In my previous post I introduced you to the ADDIE Model. Today, we are going to look a little further into the first phase of the ADDIE Model: Analysis.
Analysis is:
1. The separating of any material or abstract entity into its constituent elements (opposed to synthesis)
2. This process as a method of studying the nature of something or of determining its essential features and their relations: the grammatical analysis of a sentence.
—Dictionary.com
Because several instructional design models exist, there are several types of analysis that can be performed based on what your need is. For the purposes of this post I will only be covering the types of analysis specifically performed in the ADDIE Model.
According to J. Clark Gardner the analysis phase of the ADDIE Model consists of 4 sub-phases (view his video here):
According to J. Clark Gardner the analysis phase of the ADDIE Model consists of 4 sub-phases (view his video here):
- Developing Instructional Goals
- Performing an Instructional Analysis
- Performing a Learner Analysis
- Developing Learning Objectives
Let's take a look at these sub-phases.
Developing Instructional Goals:
According to Dick, Carey, and Carey (2015) the most critical event in the instructional design process is identifying the instructional goals, because without accurate goals you run the risk of planning instructional solutions for which needs do not actually exist. A few of the ways you can determine your instructional goals is either through:
Performing an Instructional Analysis:
"An instructional analysis is a set of procedures that, when applied to an instructional goal, identifies the relevant steps for performing a goal and the subordinate skills required for a student to achieve the goal" (Dick, Carey, & Carey, 2015). First you must determine the type of learning you want to occur and then you must determine the major steps that must be performed in order for the student to successfully complete the goal set before them. For this phase you want to determine if your goals are:
Performing a Learner Analysis:
The learner analysis is critical because if you don't understand your audience it is difficult to effectively develop your training for that audience. There are several pieces of information you need to understand about your learners, or as instructional developers refer to them, your target population (a.k.a. target audience or target group). Dick, Carey, & Carey (2015) suggest that the following information is useful to know about your target population:
Developing Learning Objectives:
Using clear and concise statements you determine what the learner will be able to do once they have completed a unit of instruction. Based on what you determined in your instructional goals and instructional analysis you will write your objectives. Objectives contain three main parts:
In order to develop an effective instructional unit you need to follow this analysis process as laid out above. The level at which you perform these steps may vary, depending on the depth and scope of the instructional materials. When creating systems oriented models or product oriented models of training your analysis will be very in depth, simply because you have such a large amount of materials to develop. Classroom oriented models of instructional design won't require as in depth of an analysis simply because of the scope of the effort. For more information about the different instructional design models please read Survey of Instructional Development Models by K. L. Gustafson and R. Branch.
Developing Instructional Goals:
According to Dick, Carey, and Carey (2015) the most critical event in the instructional design process is identifying the instructional goals, because without accurate goals you run the risk of planning instructional solutions for which needs do not actually exist. A few of the ways you can determine your instructional goals is either through:
- a subject-matter expert (SME) approach: the SME dictates what the student needs to learn and the goals contain words such as, know and understand in the instructional goals.
- content outline approach: evidence exists that indicates there is performance problem due to students not learning the right type or amount of content.
- administrative mandate approach: some administrative authority dictates the instructional goals, only effective if appropriate planning was performed by the administration before dictating the goals.
- performance approach: also called human performance or performance improvement; instructional designers work with organizations to ensure quality and productivity goals are being met, if not they investigate the root problem. This approach is not always easy and often turns up multiple problems that need to be addressed in training.
Performing an Instructional Analysis:
"An instructional analysis is a set of procedures that, when applied to an instructional goal, identifies the relevant steps for performing a goal and the subordinate skills required for a student to achieve the goal" (Dick, Carey, & Carey, 2015). First you must determine the type of learning you want to occur and then you must determine the major steps that must be performed in order for the student to successfully complete the goal set before them. For this phase you want to determine if your goals are:
- verbal goals: will the student be required to state, list, or describe the information they are presented.
- intellectual skills/goals: will the student need to discriminate, form concepts, apply rules, or solve problems?
- psychomotor goals: will the student be required to physically perform a task that also requires mental coordination with the physical activity?
- attitudes: will the student be required to make particular choices or decisions? Typically these are long term goals.
Performing a Learner Analysis:
The learner analysis is critical because if you don't understand your audience it is difficult to effectively develop your training for that audience. There are several pieces of information you need to understand about your learners, or as instructional developers refer to them, your target population (a.k.a. target audience or target group). Dick, Carey, & Carey (2015) suggest that the following information is useful to know about your target population:
- entry skills: what does the learner need to know beforehand?
- prior knowledge of the topic: what does the learner already know about the topic?
- attitudes towards content and potential delivery system: what are the learners expectations and attitudes towards the content area and potential delivery system of training? (should be determined from a sample of learners)
- academic motivation: what is the overall motivation behind the topic of training? Will the learners find this training relevant to them? (should be determined from a sample of learners)
- educational and ability levels: what is the general ability of the learner and previous educational achievement level?
- general learning preferences: what is the target populations learning skills and general preferences about willing to explore new modes of learning?
- attitudes toward the organization giving the instruction: does the learner have a positive or negative perspective towards the company providing the training?
- group characteristics: what is the overall impression of the target population?
Developing Learning Objectives:
Using clear and concise statements you determine what the learner will be able to do once they have completed a unit of instruction. Based on what you determined in your instructional goals and instructional analysis you will write your objectives. Objectives contain three main parts:
- describes the skill identified in the instructional analysis: describes what the learner will be able to do.
- describes the prevailing conditions while a learner carriers out the task: what conditions exist to assist the learner in achieving their goal, will they use a computer, or have a paragraph to analyze, etc.
- describes the criteria that will be used to evaluate the students performance: "criterion is stated in terms of limits, or range, of acceptable answers or responses, indicating the tolerance limits for the response" (Dick, Carey, & Carey, 2015).
In order to develop an effective instructional unit you need to follow this analysis process as laid out above. The level at which you perform these steps may vary, depending on the depth and scope of the instructional materials. When creating systems oriented models or product oriented models of training your analysis will be very in depth, simply because you have such a large amount of materials to develop. Classroom oriented models of instructional design won't require as in depth of an analysis simply because of the scope of the effort. For more information about the different instructional design models please read Survey of Instructional Development Models by K. L. Gustafson and R. Branch.
References
Analysis. 2014. In dictionary.com. Retrieved June 16, 2014, from http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/analysis?s=t
Chevalier, R. D. (2011). When did ADDIE become addie?. Performance improvement, 50(6), 10-14. doi:10.1002/pfi.20221
Dick, W., Carey, L., Carey, J., (2015). The systematic design of instruction (8th Ed). Boston: Pearson
Gardner, J. Clark. (2011, September 25) The ADDIE analysis phase [Video file]. Retrieved from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JZdv5lrJs4U
Gustafson, K. L., Branch, R., & ERIC Clearinghouse on Information and Technology, S. Y. (2002). Survey of instructional development models. (4th Ed).
Analysis. 2014. In dictionary.com. Retrieved June 16, 2014, from http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/analysis?s=t
Chevalier, R. D. (2011). When did ADDIE become addie?. Performance improvement, 50(6), 10-14. doi:10.1002/pfi.20221
Dick, W., Carey, L., Carey, J., (2015). The systematic design of instruction (8th Ed). Boston: Pearson
Gardner, J. Clark. (2011, September 25) The ADDIE analysis phase [Video file]. Retrieved from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JZdv5lrJs4U
Gustafson, K. L., Branch, R., & ERIC Clearinghouse on Information and Technology, S. Y. (2002). Survey of instructional development models. (4th Ed).