Principles of instruction

Something with extensive research on it and based on more then 200 years experimental findings can be summarized on these principles (Merrill, 2007):

  • Task centered approach;
  • Activation principle (prior knowledge);
  • Demonstration Principle;
  • Application Principle;
  • Integration Principle;

This can be more concrete: prepare pupils to be ready; present the new lesson; associate it with prior knowledge; use examples; test pupils to ensure they learn it;

4C/ID is one of instructional blueprints that facilitate the integration of those principles.

For multimedia learning, you can have this concrete sets of guidance lighthouses:

  • Students learn better from words + pictures presented simultaneously than just words or picture and words in successively different pages;
  • Extraneous materials should be excluded;
  • Animation + narration is better then narration + on-screen text;
  • Design effects are stronger for low-knowledge  learners then for high-knowledge learners, and for high-spatial learners;

But if you want to start with small but efficient principles, follow the minimalist van Meij, 1998 proposal:

  • Provide an immediate opportunity to act;
  • Select real tasks for the learning activities;
  • Verify if the tasks are consistent with the overall task;
  • Prevent mistakes;
  • Provide error information;
  • Be brief;
  • Provide a closure for chapters;
  • Respect the user;
  • On the spot error info
  • Encourage exploration and innovation.

sources: Prescriptive Principles for Instructional Design, MERRIL; BARCLAY; SCHAAK; p.173, Handbook of Research on Educational Communications and Technlogy, third edition, 2011

 

Merril 2007:

https://mdavidmerrill.files.wordpress.com/2019/04/task_centered_strategy_published.pdf

https://mdavidmerrill.files.wordpress.com/2019/04/firstprinciplessynthesis.pdf