Robert Gagnés Instructional Design Approach :: Psychology Psychological Papers

Robert Gagns Instructional Design ApproachIntroduction When Robert Gagn initially produce his influential book, The Conditions of Learning (Gagn, 1965), his instructional design theories were heavily rooted in the behaviorist psychology paradigm. However, in later editions of The Conditions of Learning (Gagn, 1970, 1977, 1985), Gagns theories evolved to incorporate cognitivist psychology theories, specifically the information-processing model of cognition. According to Gagn, This model posits a number of internal processes that are subject to the turn of a variety of external events. The arrangement of external events to aerate and support the internal processes of attainment constitutes what is called instruction (Gagn, 1974). In the preface to the second edition of The Conditions of Learning, Gagn commented further on this shift to the information-processing model of cognition and its influence on his approach to designing instruction. He stated, I consider this form of e ncyclopedism theory to represent a major advance in the scientific study of human learning (Gagn, 1977). In 1989, Michael J. Striebel noted, Instructional design theories such as Gagns 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 Gagns approach to instructional design, which include nine events of instruction, conditions of learning and learning outcomes. How Gagns theory correlates to the Walter Dick and Lou Careys systems approach to instructional design will also be considered (Dick and Carey, 1996).A Seminal MODEL Gagns approach to instructional design is considered a seminal model that has influenced many other design approaches and particularly the Dick & Carey systems approach. Gagn p roposed that events of learning and categories of learning outcomes together provide a good example for an account of learning conditions. The diagram below, from the third edition of The Conditions of Learning (Gagn, 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, Gagn 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 learningsome internal and some external to the learnerthat affect the process of learning make up the events of learning.