Gagné’s 9 Events of Instruction is a nine-step instructional design framework that helps trainers structure learning from gaining attention through practice, feedback, assessment, and transfer to the workplace. Trainers can use it to make workshops, classroom sessions, and online learning more engaging and effective.
How the framework works
Gagné’s model moves learners through a practical learning journey. First, create interest and explain the purpose of the session. Next, connect new material to existing knowledge, introduce the content, and provide support. Then give learners opportunities to practice, receive feedback, and demonstrate what they have learned. Finally, help them plan how they will retain and apply the skill after the session.
About Gagné
Robert Gagné was an American educational psychologist who laid the foundation for modern instructional theory and in particular for what is known as ‘Gagné’s 9 Events of Instruction’, which he introduced in his book “The Conditions of Learning”.
Gagné’s nine events of instruction are still very popular today for teaching both in academic and corporate training environments because they manage to close the gap between cognitive psychology and practical instructional design (i.e., between psychological theories and practical teaching processes).
Gagné’s nine events of instruction connect the ways in which people process and internalize new information with a clear 9-step process that teaching professionals can apply to how they deliver teaching.
For more ways to design and deliver effective workplace learning, explore our guide to corporate training strategies.
Gagné’s framework helps trainers plan the key moments that support learning: capturing attention, setting expectations, connecting to prior knowledge, guiding practice, giving feedback, assessing progress, and encouraging workplace application.
What Are the 9 Events of Instruction?
Let’s see now what the steps of Gagné’s nine Events of Instruction are and which phase of the learning process they address.
1. Gain Attention
This is the start of the process when you need to grab the learner’s attention. In this stage, you try to get the learner interested, and you can do so in many ways, including:
- Telling an interesting story with emotional content or something that your students can identify with
- Using multimedia such as images or videos
- Asking thought-provoking questions
- Using icebreakers or activities that can actively engage the learners from the start
- Using humor
- Asking participants to do a quiz or fill out a survey
- Introducing novelty or surprise
- Outlining the benefits of what they are about to learn, i.e., what’s in it for them
2. Inform Learners of the Objectives
This step is about creating expectations and giving learners an overview of what they will learn. Creating clear learning objectives is also important to give the training session a structure and, later, for assessment purposes, as you will assess the learning achieved against these objectives.
It is good practice to include the learning objectives in one of the first slides before you start delving into the content.
If you are teaching university or college students, at this stage, you will also explain how the learning objectives are reflected in the learning assessment.
3. Stimulating Recall of Prior Learning
This step anchors what the students are going to learn with what they already know. This helps learners make sense of new information as they relate it to concepts they are already familiar with.
You can help learners recall previous knowledge by:
- Asking open questions that require them to draw on their previous knowledge. This can be about topics they learned in previous lessons (if you are teaching a course that comprises many lessons), facts about their daily life, or events they witness around them.
- Presenting them with a scenario or a case study
- Asking participants to summarize something they learned previously
4. Present the Content
This is the stage where you present the actual content of the course, workshop, session, or lecture. There are a few things you need to be mindful of when presenting content, such as making sure you:
- Use a variety of media and present the same content in different ways to support learner engagement and understanding, such as through images, videos, spoken explanations, and written information.
- Use activities, such as games and discussions, to keep the learners actively interested.
- Structure the content in a clear and logical manner and link it to the learning objectives.
- Give examples for the learners to have a clearer understanding, particularly for the most difficult concepts.
5. Providing Learning Guidance
This step is about finding ways, strategies, and tools to help the students learn. For example, you can:
- Use examples, metaphors, and analogies
- Employ storytelling
- Use multimedia
- Offer support as needed and facilitate the training
- Ask your learners questions
- Encourage learners to ask questions to you and the rest of the class
- Use activities, including discussions, quizzes, role-play, and analyzing scenarios
6. Eliciting Performance (Practice)
At this point, you have delivered the content, and now you ask participants to practice so they can reinforce their learning. So, you can:
- Facilitate discussions about what has been covered
- Do role-plays about the topic you covered
- Do quizzes and low-level assignments
- Ask students to prepare a short presentation
- Do practical exercises
- Ask students to provide examples of how they would apply what they learned in the real world
7. Provide Feedback
Feedback is important for students to learn. As they practice (as in step 6), they will get some things right, but they will also make mistakes. It is important that you give them specific feedback and that this feedback is constructive.
Some ways of providing feedback include:
- Giving suggestions to learners on how they can do things differently
- Providing positive feedback, which works as a reinforcement and also as a way for learners to understand what they did well
- Using peer evaluation and self-evaluation to give students more ownership of their learning process
8. Assess Performance
This is the stage when you test your learners’ knowledge (even though, in reality, you will assess their knowledge throughout the learning process).
Assessment, however, can take many forms. If you are teaching in school, college, university, or a course that requires official, graded, and standardized recognition, typically, you will have a formal test at the end of the course.
If you are teaching in a corporate environment, particularly if you are teaching soft skills, you might not need a test at the end of the course, but you will focus on assessing participants’ understanding throughout the course.
Ways of assessing knowledge can include:
- Written assignments
- Presentations
- Quizzes and questions
- Practical exercises
- Asking questions throughout the course
9. Enhancing Retention and Transfer
This is the step in which you focus on finding ways for the learners to retain what you taught them.
You encourage learners to apply what you taught them in real life and in new situations, thus promoting the transferability of knowledge.
A way to help students transfer information is by giving them handouts and guidance they can keep and refer to. You can also give them a template for an action plan and encourage them to build a goals-based plan for how they will use the skills they acquired after the training session or the course.
How Can Trainers Use Gagné’s 9 Events of Instruction?
I have provided here a sample lesson plan using Gagné’s nine events of instruction for you to have a better understanding of how to use it.
Let’s use an example of teaching communication skills in the workplace.
Step 1 – Gaining Attention
You can start the session by using a striking statistic on the impact of communication skills on a company’s productivity, followed by a video on the topic.
Step 2 – Informing Learners of the Objectives
Clearly state the objectives, on a slide as bullet points if you are using PowerPoint slides, for example, by stating:
“By the end of this session, you will be able to:
- Identify key communication barriers
- Practice active listening techniques
- Apply effective communication strategies in team meetings
Step 3 – Stimulating Recall of Prior Learning
You can ask your participants to reflect on a recent meeting or interaction when miscommunication happened, or when communication was clear, analyze what they think affected the quality of the communication, and share their ideas with the rest of the group.
Step 4 – Presenting the Content
You can present the content in a structured way, using a variety of media and examples.
For example, you can cover the importance of clarity in communication, common barriers (like assumptions and jargon), and techniques for improving communication (such as active listening and asking clarifying questions).
Step 5 – Providing Learning Guidance
You can ask the participants to work in groups to analyze a case study about miscommunication in the workplace. Then, as they work together, facilitate the exercise by walking around the room (or entering virtual rooms) to offer help and assistance.
At the end of the exercise, you can give tips and advice.
Step 6 – Eliciting Performance (Practice)
For this phase, you can use a role-play scenario in which participants imagine they are in a work situation and are trying to communicate.
For example, one scenario could involve a situation in which the participants are required to resolve a misunderstanding between colleagues. Each group practices the communication techniques they’ve learned, applying them in these role-playing exercises.
Step 7 – Providing Feedback
At the end of the role-play exercise, the trainer and other participants can provide feedback, both positive and constructive, on how the groups put the principles of good communication into practice.
Step 8 – Assessing Performance
At the end of the session, you can ask participants to do a short quiz, you can ask them questions directly on some of the content covered, or ask them to do a self-reflection activity.
Step 9 – Enhancing Retention and Transfer
For this, you can ask your participants to complete a follow-up activity to do after the training. For instance, you can ask them to implement one of the communication strategies in their next team meeting.
Alternatively, you can ask them to keep a diary of how they use good communication strategies or ask them to write down an action plan.
What Should Trainers Keep in Mind When Using Gagné’s 9 Events?
Gagné’s nine events of instruction are a good framework to follow to give you clarity as a trainer or teacher for how to structure your sessions. Also, it is a framework that you can apply in every teaching setting and for every topic or subject.
One consideration I would make, though, is that even if Gagné’s nine events of instruction are presented as a linear process, in reality, you will move back and forth between steps, and some steps can overlap.
For example, while you present the content, you need to gain the audience’s attention all the time. The learners’ attention goes up and down during the session, so you will need to go back to step 1 now and again.
Likewise, as you teach a session, you might want to assess the learners’ understanding and provide feedback throughout the session.
So, while Gagné’s 9 events of instruction provide a great framework for instructional design, you will need to be flexible in how you apply this process.
If you are designing a workplace communication workshop, our editable communication skills training materials can help you turn these instructional steps into a ready-to-deliver session with trainer notes, activities, slides, and participant materials.
References
Gagné, R. M. (1962). The acquisition of knowledge. Psychological review, 69(4), 355.
Gagné, R. M. (1974). Instruction and the conditions of learning. Psychology of school learning: Views of the learner, 1, 153-175.
Gagné, R. M., Wager, W. W., Golas, K. C., Keller, J. M., & Russell, J. D. (2005). Principles of instructional design.
Gagné, R. M., & White, R. T. (1978). Memory structures and learning outcomes. Review of educational research, 48(2), 187-222.
Richey, R. C. (2000). The Legacy of Robert M. Gagne. ERIC Clearinghouse on Information & Technology, Syracuse University, 621 Skytop Rd., Suite 160, Syracuse, NY 13244-5290.
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