Trends and Issues in Educational Technology: 1989. ERIC Digest.

A content analysis was performed to determine the trends and issues in educational technology for the period from October 1, 1988, through September 30, 1989. Sources for the analysis included four leading professional journals in educational technology, papers given at annual conventions of three professional associations, dissertations from five universities that have a high level of doctoral productivity, and the educational technology documents that have been entered in the ERIC database. The analysis was complemented by the examination of supplementary documents to determine the political, social, and economic reasons for the findings. This digest features the top trends and selected issues identified in the study. Trends reflect: (1) a concern for the design and development of instructional products and procedures; (2) an increasingly important role for evaluation in the instructional development process; (3) an increasing use of research and development to solve current teaching and learning problems; (4) the presence of computers in almost all public schools in the United States; (5) the wide acceptance of interactive video as a research and development product but not in schools and higher education; (6) the establishment of distance education as a major vehicle of instruction at all levels of education and training; (7) a preoccupation among practitioners with professional education in the field; and (8) a concern for the impact of technology on society at large. (13 references) (GL)