Gagne's Nine Events of Instruction

To sum things up for the simplicity of understanding, Gagne's nine events of instruction provide the framework for the development of a particular lesson. From the introduction of expectations to the end assessments that measure the learning of the lesson provided, each step is broken down.

The obvious beauty of using this particular method of designing instruction is that it helps the educator ensure that every element of instruction has been touched on through the lesson. The question then becomes one of the weakness of the design in that there is no instruction as to how to develop each individual portion of the lesson. For instance, are the assessments based on student experience and understanding or are they cookie cutter assessments that assume the same level of experience and understanding.

For example, when offering instruction as to how one might write articles online, can you assume that the learners have in-depth experience using Word? If you create lessons that make this assumption, what happens when you instruct an older generation who knows nothing of embedding links or changing the indents or line breaks? Online writing demands a complete lack of indents, but those who do not have experience with writing online or using Word will have to adapt to this, while the younger generation that is very familiar and comfortable with Word may have very little experience ever using indents to begin with. Therefore, experience has to be accounted for.

By all means, the nine events of instruction are the perfect tool for making sure that you use every step of the instructional process, but you still need to incorporate other elements into the lesson, including Wiggin's theory of backwards design which allows you to set the goal before you create the lesson and the elements of teaching for understanding which allows you to use the learners' experience to further develop a concept.
Comparing Learning Theories

Foust's Design by Motivation

When I create my lesson plan, it was with specific types of learners in mind. I also used a variety of theories in instructional design that I felt must be combined in order to create a well-developed and effective lesson plan. What I found was that in order to have an effective lesson plan, I had to tie it in with the motivation of the student. That means they had to have a way to see how the result of their work would benefit them. To learn this, they had to be placed in the position of the people who would be . on the receiving end of their work. Because my students are potential online writers, I had to put them in the place of the reader. I combined Wiggin's Theory of Backwards Design with Gagne's nine events of instruction and the elements of teaching for understanding to come up with the method as described below.

• Create learning goal
• Ask why students need this knowledge. Is it possible to put them on the receiving end of this knowledge being used effectively? If so, incorporate this into the lesson plan.
• Decide prior knowledge needed to understand new material.
• Create pre-assessment to determine prior knowledge to see if reteaching or refreshing of needed prior knowledge is in order.
• Create introduction in order to inform students of the learning goal as well as their motivation for learning the information. Motivation is the key factor here.
• Review prior information needed as indicated by pre-assessment.
• Present new information, relating it to old information and discussing changes and how they could impact the motivational goal.
• Guided practice with new information. Discuss possible outcomes for lack of using new information as well as using new information correctly.
• Individual practice using new information and personal experience (when possible as it happened to be in this lesson).
• Share with peers and/or discuss different mistakes or correct use of new information. This allows for the greatest sharing of experience and a real glimpse of how the use of information is perceived by those who might benefit from it.
• Complete post assessment using new information (and own experience when possible).
• Measure level of understanding based on post assessment.
• Put plan into action, adjusting for personal experience and motivational factors as needed.

This process suited my learned best since they have the clear motivation of success in the online writing industry and were diverse enough to have enough experience to understand the process while each bringing their own set of difficulties to the table. Not only did this help provide a setting for a well-developed discussion, but also helped the learners find a comfort level with their own experiences as they observed that each of them had some level of experience to overcome with the lesson. Since the content of the lesson was writing online and each of the learners using the online experience for their own means using their own methods, each student was able to see how the strategies could impact the end result.