Good Instructions Structure

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These principles have been shown many times to enhance learning and engagement, but curriculum planners are excited about new technologies and are effectively implementing these strategies. Often not. This post describes these strategies and shows you how to use them effectively in your design. All activities in the classroom can be divided into two basic categories. One is what the instructor or instructor does, and the other is what the learner does. There are four basic strategies for creating good education in these categories. It's telling, showing, doing, and applying.

Four Basic Instructions for Good Education

Tell

The first element of good education is the Tell Strategy. This is the strategy used to provide the learner with key information related to their learning. Facts, concepts, rules, and procedures can all be conveyed using the Tell strategy.

For example, if you were designing instruction to teach customer service representatives how to offer a new product to their existing customers, you would tell them the specific steps they would go through to offer the product and even show a visual outline of the steps.

Show

The second component of good instruction is the Show strategy. This is the strategy used to demonstrate examples of what you want to teach. The customer service example shows various examples of agents offering products to learners. They can also show "unusual" things to do when listing products. These examples will help learners understand how the information you give them will be applied.

Execution

After giving various examples, the learner should be able to execute what you have taught. In the customer service example, the learner calls the actual customer multiple times to deliver the product. Trainers and managers listen to these calls and provide learners with feedback and guidance. It is important for learners to receive a lot of feedback when applying what they have learned so that they can improve their skills and abilities. As in this example, the application of new knowledge needs to emulate the real environment as much as possible in order to make the learning experience genuine and engaging.

Apply

The last component is Apply. In this step, the learner plans how to apply his knowledge to his environment. In the customer service example, learners plan their own personalized scripts for specific situations and set goals for delivering and selling products to their customers.

These basic strategies are in line with some general educational theories. For example, they support Merrill's first guiding principles, a well-known educational theory based on extensive research. Gagne's nine-class events also fit well into these strategies.

The next time you design your guide, ask yourself how well you are using these strategies. We find that applying them in good faith enhances the effectiveness of student learning and education.