Readings on Instructional Design

(More readings from the first year seminar in theETEC program at UH Manoa) 

Merrill, D. (2012). Chapter 5 Instructional Strategies. , Merrill, D. (2012). Chapter 6 Instructional Strategies for Problem Solving. Merrill, D. (2012). Chapter 7 Problem-Centered Instructional Strategy. First Principles of Instructional Design (pp. 1-39). (Unpublished Manuscript)

These three chapters of Dave's Merrill's forthcoming text on the first principles of instruction are summarized in the flow chart here.  His work is really interesting in that it seeks to break down instruction into all of its smallest parts and identify, name, typify and classify every element of what goes on in a course.  It reminds me of being in biology classes in which we went out into the woods and saw everything with a new lens as we realize that the things that we saw everyday and knew as familiar had names, and niches in the ecosystem—and just being in the woods without naming and observing them as individual organisms would never result in a deeper understanding of the place.  Similarly, Merrill hopes that instructional designers will understand all of the elements of the ecosystem of a classroom. In chapter 5, what used to seem like simple instructional events, are broken down into: presentation, demonstration and application and further explored.  There are also a number of real life modules and examples to which readers can apply their learning.

Chapter 6 focuses on problem solving strategies.  He outlines and demonstrates the importance of crafting and demonstrating relationships between conditions and consequence in order to facilitate students working independently to solve the problem.  As I was reading I was thinking about structuring Spanish language lessons through this framework.  It seems that many of the immersion, or direct instruction methods of language acquisition are based on this concept of problem solving.  Students are not so much told the answer, as presented with a problem, an utterance that they only partially understand.  Then they are challenged to look for patterns (conditions) and see how outcomes change (consequence).  Thinking of something as simple as describing the formal and informal pronouns used you could illustrate this all with videos, and accompanying text.  It illuminated the really good (I think) instruction on sites such as what I was playing with the other day on http://www.livemocha.com.

Chapter 7 describes problem centered instruction, which involves the presentation of increasingly complex problems.  The chapter also explains how this is different from traditional instructional strategy.  This chapter is a really great resource (a bit more usable than the first two, for me) as this is a hot topic both at the university level and particularly at the K-12 level.  Many teachers and leaders (including me!) talk about their aspirational goals of having their instruction be problem centered.  This chapter helps frame that desire into a more achievable reality.  Problem based, or problem centered learning is not just about letting students come up with things that interest them, but rather it is about supporting their growth through specific skills that will support their learning, and being transparent with the learner (showing) about how those skills will help them better solve problems. 

I enjoyed Dr. Merrill's talk to graduate students in ETEC last month-- he shared about his academic journey and also his quest for more clarity in the areas of instructional design.  It was interesting to hear about what a huge role his wife has played in motivating him to keep working and publishing (and it didn't just seem like he was saying that because she was sitting there.) I was only a little offended when I introduced myself to thank him for his time and stories, and after I shared that I was a high school teacher he asked if the talk had gone over my head.  I bit my tongue and assured him that it didn't.  People are funny.