Implementing Learning Theory in a Gagne Nine Events of ...



Running head: Implementing Learning Theory in a Gagne Nine EventImplementing Learning Theory in a Gagne Nine Events of Instruction Infrastructure (while balancing the Information Age’s changing landscape)Eric EricsonPurdue UniversityImplementing Learning Theory in a Gagne Nine Events of Instruction Infrastructure (while balancing the Information Age’s changing landscape)Today, instructional designers beginning their work in the real world may have to overcome the shock of attempting to satisfy the insatiable. Whether your client is a 10,000+ employee insurance corporation, a small alternative educational facility, or military training facility, you may encounter such demands as:Keep the cost down!I need this done yesterday!Make this fun and engaging but stick to our process and procedures documents!Incorporate social, hands-on activities!Oh, and keep the cost down!These are common challenges facing modern-day instructional designers (ID’ers). Clients’ high demands are a result of changes in the educational and social landscape, growing economic strains, increased competition, and maturing expectations. I will propose how a new ID’er can retain all the learning theories they learned in their Master’s program, apply them in Gagne’s Nine Events of Instruction infrastructure, and still please his/her client; in short, using old-school methodology in a new-school learning environment.Literature Review and ApplicationPrensky (2001) and Barone (2003) note that learners raised in the Information Age are demanding everything in their learning experiences. Characteristics such as quick turn-around-time, fast results, entertaining, increased practice/hands-on opportunities, real-to-life simulations, and all for one low cost are no longer amenities; they are the standard. Not only do we as instructional designers need to consider the present conditions of learning, we also have to consider the way the learning landscape is shifting. More and more we are seeing education delegated vs. delivered, self-paced rather than instructor led, and students taking the initiative to teach themselves and seek out knowledge.Individuals learning in the Information Age are accustomed to social learning as Wenger (1998) identifies in his basic premises of situated cognition theory. With Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, Vine, Pinterest and countless others, the average modern-day learner is versed with learning through social media devices and programs. Creating knowledge and understanding through engaging in social networking, or communal educational practices (such as in cMOOCs [constructivist Massive Open Online Courses]) in order to increase one’s level of proficiency and venture towards mastering a skill is a modern example of a process of situated cognition (Driscoll, 2005). Such is often the case in our changing landscape of learning, that executives and directors do not have the final say as to chosen learning methodologies. Students/learners evolve new learning styles largely based on socio-norms and technology. With the increasing use of networking in social spaces, situated cognition is forcing its way into the training strategy. Strategizing ways for students to provide guidance to, practice with, and give feedback to each other, satisfies Gagne’s fifth through seventh events of instruction and learners’ needs to learn in a social environment.With corporate focuses having grown solidly into human performance technology, planning for performance improvement is a key step while developing effective training. Once you’ve determined that training is the solution that addresses the performance gap (Mager & Pipe, 1997), it’s time to design your approach. Driscoll (2005) succinctly outlines these steps that are crucial when considering how to use behaviorism methodology in constructing Gagne’s first event of instruction (Gagne, 1985). According to Driscoll, (2005, p. 64) you accomplish this by: Determining the desired performance and identifying the gap, Identifying appropriate awards for performances,Generating a plan to communicate these,Carrying out the plan, And evaluating and revising based on results.Considering how important it is to gain your learner’s attention and explaining exactly what’s in it for them connects and satisfies behaviorism, motivation, and Gagne’s events of instruction.Constructivism also calls for “creating meaning from experience” (Ertmer & Newby, 1993). Aligned with how Gagne recognizes the need to stimulate recall (Driscoll, 2005) for learners in his third event of instruction, constructivists note that learners create meaning by interpreting new information through their personal, past experiences; laying new knowledge down on old foundations (as long as it fits their schema). In regards to Gagne’s second event of instruction, creating clear, measurable, performance based objectives is achievable even in constructivism. An objective whose goal is to instill the ability to obtain truth through dialogue or reasoning and constructing truth/comprehension is one such example. Pedagogically, “children construct theories or hypothesis about learning situations by putting things into relationships. By using this process of constantly putting formerly learned relationships into new relationships, they become aware of their circular reasoning and construct meaningful explanations of phenomena” (Kami et al., 1991).Constructivism can incorporate Gagne’s eighth and ninth step of instruction via unique measures. In constructivism, facilitators and subject matter experts (SMEs) play a larger role in witnessing/evaluating learners’ performances throughout the training experience and also for summative evaluation.ConclusionIn conclusion, as a relatively new instructional designer and graduate student, I often find myself concerned with keeping up with learner’s changing habits. Writing and design approaches seem to be changing faster than I can learn about new technologies I can use to develop learning materials. One could wonder if using theories of learning and instruction is going to still be relevant in developing materials in such a changing learning landscape. The fear lies in being outdated, using old approaches to teach new learners, and being ineffective as a result.I contest that although people are learning in new ways such as social interaction, forums, MOOCs, self-paced eLearning, etc., that old methods can remain legitimate if applied within a timeless infrastructure such as Gagne’s Nine Events of Instruction. Gagne did a fantastic job at determining which nine elements are crucial for all instruction, regardless of medium. As an instructional designer, being able to apply the wisdom of multiple, time-tested learning theories in instruction is a key to developing effective learning materials.ReferencesBarone, C.A. (2003). The changing landscape and the new academy. Educause Review,38(5), 41–47. Retrieved from , M. P. (2005). Psychology of learning for instruction (3rd edition). Needham Heights, MA: Allyn & Bacon.Ertmer, P. A., & Newby, T. J. (1993). Behaviorism, cognitivism, constructivism: Comparing critical features from an instructional design perspective. Performance improvement quarterly, 6(4), 50-72.Gagne, R. M. (1985). The Conditions of Learning (4th ed.). New York: Holt, Rinehart and Winston.Kamii, C., Manning, M., Manning, G. and Editors. (1991) Early Literacy: A Constructivist Foundation for Whole Language. Washington, D. C.: National Education Association of the United States.Mager, R. F., & Pipe, P. (1997). Analyzing performance problems (3rd edition). Atlanta, GA: The Center for Effective Performance.Prensky, M. (2010). Teaching digital natives: Partnering for real learning. Thousand Oaks, CA: Corwin.Wenger, E. (1998). Communities of practice: Learning, meaning, and identity. New York: Cambridge university press. ................
................

In order to avoid copyright disputes, this page is only a partial summary.

Google Online Preview   Download