In “Prescriptive Principles for Instructional Design,” Merrill reviews instructional design models and theories by experts in the field and identifies five principles that many of the models/theories share in common. Merrill’s (2008) five principles for promoting learning, or what he calls the “first principles of instruction,” are:
· Task-centered approach – Instruction should be sequenced in small tasks.
· Activation principle – Instruction should activate the learner’s previous knowledge.
· Demonstration principle – Instruction should include relevant demonstrations of new skills.
· Application principle – Instruction should allow the learner to apply what they have learned and provide feedback.
· Integration principle – Instruction should be relevant to real life and learners should have an opportunity to practice what they have learned in the real world (p.174).
According to Merrill (2008), “these design principles apply regardless of the instructional program or practices prescribed by a given theory or model. If this premise is true, research will demonstrate that when a given instructional program or practice violates or fails to implement one or more of these underlying principles, there will be a decrement in learning and performance” (p.175). Merrill (2008) cites an example from Shell EP where over 65 courses were redesigned based on the first principles of instruction and this led to deeper learning, greater business relevance of the subject matter, and an increase in job performance (p.177).
I enjoyed Merrill’s analysis of other instructional design principles and how they overlap with the first principles of instruction. I don’t quite understand why Merrill included the section on Designing Task-Centered Instruction in this chapter. I felt it was out of place and incomplete. I thought Merrill would explain each principle in more detail, but he stopped after Task-Centered Instruction. In addition, I found the writing in this section confusing and Figures 14.3 and 14.4 did not clarify the concepts for me although I am a visual learner.
Merrill, M.D., Barclay, M. & A. van Schaak. (2008). Prescriptive Principles for Instructional Design. In M. J. Spector, et al., Handbook of Research on Educational Communications and Technology, 3rd Edition (pp. 173-184). New York: Routledge, Taylor & Francis Group.
Hi Nicole,
ReplyDeleteGlad you raised the point about task-centered instruction. I also stumbled over that section, which seemed pretty dense in terms of content, and with problematic visuals (14.3 and 14.4, as you mentioned). If I’ve understood it correctly (on my 3rd reading now), I think Merrill et al. (2008) are emphasizing the link between what they feel is the most complete representation of instructional strategies, the 4C/ID model, and Merrill’s Pebble-in-the-Pond approach – both of which are based on whole task practice. For me, I had to understand whole task practice to get clarity.
Whole task practice seems to emphasize a top down progression of learning, beginning with the designer/instructor’s deep understanding of the ‘cognitive schemata’ involved in performance of the whole task and the constituent skills introduced as they are needed (just in time info presentation). Merrill et al. are contrasting this top down approach (which they also call ‘content-first’), going from the whole to its parts and back to the whole, with what they refer to as a topic-centered strategy (referred to as a ‘traditional curriculum sequence’ in figure 14.3).
Their section on task-centered instruction, then, aims to illustrate how Merrill’s (2006) Pebble-in-the-Pond approach is consistent with the 4C/ID model, as well as the whole task, content-first approach, even pointing out that a new book by the creator of the 4C/ID model adapts the Pebble… model for designing complex skills. The last table (14.6) seems to demonstrate this relationship.
Does that make sense to you, or have I misinterpreted that section, perhaps?
Nicole,
ReplyDeleteMerrill's premise is that task- or problem-centered instruction is the core of the other four principles. What his first principle means to the designer is simply (and sometimes it's not so simple) that we make sure the content of the course a real-world, whole-task process, skill or problem for the learner to solve.
The article we read focuses more on comparing and contrasting with other models. To fully understand Merrill's take on first principles, read the other article that Miguel linked in the first section of our Syllabus>Goals called "First Principles of Instruction." Or here's the link: https://www.indiana.edu/~istr690/frick/articles/merrill_firstprinciples.pdf
I think Merrill does a great job of setting forth his principles in full in that article and his graphic with PROBLEM at the center of the other principles (page 45) helps to clarify how the first principle fits with the other four. As a visual learner, that helped me a great to understand his model. You'll notice that I used his graphic relationships as the framework for my own attempt to visualize his model. See First Principles Job Aid attached to my forum post.
Cheers!
Jan
Nicole,
ReplyDeleteI had highlighted the same passage you mention while I was reading. (From your post: According to Merrill (2008), “these design principles apply regardless of the instructional program or practices prescribed by a given theory or model. If this premise is true, research will demonstrate that when a given instructional program or practice violates or fails to implement one or more of these underlying principles, there will be a decrement in learning and performance” (p.175).)
I kept thinking about "If this premise is true, research will demonstrate..." I would really like to read more about the research regarding the effectiveness of the First Principles. This area seems to be lacking from this article and the 2002 article we read in R511. Of course, the authors acknolwledge this lack of evidence in the conclusion section, but then ask readers to implement the first principles anyway.
I also agree that the Design Task-Centered Instruction could have been a separate chapter instead of being squeezed in at the end of this chapter.
Hi Nicole,
ReplyDelete(I posted this 4 days ago, but somehow it's not showing... sigh.) Great summary/critique, BTW.
Glad you raised the point about task-centered instruction. I also stumbled over that section, which seemed pretty dense in terms of content, and with problematic visuals (14.3 and 14.4, as you mentioned). If I’ve understood it correctly (on my 3rd reading now), I think Merrill et al. (2008) are emphasizing the link between what they feel is the most complete representation of instructional strategies, the 4C/ID model, and Merrill’s Pebble-in-the-Pond approach – both of which are based on whole task practice. For me, I had to understand whole task practice to get clarity.
Whole task practice seems to emphasize a top down progression of learning, beginning with the designer/instructor’s deep understanding of the ‘cognitive schemata’ involved in performance of the whole task and the constituent skills introduced as they are needed (just in time info presentation). Merrill et al. are contrasting this top down approach (which they also call ‘content-first’), going from the whole to its parts and back to the whole, with what they refer to as a topic-centered strategy (referred to as a ‘traditional curriculum sequence’ in figure 14.3).
Their section on task-centered instruction, then, aims to illustrate how Merrill’s (2006) Pebble-in-the-Pond approach is consistent with the 4C/ID model, as well as the whole task, content-first approach, even pointing out that a new book by the creator of the 4C/ID model adapts the Pebble… model for designing complex skills. The last table (14.6) seems to demonstrate this relationship.
Does that make sense to you, or have I misinterpreted that section?
Michelle - Absolutely! I found the Shell example so interesting and compelling. I would love to see more evidence of the effectiveness of the first principles.
ReplyDeleteMediaSage - Who are you? JK. I was just wondering. :-)
ReplyDeleteThanks for recommending the article. I meant to revisit it before completing this assignment, but I ran out of time. I guess it would have clarified things for me.
Karen - Sorry you had to post twice. I ran into the same problem when I posted on Micah's blog last week. The whole thing disappeared. Fortunately, I had kept a save copy. And thank you for the whole task explanation--very helpful!
ReplyDelete