Reports
The Four-Component Instructional Design Model: An Overview of its Main Design Principles (2019)
Jeroen J.G. van Merriënboer
This report gives a concise description of the main characteristics of the 4C/ID model. It describes the four components from which competence based education is built and briefly explains how an integrated curriculum based on the four components helps to reach transfer of learning. It then describes the systematic 4C/ID design process, with a focus on the main instructional design principles that are prescribed by the model, before ending with a short discussion positioning the 4C/ID model in the field of educational sciences.
Four-Component instructional design (4C/ID) model: a meta-analysis on use and effect
Joana Martinho Costa, Guilhermina Lobato Miranda, Mário Melo
The four-component instructional design model (4C/ID) has been increasingly used in face-to-face and online learning environments. We present a meta-analysis on the use and effect on performance of educational programs developed with the 4C/ID model after more than 20 years of its application and research in different academic areas and technical training. We performed the meta-analysis through the combination of effect sizes from studies using Cohen’s d. The combination of the studies suggests that the use of educational programs developed with 4C/ID has a high impact on performance (d=0.79 standard deviations), regardless of the academic area, the design of the study and the outcome (knowledge and complex skills). The grade under study was a significant moderator on the effect, showing that the higher-education level is more suitable for application of the 4C/ID model. Our results suggest that the use of the 4C/ID model should be prioritized as an instructional model in college and university learning environments.