Education 2.0 & 3.0

You may be surprised to learn that the ASSURE methodology has it's roots located the behaviorist-influenced Events of Instruction, devised by Robert M. Gagne

Last time, I looked at the ASSURE instructional design model. This was originally developed by Heinich et al in the 1990’s, and is now popularly and widely-used in both classroom and e-learning environments.

Given the ASSURE Model’s constructivist epistemology and successful implementation in early 21st Century educational contexts, you may be surprised to learn that the ASSURE methodology has it’s roots very firmly located the venerable, behaviorist-influenced (and occasionally criticized) Events of Instruction, devised by Robert M. Gagne*. So, before we continue our excursion, travelling into the world of modern, agile, and otherwise non-linear approaches to designing instruction, let’s take a pause and tune that dial to a Classic Hits station, and remember one of our favourites from the 70’s.

According to Kevin Kruse (2006)

"Robert Gagne is considered to be the foremost researcher and contributor to the systematic approach to instructional design and training. Gagne and his followers …focus […] on the outcomes – or behaviors – that result from training.

I would assert that familiarity with Gagne’s work, and educators’ drive to continually investigate the New have perhaps led to a certain disregard (in some quarters) for the substantial contribution Gagne made to our discipline. For example, to characterize Gagne as a Behaviorist is, in my view, to underestimate the sophistication of his theories, the elegance of his models, and the relevance of his work today. Indeed, Walter Wager (2004) states that Gagne didn’t feel that the behaviorist theories were adequate to explain human learning. Rather, Gagne should be considered one of the early cognitive psychologists.

Outcomes ‐ based education (OBE), namely the emphasis in education systems on learning outcomes and their assessment, has had one of the largest and most significant impacts on postsecondary education (PSE) in recent decades. Not only does OBE present clear statements to describe students’ skills and abilities, it also provides the vehicle by which postsecondary institutions can assess and improve the quality of their programs and demonstrate the value of these programs to both employers and the general public.