New Article: What is Task-centered Learning

My good friend Dr. Greg Francom and I have recently published an article entitled "What is Task-centered Learning" in TechTrends. The article describes the foundations and fundamental principles of task-centered learning and describes several instructional models that exemplify many of the principles of task-centered learning. Below is the abstract of the article, and a pre-publication PDF draft of the article can be found on my academia.edu page. Thanks to Dr. Francom for inviting me to write as second author - he is an outstanding scholar and I have been grateful to write with and learn from him.

"What is Task-centered Learning?" Article Abstract:

Many recent models of learning and instruction center learning on real-world tasks and problems to support knowledge application and transfer. Of the many different approaches to centering learning on real-world tasks and problems, one main area in recent literature attempts to balance the efficiency of adequate learner support with the effectiveness of centering learning on real-world tasks. Names for the various models in this area have included problem-centered instruction, cognitive apprenticeship, elaboration theory, and task-centered learning/instruction. As yet there has not been much comparison or combination of the prescriptions of these task-centered approaches to learning. Therefore we compare and combine several task-centered learning models to outline essential prescriptive elements of a task-centered learning approach.

Related Post: How Task-centered Learning Differs From Problem-based Learning

Article Reference:

Francom, G., & Gardner, J. (2014). What is task-centered learning? TechTrends. DOI: 10.1007/s11528-014- 0784-z

New EdTech Podcast: Using Instructional Theory in Instructional Design

A few months ago I recorded a podcast with my good friend John Jeon. We discussed using Instructional Theory in Instructional Design and I found our discussion to give some interesting ideas for using theory to improve learning experiences. Here is the link to the podcast.

Here is a description of the podcast from The EdTech Dojo:

There is a body of knowledge called instructional theory that provides clear prescriptions on how to help students learn. However, these theories can often be difficult to apply in our daily work. In this podcast, Joel speaks with John Jeon, Senior Instructional Designer and Project Manager for Continuing Education Outreach and E-Learning at the University of Wisconsin. Joel and John describe what instructional theory is and provide tips for applying its principles to real-world situations and instructional design settings.

AECT 2012: Summary of my Conference Experiences

#AECT

This is my summary post for the he AECT 2012 International Convention. I had an outstanding experience and in previous posts I blogged some of what I learned throughout the week. If you missed the conference, these links share my experiences.

I feel like I met my goals for the conference - I met some great new people, got oriented to what is going on in the research, and got to interact with old friends. Below is a summarizing list of the blog posts that I wrote about the conference this year. Thanks AECT for a great conference!

Before the Conference
Here are a few posts before the conference and during the drive from Columbus to Louisville.

• AECT 2012 International Convention - Looking Forward!
• Traveling to AECT 2012
• The Galt House Hotel and Suites

At the Conference

• Day 1: Ontology, TCL, and Opening Social
• Day 2: Part 1 - Microscenarios
• Day 2: Part 2 - Problems With Sampling in EdTech Research
• Day 2: Part 3 - The Future of the Field of Educational Technology
• Day 3: Part 1 - Sharing Your Work as an Academic
• Day 3: Part 2 - Invisible Forces That Influence Instructional Design
• Day 3: Part 3 - EdTech Dojo Podcast

New Video: What Instructional Designers Do

It can sometimes be difficult to explain what an instructional designer does. I made this video which describes clearly (I hope!) what most instructional designers do. I hope it is helpful.

What do you think? If you are not an instructional designer, does this explanation help? If you are an instructional designer, does this description make sense?

The "Learning Styles" Fallacy

As I have taught my graduate students over the past few semesters, it is surprising how many bring up learning styles as a valid frame of reference for a trainer or an instructional designer. A learning styles approach assumes that different people learn more effectively in different ways; for example, people view themselves as "visual learners" or as "kinesthetic learners."

The Fallacy
While this theory seems to make some sense, there is actually little or no empirical evidence that learning styles are a legitimate way to view learners when designing instruction. This has been reported on in some news sources, (for example here or here), which are based on this research study. The researchers in this study conclude that there is currently no evidence supporting the use of learning styles when creating training and designing instruction.

What to do?
So, if learning styles don't give a good foundation for creating instruction or training, what should we consider? This is an important question and there is an answer: To have the greatest chance of designing and delivering effective instruction, trainers and instructional designers need to base their instruction on research-based principles and instructional theories. (I've described how good instructional designers use these and other "tools" in a previous post entitled What is Instructional Design? part 2).

Here is a very short list of instructional theories and principles that a trainer or instructional designer can refer to when considering how to design and develop high quality training and instruction:

1. Gagne's 9 Events of Instruction. These best practices are based on decades of research. They provide specific steps to take when delivering instruction to a learner.
2. Merrill's First Principles of Instruction. A more current theory of instruction, these principles prescribe effective, research-based methods for teaching complex skills and knowledge. I describe these principles in more detail in a previous post entitled Merrill's First Principles of Instruction.
3. Principles of e-learning.  Clark and Mayer (2011) summarize these principles extremely well. The share how to create online training and instruction that adheres to best practices based on the evidence.

There are many, many more resources out there, but these provide a basic foundation for implementing instruction that is based on evidence instead of on unfounded ideas.

What Would You Add?
What else would you add to this list? What other research-based practices are available to help budding trainers and instructional designers create effective learning experiences for their learners? Do you agree that learning styles should be eliminated from our vocabulary as professionals and scholars?

What is the Difference Between Instructional Design, Instructional Science, and Instructional Technology?

What is the difference between instructional design, and instructional technology, and instructional science? There are many different subsets of the field of instructional design, and in this post I will clarify the differences between these different terms.

Science* is "knowledge, as of facts or principles; knowledge gained by systematic study" (http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/science). Instructional Science, therefore, is knowledge about instruction and learning and is based on systematic research and study of what works in instruction. Much of this knowledge is produced through research, and practicing instructional designers also acquire useful knowledge through experience.

Instructional Technology is a tool or technology used to aid learning. I perceive three main types of instructional technologies or tools (and describe them in more detail in another post):

1. Instructional Theory - a set of prescriptions describing what the instruction should be like when it is finished. Instructional theory "offers explicit guidance on how to better help people learn and develop" (Reigeluth, 1999; also, see Wikipedia's article on Instructional Theory).
2. Instructional Design Process - systematic guidance on specific steps or phases to follow to help ensure that the instruction is of high quality. Examples include the ADDIE Model and the Dick & Carey Model (Dick, Carey, & Carey, 2006). Both of these are briefly described in Wikipedia's article here.
3. Physical Technologies and Tools - physical objects used to create and represent the knowledge that is being taught in the instruction. These technologies are be used by the instructional designer to create the instruction.

So then what is Instructional Design? It is the deliberate planning and creation of materials used to provide knowledge to learners. I discuss this in more detail in previous posts entitled What is Instructional Design part 1 and What is Instructional Design part 2.

A degree in instructional design is different than a degree in instructional technology. Clearly there is a lot of overlap, but different programs have different emphases. I earned a master's degree in instructional technology, so in my courses we spent a fair amount of time focusing on the tools. In contrast, a degree in instructional systems design might place more emphasis on the instructional design process. I currently teach in the Master Program in Instructional Design and Performance Technology at Franklin University. This program focuses more on the design process and on linking design to business results.

*Random side-note: When I think of science, I think about 10th grade chemistry class. I thought the girl in front of me was really cute, so that was where my mind was, a lot of the time. The teacher did a bunch of experiments with test tubes and bunsen burners and by the end of the class, I knew two things: (1) there is a periodical table of the elements and (2) I was too scared to even talk to the cute girl.

References

Dick, W. O., Carey, L., & Carey, J. O. (2005). The systematic design of instruction (6 ed.): Pearson/Allyn &; Bacon.

Reigeluth, C.M. (1999). What is instructional design theory? In C.M. Reigeluth (Ed.) Instructional design theories and models: A new paradigm of instructional theory (Vol. 2, pp. 5-29). Manwah, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates.
 

The 5 Most Fundamental Strategies for Helping Your Students Learn

What do good teachers do? What strategies are most effective at helping students learn? This has been the subject of thousands of studies over many decades, and it can be hard to really focus in on what teaching strategies are most effective.

One instructional theory that has had a lot of influence on my own work as an instructional designer and a scholar is Merrill's First Principles of Instruction (2002, 2007, 2009). After spending many years researching and discovering effective teaching strategies, Merrill set out to identify the most fundamental principles of instruction. He reviewed many theories and based on this review, he identified what he calls the 5 most fundamental principles of instruction. When you apply these first principles in your teaching and instructional design, you will engage students in activities that will help them learn more. Here are the 5 principles:

1. Problem or Task-Centered - Students learn more when they see real-world examples and solve real-world problems or tasks.
2. Activation - Students learn more when they actively consider what they already know about a topic and relate what they learn to what they already know.
3. Demonstration - Students learn more when the learn relevant knowledge and skills in the context of a real-world task or problem.
4. Application - Students learn more when they apply what they have learned in a real-world context and receive feedback and guidance on how their performance.
5. Integration - Students learn more when they are directed reflect on, discuss, debate, present on, or plan how to use new knowledge and skills.

First Principles of Instruction (Merrill, 2002).

Personal Experience with First Principles

I've realized that the university courses and teachers that have had the greatest impact on me have used most or all of these principles. For example:

• My public speaking teacher, Karla Bassett, used these principles when she taught us how to speak. She provided us with a structure for giving speeches (activation). She showed many videos and personally demonstrated the principles and skills of public speaking (task-centered, demonstration) and also had each student perform multiple speeches (application) and gave us feedback on our speeches. This task-centered approach gave me a deep interest in communication and speaking and I went on to earn a bachelor's degree in communication.
• My Spanish teacher, Carolina Bond, used these principles in class by speaking Spanish throughout the class (task-centered, demonstration, application) and by having us build vocabulary and use sentence structures in real-world scenarios (application). These courses prepared me to later speak Spanish as an English teacher in Guatemala. 
• Later as a graduate student, my Qualitative Methods instructor Dr. Sherry Marx shared many real-world examples (task-centered, demonstration) of  how she and others had conducted research and directed me and my peers to conduct multiple full-scale studies on our own (application). This task-centered approach to learning gave me an incredible learning experience and I was able to later publish the results of that research.

For more detailed examples of how First Principles of Instruction have been used in educational settings, and how to use these principles, see my recent published articles:

• Applying Merrill's First Principles of Instruction
• How Award-winning Professors in Higher Education Use Merrill’s First Principles of Instruction.

These are just a few examples of how these principles can be used. I believe that if you reflect on the most meaningful formal learning experiences you had as a student, you would find that the instructor used some or all of these principles effectively .

Do You Agree?

So, the question is, do you agree that these truly are the First Principles of Instruction? Or are there other principles that are more foundational than these? Are there other principles that enhance learning more than these? What do you think?

References

Merrill, M. D. (2002). First principles of instruction. Educational Technology Research and Development, 50(3), 43-59. (Click for copy from mdavidmerrill.com)

Merrill, M. D. (2007). First principles of instruction: a synthesis. In R. A. Reiser & J. V. Dempsey (Eds.), Trends and Issues in Instructional Design and Technology, 2nd Edition (Vol. 2, pp. 62-71). Upper Saddle River, NJ: Merrill/Prentice Hall. (Click for copy from mdavidmerrill.com) 

Merrill, M. D. (2009). First Principles of Instruction. In C. M. Reigeluth & A. Carr (Eds.), Instructional Design Theories and Models: Building a Common Knowledge Base (Vol. III). New York: Routledge Publishers. (Click for copy from mdavidmerrill.com)

What is Instructional Design? part 2

In my last post (What is Instructional Design? part 1), I explained my idea of what instructional design is. In this post, I want to explain a little further the kinds of tools an instructional designer uses to create worthwhile learning experiences. Instructional designers use 3 main types of tools in their work: (1) instructional theory, (2) instructional design processes, and (3) instructional technologies and tools.

This video explains how these are used. (You can also continue reading below for more details).

The Activity of the Instructional Designer

The picture below demonstrates the activity of an instructional designer as it relates to these tools. First, I want to clarify that the tools designers use are either abstract or physical. Abstract tools are those that instructional designers use to guide their thinking and actions. I categorize them as instructional theory and instructional design processes. Physical tools are those that are used to actually develop instructional materials, which I categorize as instructional technologies and tools.

So, in our picture, the instructional designer uses physical tools and technologies to manipulate content and create materials that the learners will interact and learn with. These physical tools can be a computer, software, a camera, a Learning Management System (LMS), etc. These tools are used to develop physical materials.

A good instructional designer also works with abstract tools as they design instructional materials. He or she considers what is known about good instruction, which should include awareness of current instructional theory. For example, Merrill's First Principles of Instruction is a set of research-based prescriptions for how to create effective instruction. Instructional Designers also think about specific instructional design processes as they develop the material. For example, the ADDIE process walks students through the basic steps of instructional design to help ensure that quality instruction is created. The abstract tools are used to guide the development of the physical materials and help ensure the materials adhere to abstract concepts of what works in instruction.


The important thing here is that instructional design is an activity that involves the use of tools to create instructional materials. If you have any additional thoughts on the activity of an instructional designer, I would love to read them. This view is based on my experience and thinking, and I am sure that others have additional insights to share.

What is Instructional Design? part 1

What is instructional design? A friend and colleague of mine, Rob Barton, asked (and answered) this question in a fairly recent blog post. His thoughts are interesting and have made me think of my own response to that question- what is instructional design? Here are my thoughts (which are fairly similar what Rob wrote).

What is Instructional Design?

This is an important question, and sometimes I have a hard time answering it. (This is probably because I get geeked out and start talking about all the "academic" details of the field and practice). It is easiest to describe it through what an instructional designer does. An instructional designer, at the most basic level is a person who creates materials that help people learn.

For the past several years, I have designed instruction for college professors. I help them organize and create course materials and assignments that will help the students learn what is being taught. I do my best to use strategies that are based on what works according to the research. Instructional designers work in many different settings, including public school (K-12), colleges and universities, corporations, and in the military. Most of my experience as an instructional designer has been in higher education.

So, here is where my thinking gets a little more geeky. Below is my more lengthy (and academic) description of what an instructional design is and what instructional designers do.

A More Detailed Explanation

First, instruction (as it relates to instructional design) is an imparted unit of knowledge. Instruction is given with the intent that the one receiving it will acquire or learn that knowledge. (I use the term knowledge broadly to include skill, information, attitude, etc.)

Second, design (as it relates to instructional design) is the deliberate planning and creation of instructional materials.

So, instructional design is the deliberate planning and creation of materials used to impart knowledge to learner.

The Tools of Instructional Designers

As instructional designers plan and create instructional materials, they use several tools and technologies to accomplish their design goals. In my opinion and experience, these include the following major types:

• Instructional Theory, which is a set of prescriptions describing what the instruction should be like when it is finished. Instructional theory "offers explicit guidance on how to better help people learn and develop" (Reigeluth, 1999). There are many instructional theories, and the most useful and beneficial are those which are based on sound learning theory,  peer-reviewed research, and reflective practice. An example of an instructional theory is Merrill's First Principles of Instruction (Merrill, 2002, 2007, 2009), which I am partial to and have written about (see my publications page). 

• Instructional Design Processes, which provide guidance on specific steps or phases to follow to help ensure that the instruction is of high quality. Examples include the ADDIE Model and the Dick & Carey Model (Dick, Carey, & Carey, 2006). Both of these are briefly described in Wikipedia's article here.
• Instructional Technologies and Tools,  which are physical objects* used to create, manipulate and represent the knowledge that is being taught or imparted. These technologies can be used by the instructional designer to create the instruction, by the learner to gain and expand knowledge, or by both. Examples include a Learning Management System such as Blackboard or Articulate, or classic teaching and learning tools such as a pen and a piece of paper.

The three Types of Instructional Design Tools.

Related Post: The Difference Between Instructional Design, Technology, and Science

Instructional designers use these tools as they design instruction. Of course, instructional design does not occur in a vacuum, and designers must be aware of and adapt to the context in which they design. This is actually very complex and I will attempt to treat this in a later post. I have written about this idea elsewhere (Gardner, 2011).

In my next post What is Instructional Design? part 2, I will expand on what I have written here and also share a video that explains what instructional designers do.

What Do You Think?

I am interested to read your thoughts. As a whole, instructional designers seem to have a hard time defining what they do and how we do it. Perhaps this is because every design context is different and the way design occurs is therefore different, but are there fundamental similarities? Do you agree with my assertions here?

* Note: I state here that instructional technologies are physical objects. One might remind me that a design process or a theory is also a technology or a tool, but I make the distinction between physical tools and abstract tools. An abstract tool can be represented physically. For example, an instructional design workbook (physical) might guide an instructional designer through the ADDIE process (abstract). Abstract objects can therefore both internal to the designer (something they know, perceive, and conceptualize) and external as a physical representation of that tool or technology.

References

Dick, W. O., Carey, L., & Carey, J. O. (2005). The systematic design of instruction (6 ed.): Pearson/Allyn &; Bacon.

Gardner, J., (2011). How Award-winning Professors in Higher Education Use Merrill’s First Principles of Instruction. International Journal of Instructional Technology and Distance Learning, 8(5), p. 3-16).

Merrill, M. D. (2002). First principles of instruction. Educational Technology Research and Development, 50(3), 43-59.

 Merrill, M. D. (2007). First principles of instruction: a synthesis. In R. A. Reiser & J. V. Dempsey (Eds.), Trends and Issues in Instructional Design and Technology, 2nd Edition (Vol. 2, pp. 62-71). Upper Saddle River, NJ: Merrill/Prentice Hall.

Merrill, M. D. (2009). First Principles of Instruction. In C. M. Reigeluth & A. Carr (Eds.), Instructional Design Theories and Models: Building a Common Knowledge Base (Vol. III). New York: Routledge Publishers.

Reigeluth, C.M. (1999). What is instructional design theory? In C.M. Reigeluth (Ed.) Instructional design theories and models: A new paradigm of instructional theory (Vol. 2, pp. 5-29). Manwah, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates.