408 of 534

It has been a rough and tumble day. Gut is acting up. Stress I bet - slacking off on exercise, overeating, and weird sleeping habits. Today I was exhausted after 4 meetings. Anyway, day began, day got over. Feedback from the client was great, and all this was fine.

Today I was thinking back to the time that I was blown by the Component Display Theory - David Merrill's elegant framework for learning design. Basically, he plotted learning along the two curves of an axis - types of content and levels of performance. Along the types of content, we have facts, concepts, procedures, and principles. Along levels of performance, we have remember, use, and find. If one even understood one of the axis properly, one would have a very strong anchoring in instructional design. One would know the various types of content and, importantly, be familiar with the two categories of memory that one tackles - associative memory and algorithmic memory. Associative memory consists of organizing information according to a hierarchy or some type of similar information architecture. Algorithmic memory on the other hand tackles the creating of new schema and mental models. According to Merrill's CDT, a good training program would cater to both. 

Merrill was also very big on learner control - and now when I revisit the theory I wonder if there even is an alternative. Learner interest itself is central to control whether they have any choice on the matter of presentation or not. I think one reason micro-learning does not work is when we use the incorrect forms of instructional presentation for a skewed memory type.

Having coffee now. Feeling very lost somehow. Work is good - deep and rich. Should just shut out the sound and focus on that.