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

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 74 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 MOJIT A Ten Year Analysis: Trends in Traditional Educational Technology Literature 75 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. MOJIT A Ten Year Analysis: Trends in Traditional Educational Technology Literature 76 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 objectivityintersubjectivity, 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 MOJIT A Ten Year Analysis: Trends in Traditional Educational Technology Literature 77 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. MOJIT A Ten Year Analysis: Trends in Traditional Educational Technology Literature 78 END PROCESS Report Findings 1. State Problem 2. Describe Documents/Artifacts 3. Explain coding Schema 4. Make Assertions and Explain 5. Implications Repeat Repeat Sort and Sift Code Documents or Artifacts