A historical and critical study to determine the feasibility of expanded use of automated instruction in the naval training situation

Abstract

The study traces the history of automated instruction in a civilian environment from its inception in 1926 until it burst up on the American education scene in 1960. It then traces its development in the military environment from 1960 until the present. The study shows that automated instruction was used in a wide variety of educational situations and on a large scale, in civilian as well as military education. Further, it shows that the state of the art had not sufficiently advanced to warrant such action. This is made amply clear by the failures of the armed forces to teach relatively complex subject material. Selected studies are presented to show that these failures resulted from deficiencies in training, technology and programming and to show that in certain training situations automated instruction can be a useful and productive tool.