Lin+in+the+Sand

=Line in the Sand (Merrill)=
 * (submitted by Amy Ojserkis)**

Definition
* Line in the Sand (Reclaiming ISD as a Science): M. David Merrill (1996) boldly states that ID brings together (a) the scientific discipline of instruction (based on specific assumption about the real world) and (b) the technology of instructional design (methods verified by empirical data). Merrill stands firm in the strict belief that too much ID is “built upon the sands of relativism,” by “neophytes” who are making ID into a “pseudo-science.” Comparing the future to Alice in Wonderland, he is steadfast in his belief that “it is possible to know where we are going” if rigorous scientific methods are applied to ID. I only wonder whether he could have predicted Alices’ tumble down the rabbit hole at warp-speed, 10 years later. Perhaps he would have found this “curiouser and curiouser" (Carroll, 1865).

Source: "Reclaiming Instructional Design," M. David Merrill http://cito.byuh.edu/merrill/text/papers/Reclaiming.PDF

Related Topics
Alice in Wonderland - M. David Merrill - "Line in the Sand" theory - Robert M.Gagne