Cognition and multimedia design for complex learning

Van Merriënboer, J. J. G. (1999). Cognition and Multimedia Design for Complex Learning. Inaugural address, Open University of the Netherlands, The Netherlands

ID for Competency−based Learning: New Directions for Design, Delivery and Diagnosis

Currently, there is a clear trend towards competency−based learning. But Instructional Design models provide yet little guidance for the development of such competency−based instructional systems. It is argued that rich, realistic learning tasks are always at the heart of competency−based learning. From this starting point, nine directions for a new paradigm of Instructional Design are presented: Three directions pertain to the design of learning tasks; three directions pertain to the delivery of those tasks and learning resources in multimedia learning environments, and three directions pertain to the diagnosis of learners' progress.Currently, there is a clear trend towards competency−based learning. But Instructional Design models provide yet little guidance for the development of such competency−based instructional systems. It is argued that rich, realistic learning tasks are always at the heart of competency−based learning. From this starting point, nine directions for a new paradigm of Instructional Design are presented: Three directions pertain to the design of learning tasks; three directions pertain to the delivery of those tasks and learning resources in multimedia learning environments, and three directions pertain to the diagnosis of learners' progress

ID for Competency−based Learning: New Directions for Design, Delivery and Diagnosis

Currently, there is a clear trend towards competency−based learning. But Instructional Design models provide yet little guidance for the development of such competency−based instructional systems. It is argued that rich, realistic learning tasks are always at the heart of competency−based learning. From this starting point, nine directions for a new paradigm of Instructional Design are presented: Three directions pertain to the design of learning tasks; three directions pertain to the delivery of those tasks and learning resources in multimedia learning environments, and three directions pertain to the diagnosis of learners' progress.Currently, there is a clear trend towards competency−based learning. But Instructional Design models provide yet little guidance for the development of such competency−based instructional systems. It is argued that rich, realistic learning tasks are always at the heart of competency−based learning. From this starting point, nine directions for a new paradigm of Instructional Design are presented: Three directions pertain to the design of learning tasks; three directions pertain to the delivery of those tasks and learning resources in multimedia learning environments, and three directions pertain to the diagnosis of learners' progress

Strategies for Programming Instruction in High School:Program Completion vs. Program Generation

In an introductory programming course, the differential effects on learning outcomes were studied for an experimental instructional strategy that emphasized the modification and extension of existing programs (completion strategy) and a traditional strategy that emphasized the design and coding of new programs (generation strategy). Two matched groups of twenty-eight and twenty-nine high school students from grades ten through twelve volunteered for participation in a ten-lesson programming course using a small subset of the structured programming language COMAL-80. After the course, the completion group was superior to the generation group in measures concerning the construction of programs; furthermore, it was characterized by a lower mortality. The data indicated that the completion strategy facilitated the use of templates; however, this does not necessarily seem to imply that the students actually understood the working of those templates, because no differences occurred in the ability to interpret programs. In the conclusion, the completion strategy is considered to be a good alternative to more traditional strategies and recommendations are made for further improvements

Ten Steps to Complex Learning:A New Approach to Instruction and Instructional Design

Kirschner, P. A., & Van Merriënboer, J. J. G. (2008). Ten steps to complex learning: A new approach to instruction and instructional design. In T. L. Good (Ed.), 21st century education: A reference handbook (pp. 244-253). Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage.The subject of this chapter, ten steps to complex learning (van Merriënboer & Kirschner, 2007), was recently published as a practical and modified version of the four-component instructional design (4C-ID) model originally posited by van Merriënboer in 1997. These ten steps are mainly prescriptive and aim to provide a practicable version of the 4C-ID model for teachers, domain experts involved in educational and/or training design, and less experienced instructional designers. The model described will typically be used to develop educational or training programs aimed at the acquisition of complex cognitive skills (in this chapter referred to as complex learning) which can have a duration ranging from several weeks to several years

Critical thinking instruction and contextual interference to increase cognitive flexibility in complex judgment

Helsdingen, A. S., Van Gog, T., & Van Merriënboer, J. J. G. (2009). Critical thinking instruction and contextual interference to increase cognitive flexibility in complex judgment. Paper presented at the Joint meeting of the Scientific Network on "Developing critical and flexible thinking" and the European Network on Epistemological beliefs. June, 3-5, 2009, Marche-en-Famenne, Belgium.Learning predictive relationships between cues and outcomes is a central aspect of many cognitive tasks. Studies on judgment and decision making have provided knowledge of how experienced decision makers approach complex decision problems. It seems to involve at least two types of skill: (1) recognition skills based on subject matter expertise (i.e., acquired cognitive schemas), that is, knowledge of relevant cues, their mutual interrelationships and the relationships with the criterion value that needs to be predicted, and (2) higher order critical thinking skills that serve to increase understanding by means of generalization and abstraction. Targeting training at these skills may improve cognitive flexibility through elaboration of the content (e.g., by generalisation, discrimination, or abstracting away from it). We established that instructional methods for implementing critical thinking and contextual interference, separately and in combination, can increase transfer of judgment skills to new tasks and contexts