The 1960s: Instructional Systems Development

Gordon Pask

Gordon Pask (1959) enlarged upon Crowder's ideas about non-linear sequencing and developed the idea of cooperative control over the program by both the machine itself and the user. Pask used the idea of a game in which the machine and the user interact with one another and adapt to one another's input and responses. The machine would assess the user's learning style and response rate. Then the machine would adapt the instructional materials to the individual needs of that user. In particular the machine would vary the level of question difficulty, use and kinds of prompts, and the amount of material being questioned (Niemiec and Walberg, 1989).