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= Robert F. Mager =

PERSONAL LIFE
Dr. Robert Frank Mager was born in the Summer of 1923 shortly before The Great Depression.

Early Childhood
As any other little boy, Mager had aspirations of becoming a fireman, policeman, detective, cowboy and even a rocketship pilot. Mager was picked-on in school. This was as a result of him being skipped from fourth grade to sixth grade. This made him one of the smallest in his class. To add insult to injury, in his time, being left-handed was considered a heinous act and often resulted in a sharp rap on the knuckles. Subsequently, Mager switched to writing with his right-hand.

Interest in music
Music also formed part of Mager’s explorations as he jumped from one instrument to the other. At one time he played the violin, then the clarinet and even the saxophone. Eventually he found ‘his love’ the banjo, and has even been part of a banjo band. Interestingly Mager's ‘true love’ his wife, is a professional classical musician.

Drafted into the Army
In his book, Life in the Pinball Machine: Careening from There to Here, Mager makes an analogy of his life to a pinball. He likened his life as the ball and the different experiences in his lives as the pins of machine that would bump and jostle him eventually to his current research in the Instructional Design field. One such experience occured in 1943 when Mager was drafted into the military. One of his initial responsibilities was that of a company clerk which involved him interacting with new recruits. Mager was able to observe discrepancies with performances due to lack of information.

Today Mager is credited with revolutionizing the performance improvement industry with his groundbreaking work, the Criterion Referenced Instruction (CRI)framework.

Other Interests
Over the years, Mager has also been an accomplished unicyclist, banjo player, ventriloquist, crime novelist, tap dancer.

EDUCATION AND ACADEMIC CAREER
Dr. Robert Mager has taught psychology and human relations at colleges and universities and served as research scientist for the Human Resources Research Office. Dr. Mager holds a doctorate in psychology. He earned A.B and M.A. degrees from Ohio University and his Ph.D in psychology from the State University of Iowa.

RESEARCH
Mager along with Peter Pipe is well known for developing the Criterion Referenced Instruction (CRI) a framework for Instructional Design. The origins of Instructional Design dated back as early as World War II with the need for creating training programs. Mager had first hand experience with these training regimes, however, he found that they were not meeting the goals that they were set out to meet. From this phenomenon Mager, went about seeking ways to improve training delivery. These experiences led Mager to publish his work in a book later titled, Preparing Instructional Objectives: A Critical Tool in the Development of Effective Instruction. In his publications, Mager usually starts out with a fable. In this book the fable is about a sea-horse which went out seeking a fortune. Unfortunately, the sea horse got side-tracked by the different sea creatures he met along the way and eventually ended up being swallowed by a shark. The moral of the fable :if you're not sure where you're going, you're liable to end up some place else. Consequently, in his book, Mager speaks of the importance of knowing precisely what is needed to be achieved before embarking on any instructional design process.

The CRI framework is based upon using objectives (instructional objectives) to drive instruction. Effective Instructional objectives should have three components:
 * 1) Performance - Identifies specifically what the learner should be able to do after the instruction
 * 2) Condition - Identifies the conditions under which the learning is to occur
 * 3) Criterion - Describes how well the learner must perform in order to be acceptable

The CRI is comprised of four stages.
 * 1) The Goal/task Analysis - The specific competencies that are needed are identified.
 * 2) Performance Objectives - The criterion, this provides clear cut outcomes as well as states how they would be evaluated.
 * 3) Criterion Referenced Testing - The actual evaluation that will be used to test whether or not the performance objectives were carried out to the required standard.Criterion-referenced_test
 * 4) Learning modules - Involves the development of the actual modules that would be used in the training/instruction.

This instructional framework is designed in such a way that students are expected to gain mastery in the specific modules by evaluating themselves using assessment tools built into the program.

Mager was influenced by the works of Robert M. Gagné and Malcolm Knowles.

PUBLICATIONS

 * Beach, K.M., & Mager, R.F. (1976). Developing Vocational Instruction. London: Financial Times Prentice Hall.
 * Mager, R.F. (1973). Measuring Instructional Intent; Or, Got a Match?. Atlanta, GA: The Center for Effective Performance Inc.
 * Mager, R.F. (1983). Troubleshooting the Troubleshooting Course, Or, Debug D'Bugs. Atlanta, GA: The Center for Effective Performance Inc.
 * Mager, R.F. (1984). Developing Attitude Toward Learning (2nd ed.). Atlanta, GA: The Center for Effective Performance Inc.
 * Mager, R.F. (1986). The How to Write a Book Book. Atlanta, GA: The Center for Effective Performance Inc.
 * Mager, R.F., & Pipe, P. (1997). Analyzing Performance Problems: Or, You Really Oughta Wanna--How to Figure out Why People Aren't Doing What They Should Be, and What to do About It (3rd ed.). Atlanta, GA: The Center for Effective Performance Inc.
 * Mager, R.F. (1997). Goal Analysis: How to Clarify Your Goals So You Can Actually Achieve Them (3rd ed.). Atlanta, GA: The Center for Effective Performance Inc.
 * Mager, R.F. (1997). How to Turn Learners On... Without Turning Them Off: Ways to Ignite Interest in Learning (3rd ed.). Atlanta, GA: The Center for Effective Performance Inc.
 * Mager, R.F. (1997). Making Instruction Work: Or Skillbloomers: A Step-By-Step Guide to Designing and Developing Instruction That Works (2nd ed.). Atlanta, GA: The Center for Effective Performance Inc.
 * Mager, R.F. (1997). Measuring Instructional Results. (3rd ed.). Atlanta, GA: The Center for Effective Performance Inc.
 * Mager, R.F. (1997). Preparing Instructional Objectives: A Critical Tool in the Development of Effective Instruction (3rd ed.). Atlanta, GA: The Center for Effective Performance Inc.
 * Mager, R.F. (1999). What Every Manager Should Know About Training: An Insider's Guide to Getting Your Money's Worth From Training (2nd ed.). Atlanta, GA: The Center for Effective Performance Inc.
 * Mager, R.F. (2003). Life in the Pinball Machine: Careening from There to Here. Atlanta, GA: The Center for Effective Performance Inc.
 * Mager, R.F. (2014). Making Schools Work. Carefree, AZ: Mager Associates, Inc.

WORKSHOPS

 * Criterion-Referenced Instruction (with Peter Pipe)
 * Instructional Module Development
 * The Training Director Workshop

AWARDS

 * Thomas F. Gilbert Distinguished Professional Achievement Award - 1994
 * Award for Public Service in Behavior Analysis - 2005
 * ASTD award for distinguished contribution to human resource development