User:Lstollings/Instructional design for Dummies

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A Reference for the Rest of Us?


Robert M. Gagne's nine learning events (or events of instruction) have been in use by instructional designers since their introduction in the 1960s. Originally, Gagne worked extensively in developing the field of military training, however these events have been adopted by educators and designers as one of the key theories in both training and educational contexts. Many teachers and trainers have used them as a structure for lesson planning. Someargue that Gagne's nine events are dated and dull, however they still offer a rational framework which beginning instructional designers can use to shape meaningful learning spaces. While these nine events are based on behaviourist and cognitive/information processing learning theories, their simplicity provides a design framework that can apply to a variety of educational contexts. As well, with some imagination they can also be conceptualized to incorporate components of constructivist and sociocultural theories to create an eclectic learning environment.

Background
Instruction has been defined as "a set of events external to the learner designed to support the internal processes of learning" (Gagne, Wager, Golas & Keller, 2005, p.194). As a cognitive psychologist, Gagne first proposed nine events of intruction and conditions of learning in 1965 as means to activate and support the processes of information processing. Interestingly, in 1959, Gagne and Jerome Brunerworked on parallel working groups borne out a conference in Cape Cod on science education (Bruner, 1963). Bruner's earliest work is echoed in Gagne's learning events, especially in terms of concepts such as readiness, structure and transfer.

Each of Gagne's learning events was originally designed to produce an 'output' that acts as an 'input' for the next stage in the sequence. However, Gagne was open to the influence of many other educational theorists, which lead him to suggest that these events in their entirety should be regarded as one form of instructional strategy. Further, he noted that the order of events can be altered and not all events need be present in every lesson (Gagne et al., 2005). In the end, the nine events are useful in that they represent repeatedly validated key stages in the instructional process (Richey, 2000). The key question designers need to ask themselves is, "What does the learner need at this point in the task?"

The Nine Learning Events


The following table outlines Gagne's Nine Events and the corresponding cognitive process it fuels.

(Gagne et al., 2005, p. 195)

Practice Makes it Perfect?

Researchers found that when altering the presence of each of the events during computer-based instruction, the inclusion of practice (eliciting performance), combined with feedback was consistently effective for enhancing student achievement. Furthermore, it was noted that students had a more positive attitude toward instruction that included practice and examples throughout the program (Martin, Klein & Sullivan, 2004).

Reframing the 'Old' into the 'New'
The following table suggests some examples of how the nine events might be applied to the design of three different technology-supported learning environments.

(Becker, 2005; Gagne et al., 2005)

Utilizing the Nine Instructional Ingredients to Create an eClectic Learning Stew


While the nine events do have their roots in behaviourism, cognition and information processing, they can still provide a guiding hand in the development and design of learning environments that include elements of constructivist and sociocultural theories. The following provides some suggestions on how to leverage the events to ensure a well-rounded learning environment. Of course not all entries will be included in any given learning event; this merely shows where designers can situate their choices.

Gaining attention

 * stimulate learners curiousity with questions
 * present meaningful and relevant challenge

Providing learner with objective

 * this can be a general goal that is then personalized by the learner
 * utilize problem based learning

Stimulating recall

 * students can tie new learning to past constructions of knowledge
 * incorporate the use of concept maps

Presenting the material

 * facilitate student ownership of learning material
 * have students create authentic material ie. web-sites, blogs, hypertexts
 * provides spaces for students to construct knowledge
 * provide models
 * create Microworlds
 * incorporate games

Guiding the learning

 * provide guiding questions
 * utilize zones of proximal development See also
 * provide for scaffolding
 * set up communities of learners
 * incorporate knowledge building networks
 * provide authentic problem-based tasks around existing software packages and forms of "Edutainment"
 * provide spaces for inquiry

Eliciting performance

 * incorporate Wikis
 * encourage interactivity through the use of social software like Skype

Providing feedback

 * set up chat rooms for peer feedback/collaboration
 * allow students to reflect on their own learning

Assessing the performance

 * monitor student's progress
 * have students self-assess their progress
 * incorporate ePortfolios

Enhance transfer and retention

 * once students become 'experts' have them coach/scaffold others