Examining the evolution of instructional technology from the perspective of its foundational literature

The purpose of this dissertation study was twofold: first, to examine the evolution of the field of Instructional Technology (IT) by using the field's foundational literature as a guide and, second, to construct a narrative to explain how this process of evolution occurred. The first methodological step was the identification of a foundational set of articles and books. A group of well-respected IT professors nominated their selections of the foundationally most important articles and books ever published. The second step was the analysis of the contents of the nominated materials to understand their foundational importance to IT and what roles they played in the evolution of IT.;Approximately thirty articles and twenty books were nominated by the respondents. The contents of the nominated items were analyzed using qualitative content analysis. The coding scheme focused on identifying "big picture" themes that were then used to build up the evolutionary narratives that constitute the major part of this dissertation.;One of the clearest findings of this study is the confirmation that the field of educational psychology is of tremendous fundamental importance to IT. Not only were many of the nominated articles and books from educational psychology proper, but many of the other nominated articles and books had contents that were largely based on ideas and principles of educational psychology. In other words, a large segment of the foundational edifice of IT was found to be in the domain of educational psychology (included were items based upon behaviorism, cognitivism, and constructivism).;The principal findings of the study helped generate the evolutionary narrative of the field of IT and the important role played in that regard by the field's foundational literature. Future developments in the field as they relate to foundational issues are suggested, especially given recent technological developments and the advent of the Internet and social media. This evolutionary narrative should make the topic of what constitutes the foundations of IT and how it affects the field's evolution gravid with future research possibilities.