The "visual teaching" movement in the early 20th century in America is regarded as the beginning of educational technology research and the prelude to the rapid development of educational technology.
In fact, the formation and development of American educational technology can be traced back to three main directions.
First, the audio-visual teaching movement has promoted the application of various learning resources in teaching; Secondly, personalized teaching promotes the formation of learner-centered personalized teaching; Thirdly, the development of teaching system and teaching methods promotes the birth of the theoretical core of educational technology, that is, instructional design discipline.
In 1970s, American educational technology gradually became a systematic and complete field and discipline. 1972, the association officially named its practice and research field as educational technology.