SUCCESSFUL INSTRUCTIONAL DESIGN MANIPULATES the focus and context of audience attention in seven key ways. The focus is the central theme or item attracting the learner's attention. The context is the background situating the focus. The designer must guide audience attention shifts, not just avoid distracting or dividing attention. The seven shifts follow, with reference to Merrill's (1997) Component Display Theory.

The current focus of instruction is sequentially related to the previous one, like noticing types of fruit at a grocery stand - lemons, then peaches, then apples, then grapes, etc. Apply-procedure instruction uses serial-shifting.

In Singling-out instruction selects an item for the current focus, segregating and consolidating it in relation to its context, like noticing and selecting a certain ripe peach from others. Apply-concept instruction uses singling-out.

In Synthesis instruction expands the current focus to include what was previously its context, like now noticing all the peaches, the previously singled-out one and the surrounding peaches, as one group. Overviews of procedures, and apply-concept or apply-principle, can use synthesis.

In Enlargement instruction expands the current context so that the focus of attention is more significant and meaningful, like noticing that the ripe peach is tied to the economic well-being of Georgia. Apply-principle or apply-process instruction can use enlargement.

In Contraction instruction shrinks the current context so that the focus of attention is less important, like noticing that the ripe peach is "just another food." Contraction is used in remember-level instruction to diminish distraction. 

In Elucidation the current context for the focus remains the same, but instruction makes this context more clear, like now noticing that the context for the singled-out ripe peach includes other ripe peaches. Elucidation can be used in apply-process and apply-principle instruction. 

In Restructuration instruction presents the current focus as ambiguous, like shifting from noticing that the peach is ripe to that it is also dead (since it is detached from the tree). The same item is viewed from a novel perspective. Restructuration is used in apply-principle and creative thinking instruction. 

From the above account it may appear that the learner is passive. On the contrary, the designer cannot make the learner learn. Successful instructional design creates the opportunity for the learner to achieve the desired attention shift by manipulating the focus and context.

For more on shifts of attention and the importance of context in perception see: 

        Arvidson, P. S. (1996). Toward a phenomenology of attention. Human Studies, 19, 71-84. 

        Arvidson, P. S. (1998). Bringing context into focus.. Journal of Phenomenological Psychology, 29 (1), 50-91. 

        Arvidson, P. S. (2000). Transformations in consciousness: Continuity, the self, and marginal consciousness. Journal of Consciousness Studies, 7 (3), 3-26. 

        Sticht, T. G. (1994). Functional context education: Professional development for workforce education & lifelong learning specialists (WELLS). El Cajon, CA: Applied Behavioral & Cognitive Sciences, Inc.

 For more on the use of singling-out and synthesis (called "zooming" below) see: 

           Clark, R. C. (1999). Developing technical training (2nd edition). Washington, D.C.: International Society for Performance Improvement. 

           Reigeluth, C.M. (1983). Instructional design theories and models: An overview of their current status. Hillsdale, NJ: Erlbaum.

P. Sven Arvidson , Ph.D.