A 50+ year search for effective, efficient and engaging instruction

Authors

  • M. David Merrill Emeritus, Utah State University

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.14507/er.v24.2220

Abstract

In this paper I will chronicle my 50+ year career, from my interest in making education more effective, to an epiphany about theories, and some of my published work that, for a time, gained the attention of others in the field of instructional technology.  My extensive experience with computer-assisted learning covers early efforts to teach concepts to attempts to design automated authoring systems. My most recent work attempts to identify underlying principles common to most theories of instruction.

The professional press publishes reports of theory, research, data, prescriptions, and opinions, but seldom do we get the back story. Where did these ideas originate?  What events led to a particular theoretical or research approach?  What were the challenges—personal and interpersonal—that affected a given approach, theory or research study?  In this paper, in addition to identifying a few of the most notable contributions to this literature, I will provide some of the back story that contributed to my career and inspired or significantly influenced my work. I will also highlight some of the lessons learned along the way.

Download the PDF and read more...

References

Merrill, M. D. (1994). Instructional Design Theory. Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Educational Technology Publications.

Merrill, M.D. (2013). First Principles of Instruction: Identifying and Designing Effective, Efficient, and Engaging Instruction. John Wiley & Sons.

Merrill, M. D., & Li, Z. (1989). An instructional design expert system. Journal of Computer-based Instruction, 16(3), 95-101.

Merrill, M. D., Li, Z., & Jones, M. K. (1990b). Second generation instructional design (ID2). Educational Technology, 30(2), 7-14.

Merrill, M. D., Li, Z., & Jones, M. K. (1991). Instructional transaction theory: An introduction. Educational Technology, 31(6), 7-12.

Downloads

Published

2017-03-15

How to Cite

Merrill, M. D. (2017). A 50+ year search for effective, efficient and engaging instruction. Education Review, 24. https://doi.org/10.14507/er.v24.2220

Issue

Vol. 24 (2017)

Section

Acquired Wisdom

License

Education Review/Reseñas Educativas/Resenhas Educativas is supported by the Scholarly Communications Group at the Mary Lou Fulton Teachers College, Arizona State University. Copyright is retained by the first or sole author, who grants right of first publication to the Education Review. Readers are free to copy, display, distribute, and adapt this article, as long as the work is attributed to the author(s) and Education Review, the changes are identified, and the same license applies to the derivative work. More details of this Creative Commons license are available at https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/

All Education Review/Reseñas Educativas/Resenhas Educativas content from 1998-2020 and was published under an earlier Creative Commons license: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/3.0  

Education Review is a signatory to the Budapest Open Access Initiative.