensitive response to the
development of various media, hence keeping pace with the evolutionary process of instructional media, while at
the same time addressing the diverse field of media through discussions of microcomputers, the Internet, and
teleconferencing.

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MOJIT A Ten Year Analysis: Trends in Traditional Educational Technology Literature

METHODOLOGY

Research Design
A content analysis of journal articles was used to identify the trends and issues. A total of 200 articles from
ETR&D were scrutinised. An instrument in the form of codebooks and coding forms were designed and used
for collecting and extracting data from text.

Content analysis of journal articles was chosen because of the chronological occurrences of articles published in
traditional educational technology journals. In consequence, data collected indicates emerging trends or changes
in focus over time. Further, written documentation is an archived source of information that can be analysed
systematically by extracting data. Besides being an unobtrusive technique, “content analysis is context sensitive
and therefore allows the researcher to process as data texts that are significant, meaningful, informative, and even
representational to others” (Krippendorff, 2004, p. 41).

Rationale for Content Analysis

Neuendorf (2002) takes the view of a postpositivist acknowledging “content analysis is a summarising,
quantitative analysis of messages that relies on the scientific method (including attention to objectivity-
intersubjectivity, a priori design, reliability, validity, generalisability, replicability, and hypothesis testing) and is
not limited as to the types of variables that may be measured or the context in which the messages are created or
presented” (p. 10).

Basically, content analysis is a research tool used to assist researchers in gathering and extracting facts from any
document systematically (Masood, 2004). Content analysis requires objectivity, systematicity, and generality
(Holsti, 1969) while Berelson (1952) states that content analysis is about manifest content. Nevertheless, Babbie
(1992) posits that researchers want to move beyond manifest content and analyse what is called latent content,
thus the focus shifts to the meaning underlying the elements on the surface of a message. Still, for this study
words or concepts that appear in the document were recorded during the coding stage and any interpretations or
inferences were reserved for the interpretive stage.
Specifically, an adaptation of Pershing’s (2002) eight and Thomas’ (2003) six basic steps in conducting a content
analysis is the basis for the present study. By integrating the suggested processes, the researcher derived nine
steps (Figure 1). The nine steps are:

1. State the purpose of the document analysis

The purpose of the analysis has to be articulated at the beginning of the study.
2. Specify the set of questions to be answered by the analysis
Research questions need to need to be developed in the anticipation that the analysis will assist in
answering those questions.
3. Select a methodology of approach
There are three types of document analysis: tracking, content analysis, and case study aggregation.
Choose the best type of analysis that can assist the researcher in answering the research questions. For
this study, content analysis and tracking provided a uniform, methodic, and objective way to derive
concepts and identification of themes.
4. Prepare for the analysis
Select the appropriate number of documents or artifacts and number them. A coding approach using
either objective, heuristic, or in-between should be decided.
5. Code documents

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MOJIT A Ten Year Analysis: Trends in Traditional Educational Technology Literature

6. Sort and sift

7. Make discoveries
8. Think about things
The processes of coding the documents, sorting and sifting, making discoveries, and thinking about
things are iterative and done repeatedly until all pertinent and relevant concepts are considered. As a
result, themes emerge, sequences materialise, and patterns are discovered.
9. Report findings
Report should include the problem statement, desciption of the documents, explanation of the coding
scheme, and explanation of any assertions and implications.

Selection of Journals
The ten-year period of 1993 through 2002 was chosen as a period of time during which computers became
ubiquitous and the World Wide Web came into widespread use. It is expected that during this period
computers, and especially the Internet, will be found to be increasingly prominent in driving the discussion.

ETR&D publishes four issues per year, 36 issues were analysed over a span of ten years covering from 1993
through the end of 2002 - volumes 41 through 50. Although there are two sections in ETR&D, each edited
independently, the study includes both the Research and Development sections to provide a more coherent
picture of the themes that emerge across the field of educational technology. All articles except for book reviews,
international reviews, and dissertation abstracts were coded.

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MOJIT A Ten Year Analysis: Trends in Traditional Educational Technology Literature

Select a Methodology
of Approach
Tracking
Content Analysis
Case Study

Select a Coding
BEGIN PROCESS

State the Purpose of the Approach

Document analysis
Specify Set of Objective
Performance Problem Heuristic
Quality Improvement Initiative Questions
Business Opportunity
In-Between

Select and Number

Documents or Artifacts

Doc. 1
a.
b.
c.

Sort and Sift Code Documents or

Artifacts

Think About
Things

Repeat Repeat

Make Discoveries

Patterns Sequences Wholes Processes

Categories, Types, Classes

Report Findings
1. State Problem
2. Describe Documents/Artifacts END
3. Explain coding Schema PROCESS
4. 78
Make Assertions and Explain
5. Implications
MOJIT A Ten Year Analysis: Trends in Traditional Educational Technology Literature

Figure 1: Document Analysis Process. From Pershing (2002). Adapted with Permission of The Author.

Coding and Categorising

Each article was categorised according to concepts discussed. A representative subset from the pool of articles
was scrutinised for the coding scheme. Ten randomly chosen articles from the research and development
sections of ETR&D were analysed so that commonly discussed topics could be obtained. These ten articles were
randomly selected across the ten volumes, five from each section, through the process of stratified random
sampling.

Items in the coding sheet were decided upon after looking at the salient concepts found in the first five articles. A
faculty member from the Department of Instructional Systems Technology was consulted to review the
dominant topics chosen in the coding scheme and better classification scheme were suggested. In order to arrive
at the proper themes, concepts were chosen as the best term for this content analysis. For example, if the researcher
is looking for information about the adoption of technology in schools, the concepts would be adoption,
technology, and schools. Ary et al., (1996) defines concept as “...an abstraction that represents objects or events
that have something in common...” (p. 565). On the contrary, themes reflect the combination of topics categories.

Each of the articles was read thoroughly and various concepts mentioned or discussed in the articles were noted.
Then another set of five articles were scrutinised until a majority of the concepts were overlapping and thus,
saturated. The concepts were categorised into concept clusters in order to make sense of the emerging themes.
For example, concepts like cooperative learning, metacognitive activity, individualised instruction, and problem
solving were categorised under the cluster “instructional methods.” Several categories emerged during the first
phase of analysis, whereby sorting and sifting were once again necessary. This process was iterative and not
predetermined. Problematic categories were referred back to the expert for further assistance. At first, only 60
concepts were derived. Later, the concepts were clustered into 15 broader categories.

A codebook and a coding sheet were prepared for analysing the journals by categories derived from analysing a
stratified random sample of the journal. The codebook informs the coders how to analyse the articles of each
classification or category and provide explanations of the terms. An explanation of each item is illustrated with
examples drawn from the journal articles.

Once the categories were identified and the instrument developed, another coder was recruited to code the
articles. A set of 15 articles from both the Research and Development sections of ETR&D were randomly
selected. The coder and the researcher coded the same articles independently. Coding here refers to the process of
transcribing, recording, categorising or interpreting the concepts so that they can be analysed. Each article was
coded a maximum of five concepts only. From the initial inspection of the five articles, more examples were
added, categories collapsed, some were included and others were excluded. Sorting and sifting were necessary
during this first phase of analysis and the process was iterative. Thus, the codebook and coding sheet were
revised (Masood, 2004). This process of sorting and sifting went through three iterations before the coder and
the researcher were 85% in agreement. The final draft of the coding sheet was resubmitted for approval and a
total of 18 main categories and 104 concepts were agreed upon (see Table 1).Then the researcher herself coded
the remainder of the 175 articles.

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MOJIT A Ten Year Analysis: Trends in Traditional Educational Technology Literature

Table 1: Concepts used in the study

Clusters of Concepts Concepts used in the instrument for coding articles

1. Instructional/educational
Technology
2. Other Fields or Disciplines
3. Instructional Process Variables
4. Instructional Process Elements
5. Teaching/learning Perspectives
6. Instructional Methods
7. Delivery systems/Media
Format
8. Instructional development (ID)
9. Production Variables
10. Learner Outcomes
11. Learner Variables
12. Learning Environment
13. Evaluation
14. Performance technology (PT)
& Performance Support Systems
15. Organisational change
16. The Profession
17. Culture
18. Teacher Variable
IT/ET as a whole, Research on IT/ET, Instructional Theory,
Learning Theory
Other disciplines
Learner control, Interactivity, Feedback
Orienting, Instructional objectives, Advanced organisers, Information
retrieval
Behaviourist, Cognitivist, Constructivist, Situated cognition, Generative
learning, ARCs model, Chaos Theory, Elaboration theory, Other
Cooperative learning/collaboration, Metacognitive activity,
Individualised instruction, Problem solving, Simulation (role-play),
Other
Distance education, Audiographic, TV & Audio Feedback, Two-way
TV, Internet or Web-based, AV Media, Student Response System,
Intelligent tutoring system, Computer-based instruction, Programmed
instruction, Hypermedia/ web, Multimedia, Written Material, Other
ID, ID Models, Elements/ID phases, Analysis, Design, Development,
Implementation, Evaluation, Other
Program attributes, 3-Dimensional, Message design, Semantic
complexity, Cues, Animation, Link density, Other
Learner achievement, Fact, Concept, Principle, Procedure, Generic
thinking skills, Attitudes, Interpersonal skills, Motor skills, Preferences,
Discipline specific, Other
Motivation, Age/grade/developmental level, Gender, Prior knowledge,
Mental storage & retrieval, Other
Learning environment
Evaluation, Usability, Formative evaluation, Summative evaluation,
Adaptive Testing, Other
PT models, Electronic Performance Support System, Job aid, Meeting
system/conferencing, Other
Systemic change, School reform/restructuring, Non-school
reform/restructuring, Other
Ethics, Skills/competencies, Certification, Standards, Employment,
Other
Organisational, National (ethnic), Other
Support, Cognitive styles, Attitude, Instructional practice

Reliability
An intercoder reliability analysis was carried out. The coding results from both the trained coder and the
researcher were entered into a statistical package using the SAS system for Windows version 8e to calculate the
intercoder reliability. Krippendorff’s alpha was calculated using the example suggested by Kang et al., (1993).
The intercoder reliability derived using Krippendorff’s alpha is 0.82.

Face and Content Validity

Two professionals and a graduate student from the field of instructional systems technology at Indiana
University were invited to comment on the instrument for validation purposes. The instrument was checked at
the start of the analysis and was revised after feedback was given by the experts. After the final revision was done

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MOJIT A Ten Year Analysis: Trends in Traditional Educational Technology Literature

during the end of the coding phase, the same experts were consulted to conduct a final check of the instrument
for face validity and content validity.

Analysis of Data
Various analyses were conducted throughout the data collection process. Quantitative data were obtained by
calculating the frequency of different kinds of concepts, and descriptive statistics were generated. In contrast,
qualitative decisions involve creating a system for classifying the categories and emerging themes. Generalisations
were confined within the chosen journal.

The data analysis was conducted using two approaches: inductive analysis (Goetz & LeCompte, 1981; Patton,
1990) and constant comparison strategy (Goetz & LeCompte, 1981; Lincoln & Guba, 1985). As the data analysis
progressed, the researcher was able to define categories based on overlying themes. Coding, comments, and
reflections on each article were noted. During this period, sorting and sifting of articles into categories occurred.
In consequence, fewer modifications were required as data sources become saturated. Once patterns were
identified, data were integrated and entered into a Microsoft Excel spreadsheet.

Data gathered were organised according to the clusters of categories. Each article was coded and statistical
analysis was performed using the Statistical Package for Social Science (SPSS) version 12.0 for Windows
programme. The programme was used to assist the researcher in grouping the articles into clusters for common
areas of focus found in the coding. An output in the form of a dendrogram using average linkage between
groups illustrated various choices of possible clusters for the researcher to use.

Limitations of the Study

One limitation is the purposeful sample taken from the population of instructional technology journals published
around the world. Research in areas of instructional technology may be published in other journals not
considered in this study such as Instructional Computing, Educational Technology, and British Journal of Educational
Technology. Limitations were posed by using only one journal as opposed to many other journals, such as the
breadth of discussions covered in various educational journals. However, since AECT is seen to be the
overarching association of educational technology, ETR&D should suffice in giving a snapshot of the whole
picture. Any generalisations made will be limited to just ETR&D.

Another limitation is the number of concepts that were constricted to each article. Since each article was coded
with a maximum of five concepts, there may be instances where an article may be discussing more than five
major concepts and were not included during the coding phase. As a result, concepts that may have been
pertinent to others may not be considered or included by the researcher.

A further limitation is the accuracy of the meaning underlying the concepts analysed. The basis of content
analysis is to look at manifest content that refers to observable word or written text. The categories derived and
concepts gathered are based on manifest content, but during the interpretive stage the researcher relies heavily
on the patterns and connections between the concept cues. Since manifest content and latent content lies on a
continuum, there is a likelihood that the researcher may fall into the area of analysing latent content. Here the
researcher may have included some bias and judgment that are shaped by the researcher’s existing schema.
Subjectivity may become a question. To counteract this possibility, an American graduate student who is in the
educational technology field was consulted for any differences in views in the interpretation stage. Any
differences found were justified and clarified.

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RESULTS
Frequency of Major Concepts
A frequency table was generated in order to take a quick look at the major concepts and to grasp a general idea
what concept cluster appear consistently and persistently throughout the period of study (see Table 2). This
method of tracking gives a macroscopic view of what concept cluster most frequently appear in the articles
during the decade of study.

In Table 2, the last column with arrows denotes whether a particular concept cluster increased, decreased, or
remains constant as seen in the first 5 and last 5 years of study. A particular concept cluster is considered
unchanged (↔) if the differences between the first 5 years and the last 5 years is less than 1%; however, if there
is an increase by 1%, than a concept cluster is regarded to have increased (↑) during the period studied. Likewise,
if there is a drop by 1% during the last 5 years of study, the concept cluster is deemed to have decreased (↓).For
each particular concept cluster, the total number of concepts is shown in the ‘first 5 years’ and ‘last 5 years’
columns. The table also gives the total number of concepts and the total number of articles analysed per year.
During the last 5 years, the number of articles had increased by 11%. The average concept per article for the first
5 and last 5 years were 2.8 and 3 respectively.

Table 2: Frequency of Major Concepts by Year in ETR&D

(Year) 1993 1994 1995 1996 1997 First 5 1998 1999 2000 2001 2002
Clusters of Concepts (Volume) 41 42 43 44 45 yrs (%) 46 47 48 49 50

1. Instructional/educational Technology 4 0 0 0 5 9 (3.6) 2 2 3 2 0

2. Other Fields or Disciplines 0 1 3 0 1 5 (2.0) 4 8 5 0 3

3. Instructional Process Variables 3 2 3 2 1 11 (4.4) 1 1 3 3 0

4. Instructional Process Elements 0 1 1 1 3 6 (2.4) 2 1 1 1 0

5. Teaching/learning Perspectives 4 0 5 4 4 17 (6.8) 3 6 5 2 4

6. Instructional Methods 3 2 6 4 3 18 (7.2) 8 7 9 7 7

7. Delivery systems/Media Format 10 3 10 17 11 51 (20.4) 11 11 15 11 9

8. Instructional development 12 2 7 15 11 47 (18.8) 10 17 7 9 8

9. Production Variables 4 0 5 4 2 15 (6.0) 3 2 2 1 1

10. Learner Outcomes 4 2 4 1 3 14 (5.6) 7 5 8 7 5

11. Learner Variables 4 0 9 3 1 17 (6.8) 3 3 3 3 1

12. Learning Environment 1 0 2 4 3 10 (4.0) 1 2 7 9 6

13. Evaluation 2 1 2 2 1 8 (3.2) 2 5 1 0 1

14. Performance technology & Performance
0 0 1 1 2 4 (1.6) 4 2 1 1 3
Support Systems
15. Organisational change 1 1 0 0 1 3 (1.2) 1 5 0 0 0
16. The Profession 1 1 1 1 1 5 (2.0) 1 5 0 0 0

17. Culture 0 1 1 2 0 4 (1.6) 4 1 1 1 0

18. Teacher Variable 0 1 2 3 0 6 (2.4) 2 0 0 0 0

Concept Total 53 18 62 64 53 250 69 83 71 57 48

Article Total 19 6 18 24 22 89 24 23 22 22 20
Note. The frequency table reflects concept clusters that the articles contain. An article may have up to 5 concept.

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MOJIT A Ten Year Analysis: Trends in Traditional Educational Technology Literature

From the frequency table, a rank order of content analysis of concept cluster was derived (Table 3).
‘Instructional/educational technology’ as a field seems to be a concept that neither increased nor decreased in
discussion during the period of study. According to the codebook, this concept refers to the general field of
instructional/educational technology particularly instructional theories. However, there were no prominent
discussions at all on this concept in the years 1994, 1995, 1996, and 2002.

Table 3: Rank Order of Content Analysis Concept Categories

Clusters of Concepts 1993 1994 1995 1996 1997 1998 1999 2000 2001 2002

Delivery System 2 1 1 1 1 1 2 1 1 1

Instructional Development 1 2 3 2 1 2 1 4 2 2

Instructional Method 8 2 4 3 5 3 4 2 4 3

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MOJIT A Ten Year Analysis: Trends in Traditional Educational Technology Literature

Nevertheless, ‘other disciplines’ have been appearing throughout the decade in study. The number
of articles that presented ‘other disciplines’ increased by four times in the last 5 years studied or
conversely, tripled with respect to the total number of concepts. For example, language, science, and
software engineering were among the other disciplines that permeated into the field of ET.

The concept on ‘instructional process variables’ like learner and programme control, interactivity,
and feedback were seen steadily throughout the period of study except in 2002. The focus on this
concept were slightly more during the first half of the study in comparison to the latter half. In
contrast, ‘instructional process elements’ which includes orienting and information retrieval were
touched upon minimally throughout the period of study.

The ‘teaching or learning perspectives’ concept cluster includes behaviourist, cognitivist, and
constructivist approaches. These were concepts that appear steadily throughout the decade.
However, ‘instructional methods’ that involves cooperative learning or collaboration, metacognitive
activity, individualised instruction, problem solving, and simulation were concepts that increased
almost two-folds during the latter half of the decade and was ranked third in the content analysis
concept cluster.

‘Delivery systems or media format’ was the top ranked content analysis concept cluster that
appeared in the literature either first or second each year even though on the whole there was an
overall drop in the articles. This concept cluster pertains to distance education and its various
delivery systems like using audiographic, television and audio feedback, two-way television, and
Internet or Web-based. There were articles that still considered classroom media such as films,
slides, and overhead transparencies. However, computer-based instruction were seen to dominate
the topic of discussion especially after 1996. Likewise, ‘instructional development’ is a concept
cluster that appeared more prominently from 1996 through 1999. This concept cluster was ranked
second as the most frequently presented concept in the ETR&D literature although in general there
was a decrease in percentage.

‘Production variables’ that includes programme attributes, message design, semantic complexity,
cues, animation, and link density were frequently discussed during the first half of the decade and
slowly declined in the latter half of the study. In addition, the discussion on ‘learner variables’ such
as motivation, age or developmental level, gender, and prior knowledge appeared more in the
literature during the first half decade than the second half.

‘Learner outcomes’ like learner achievement was doubled after 1997 while the concept ‘learning
environment’ were seen to increase in the literature almost by half especially during the last three
years of study. However, the concept cluster, ‘evaluation’ includes usability, formative evaluation,
and summative evaluation tend not to be as prominent except for in 1999. Similarly, ‘performance
technology and performance support systems’ were concept clusters that do not appear frequently in
the ETR&D literature except for in 1998. Nevertheless, the number of articles more than doubled
in the last 5 years of study.

‘Organisational change’ which covers systemic change, school reform or restructuring, and non-
school reform did not appear that frequently throughout the decade in study except for in 1999
only. This is due to special issues on developments in ET design and evaluation and IT and teacher
education that particular year. In general, this concept cluster remained unchanged. ‘The profession’
includes ethics, skills or competencies, certification, standards, and employment. There were no
discussion on this concept during the last three years of study. Organisational culture and ethnicity
were clustered into the category ‘culture’ which did not appear frequently and seem to decrease in
MOJIT A Ten Year Analysis: Trends in Traditional Educational
Technology Literature

the literature towards year 2002 although overall, this concept remained unchanged. Also, ‘teacher
variable’ was a concept that did not appear frequently during the period of study.

Themes and Trends

Emerging patterns were searched thoroughly from the categories of concepts that were collected
throughout the coding and sorting process. Individual concepts were cross tabulated against the
decade of study and a cluster analysis was carried out. Through this process, the articles were placed
into logical groupings whereby the articles that shared similarities of concepts observed were
clumped together. Upon further investigation of the concept clusters, its individual concepts, and a
dendrogram output, themes were identified and eventually translated into trends.

Theme 1: Delivery Systems Revolutionised through New Technologies

Between 1993 and 1999 there were still on-going discussion and concerns regarding distance
education as a delivery system. Evaluation studies were implemented to assess the effectiveness of
distance learning programmes (e.g., Martin & Bramble, 1996; Whetzel et al., 1996). However, this
discussion started to dwindle at the turn of the century as reflected in ETR&D with respect to
previous years. There were very few instances of inquiry into the area of distance learning.
Nonetheless, Squire & Johnson (2000) examined three distance learning programmes to look at
how instructors facilitate student and expert interaction. Delivery via the Web has been a
growing interest among educators. For example, Internet-based instructional material on frog
dissection was developed to encourage high levels of use and user satisfaction (Kinzie et al., 1996).
Meanwhile, in Taiwan a system incorporating cooperative distance learning provided a networked
courseware that was written in Chinese (Chou & Sun, 1996).

Also, studies related to computer-based as a media format were many (e.g., Cho & Jonassen, 2002;
Cobb, 1999; Gerlič & Jaušovec, 1999; Schnackenberg & Sullivan, 2000; Windschitl, 2000). At the
same time, interest is seen in the area of designing a framework for authentic learning environments
using multimedia as the delivery mode (e.g., Herrington & Oliver, 2000). Their study investigated
students’ perceptions using a multimedia package based on a situated learning environment within
an authentic learning context.

Theme 2: Instructional Development Renewed

In connection to the growing field of instructional technology, there is a constant need for better
and improved instructional development (ID) models. One example appears in Ryder & Redding
(1993) who presented a framework for the integration of cognitive and behavioural task analysis
methods within the Instructional Systems Development model. In the same year, Sullivan et al.,
(1993) conducted a survey looking at different perspectives on the future of educational technology.
In addition, the 1996 Dick and Carey model (Dick, 1996) was revisited and the influence of
constructivist theory on the model was described.

For many years there was little interest in computer-based instructional design tools that support the
analysis and design activities before the selection of a medium was made (van Merriёnboer &
Martens, 2002). Likewise, slight interest was shown prior to 2002 towards computer-based
instructional design tools that support implementation and evaluation activities that were undertaken
after the instruction has been developed.

Nevertheless, there is a renewed interest in computer-based instructional design tools. It is

speculated that these tools will gain importance in the near future since the instructional design tools
incorporates multidisciplinary and collaborative tasks (van Merriёnboer & Martens, 2002). First,
Mooij (2002) described a digital instructional management system called the Digital Planning Board
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Technology Literature

that may help to implement personalised and learner-centered instruction in kindergarten and
primary school. Second, McKenney et al., (2002) discussed a family of computer-based tools called
Computer Assisted Curriculum Analysis, Design and Evaluation (CASCADE) designed to assist
professional designers and secondary school teachers in developing countries to design and evaluate
their instructional materials. Third, Spector (2002) elaborated the use of a knowledge management
system to support planning, implementation, and management of instructional systems and learning
environments in higher education, Reiser (2001) said that, “knowledge management is one of the
most recent trends to have affected the field of instructional design” (p. 64). Fourth, De Croock et
al., (2002) introduced a training design tool (Core) that supports analysis and design for competency-
based training programs and tool (Eval) to evaluate industrial training programs for complex skills.

Theme 3: Regained Interest in Instructional Methods

According to the ETR&D literature, beginning 1998 researchers paid more attention to different
types of instructional methods. Research were conducted on how educational theory translates into
classroom practice such as engaging in hands-on and authentic activity (e.g., Nicaise & Crane, 1999;
Herrington & Oliver, 2000) as well as project-based environment (Land & Greene, 2000). Also,
individual and small group learning structures besides learner-centered approaches gained attention
(e.g., Klein & Doran, 1999; Land, 2000). Another instructional method that captured many
researchers interest was in problem solving approaches (e.g., Cho & Jonassen, 2002; Jonassen &
Kwon, 2001; Jonassen & Hernandez-Serrano, 2002; Saye & Brush, 2002) and coaching strategies
(Stepich et al., 2001).

Theme 4: Burgeoning Interest in Collaboration and Learning Communities

The ETR&D articles revealed an active discussion on the importance of learning communities and
various learning environments (e.g., Herrington & Oliver, 2000; Land, 2000; Saye & Brush, 2002).
Moller (1998) described the need for learning communities within the context of asynchronous
distance education and emphasised the relevance of this community in a training environment.
While Moller stressed community support such as social reinforcement and information exchange,
Rovai (2001) theorised four classroom community components encompassing spirit, trust,
interaction, and learning. In addition, Barab et al., (2000) looked at how partnership between
universities and K-12 schools can provide the foundation for supporting a learning community of
preservice and practicing teachers situated in collaborative practices that are authentic. Also, the
authors stated that the importance of collaborative knowledge building is to redirect the teaching
and learning process to the community. Gilbert & Driscoll (2002) provided guidelines for a
collaborative knowledge-building environment suggesting the use of scaffolds, tracking the learning
process, balancing tension, promoting relevance and motivation, promoting a shared vision and
promoting the acquisition of knowledge.

Theme 5: Cultural and Social Aspects of Instructional Design

To a lesser extent, the content analysis also revealed that earlier articles were concerned about
various factors to be considered during the process of designing instruction. The role of
instructional designing should simply be seen as designing or composing rather than an isolated
phenomenon (Rowland, 1993). Factors such as the role of context (Tessmer & Richey, 1997), co-
designing between cultures (Dávila & Keirns, 1994), and expert teacher’s thinking (Moallem, 1998)
are important considerations that should be well thought-out in the process of instructional design.
Further, Moallem (1998) pointed toward a social and cultural construct of thinking and teaching
versus a cognitive construct of instructional design that emphasises the interaction of designers with
the social and cultural system and subsystems. Moallem (1998) stated that this view is different from
the cognitive view of knowledge whereby instructional design models, strategies, or solutions are
formulated outside of the social system and are decided by designers and subject matter experts.
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Technology Literature

While Dávila & Keirns (1994) and Moallem (1998) emphasised the importance of transfer between
the culture of two different nations, Tessmer & Richey (1997) accentuated the importance of
organisational culture in instructional design. Cifuentes & Murphy (2000) advocated multicultural
understanding and positive self-concept whose findings substantiate the power of social-
constructivist approaches to classroom teaching.

DISCUSSION
Based on this content analysis of ETR&D, the top ranked content analysis concept cluster is
‘delivery systems or media format’ which consistently appeared first in all the years except for 1993
and 1999 when this concept frequently appeared second. This result is a major difference to Ely et
al.’s 1991 study when they discovered that ‘instructional processes’ was ranked first in 1988, 1989,
and 1991. The ETR&D literature from 1993 through 2002 did not show any prominence in either
‘instructional process variables’ or ‘instructional process elements.’ On the contrary, the trend shows
that interest in delivery system via distance education has blossomed and moved from using audio
graphic to Web-based infrastructure.

The second ranked most frequently presented concept in the literature was ‘instructional
development’. Thus, the trend shows that there is a growing attention to the development of
computer-based instructional development tools. There is an increased interest in tools by both
educators and trainers. These tools are emerging to support various levels of developers (novice to
expert) and to support a variety of perspectives in learning. This finding is comparable to Klein’s
study (1997) that showed instructional design (ID) for computer technologies was the topic most
frequently published topic between 1989 to 1997 although the analysis was only for the development
section of ETR&D. However, there is a renewed interest for the design of instructional tools
recently.

Towards the second half of the study period, the literature revealed that researchers were more
focused in inquiry on instructional methods like effects of learner-centeredness, collaboration, and
problem-based approaches. This shows that the key to reaching a specific outcome is by applying
the appropriate instructional method. Further, if it had not been for the dramatic surge of interest in
“constructivist” learning approaches in the late 1980s and early 1990s it is highly unlikely that this
vigorous conversation about the methods coupled with learning environments would have taken
place.

An interesting finding is that there is an escalating need for learning communities to support the
learning environment. This is a growing trend and can be seen in various settings. One can deduce
from the ETR&D literature that there is burgeoning interest in collaboration and learning
communities and it has become prevalent in any learning environment.

Lastly, downward trends include a decreasing interest in production variables, learner variables, and
teacher variables in ETR&D for the period studied.

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