The various components of the 4C-ID model are depicted below. Essential to the model is the whole-task-approach. From the beginning learners are working on a complete and meaningful task, albeit in a simple and very much supported form. The basic unit shown here is one task class comprising several tasks (of equivalent complexity, and maximal diversity) to be performed by the learner. These tasks are put in order of decreasing scaffolding, e.g. the learners get less and less support to complete the task. Abstract schema- based information of a complete task class are covered by the Supportive Information (SI). The Supportive Information belongs to one complete task-class and is usually provided before starting at the tasks and available throughout the task class. Whereas SI relates to mental models and cognitive strategies, Procedural Information is basically about rule-based information. It specifies how to perform routine aspects of tasks. Procedural Information can be provided for each task in the form of Just in Time info (think of job-aids). Some recurrent parts of tasks may however require a high degree of automaticity. This can be achieved by introducing some part-task practice. These sessions can be inserted between the tasks.
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| scheme, representing the components belonging to one task-class |
Before I continue introducing the ten steps to produce these 4 components, I would like to place 4C-ID and the ten steps in the context of Instructional Systems Design (ISD). There are several ISD models which divide the process of generating instructional material in several phases. One of the best known ISD models is ADDIE, this acronym is derived from: Analysis, Design, Development, Implementation, Evaluation. The ten steps model which van Merrienboer and Kirschner propose, focuses on the first two phases of ADDIE, namely Analysis and Design.
4C-ID is therefore not an alternative to ADDIE, instead it is fully compatible with ADDIE and other ISDs. 4C-ID provides a blueprint for designing training material which is especially suitable for training complex skills. The typical duration of such training programs ranges from several weeks to several years.
The figure below depicts the relation between the 4 components of 4C-ID and the ten steps needed to produce the 4 components.
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| relation between the four components and the ten steps |
The learning tasks form the backbone of the training curriculum
Step 1: Design Learning Tasks
It is recommended to start with specifying the most simple learning task still representing the complex skill the learner has to be able to perform. Normally you will need several learning tasks to cover all the knowledge, skills and attitudes which are to be transferred, and therefore you create further learning tasks
Step 2: Sequence Task Classes
The various learning tasks are grouped according different levels of difficulty in so called task classes. The task classes are put in order of increasing complexity. The last and therefore most difficult task class marks the exit level of the curriculum.
Step 3: Set Performance Objectives
You can link the desired performance objectives of the trainees to the training process making use of the central role of the tasks. It can be done by defining standards to which each task has to be performed, in order to progress either to the next task class, or to exit the program.
Designing Supportive Information
These steps are about schema-based information. It relates to skills you apply in different ways every time. It is comparable to what in the olden days was called "theory"
Step 4: Design Supportive Information
The trainees need Supportive Information to help them with the nonrecurrent aspects of the learning tasks. It usually provides mental models as well as cognitive strategies for problem solving in the learning domain of the tasks.
Step 5: Analyze Cognitive Strategies
In this step you have to analyze the cognitive strategies that proficient workers use to do their work. Talk to experts, observe what they are doing to find out what their strategic approaches are to problem solving.
Step 6: Analyze Mental Models
Here you analyze how experts in the field see things. Think of causal models, conceptual models and structural models. In fact it is about schemes giving insight into underlying structures.
I have always found the order of the above steps remarkable. When you start to design from scratch you would have to use the results of steps 5 and 6, as input for step 4. Maybe it is easier to see steps 5 and 6 as possible sub-routines of step 4.
Designing Just-in-Time info
JIT it is all about rule-based informations, skills you apply the same way each time, often it takes the form of quick reference guides or job aids. I would like to make the same remark as above for steps 7 to 9. When you start designing from scratch, you will have to use the output from the analyzes of steps 8 and 9 as input for the design in step 7.
Step 7 Design Procedural Information
For recurrent aspects of the tasks, the procedural information exactly describes how to perform the task. It is normally provided at the moment the learners have to perform the tasks, and it is not repeated from one task to the next throughout all the tasks.
Step 8 Analyze Cognitive Rules
Cognitive Rules tell you how to perform recurrent parts of a task in a correct way. Here you have to find out the "if-then" rules underlying the routine behavior of an experienced worker in the field.
Step 9 Analyze Prerequisite Knowledge
This step defines what knowledge the learner should have in order to understand the cognitive rules of step 8. It's easy to overestimate the amount of knowledge a novice in the field has. Interviewing only experts doesn't help here.
Designing Part-task Practice
Step 10: Design Part-task Practice
This also relates to recurrent aspects of the tasks. Some of those recurrent aspects may require high accuracy, high speed, or automaticity to be of any use to the professional practitioner. If this is the case the outcome of step 8 can be used to design practice material. Achieving a great deal of automaticity in a subroutine frees up cognitive resources and thereby help the rest of the learning process, but in fact, it is not always necessary to perform step 10.
References and recommended further reading:
I hope that my very brief summary intrigued you a bit, I can recommend the same sources as in my previous blog on 4C-ID but also some further reading (which I by the way also consulted when wiriting this post): First and foremost, you can download an article on the ten steps written by Kirschner and van Merrienboer. Further I really enjoyed reading parts of a blog by Dave Ferguson. He created a really great series in which he digested and "translated" the "ten steps" book. Finally, if you are not afraid of the somewhat dense and academic prose of the original (as Dave puts it), you can order the "ten steps" book at its own website
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