A Historical Perspective on the Rise of Educational Film in 20th Century America

Abstract The pedagogical use of film and video in education advanced alongside the technology that enabled it in the 20th century. Early adopters of educational film adapted feature films or relied upon a catalog of educational films for content. The medium fit with the reform rhetoric of the Progressive Era: by confirming the educational value of film, civic leaders were able to claim influence over the medium. Nearly a century before Mayer’s Cognitive Theory of Multimedia Learning, the invention of sound in film prompted educators to consider the effect of multiple sensory inputs on learning. Early in the 20th century, agencies in the United States federal government used educational film for public education, publicity, internal communication, and employee development. Further advancements in educational film came when the U.S. military invested in propaganda and training films during World War I and World War II. As advancements from wartime innovation diffused, film and other forms of instructional technology became an established part of education. The invention of videotape mid-century meant that video production no longer required expensive equipment and professional expertise. As early as the 1970s, professors were operating as video producers, creating videos to supplement classroom instruction. In the same era, educational philosophies such as constructivism, social learning theory, and engagement theory promoted learner-centered curricula. Digital video and online distribution brought video production into the homes and classrooms of everyday Americans, and the student-produced video project emerged as form of digital scholarship. As Saettler (1968) observed nearly fifty years ago, the history of educational film is, in many ways, a history of educational technology in America