Merrill’s Principles of Instruction: A Framework for effective eLearning Design

Merrill’s Principles of Instruction are a practical instructional design framework. Have you ever wondered how to design effective and engaging learning experiences for your students or trainees?

Embracing and implementing Merrill’s Five Principles of Instruction in your online course design can significantly enhance its structure, resulting in a highly engaging and exceptionally effective learning experience.

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What are Merrill’s Principles of Instruction?

Merrill’s Principles of Instruction, developed by renowned educational researcher and teacher David Merrill, provide valuable insights into designing instruction that promotes effective learning. These five principles are the cornerstone of impactful teaching:

1. Problem-centered: Learning is most effective when learners actively solve real-world problems relevant to their goals and interests.
2. Activation: Effective learning starts when learners activate their existing knowledge and experiences as a foundation for acquiring new knowledge.
3. Demonstration: Learning is promoted when learners observe multiple examples of how new knowledge can be applied in various contexts and situations.
4. Application: Application of new knowledge in diverse, realistic scenarios, coupled with guidance and feedback, enhances learning.
5. Integration: Encouraging learners to reflect on their learning and integrate new knowledge into their existing cognitive structure and personal world facilitates deeper understanding.

How does it work?

Merrill’s Principles of Instruction are adaptable to various teaching modes, be it face-to-face, online, or blended. These principles guide selecting, sequencing, and presenting instructional content and activities and assessing and evaluating learning outcomes.

These principles are flexible guidelines that can be adjusted to cater to different contexts, learners, and objectives. They are interconnected and support each other. For example, problem-centred learning can activate prior knowledge, demonstrations provide application examples, and application enhances integration.

Let’s illustrate how Merrill’s Principles of Instruction can be applied in a practical scenario, such as a web design course:

• Problem-centered: Start with a realistic problem that learners must solve, like designing a website for a client with specific requirements.
• Activation: Encourage learners to share their experiences with web design to activate prior knowledge.
• Demonstration: Present web design principles, tools, and techniques through lectures, videos, or expert demonstrations.
• Application: Provide opportunities to design different types of websites with feedback.
• Integration: Foster reflection on the learning process.

Pros and Cons

Merrill’s Principles of Instruction have many advantages, but they also have some challenges. They are based on sound research and are learner-centered, engaging, and efficient. However, they require careful planning and active participation from both instructors and learners.

Merrill’s Principles of Instruction have many advantages for both instructors and learners. Some of the benefits are:

• They are based on sound research and evidence from various fields of education and psychology.
• They apply to any domain, level, or mode of instruction.
• They are learner-centred and goal-oriented, focusing on what learners need to know and do in real-world situations.
• They are engaging and motivating, stimulating learners’ curiosity and interest in solving meaningful problems.
• They are effective and efficient, enhancing learners’ retention and transfer of knowledge and skills.

However, Merrill’s Principles of Instruction also have some limitations and challenges. Some of the drawbacks are:

• They require careful planning and preparation from the instructor, who needs to design relevant problems, select appropriate examples, provide adequate feedback, and facilitate reflection.
• They require active participation and collaboration from the learners, who must take responsibility for their learning, share their ideas and opinions, and work with others.
• They may not suit all types of learners or preferences. Some learners may prefer more direct instruction or guidance than others. Some learners may have different prior knowledge or experience than others. Some learners may have different learning styles or strategies than others.

How can You use Merril’s Principles of instruction?

Here are some steps to start with Merrill’s Principles of Instruction:

#1 Analyze your learners’ needs and goals

Analyze your learners’ needs, goals, and characteristics. Who are your learners? What do they want to learn? What do they already know? How do they learn best?

#2 Define your learning objectives and outcomes

Define your learning objectives and outcomes. What do you want your learners to know and do by the end of the instruction? How will you measure their learning?

#3 Design your learning activities based on the principles

Design your learning activities and content based on the principles. How will you present the problem? How will you activate prior knowledge? How will you demonstrate new knowledge? How will you provide practice and feedback? How will you facilitate integration?

#4 Evaluate and revise your instruction based on results

Evaluate and revise your instruction based on the results. How did your learners perform? How did they respond? What worked well? What didn’t work well? How can you improve your instruction?

How can you apply Merrill’s Principles to online learning?

For online courses, adapt Merrill’s Principles as follows:

• Problem-centered: Start with a realistic problem.
• Activation: Use surveys, polls, quizzes, or discussions to activate prior knowledge.
• Demonstration: Use videos, animations, and simulations to show examples.
• Application: Provide interactive exercises, projects, and assessments.
• Integration: Encourage reflection through journals, portfolios, and discussions.

Merrill’s Principles of Instruction are guidelines that help you design effective and engaging online learning experiences. Here is a more detailed description how you can apply them to your online courses:

• Problem-centered: Start your online course with a realistic problem that your learners need to solve, such as a challenge they face in their work or personal life. This will help them see the relevance and value of your course and motivate them to learn more. You can present the problem as a case study, a scenario, a simulation, or a project.
• Activation: Activate your learners’ prior knowledge and experience by asking them to share what they already know about the topic, how they have used it in the past, and what they want to learn more about. This will help them connect the new information to their existing cognitive structure and prepare them for learning. You can activate prior knowledge by using surveys, polls, quizzes, discussions, or reflections.
• Demonstration: Demonstrate the new knowledge and skills your learners need to acquire by showing them multiple examples of how they can be applied in different contexts and situations. This will help them understand the concepts and principles and see how they work. You can use videos, animations, infographics, simulations, or demonstrations to show examples.
• Application: Provide your learners with opportunities to apply the new knowledge and skills in varied and realistic scenarios, with feedback and guidance from you or their peers. This will help them practice and reinforce what they have learned and test their understanding and performance. You can use exercises, assignments, projects, games, or assessments to provide practice and feedback.
• Integration: Encourage your learners to integrate the new knowledge and skills into their existing cognitive structure and personal world by asking them to reflect on their learning process and outcomes, evaluate their performance and progress, identify their challenges and areas for improvement, and plan their future actions and goals. This will help them consolidate and transfer what they have learned and apply it in real-world situations. You can use journals, portfolios, presentations, or discussions to facilitate integration.

Want to learn more about Creating Effective Learning Objectives with AI?

How can you evaluate the effectiveness of courses using Merrill’s Principles?

One way to evaluate the effectiveness of your online course using Merrill’s Principles is to use a rubric that measures how well your course aligns with each principle. A rubric is a tool that helps you assess the quality of your course based on specific criteria and standards. 

You can use a rubric to rate your course on a scale from 1 (poor) to 5 (excellent) for each principle and then calculate the average score for your overall course quality.

Here is an example of a rubric that you can use or adapt for your own course evaluation:

Principle	Criteria	Score
Problem-centered	The course engages learners in solving real-world problems that are relevant to their goals and interests.	1-5
Activation	The course activates learners’ existing knowledge and experience as a foundation for new knowledge.	1-5
Demonstration	The course demonstrates the new knowledge and skills that learners need to acquire through multiple examples in different contexts and situations.	1-5
Application	The course provides learners with opportunities to apply the new knowledge and skills in varied and realistic scenarios, with feedback and guidance.	1-5
Integration	The course encourages learners to integrate the new knowledge and skills into their existing cognitive structure and personal world through reflection and evaluation.	1-5
Average	The average score of the five principles.	1-5

To use this rubric, you can review your course content and activities and assign a score for each principle based on how well they meet the criteria. For example, suppose your course has a clear problem statement, a pre-assessment, multiple demonstrations, interactive practice exercises, and a self-assessment. In that case, you might score 5 for each principle. If your course lacks some of these elements, you might give it a lower score. You can also ask for feedback from your learners or peers to validate your ratings.

After you have scored your course for each principle, you can calculate the average score by adding up the scores and dividing by 5. This will indicate how effective your course is based on Merrill’s Principles of Instruction. You can also use this score to identify the strengths and weaknesses of your course and make improvements accordingly.

Conclusion

Merrill’s Principles of Instruction are a robust framework that can help you design effective and engaging learning experiences for your students or trainees. By following the principles, you can create problem-centred, activation-based, demonstration-rich, application-oriented, and integration-focused instruction. Doing so can enhance your learners’ motivation, retention, and transfer of knowledge and skills.

To learn more about Merrill’s Principles of Instruction, you can check out these resources:

• Merrill’s Principles of Instruction: The Definitive Guide
• Merrill’s Instructional Design Principles
• Merrill’s Principles of Instruction: A Guide to Effective Teaching
• Merrill’s Principles of Instruction (MPI) – Teaching Online: Course Design, Delivery, and Teaching Presence.