About 25 years ago, the computer was introduced in education and training. More than any other tool, it shaped the development of the field of educational technology. There are many similarities between the developments in the general educational field and professional training, but also important differences. This chapter focuses on professional training. The main questions are how did professional training develop since the early 1980s, what is the current state of affairs, and what are necessary future developments?
The structure of this chapter is five-part. First, we discuss how the goals of professional training have been changing – and still are changing – at all levels of the organizations involved (e.g., business and industry, government, military) in order to cope with new societal and technological demands. Second, we show how the changing goals of professional training are connected to the way training is developed, that is, to instructional systems design (ISD). Third, we demonstrate how these changing goals are connected to the use of new learning technologies. Fourth, we discuss the developments in technology enhanced learning environments (TELEs), in which ISD and the use of learning technologies meet in concrete training applications. In the fifth and final section, we discuss future implications of our analysis. The claim is made that ISD approaches in professional training are often outdated, making the development of TELEs more and more technology driven.