21 Jan 98 Ernie Franklin - Instructional Technology Forum ...

24 Jan 98
Mike Peay
A few contributors have suggested the Seels and Richey book. I had to read that book for one of my IT
classes a year ago, and always resented having to wade through all the fluff to get at the good
information.
In my humble opinion, the useful information contained in the text could be presented in a mere
pamphlet. Yes, I'm going to criticize the book, so you can delete this message now, or read on and flame
me if you disagree. (Yeowwww, I'm getting warm already.)
Instructional Technology: The Definition and Domains of the Field
The definition itself presented in chapter one, is accurate and fulfills many of the goals stated in the
book. The domains presented are also helpful for describing some of the general duties of the
instructional designer, however the relationships described among the domains are faulty and the subcategories
of the domains are vague outdated definitions.
The Domain of Development
The development domain is described as being composed of print, audiovisual, computer-based, and
integrated (Seels & Richey, p. 35). A much better division would be to divide the creation of
instructional materials into text, pictures, sound, and motion. The sub classifications provided in their
text are not how an IT professional thinks and works (well, not me anyway). If the content can be
presented as text, that is one decision. Another decision is whether to display the text on a CRT screen or
on paper. The AECT definition completely left out the possibility of a live demonstration. This shows
the weakness of their model and the omission of the real tasks involved in the development of
instructional materials.
Print
Print in their definition is limited to stationary print on paper. This is not a realistic category or definition
of "print." I can display print (text) on a computer screen or in a video. I can also make the text move as
words are often made to do in the Sesame Street program.
Print is also described as including graphics and photograph representations (Seels & Richey, p. 37), but
again, we can display photos on a computer screen or in slide shows on a projection screen. This use
falls within their audiovisual grouping.