Chapter 3

“ In recent years, rapid advances in computer and other digital technology, including the Internet, have lead to a rapidly increasing interesting, and use of, these media for instructional purposes.” (Reiser and Dempsey pg. 22)  The translation of this quote for me in this quotes is that no matter the level of learning, whether it be K-12, college, or adult education, the use of medias to learn are a necessity to modern society.  The easiest way to back this point up is to talk about the use of cell phones.  For most of us in this class having a cell phone to call your parents at any time during the middle school years would be have been a joke.  The reality of the situation though is that most middle school children have cell phones and they use them.  One of the other observations that I have noticed is that the parents even use them to contact the students during school.  The point of this fact is that most students strive to gather information right now, rather than taking the time to study and research.  Another reason the phrase “to google it” is now part of our American culture.

In the 1950’s and 60’s the thought was that teaching, “should present instruction in small steps, require active responses to frequent questions, provide immediate feedback, and allow for learner self pacing.”(Reiser and Dempsey pg. 25)  Meaning that a student could go step by step and learn information at a self guided pace.  The problem with that scenario in today’s educational climate is the amount of material that needs to be covered and the particular way the state and federal government wants the teacher to cover it is condensed into such a small window. The internet and web allows a K-12 or higher education teacher to be able to allow information to flow to the students at a greater rate speed. Allowing for the students and the class to cover more information in a shorter period of time, but also permitting students that can move at a faster pace to do so and freeing the teacher to help those who need it.  Overall the Internet and web allow for those who learn to go step by step.

Thirty years later in the 1990’s the movement in design pushed for constructivist ideas. Constructivists emphasized, “tasks that reflect the complexity of the real-world environment in which learners will be using the skill they are learning.” (Reiser and Dempsey pg. 28)  This is the period of time where the Internet and web take control of everything.  During this period of time many people and schools shift the use of computers and technology from being a tool to be a necessity. Growing up in this decade, I graduated in 2000; I can tell you that as a student in both K-12 and college I could feel the ever growing impact that the Internet was having on the educational world.  The start was when papers were not allowed to be hand written, and then it moved to being able to look at libraries of magazines with a click of a mouse. There was no turning back the door to fast flowing information was opened, never to be shut again. The use of the computer had now become the real life skill that a student would need to succeed at the next two levels of educational expierences.

Moving into the Twenty-First century a great deal of emphasis is put on the idea of human technology movement.  “This movement, with its emphasis on on-the-job performance, business results, and non-instructional solutions to performance problems has broadened the scope of the instructional design field.” (Reiser and Dempsey pg. 28)  What this shows is that we as a society have moved past the idea of building learning step by step and turned to instant learning.  By this I am saying that people need to learn something right now, rather than waiting to build upon previous knowledge.  The idea of adult education in today’s world and economy seems to support this.  Many older people lost their jobs during the recession of the past couple of years.  Resulting in a workforce that was displaced and with no time to learn by building, many turned to the Internet and web for guidance.  They were still learning piece by piece, but at a new rate of speed.  The Internet and web was not only educating them, but it was reinventing them.