Robert Heinich

Heinich is best known for his contribution to the fields of instructional design and instructional technology. He promoted a technocratic approach to schooling, an approach where technology specialists would decide when and where technology would be used. Henrich made attempts to simplify the field of educational technology, as he believed that the 1963 definition by the Association for Educational Communications and Technology (AECT) was too complicated. Heinich had discovered a generalizable principle about educational technology, that its visibility was always distinct from instruction with visual materials.

In 1962, Heinich began studying for his PhD at the University of Southern California (USC). Meanwhile, he worked as an assistant professor in the School of Education at USC. In 1967, he completed his doctorate and won the college's Dissertation of the Year Award. After completing his PhD, Heinich spent two years as the director of the Educational Services Division at Doubleday and Co., a publishing company. From 1979 to 1984, he headed the Instructional Systems Technology program at the University of Indiana. In 1986, he became the director of Hangzhou University in China, as part of the UI Exchange Programme. He retired from the Indiana University in 1990. Outside of IU, Heinich served as a co-editor, senior consulting editor, contributing editor, and editorial board member for a variety of academic journals, including Educational Technology, Educational Communication and Technology, and the Journal of Educational Computing Research. In 1975 he was given the Special Service award from the AECT (Association for Educational Communications and Technology), and in 1981, he was given a Distinguished Service Award by the same organization.

Robert Heinich attended Stuyvesant High School in New York City. He then studied at The Cooper Union, a private college in Manhattan. However, his studies were interrupted by World War II. During the war he joined the Army Air Corps and served from 1943 to 1946. In 1946 he enrolled at Colorado State College, currently known as the University of Northern Colorado, and became a student assistant in a department that used audiovisual equipment. This experience spurred him into his career in instructional design. At Colorado State College, he earned his BA (1948) and MA (1949) in Education. In 1949, he was employed as the Audio-Visual Director at Colorado State.

Robert Heinich (May 31, 1923 – January 12, 2020) was an American instructional designer, instructional technologist, author, and editor.