Gerlach and Ely Model: 10 Elements, Examples and Template
The Gerlach and Ely model explained: all 10 elements with a worked example, the media selection rule, sourced limitations and two free templates.
The Gerlach and Ely model is a ten-element systematic approach to planning instruction, published by Vernon Gerlach and Donald Ely in 1971, that starts from objectives, plans grouping, time and space together, and uses feedback to revise every earlier decision.
- Gerlach and Ely kept their model simple because classroom teachers lacked the time, money and resources for a full systems approach.
- The 1980 edition sets out a four-step media process that starts with the objective and ends with choosing the medium.
- Gerlach and Ely plan grouping, time and space together, because each affects the other two to a high degree.
- Evidence for the model comes from small school studies, such as a Malaysian chemistry class of 35, and I found no verified workplace case.
Five planning prompts for one course. This is an unvalidated checklist. Review each answer separately; the total cannot establish alignment, readiness or effectiveness.
Go from storyboard to an interactive course in minutes
Picture a hypothetical warehouse that refreshes its forklift operators every year. The online part was built as a narrated video, and it plays on a shared tablet in a noisy break room at the start of each shift, where nobody can hear the narration and nobody has more than 20 minutes. The content was correct. The plan chose the medium first and found out about the room afterwards.
Vernon Gerlach and Donald Ely wrote their model to put those decisions in a workable order. I'm an instructional designer at Coursebox, where we make instructional design software for training teams. I reach for this model when the conditions of a course are fixed before the content is, as they were for that forklift refresher.
What is the Gerlach and Ely model?
The Gerlach and Ely model is a ten-element systematic approach to planning instruction, published by Vernon Gerlach and Donald Ely in 1971, that starts from objectives, plans grouping, time and space together, and uses feedback to revise every earlier decision.
It comes from their book Teaching and Media: A Systematic Approach (Prentice-Hall, 1971). In the second edition they call it "a systematic, not a systems, approach" (Gerlach and Ely, 1980, p. 7), because most classroom teachers had neither the time nor the money for a full systems design. They admit their model lacks the "elegance and sophistication" of the real thing. I find that trade suits a small L&D team with little time and budget.
The shape is linear with a feedback loop. A survey of design models by Gustafson and Branch calls it "generally linear in its orientation", with a block of decisions in the middle made side by side (Gustafson and Branch, 2002, p. 19).
The table uses a hypothetical warehouse refresher: experienced forklift operators need to recognise pedestrian hazards and demonstrate the approved response in a supervised yard check. The brief allows 20 minutes online on shared tablets, followed by separately scheduled practical assessment.
| Element | The book's focus | The question it asks of your course | In the forklift refresher |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 and 2. Content and objectives | Specified together; the authors prefer objectives first | What will learners be able to do at the end? | Complete a pre-use check and recognise three unsafe situations |
| 3. Entering behaviours | Prerequisites, checked with a pretest | What can they already do? | Verify starting skills with records and a relevant pre-check |
| 4. Strategy | How content is presented, from expository to inquiry | How will they learn it? | Show, then decide |
| 5. Groups | Who learns alone, with others or with the teacher | Alone, in pairs or in groups? | Online alone; yard practical in small groups |
| 6. Time | Set by the objectives and how fast learners reach them | How much time is there, and when? | 20 minutes online in staggered slots; separate practical assessment time |
| 7. Space | Where learning happens, given the task and the group | Where, and on what? | A shared break-room tablet, then the yard |
| 8. Resources | Select or adapt materials to fit the plan | Which media and materials? | Silent clips or images, a checklist, decision scenarios |
| 9. Evaluation of performance | A planned check against the objectives | Can they do it? | A short online check and an observed yard practical |
| 10. Analysis of feedback | A review of every earlier element | What should change next time? | Supervisor notes and check results, per hazard |
Case study: A chemistry module in Malaysia
Researchers from Universiti Pendidikan Sultan Idris and Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia combined Gerlach and Ely (1980) with the Kemp model to build an electrochemistry multimedia module. They specified objectives, assessed entering behaviour, then decided strategy, groups, time, space and resources in the model's order.
- Setting: 35 Form Four students, aged 16, in one group with no comparison group; published 2012.
- Measured: an achievement test before and after, plus a motivation questionnaire.
Mean achievement scores rose from 9.42 before the module to 26.98 after it. With one class and no control group, the study cannot establish what caused the change or separate the two design models. The Malaysian chemistry study is a concrete school example, with limited grounds for workplace claims.
Who created the Gerlach and Ely model, and which edition to read
Vernon S. Gerlach (born 1922) was at Arizona State University and Donald P. Ely at Syracuse University when Prentice-Hall published the first edition in 1971. Ely went on to found the ERIC Clearinghouse on Information Resources and died on 24 September 2014, aged 84 (Syracuse IDD&E newsletter, Fall 2014). The 1980 book is the second edition, so the model dates from 1971.
- Read the second edition (Prentice-Hall, 1980). The authors revised it in response to feedback from first-edition users, added exercises for practising the model, and closed with a full unit planned element by element. Cite it as Gerlach and Ely (1980).
- The first edition (1971) introduced the remedial English writing case, which takes one course through all ten elements and which the 1980 edition keeps. It is also where I found the passage on media properties (pp. 285 to 286).
- I found no third edition in the major library records, so 1980 is the current version.
You will see the model summarised as five steps, eight components or nine steps. Those are later regroupings. Both editions of the book number ten elements (1971, pp. 30 to 36; 1980, pp. 9 to 10), with content and objectives as elements 1 and 2, specified together.
The 10 elements, worked through one course
Here is the same hypothetical warehouse course in more detail. Operators on two shifts use shared tablets in a noisy break room, then complete an observed yard assessment. The online refresher targets pedestrian hazards. Gerlach and Ely fits because the objective, verified starting skills, device access, grouping, time and practical space all have to work together.
1 and 2. Content and objectives
The book treats content and objectives as a pair, because many teachers start from a syllabus. The authors would rather everyone began with objectives, and their objectives come in five cognitive types: identify, name, describe, order and construct, plus attitudes and motor skills. Content specification itself sits outside the book's scope, so the objective carries the weight, and it helps to write it as one of your measurable learning outcomes.
- What you decide: the content area and what learners will be able to do at the end.
- Forklift refresher: complete a pre-use check, and recognise three unsafe situations: overloading, poor visibility when reversing, and pedestrians in aisles.
3. Entering behaviours
"Entering behavior refers to prerequisites" (1980, p. 31). The book's pretest asks how far learners have already learned "the terms, concepts, and skills which are part of this course" (1980, p. 13), and suggests a pretest before each unit.
- What you decide: what learners can do before they start, and what the course can skip.
- Check entry behaviour with records and a short observation or relevant pre-check. A forklift licence and daily driving do not establish every prerequisite skill. Use the findings to decide which basics need a refresher and which can be omitted for this group.
4. Strategy
Strategy is how the content is presented, on a range from expository (telling) to inquiry (discovering). The authors note that "few teachers are 'purely' expository or 'purely' inquiry oriented" (1971, p. 208), and the choice affects group size, learning spaces, time and resources.
- What you decide: where the course sits between telling and discovering.
- Forklift refresher: show, then decide. Each hazard is shown, then operators choose what to do in a scenario.
5. Groups
The book asks which objectives learners can reach on their own, which through working with each other, and which through the teacher. Groups can be formed by ability, interest or rate of progress.
- What you decide: alone, in pairs, in small groups or as a whole class, per objective.
- Forklift refresher: online alone; the practical in small groups in the yard with a supervisor.
6. Time
No teacher, the authors write, should feel bound by a formula for allocating time. When time is imposed, the job is to choose the grouping, space, strategy and resources that fit it.
- What you decide: how much time each objective needs and when it happens.
- Forklift refresher: 20 minutes at the start of a shift, imposed by the roster.
7. Space
Space decisions rest on what space is available, the task, the size of the group and the resources. I treat the device as part of the space.
- What you decide: where learning happens and on what.
- Forklift refresher: a shared tablet in the break room, so no audio and short screens; then the yard.
8. Resources
Resources come after strategy, groups, time and space. Gustafson and Branch read the model as favouring selecting and adapting existing materials over building new ones. The authors call the teacher "the most important element" among resources.
- What you decide: the media and materials, chosen to fit the plan.
- Forklift refresher: silent clips or images, a one-page pre-use checklist adapted from the site's own, and decision scenarios.
9. Evaluation of performance
The authors describe evaluation as one of the last elements of the model but one of a teacher's first concerns. In the 1980 edition it is "a planned assessment of performance stemming from the objectives".
- What you decide: how learners will show they meet each objective.
- Forklift refresher: a short online check on the three hazards, then an observed yard practical.
10. Analysis of feedback
Analysis of feedback "is more informal" than evaluation. It uses everything learned while running the course to review every earlier element, especially, as Gustafson and Branch put it, the objectives and strategies.
- What you decide: what information you will collect and which elements it could change.
- Forklift refresher: supervisors note which hazard operators miss in the yard, and the online check results are read per hazard.
Evaluation checks performance against the objectives. Feedback analysis uses those results alongside observations, learner questions and timing to decide what to revise. If operators pass the online check but miss pedestrians in the yard, investigate the entry assumptions, practice, media, conditions and assessment. The pattern alone does not identify one faulty element.
Why groups, time and space are decided together
Gerlach and Ely put groups, time and space in a single chapter because each affects the others "to a high degree", and they describe the three as "a simultaneous concern" (1971, pp. 233 to 236). Gustafson and Branch widen the block to five activities, "with any decision in one area influencing the range of decisions available in the others" (2002, p. 21).
Given the shared tablet, schedule individual online slots so both shifts have enough access. Use small groups for supervised yard practice, with an individual observed assessment. Grouping follows the task, available equipment and assessment needs.
Course requests start from a different place. In a sample of 103 course requests typed into Coursebox in the 90 days to 7 October 2026, up to about half named the media, and far fewer said how learners would be grouped or where they would learn.
In the book's sequence, resources and media come after strategy, groups, time and space. If a brief names video and the learners turn out to share one tablet in a noisy room, the video has to be rebuilt.
Our support inbox points to time. In a read-only sweep of the inbox, with results leaning towards May to October 2026, we confirmed 9 customers asking about seat time or proof of hours and 8 asking about releasing content over days or weeks. The same sweep found no thread asking whether a lesson should be video or text as a design choice, and none asking whether learners should work alone or in groups.
How to choose media with the Gerlach and Ely model
Gerlach and Ely say media selection starts with the objective, stated in behavioural terms: "There is no shortcut" (1971, p. 73). The 1980 edition turns that into four steps.
- State the objective.
- Classify it by type of learning, such as identifying, ordering or a motor skill.
- Choose the strategy.
- Select the media.
For the forklift refresher, recognising an unsafe situation is an identify objective, the pre-use check is an order objective online and a motor skill in the yard, and the strategy is show, then decide. Only then do silent clips, images and scenarios follow.
The 1971 edition also describes three properties that explain what a medium can do beyond showing content. The examples in the third column are mine.
| Property | What Gerlach and Ely describe | In the forklift refresher |
|---|---|---|
| Fixative | Capturing an event and replaying it later | A near miss filmed once and replayed on every shift |
| Manipulative | Speeding up, slowing, stopping, reversing or editing an event | The reversing clip frozen at the moment a pedestrian enters the blind spot |
| Distributive | Carrying an event to many learners in many places | The same tablet module for both shifts and every site |
Select media for the objective, strategy and learning conditions. Gerlach and Ely describe different properties and combinations of media; availability alone is not a reason to use a format.
Starting from the format you already have, such as a slide deck or an avatar video, skips steps 1 to 3. The authors warn that availability should never be "the sole cause for their use". Decide the objective, the strategy and the conditions, then check whether the existing format still fits.
Work through the four-step media process, the three media properties, and the group, time and space questions, with the forklift refresher filled in and a blank version. Editable Word file, no email required.
How to use the Gerlach and Ely model to design a course
This is the order I work in, following the book's sequence.
- Write the objectives, and note the content they draw on.
- Check entering behaviours, and cut anything learners can already do.
- Pick a point on the expository to inquiry range.
- Decide groups, time and space together, starting from whichever one is fixed.
- Select or adapt resources to fit those decisions.
- Plan the evaluation against the objectives, and plan what feedback you will collect.
In a blended course, run steps 4 and 5 twice, once for the online part and once for the practical. I use the same split in most of the blended learning strategies I design.
Plan all ten elements with the question each one asks, with the forklift refresher filled in and a blank version for your course. Editable Word file, no email required.
Building a Gerlach and Ely course in Coursebox
On 7 October 2026 I gave Coursebox, the course builder we make, my Gerlach and Ely decisions for the online part of the forklift refresher. I included the objective and the three hazards, the entering behaviours, the show-then-decide strategy, the grouping, the 20 minutes at the start of a shift, the shared tablet with no audio, the media, the evaluation, and a final page on what to bring to the yard. Coursebox is our product, so weigh my read with that in mind.
The first outline followed my decisions. It kept to short tablet screens with no audio, and it ended on the what-to-bring page, called "Bring to the Yard Check".
I checked every objective against the outline, and the third hazard was missing: there was no page on pedestrians in aisles.
One correction fixed it. Coursebox added a "Pedestrians in Aisles" page with its own image and scenario. The verified outline had 3 sections and 6 pages, covered all three hazards, and closed with a hazard recognition check and the yard preparation page.
My brief stated all eight decisions a request can carry: objectives, entering behaviours, strategy, grouping, time, space, media and evaluation. In the sample, at most 2 of 103 requests did.
Gerlach and Ely vs ASSURE and Kemp
Gustafson and Branch class all three as classroom models, and each starts in a different place. Gerlach and Ely starts with objectives and content. The ASSURE model starts by analysing the learners. The Kemp model is drawn as an oval with no fixed starting point.
| Feature | Gerlach and Ely | ASSURE | Kemp |
|---|---|---|---|
| Authors | Gerlach and Ely, 1971 | Heinich, Molenda, Russell and Smaldino, 1999 edition | Morrison, Ross and Kemp, 2001 edition |
| Starting point | Objectives and content | Analysing the learners | Any element |
| Shape | Linear, with a middle block decided together and a feedback loop | A sequence of six steps | A non-linear oval |
| Best for | Courses where time, space and grouping are fixed | A single lesson or unit built around media | Experienced designers and courses that change as you learn |
| Weak spot | No needs analysis and little on developing new materials | Little on needs analysis or programme structure for larger training | Beginners can find it too open |
| Use it when | The conditions are set before the content | You know the lesson and need to plan media use | You need to revisit elements in any order |
If you need a general project structure with analysis and implementation phases, ADDIE covers the parts Gerlach and Ely leave out.
Limitations of the Gerlach and Ely model
- Built for classrooms. The authors wrote for teachers with fixed classes, set lesson lengths and little budget (1980, pp. 7 to 8). Gustafson and Branch note that some training in business and industry shares that classroom orientation. In my view, that is where the model transfers best.
- No needs analysis. Content specification is outside the book's scope, and Lee and Osman (2012) say the model "focuses more on instructional materials and resources without identifying instructional problems".
- Selection over development. The model favours finding and adapting existing materials (Gustafson and Branch, 2002, p. 21), which suits lean teams and leaves bespoke content thin.
- No pilot or implementation phase. Revision comes from feedback after the course has run, and the model has no tryout step before release, a gap a 2003 critique points out when it maps the model against ADDIE.
- A thin evidence base. The measured applications I found are small school studies, such as a Malaysian chemistry class of 35 (Lee and Osman, 2012), and only some had a comparison group. I found no verified workplace case.
The Malaysian study shows both the promise and the limit. Achievement scores rose sharply after the module built with Gerlach and Ely and Kemp:
Scores rose after the combined module, but a single class with no control group cannot establish what caused the change or separate Gerlach and Ely from Kemp. The study also does not establish effectiveness in adult workplace training.
Putting the model to work
Start with the objective and the learners' verified starting point. Settle grouping, time, space and resources together, including access to shared devices and time for practical assessment. After the first run, use performance evidence and learner feedback to revisit the plan. Gerlach and Ely makes those relationships visible; a completed worksheet does not establish that the training conditions or outcomes are adequate.
Frequently Asked Questions
The Gerlach and Ely model is a ten-element systematic approach to planning instruction, published by Vernon Gerlach and Donald Ely in 1971, that starts from objectives, plans grouping, time and space together, and uses feedback to revise every earlier decision.
Specification of content, specification of objectives, assessment of entering behaviours, determination of strategy, organisation of groups, allocation of time, allocation of space, selection of resources, evaluation of performance and analysis of feedback.
It is linear with a feedback loop. Content and objectives come first, a middle block of decisions is made together, and analysis of feedback sends findings back to every earlier element.
Prentice-Hall published it in 1971 in Teaching and Media: A Systematic Approach. A revised second edition followed in 1980, and no later edition is recorded.
It is simple, starts from objectives and treats time, space and grouping as real design decisions. It lacks a needs analysis and a pilot phase, and its measured evidence comes from small school studies.
Carolina Martin
Carolina is a highly experienced learning designer with tech start-up experience. She is based in Sydney and previously designed courses alongside Coursebox founder Travis in a previous job. She is passionate about delivering engaging learning experiences and brings the same perspective to customer experience too. She manages our customer support documentation and product testing processes.
