Analyzing Learners & Contexts
Analyzing learners and contexts is performed simultaneously with the instructional analysis process.
Learner Analysis
The purpose of the learner analysis is to identify the general characteristics of the target audience. The target audience (aka target population) is the abstract representation of the widest range of users. Identifiers could include age, grade level, topic being studied, job experience, or job position. Information to know about the target population includes entry skills, prior knowledge of the topic area, attitudes toward content and potential delivery systems, academic motivation, educational and ability levels, general learning preferences, attitudes toward training organization, and group characteristics.
Designers consider academic motivation to be the most important factor in successful instruction. The ARCS model (attention, relevance, confidence, satisfaction) describes the different types of motivation necessary for successful learning.
Performance Context Analysis
The performance context analysis is to describe the physical and organizational environment where the skills will be used and to list any special factors that may facilitate or interfere with the learners' use of new skills. The instruction must contribute to meeting an identified need (from the needs assessment) by providing learners with skills and attitudes that will be used outside of the learning environment. There are four considerations that apply to the analysis.
1. Managerial or supervisor support *This is the strongest predictor of whether the learner will use the new skills
2. Physical aspects of the site (e.g. equipment, facilities, tools, timing, etc.)
3. Social aspects of the site
4. Relevance of skills to workplace
Learning Context Analysis
The learning context analysis is used to identify facilities to delivery training on skills and any limitations of the settings that may have serious implications for the project. It is used to determine what is and what should be.
- "What is" is a review o the setting in which instruction will take place. It could be on the job with job aids or one of many sites.
- "What should be" is facilities, communications, hardware, software, expertise, personnel, logistics, and any other resources required for adequate support of the intended instruction.
The learning context analysis focuses on four elements.
1. Compatibility of site with instructional requirements: tools and other support items required to perform goal
2. Adaptability of site to simulate workplace
3. Adaptability for delivery approaches
4. Learning site constraints affecting design and delivery
Reflections
I mentioned this in the online discussion, but I thought it was worth mentioning again.
In the public health field, we generally focus on the learner analysis before the context analysis. Determining who the target audience is always the first priority for any health educator. The target audience can vary between clinical staff to the general public, therefore it is very important to know who the instruction is being created for. However, the analysis is not always done well. For example, the entry skills are one thing that is not always evaluated, usually because we don’t have access to the target audience or their is a rush to complete the training due to grant deadlines. We often make the mistake of making assumptions about what the learner does or does not know and end up wasting a lot of time and money on instruction that does not work. I hope that after earning a degree, that I can create something that is actually meaningful.
Analyzing learners and contexts is performed simultaneously with the instructional analysis process.
Learner Analysis
The purpose of the learner analysis is to identify the general characteristics of the target audience. The target audience (aka target population) is the abstract representation of the widest range of users. Identifiers could include age, grade level, topic being studied, job experience, or job position. Information to know about the target population includes entry skills, prior knowledge of the topic area, attitudes toward content and potential delivery systems, academic motivation, educational and ability levels, general learning preferences, attitudes toward training organization, and group characteristics.
Designers consider academic motivation to be the most important factor in successful instruction. The ARCS model (attention, relevance, confidence, satisfaction) describes the different types of motivation necessary for successful learning.
Performance Context Analysis
The performance context analysis is to describe the physical and organizational environment where the skills will be used and to list any special factors that may facilitate or interfere with the learners' use of new skills. The instruction must contribute to meeting an identified need (from the needs assessment) by providing learners with skills and attitudes that will be used outside of the learning environment. There are four considerations that apply to the analysis.
1. Managerial or supervisor support *This is the strongest predictor of whether the learner will use the new skills
2. Physical aspects of the site (e.g. equipment, facilities, tools, timing, etc.)
3. Social aspects of the site
4. Relevance of skills to workplace
Learning Context Analysis
The learning context analysis is used to identify facilities to delivery training on skills and any limitations of the settings that may have serious implications for the project. It is used to determine what is and what should be.
- "What is" is a review o the setting in which instruction will take place. It could be on the job with job aids or one of many sites.
- "What should be" is facilities, communications, hardware, software, expertise, personnel, logistics, and any other resources required for adequate support of the intended instruction.
The learning context analysis focuses on four elements.
1. Compatibility of site with instructional requirements: tools and other support items required to perform goal
2. Adaptability of site to simulate workplace
3. Adaptability for delivery approaches
4. Learning site constraints affecting design and delivery
Reflections
I mentioned this in the online discussion, but I thought it was worth mentioning again.
In the public health field, we generally focus on the learner analysis before the context analysis. Determining who the target audience is always the first priority for any health educator. The target audience can vary between clinical staff to the general public, therefore it is very important to know who the instruction is being created for. However, the analysis is not always done well. For example, the entry skills are one thing that is not always evaluated, usually because we don’t have access to the target audience or their is a rush to complete the training due to grant deadlines. We often make the mistake of making assumptions about what the learner does or does not know and end up wasting a lot of time and money on instruction that does not work. I hope that after earning a degree, that I can create something that is actually meaningful.