The Four-Component Instructional Design Model: Multimedia Principles in Environments for Complex Learning

The Four-Component Instructional Design model claims that four components are necessary to realize complex learning: (1) learning tasks, (2) supportive information, (3) procedural information, and (4) part-task practice. This chapter discusses the use of the model to design multimedia learning environments and relates 14 multimedia principles to each of the four components. Students may work on learning tasks in simulated task environments, where relevant multimedia principles primarily facilitate a process of inductive learning; they may study supportive information in hypermedia systems, where principles facilitate a process of elaboration and mindful abstraction; they may consult procedural information in Electronic Performance Support Systems (EPSS), where principles facilitate a process of knowledge compilation; and, finally, they may be involved in part-task practice with drill & practice Computer Based Training (CBT) programs, where principles facilitate a process of psychological strengthening. Research implications and limitations of the presented framework are discussed. i Correspondence concerning this article should be addressed to Jeroen J. G. van Merriënboer, Educational Technology Expertise Center, Open University of the Netherlands, P.O. Box 2960, 6401 DL Heerlen, The Netherlands. Email: jeroen.vanmerrienboer@ou.nl Introduction Theories about learning with multimedia can be positioned at different levels. At a basic level, psychological theories describe memory systems and cognitive processes that explain how people process different types of information and how they learn with different senses. Examples of such theories are Paivio’s dual coding theory (1986; Clark & Paivio, 1991) and Baddeley’s working memory model with a central executive and two slave systems, the visuospatial sketchpad and the phonological loop (1992; 1997). At a higher level, theories for instructional message design identify multimedia principles and provide guidelines for devising multimedia messages consisting of, for instance, written text and pictures, spoken text and animations, or explanatory video with a mix of moving images with spoken and written text. Examples of such theories are Mayer’s generative theory of multimedia learning (2001) and Sweller’s cognitive load theory (2004; Sweller, van Merriënboer, & Paas, 1998). At an even higher level, theories and models for course and curriculum design prescribe how to develop educational programs, which contain a mix of educational media including texts, images, speech, manipulative materials, and networked systems. Well-designed educational programs take both human cognitive architecture and multimedia principles into account to ensure that learners will work in an environment that is goal-effective, efficient and appealing. The main goal of this chapter is to present a theory that is positioned at the third level, namely, the fourcomponent instructional design model (for short, 4C/ID-model; van Merriënboer, Jelsma, & Paas, 1992; van Merriënboer, 1997; van Merriënboer, Clark, & de Croock, 2002; van Merriënboer, Kirschner, & Kester, 2003), and to discuss how this theory is used to design multimedia learning environments for complex learning. Such complex learning explicitly aims at the integration of knowledge, skills and attitudes; the ability to coordinate qualitatively different constituent skills; and the transfer of what is learned to daily life or work settings. The 4C/ID-model views authentic learning 4C/ID and Multimedia 2 3. Procedural information. Information that is prerequisite to the learning and performance of routine aspects of learning tasks. This information provides an algorithmic specification of how to perform those routine aspects. It is best organized in small information units and presented to learners precisely when they need it during their work on the learning tasks. tasks that are based on real-life tasks as the driving force for learning and thus the first component in a well-designed environment for complex learning – a view that is shared with several other recent instructional theories (for an overview, see Merrill, 2002). The three remaining components are supportive information, procedural information, and part-task practice. 4. Part-task practice. Additional exercises for routine aspects of learning tasks for which a very high level of automaticity is required after the instruction. Part-task practice is only necessary if the learning tasks do not provide enough repetition for a particular routine aspect to reach the required high level of automaticity. While the 4C/ID-model is not specifically developed for the design of multimedia environments for learning, it has important implications for the selection of—a mix of—suitable educational media as well as the presentation of information and arrangement of practice and feedback through these media. This chapter will first present a general description of how people learn complex skills in an environment that is built from the four blueprint components. Second, the relationship between the four components and the assumed cognitive architecture is explained, focusing on the role of a limited working memory and a virtually unlimited long term memory for schema construction and schema automation – processes that lay the foundation for meaningful learning. Third, educational media and 14 multimedia principles are related to each of the four components. The chapter ends with a discussion that reviews the contributions of the 4C/IDmodel to cognitive theory and instructional design, indicates the limitations of the model, and sketches directions for future research. Learning tasks • Task description (e.g., worked-out example, completion task, conventional task) • Guidance Part-task practice • Practice items Procedural information • How-to instructions (exemplified by demonstrations) • Prerequisite information (exemplified by instances) • Corrective feedback Supportive information • Domain models (illustrated by case studies) • Systematic approaches to problem solving (illustrated by modeling examples) • Cognitive feedback Figure 1. A schematic overview of the four components in the 4C/ID-model and their main elements. How Do People Learn Complex Skills? Figure 1 provides a schematic overview of the four components. The learning tasks are represented as circles; a sequence of tasks serves as the backbone of the course or curriculum. Equivalent learning tasks belong to the same task class (in Figure 1, the dotted rectangles around a set of learning tasks). Learning tasks within the same task class are equivalent to each other in the sense that they can be performed on the basis of the same body of knowledge – but they are different on the dimensions that also vary in the real world such as the context in which the task is performed, the way the task is presented, the saliency of defining characteristics, and so forth. Each new task class is more difficult than the previous task classes. Students receive much support and guidance for their work on the first learning task in a class (in Figure 1, this is indicated by the filling of the circles), but support smoothly decreases in a process of scaffolding as learners acquire more expertise. One type of—productoriented—support is embraced in the task descripThe basic message of the 4C/ID-model is that welldesigned environments for complex learning can always be described in terms of four interrelated blueprint components: 1. Learning tasks. Meaningful whole-task experiences that are based on real-life tasks. Ideally, the learning tasks ask the learners to integrate and coordinate many if not all aspects of real-life task performance, including problem-solving and reasoning aspects that are different across tasks and routine aspects that are consistent across tasks. 2. Supportive information. Information that is supportive to the learning and performance of problem solving and reasoning aspects of learning tasks. It describes how the task domain is organized and how problems in this domain can best be approached. It builds a bridge between what learners already know and what may be helpful to know in order to fruitfully work on the learning tasks. 4C/ID and Multimedia 3 tion: For instance, worked examples provide maximum support because they present both a problem and an acceptable solution that must only be studied or evaluated by the learners; completion tasks provide medium support because they present a problem and a partial solution that must be completed by the learners, and conventional tasks provide no support at all because they present a problem that must be solved independently by the learners. Another type of—process-oriented—support has the form of guidance: This is information in the form of process worksheets or guidelines that lead the learner through the problem-solving process. In general, students work without any support on the final learning tasks in a task class; these conventional tasks without guidance may also be used as test tasks for the assessment of students' performance. The supportive information is linked to task classes, because this information is relevant to all learning tasks within the same class (see the L-shaped, light gray shapes in Figure 1). For each subsequent task class, the supportive information is an addition to or an embellishment of the previously presented information, allowing learners to do things that they could not do before. It is the information that teachers typically call ‘the theory’ and consists out of three parts. First, it describes domain models, answering questions like “what is this?” (conceptual models), “how is this organized?” (structural models), and “how does this work” (causal models). These models are typically illustrated with case studies. Second, supportive information describes Systematic Approaches to Problem solving (SAPs) that specify the successive phases in a problem solv