In 2009, I started reading Ten Steps to Complex Learning, a 2007 book by van Merriënboer and Kirschner. It’s a dense, academic book that describes in extensive detail an approach to instructional design for complex tasks and job.

I began taking notes as I read, and those notes became a series of 21 blog posts.

The purpose of this page is to present the titles of those posts with links to them individually. (And here’s a link that produces all those posts together.)

Complex Learning, Step by Step (my own intro; March 25, 2009)

Complex Learning (Coffee on the Side) (discusses the book’s overview; March 27, 2009)

Ten Little Steps, and How One Grew (Step 1: design learning tasks; March 30, 2009)

Problem Solving, Scaffolding, and Varied Practice (Step 1, continued; April 3, 2009)

Step 2: Sequencing Tasks, or, What Next? (Step 2: sequence task classes; April 7, 2009)

Clusters, Chains, and Part-Task Sequencing (Step 2, continued; April 8, 2009)

Step 3: Performance Objectives (the How of the What) (Step 3: set performance objectives; April 14, 2009)

Criteria for Objectives–also, Values and Attitudes (Step 3, continued; April 16, 2009)

Step 4: Supportive Information (by Design) (Step 4: design supportive information; April 28, 2009)

Learning to Learn (an Elaboration) (Step 4, continued; May 5, 2009)

Step 5: Cognitive Strategies (When You Don’t Know What to Do) (Step 5: analyze cognitive strategies; May 15, 2009)

Step 6: (Thinking about) Mental Models (Step 6: analyze mental models; May 29, 2009)

Step 7: Procedural Information, or, How to Handle Routine (Step 7: design procedural information; June 3, 2009)

Procedural in Practice (Step 7, continued; June 10, 2009)

Step 8: Cognitive Rules, or, When There IS a Right Way (Step 8, analyze cognitive rules; June 19, 2009)

Step 9: Prerequisites, or, Ya Gotta Start Somewhere (Step 9: analyze prerequisite knowledge; June 23, 2009)

Step 10: Part-Task Practice (Getting Better at Getting Faster) (Step 10, design part-task practice)

You? Auto? Practice (Step 10, continued; July 2, 2009)

Media’s Role in Complex Learning (chapter 14 of the book; July 9, 2009)

Self-Directed Learning: Stepping Out on Your Own (chapter 15; July 21, 2009)

Where Do the Ten Steps Lead? (from the book’s closing remarks; July 21, 2009)