Abramson, T. (2007). In memoriam: Gabriel Ofiesh, Ph.D.. Journal of Instruction Delivery Systems, 21(4), 3-4.

From the Desk of the Executive Editor

In Memoriam: Gabriel Ofiesh, Ph.D.

Gertrude (Trudy) Abramson

With the passing of Gabriel Ofiesh, Ph.D., the world of educational technology has lost a pioneer whose work will continue to guide us as we move into the future. Some of the factual material reported upon below was taken from a published obituary in the Washington Post on Sunday, August 12, 2007, page C07 and from the an International Society for Performance Improvement (ISPI) chapter home page, http://www.icodap.org/ispi/ispihist.htm . Also find a personal statement from long-time friend and colleague, Mr. Raymond Fox, President of the Society for Applied Learning Technology® and a few words from the executive editor.

Washington Post Obituary (rewritten)

Gabriel Ofiesh earned an undergraduate degree from the University of Pittsburgh, a master's degree in psychology from Columbia University and a doctorate in education from the University of Denver in the late 1940s. In 1942, he entered the Army Air Forces and was a navigator during World War II. Later, he served as a psychological warfare officer and intelligence officer for the Air Force. He was a psychology professor at the U.S. Air Force Academy from its inception in 1955 until 1960. He retired from the Air Force with the rank of colonel in 1965 and received the Legion of Merit for his contributions to military educational and training programs.

Dr. Ofiesh made significant advances in the field of individualized instruction, with an emphasis on using computers and other forms of technology in education. He authored many publications including a textbook, Programmed Instruction: A Guide for Management" published in 1965. His consultancies included the Environmental Protection Agency, the Defense Systems Management College, the U.S. Postal Service and National Park Service. In conjunction with the Department of Labor, he helped design the methodology for vocational training programs used in Saudi Arabia. He was the founding president of the National Society for Programmed Instruction (NSPI) and received many awards for contributions to instructional technology.
In the 1970s, Dr. Ofiesh joined the faculty of Catholic University, where he was director of the Center for Educational Technology. He taught for several years at American University before becoming a member of the Howard University faculty, teaching educational technology. He retired in the late 1980s.

International Society for Performance Improvement (ISPI)
The origins of ISPI are intricately related to the formation of a series of fledgling groups coping with the impact of exploding technology and evolving methodologies in the early 1960s. In September of 1961, Col Gabriel Ofiesh was appointed by General Briggs, Commander of the Air Force Training Command, to conduct a study of the effectiveness of programmed learning as compared to traditional Air Force instruction methods. The 18 month study demonstrated a 33% reduction in time to mastery with a 9% gain in achievement. The study came to the inevitable conclusion and the rest, as they say, is history.

With significant training time savings and improved performance possible, instructional technologies became the focus for many training-minded professionals. … As instructional technology horizons grew, the name of the organization evolved to the "National Society for Performance and Instruction", then the "National Society for Performance Improvement" and eventually went international to become the "International Society for Performance Improvement."

Tribute by Raymond G. Fox, President of the Society for Applied Learning Technology®

Gabe Ofiesh and I were colleagues for over forty years. We met when he was rounding out his career in the Air Force working in educational programs which were then focused on methodology of instruction, which was standardized and was oriented to improving the then existing patterns of training materials. As an early advocate of programmed_ instruction, Gabe and I had many discussions about the then novel technology of making this programmed instruction interactive through the use of computers.

As he moved his orientation to favor the technology-based system, Gabe carried these ideas with him to his lectures in professional posts at Catholic University and the American University. At this point in time he became very active in the programs of the Society for Applied Learning Technology (SALT) which was founded in 1973 to focus on the technology-based delivery system. His main contribution arose from his incredible skill at the podium to explicate the dimensions of the technology and its potential. In this way, at many, many SALT-sponsored conferences and workshops, Gabe was able to help create an understanding of the departure from the traditional learning patterns and delivery systems and make a well-deserved impact upon the future of this important technology. His personal friendship was something I valued and I felt honored to be connected with him. He was a superb communicator, a warm friend and outstanding colleague in the field of instructional technology.

Tribute by Trudy Abramson, Ed.D., Executive Editor, JIDS

The Washington Post obituary is titled: Gabriel D. Ofiesh; Promoted Technology in Education. Promoted does not begin to tell the story. The other part of the obituary that needs expansion is the statement that he retired in the late 1980s. Gabe had more and better ideas for creating and delivering technology-rich presentations than anyone before or since. Retirement means that a person is no longer receiving paychecks from an organization. Committed academics never retire and Gabe continued to amaze and delight until the very end.

Gabriel Ofiesh, in retirement, shared his vision with the members of the Society for Applied Learning Technology (SALT®) at the summer meetings in Washington DC. As in any society, we had a small group of friends whose common thread was talking shop. A number of years ago, he said to me, “Trudy, why do you always show up at my presentation? I pretty much have been saying the same thing each year.” I confessed: “The first time I went to hear WHAT you had to say. After that, and for years thereafter, I went to observe HOW you got your message across.” [In the previous issue, I wrote about mentoring. Here is a different kind – one in which the mentor is not required to invest any time or effort. The mentee just tags along and learns by example.] Gabe had a unique way of selecting media and messages to make memorable impacts. Hopefully, the students who passed through his classes were able to capitalize on the gifts he bestowed upon them. Never again, will I hear Richard Strauss’ Thus Spake Zarathustra, the opening chords of 2001: A Space Odyssey, without seeing Gabe Ofiesh introducing the chords to get the audience to pay attention.