Model-centered instruction, the design and the designer

Abstract

A model of instruction described by Wenger (1987) identifies three elements that are active during instruction: the mental model the instructor wishes to share with the learner, the external experience used to communicate the mental model, and the evolving mental model of the learner. Gibbons (2003a), writing in response to Seel (2003), noted this three-part description as a bridge concept relating learning and instruction. This view has important practical implications for designers of instruction. For example, Gibbons and Rogers (in press) propose that there exists a natural layered architecture within instructional designs that corresponds with instructional functions. Among these layers is the content layer, which determines the structural form in which learnable subject-matter is stored and supplied to the learner. This may include the expression of the content in terms of tasks, semantic networks, rules, or other structures. The designer's com- mitment at the content layer strongly constrains all other parts of the design, making some future decisions imperative, some irrelevant, and defining the range of possibilities for still others. One possible content layer commitment is to select the model structure as the basic unit of analysis. Having made the model the primary content structure commitment influences designer choices within other layers. This chapter describes the implications for designers of a model content commit ment. It describes the constraints automatically placed on other layers of the design. © 2008 Springer-Verlag US.