Robert Gagné's Instructional Design Approach
Introduction
When Robert Gagné initially published his influential book, The Conditions of Learning (Gagné, 1965), his instructional design theories were heavily rooted in the behaviorist psychology paradigm. However, in later editions of The Conditions of Learning (Gagné, 1970, 1977, 1985), Gagné's theories evolved to incorporate cognitivist psychology theories, specifically the information-processing model of cognition. According to Gagné, "This model posits a number of internal processes that are subject to the influence of a variety of external events. The arrangement of external events to activate and support the internal processes of learning constitutes what is called instruction" (Gagné, 1974).
In the preface to the second edition of The Conditions of Learning, Gagné commented further on this shift to the information-processing model of cognition and it’s influence on his approach to designing instruction. He stated, "I consider this form of learning theory to represent a major advance in the scientific study of human learning" (Gagné, 1977). In 1989, Michael J. Striebel noted, "Instructional design theories such as Gagné's theory, take the cognitivist paradigm one logical step further by claiming that an instruction plan can generate both appropriate environmental stimuli and instructional interactions, and thereby bring about a change in cognitive structures of the learner (Striebel, 1989).
This paper will define and explore the three major aspects of Gagné’s approach to instructional design, which include: nine events of instruction, conditions of learning and learning outcomes. How Gagné’s theory correlates to the Walter Dick and Lou Carey’s systems approach to instructional design will also be considered (Dick and Carey, 1996).
A Seminal MODEL
Gagné’s approach to instructional design is considered a seminal model that has influenced many other design approaches and particularly the Dick & Carey systems approach. Gagné proposed that events of learning and categories of learning outcomes together provide a framework for an account of learning conditions. The diagram below, from the third edition of The Conditions of Learning (Gagné, 1977), illustrates his vision of how the events of learning impact the conditions learning, which ultimately result in the learning outcomes, or learning capabilities.
In The Conditions of Learning, Gagné acknowledges that he was considering the question "What factors really can make a difference to instruction?" when developing his learning and instructional design theories. His model proposed that the conditions of learning—some internal and some external to the learner—that affect the process of learning make up the events of learning.
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As a learning provider it is essential that I have the ability to meet the requirements of someone who is deemed as a learner. Many of us know that people are different and receive information in several different ways. It is also ideal to become aware of what motivates a learner to understand the information which is being delivered to them in the classroom. As learning providers we cannot make the assumption that everybody learns in the same way because if that were the case we would soon find that the learners will only have the ability to remember certain parts of the information that they most relate to. This would result in the learners being unsuccessful in the class room. For example the VARK method from Neil Flemings (1987) theory, this shows that learners can take information in, in different ways.
Genocide is a pressing issue with a multitude of questions and debates surrounding it. It is the opinion of many people that the United Nations should not get involved with or try to stop ongoing genocide because of costs or impositions on the rights of a country, but what about the rights of an individual? The UN should get involved in human rights crimes that may lead to genocide to prevent millions of deaths, save money on humanitarian aid and clean up, and fulfill their responsibilities to stop such crimes. It is preferable to stop genocide before it occurs through diplomacy, but if necessary, military force may be used as a last resort. Navi Pillay, Human Rights High Commissioner, stated, “Concerted efforts by the international community at critical moments in time could prevent the escalation of violence into genocide, war crimes, crimes against humanity or ethnic cleansing.”
The crime of genocide is one of the most devastating human tragedies throughout the history. And the word genocide refers to an organised destruction to a specific group of people who belongs to the same culture, ethnic, racial, religious, or national group often in a war situation. Similar to mass killing, where anyone who is related to the particular group regardless their age, gender and ethnic background becomes the killing targets, genocide involves in more depth towards destroying people’s identity and it usually consists a fine thorough plan prearranged in order to demolish the unwanted group due to political reasons mostly. While the term genocide had only been created recently in 1943 by Raphael Lemkin, a Polish-Jewish legal scholar, from the ancient Greek word “genos” meaning race and the Latin word “cide” meaning killing , there are many examples of genocide like events that occurred before the twentieth century. And this new term brings up the question as whether genocide is a contemporary description defined through current perspectives towards the crime act or is it just a part of the inevitable human evolutionary progress caused by modernity.
"RAINN Urges White House Task Force to Overhaul Colleges' Treatment of Rape." Rape, Abuse and Incest National Network. N.p., n.d. Web. 18 Apr. 2014.
The information processing theory explains that the material that we come across travels from sensory storage to working memory and lastly to long term memory (Snowman & McCown, 2015) The long term memory is a permanent storehouse of knowledge, so once the material has reached that region, students can then easily recall and retrieve the familiar information (Snowman & McCown, 2015). This concept is different from the operant condition theory in several ways. For example, operant condition theory is more of a behavioral learning method that’s focused on rewards from the environment and constant reinforcement to help strengthen positive behavior (Snowman & McCown, 2015).
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For instruction to be meaningful and relevant, it must build upon a student’s prior knowledge. Using analogies will be a good way to relate the students current experience to their prior experience. According to the text, “Gagne’s theory of instruction indicates that teachers and designers must consider four components when they develop instruction”(Driscoll et al., 2005):
Krause, K, Bochner, S, Duchesne, S & McNaugh, A 2010, Educational Psychology: for learning & teaching, 3rd edn, Cengage Learning Australia, Victoria
During the early years and eras, there were many learning theories such as behaviorism, cognitivism, constructivism, and etc. Each of them gave big impacts on teaching and learning. To be more specific, Gagne developed nine events or steps used in instructions for teaching and learning and it is called Gagne nine events of instructions. From what I have learned in the last lecture, these nine events are still relevance and applicable even though it needs to be improve a little bit. But yet, it could still give a big impact towards teaching and learning until nowadays.
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Jerome Bruner, a constructivist, suggested three stages of cognitive growth. One of them is the iconic stage. He stated that when new information is presented, it is useful to provide a visual image and this can be true at any age. Learners will grasp complicated concepts more easily if they have an illustration. That’s why it is important to have diagrams and pictures when giving instructions. In his philosophy of constructivism, he emphasized that children learn first through experience and through physical interaction with concepts. Teachers need to provide experiences in contexts that motivate the child to learn. This is referred to as readiness. All instruction needs to be structured in such a way that the child can grasp it easily. Bruner calls this spiral organization. And, instruction needs to be designed so that it fills in the gaps in the child’s knowledge or so that the child can extrapolate from it. Bruner refers to this as going beyond the information given (Kearsley,