The Three-E Triangle – Training Tradeoffs

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2022-06-21 23:00:08

Reza Jalaeian discusses common challenges instructional designers face when creating effective, efficient, and engaging instruction and how the ShadowBox method can aid in attaining all three.

Project managers in industry may be familiar with the Project Triangle concept, which represents the triple constraints of Time, Cost, and Quality. The concept is that a client must choose two constraints to prioritize – at the cost of the third constraint:

Although this concept has been challenged in various ways, the idea remains and is commonly represented by a triangular diagram. 

Inspired by the project triangle, instructional designers advocated for a similar approach to training and instruction by representing three common priorities. The  First Principles of Instruction (FPI) (Merrill, 2008) asserts that good instruction/training should be effective, efficient, and engaging (e3) and be based on tasks that fit together to solve real-world problems.

Together, these priorities provide clear goals for creating optimal training programs. However, in many performance domains, it remains a constant challenge for researchers and practitioners to create e3 training programs that can somehow accelerate the development of performers to higher levels of expertise. 

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