Minimalism

In this post, i would like to talk about Minimalism. The minimalism theory was first introduced by JM Caroll. Minimalism is a task-oriented instructional approach that discourages passive reading or listening and encourages self-directed learning by exposing the learner to job relevant and realistic activities for effective learning experiences. The theory gets its name by "minimizing" the use of lengthy reading material or lectures.

The principles of the Minimalism theory are:


  1. All learning tasks should be meaningful
  2. learners should be provided realistic tasks and projects as soon as possible
  3. learning instruction should permit (and encourage) self-directed reasoning and improvising by increasing the number of active learning activities
  4. training materials and activities should provide for error recognition and recovery
  5. there should be a close linkage between the training and the actual system

The theory (and the instructional model based on the theory) exerts that instruction should be devised in a manner that uses the learners' prior experiences and knowledge and that the learner should be free to trial and error and explore and develop interpretations as part of their learning. Branching scenarios and role plays often provide ideal opportunities for learners to trial and error and then recognize and recover from them and thereby gaining new learning.

Some ways to use minimalism instructional models are:
  • Use relevant and real tasks for the learners
  • let learners select their own tasks and get the learners started on them by eliminating most of the traditional front end orientational material
  • encourage self-directed reasoning and exploring by providing slightly incomplete training material. Caution- This needs to be done carefully so that learner feels encouraged or egged on to do their own exploring rather than getting dejected due to huge chunks of information that are missing and the learner can't make sense of what to do or gets disoriented with their learning.
  • link to the learner's prior experience and knowledge while introducing new concepts. Highlight any differences to aid learner understanding
  • design learning material in a manner so that they can be used in any order the learner desires. This allows the learner to form their own learning goals
  • enable the learner to recognize and recover from errors by providing appropriately times and placed feedback and hints or otherwise providing them with an opportunity or option to correct their mistakes.


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