In this unit we make a distinctive crossing from theories of human learning to a particular, influential theory of instructional design. Robert M.Cognitive learning methods gagne's principles of instructional design, as richey notes, “provide not only a theoretical orientation to an instructional design project, but also have prompted a number of design conventions and techniques” (p. 595).Cognitive learning methods also, as a way to bring this course to a close we end by returning to principles of behaviorism and cognitivism in light of what we've learned about constructivism.Cognitive learning methods the overall goal is to ensure you have a sound, working knowledge of these paradigms and a healthy skeptical view of any one being superior in all learning and instruction contexts.Cognitive learning methods

Gagne's work has been particularly influential in training and the design of instructional materials. In fact, the idea that instruction can be systematically designed probably can be attributed to gagne and a handful of others.Cognitive learning methods it's interesting to speculate how his early work in air force training may have shaped his theory. Would is ideas have evolved differently had he been working with college students, or 3rd graders?Cognitive learning methods given the theorists and ideas we've covered in this class, there's a pretty good chance they would have. Lesson learned: theorists and their theories are bound by history and context.Cognitive learning methods

Gagne's theory is more properly classified as an instructional design theory, rather than a learning theory. A learning theory, you will recall, consists of a set of constructs and propositions that account for how changes in human performance abilities come about.Cognitive learning methods an instructional theory seeks to describe the conditions under which one can intentionally arrange for the learning of specific performance outcomes.Cognitive learning methods instructional theories are often based on one or more learning theories, but there is rarely a simple correspondence between the two.

Gagne's instructional theory has three major elements.Cognitive learning methods first, it is based on a taxonomy , or classification, of learning outcomes . Second, it proposes particular internal and external conditions necessary for achieving these learning outcomes .Cognitive learning methods and third, it offers nine events of instruction , which serve as a template for developing and delivering a unit of instruction.

The notion of different “levels” of learning or knowing something is a very useful one in education.Cognitive learning methods you have probably been in or observed a class where the teacher said she or he wanted to help students achieve high-level skills such as being able to analyze problems, evaluate cases, etc.Cognitive learning methods nevertheless, when you looked at the test items for the class, they mostly had to do with memorizing terms and definitions. This is a “learning-levels” problem.Cognitive learning methods

Gagne and others thought it was important for teachers and instructional designers to think carefully about the nature of the skill or task they wanted to teach, then to make sure that the learner had the necessary prerequisites to acquire that skill.Cognitive learning methods gagne also stressed that practice and assessment should match the target skill. In other words, if we want someone to know when to use an ANOVA, and be able to use it to answer real questions, then it is of little use to test them only on their ability to write the formula.Cognitive learning methods

Of the five categories of learning outcomes gagne proposes, the one that seems to have gotten the most attention is intellectual skills . It is important to understand that the five sub-categories of intellectual skills are believed to be hierarchical.Cognitive learning methods that is, for a given skill at, say, the level of “defined concepts,” there should be underlying discriminations and concrete concepts that must first be mastered.Cognitive learning methods

A common error in understanding gagne's intellectual skill classifications is assuming too high” a level for discriminations and concrete concepts.Cognitive learning methods remember that, according to gagne's definition, discrimination is a very low-level skill. It is simply the ability to recognize that one object or class of objects differs from another.Cognitive learning methods but discrimination does not include the ability to name the class of objects. If the learners can do that, they have acquired a concept.

According to gagne's theory, the way to determine the prerequisites for a given learning objective is to construct a learning hierarchy.Cognitive learning methods A learning hierarchy (sometimes called a task analysis ) is constructed by working backwards from the final learning objective. Suppose, for example, that the desired learning outcome is to be able to be able to balance one's checkbook upon receiving the monthly bank statement.Cognitive learning methods we would ask ourselves, what are the component skills of balancing a checkbook? They might include things such as, identifying the relevant information on the bank statement, accurately entering deductions and deposits in the check register, and knowing to add back to one's ending balance any outstanding checks in order to reconcile the checkbook balance with that indicated on the bank statement.Cognitive learning methods assuming we decided that these were, in fact, the three component skills, we would then need to analyze each of these into more basic component skills.Cognitive learning methods how many levels “deep” would we need to go in such a hierarchy? We could continue to work backwards until we reached such basic skills as reading, adding, and subtracting.Cognitive learning methods however, the general rule is that one should continue the analysis until reaching the level of skills that we can reasonably expect the target learners to already possess.Cognitive learning methods

It is important to note that a learning hierarchy is not the same thing as a procedure, although there is some overlap between these concepts.Cognitive learning methods to follow the example above, if I were going to describe the procedure for balancing a checkbook, the guiding question would be, “what is the sequence of steps that one needs to carry out in order to balance a checkbook?” but, for a learning hierarchy, the question is, “what are the intellectual skills one needs to have mastered in order to balance a checkbook?”

cognitive learning methods

A central notion in gagne's theory is that different kinds of learning outcomes have different internal and external conditions that support them.Cognitive learning methods the external conditions are things that the teacher or instructional designer arranges during instruction. The internal conditions are skills and capabilities that the learner has already mastered (such as those that would be revealed by a learning hierarchy).Cognitive learning methods

Gagne's nine proposed “events of instruction” are a sequence of steps to guide the teacher or instructional designer. According to the theory, using this sequence should help to insure that the learner masters the desired objective.Cognitive learning methods the framework has been adapted for use in a variety of classroom settings, including college teaching. However, you can probably see that adapting the “events” to many classroom settings is problematic.Cognitive learning methods most teachers do not use the kind of language contained in this framework (e.G., terms such as “presenting the stimulus”, or “eliciting performance”).Cognitive learning methods in fact, the whole idea of framing a course as a series of skills that can be practiced and performed by students is an unfamiliar concept to some teachers.Cognitive learning methods think back to some of your own college courses. What skills did you acquire in history, philosophy, or biology courses? Did you get a chance to practice these skills in class?Cognitive learning methods how were you assessed on them?

In conclusion, it appears on the surface that gagne's instructional design theory is an ideal perspective on how to research and develop interventions for instruction and learning.Cognitive learning methods unfortunately, it is not as easy as that. Two criticisms of gagne is that his work is overly prescriptive, that is, there are adequate recipes for developing instructional materials, but insufficient breadth to provide principles for research and subsequent testing.Cognitive learning methods A second criticism is that gagne is overly focused on the individual, i.E., what is referred to as the micro-level of analysis or intervention.Cognitive learning methods as we are certainly aware, instruction and learning take place in institutional settings where social and cultural variables can influence outcomes.Cognitive learning methods as you advance as an instructional design researcher or practitioner, it will depend on your worldview and immediate context as to whether these criticisms matter.Cognitive learning methods