Making Learning Meaningful
David Merrill conceptualized his instructional model after realizing that the learning process is not typically perfectly linear, but iterative. Traditional education featured an instructor who provided information and learners who received the information, completed a few practice assignments and a culminating assignment, proving receipt of knowledge.
Merrill understood through experience that real learning is more complex and interesting than a single transmission between knowledge source and knowledge destination. In 1999, Merrill challenged a fellow academic who argued there are many learning theories learning experience designers should learn so that they can apply the appropriate theory to each particular situation. Merrill synthesized this academic’s list, finding all engaging and effective learning had five “events” in common.
Establishing a Problem First
When learning designers establish the problem first, it gives trainees a reason to care about the skills presented. Without the problem, skills seem disconnected and irrelevant.
Connecting to What Learners Already Know
Not only does it acknowledge the skills, abilities, and knowledge learners bring to the session, but respecting what learners already know is also efficient. Activating prior knowledge provides scaffolding that allows learning to happen more quickly. When a training builds intentional bridges between what learners know and what they need to know, the learner doesn’t have to build these bridges on their own.
"I do, we do, you do" and Feedback
Demonstrations can also look like specific examples or even stories or anecdotes. Then, a training should provide opportunities for the trainee to apply understanding in different contexts with targeted and timely feedback.
Land the Instructional Plane
Learning is successful if it’s effective. It’s effective if it has some lasting impact on the learner’s professional or personal practice. The only way to evaluate if the training is effective is to initiate the instructional project with clear implementation objectives and evaluation metrics in mind.