Effects of Instructional Events in Computer-Based Instruction

Introduction Forty years ago, Robert Gagne published the first edition of his book The Conditions of Learning (1965) in which he proposed nine events of instruction that provide a sequence for organizing a lesson. These events remain the foundation of current instructional design practice (Reiser, 2002; Richey, 2000). They represent desirable conditions in an instructional program and increase the probability of successful learner achievement in the program (Gagne, 1965, 1985, 1988; Gagne, Briggs & Wager, 1992). Other authors cite similar elements of instruction that promote student learning from an instructional program (Dick & Carey, 1996; Sullivan & Higgins, 1983). Gagne (1985) defined instruction as “a set of deliberately planned external events designed to support the process of learning.” He noted that a designer or instructor controls these external events, and that learners control their own internal learning processes. His external events of instruction were conditions for facilitating effective learning processes in students. The individual events that Gagne incorporated into his model have been the subject of a substantial body of research. However, many of these events may produce a much different effect when they are studied individually than when they are combined into a more complete set that incorporates most or all of Gagne’s nine events. As Hannafin (1987) noted, some design strategies may have positive effects when used in isolation that are diminished or negated when these strategies are used in combination with more powerful techniques. A research design that incorporates most of Gagne’s events of instruction into a quite complete version of an instructional program, then systematically deletes selected events from other versions, has the potential to identify the events that are most powerful in promoting student learning. That type of design was used in the present research. The events from Gagne’s model that were directly incorporated into the study were objectives, information, examples, practice with feedback and review. The research literature on each of these events is briefly reviewed below.