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Instructional Design Activity: Needs Analysis

 

Overall Instructor Rating: Satisfactory

Ratings explanation:

  • Exemplary - A model answer in almost every way (this is given out very rarely).
  • Satisfactory - Very well done; you've met the expectations of the assignment. There are some minor problems, so read my feedback well.
  • Marginal Pass - You pass, but there are lots of issues to consider. Read my feedback very carefully and be sure you understand the points/issues I raise.
  • Not satisfactory, redo and resubmit - The assignment was not completed appropriately. I am concerned that you do not understand the process well enough yet. To get credit for the assignment, you need to redo it, most probably on another topic. Read and consider my feedback very carefully before redoing.

Instructor's Overall Feedback:

Great job on this Needs Assessment IDA. Just a few comments for you: 1 & 2. Excellent. You've identified and described your context well (and thoroughly), and the symptoms do seem to point to a problem. 3 & 6. You ask a reasonable question about the problem statement - can teachers be the problem (rather than the students)? The answer to this question lies with the basic nature of what we are out to accomplish with instructional design. You've heard it emphasized in this class that the learners are NOT the problem, and you refer to that in your notes. But what is it that we can address with instructional design? It's not the learners nor the teachers, actually - it's the instruction. And you'll remember that the emphasis in this course is on media-based instruction that can be replicated by anyone. Thus we can't work on the teachers directly, nor do we necessarily know who the teacher will be in a given year, but we can work on the *design of the instruction* that hopefully any teacher could use. So the answer is no, the teachers should not be identified as the problem either. Meantime, though, in the second part of your problem statement you are still inadvertently identifying the students as the problem. Remember, the context should be the subject of the sentence. So instead of what you have, I would recommend something like: South Forsyth Middle School 7th grade social studies inclusion class is not adequately preparing students to be able to efficiently utilize the textbook for studying purposes. ("Not passing tests" is one of the symptoms, by the way.) In 5a, note that #4 ("Students are not interested ...") does not actually support your argument that this is an instructional need. If the students don't think they need this, then they are not agreeing with you about the need - and their view is relevant. One assumes, though, that your other available data sources (including state standards, for example) will outweigh this view. :) The rest of your IDA is pretty excellent. For your instructional goals, instead of including things like "which will be a study tool," I would suggest sticking with your list, focusing on learners "being able to" 1) create an outline of a social studies chapter, 2) utilize the textbook and outline as study tools, and 3) improve test scores (by a certain degree within a certain amount of time). I hope you find my feedback helpful. Greg

 

1. Preliminary: Describe the context within which this potential instructional problem takes place. This will pinpoint where the problem is located. If instruction is deemed necessary, this will be the place where it will be designed and implemented.

a. List the context, also known as the "system of interest".

Your final response:

South Forsyth Middle School 7th grade social studies inclusion (special education) class.

b. Describe or show how the context relates to the bigger environment. Show how this context relates to other levels of the system within which it works.

Your final response:

SFMS has approximately 800 students in grades sixth, seventh, and eighth. The core classes at each grade level include language arts, math, science, and social studies. Seventh grade social studies curriculum focuses on geography with emphasis in the areas of Africa and the Middle East. All core classes have at least one period in which a special education staff member is present in the class in order to offer support for special education students. For science and social studies classes the paraprofessionals are the support staff. The maximum number of students in any general education class is twenty-eight (that number includes both general ed and special ed students). The maximum number of special education students within this class is eight. Each classroom has at least four desktop computers, as well as an interactive whiteboard. All teachers have laptops. County approved textbooks are used in all core classes.

The instructor's feedback to step 1:

No specific feedback given on this step.

2. Symptoms of a problem. Write a brief description of some symptoms that make you stop and wonder if something is wrong.

Your final response:

Many of the special education students are failing social studies due to poor test scores. They do not utilize their textbook as resource for learning the material or for studying prior to testing. Some of these students have difficulty reading, but they also have not been taught how to summarize, outline, or take notes from a textbook.

Using the evidence cited above, describe why you believe that these symptoms signal a problem. Keeping these questions in mind, describe the reasons for identifying these symptoms as problematic.

Your final response:

Social studies tests are generated from information in the text book. If students can not summarize the information in the textbook then they will not be able to pass the social studies tests. Learning how to outline or web is a skill that is necessary when building critical thinking/evaluation skills. Also, when creating an outline/web students must spend time reading and organizing the information which leads to greater recall of information later.

The instructor's feedback to step 2:

No specific feedback given on this step.

3. Preliminary Problem Statement. Based on 1 and 2, write a preliminary draft problem statement. Your context should be the subject of the statement. This is just the initial pass -- the statement will be revised in subsequent steps.

Your final response:

Teachers have not provided students sufficient instruction in outlining/webbing skills; therefore, the students do not know how to efficiently utilize the textbook for studying purposes.

The instructor's feedback to step 3:

No specific feedback given on this step.

4. Verify the problem and determine specific needs. Two things will now happen concurrently. First, you need a systematic procedure to identify and collect data in order to verify that a problem exists. Second, you must identify information that the data sources may help uncover.

 

Data sources (who, what)

Information gathered

What did you find? (Needs)*

Example: Interview participants in course; administer class survey; administer test of understanding.

Example: Participant opinions on IDAs and course; Participant score on test.

Example: Participants believe there is too much jargon (felt need); Participants don't understand ID vocabulary as compared to other classes (comparative need); Participants don't score above national average (comparative need); Participants don't/couldn't see the relation between their work and the ID process)

Your final response:

1. Survey: Interview special education students to see if/how they use the textbook for studying. 2. Pre-assessment: Have special education and general education students outline/web a particular section of a textbook (using Inspiration?) 3. Survey social studies teachers to find out if/how they instruct students in studying techniques.

Your final response:

1. Student use/knowledge of textbook: Students stated that they did not read the chapter in the social studies textbook. They stated that they sometimes use the textbook to look up answers for the study guide provided by SS teacher. They use the glossary to define words when assigned by teacher. 2. Student ability to outline/web Students did not use Roman numerals Some used bullets or dashes to copy a note All notes were copied sentences from textbook Outlines/Notes were not organized by headings in text 3. Teachers stated that they give some instruction on how to study at the beginning of the year. They do not specifically teach outlining. They assume that students are reading the chapters.

Your final response:

1. Students have difficulty reading the text independently (Normative) 2. Students need overall instruction on how a textbook is organized. (Expressed) 3. Student need instruction on what main idea and supporting details are. (Expressed) 4. Students are not interested in the social studies topics. (Felt)

*Note: You are not required to gather data; you can draw on your experience or imagination to list the data you might gather.

The instructor's feedback to step 4:

No specific feedback given on this step.

5. Prioritize your list of needs.Which are most important? Why are they most important?

Prioritized needs

Reasons/evidence for priority

Your final response:

1. Students have difficulty reading the text independently (Normative) 2. Student need instruction on what main idea and supporting details are. (Expressed) 3. Students need overall instruction on how a textbook is organized. (Expressed 4. Students are not interested in the social studies topics. (Felt) I would just swap 2 and 3 in priority.

Your final response:

2. Student need instruction on what main idea and supporting details are. (Expressed) 3. Students need overall instruction on how a textbook is organized. (Expressed Knowing the overall definitions of main idea and supporting details must be done first. If they don't understand what these mean, then they won't understand that textbooks are organized in a pattern of main ideas (headings) and supporting details. If done well, these two topics can be taught nearly simultaneously by using the textbook to teach main idea/supporting details.

The instructor's feedback to step 5:

No specific feedback given on this step.

6. Rewrite your problem statement. Take a moment to look carefully at the initial problem statement that you wrote. Revisit your prioritized needs and check if your problem statement is still accurate and appropriate.

Rewrite the problem statement here:

Your final response:

Teachers have not provided students sufficient instruction in outlining/webbing skills; therefore, the students do not know how to efficiently utilize the textbook for studying purposes and are not passing the social studies tests. *Can teachers be the problem? I know the "learners" can't, but can the teachers?

The instructor's feedback to step 6:

No specific feedback given on this step.

7. Identify the instructional goals. The last step in Needs Assessment is to list a few goals of instruction. Remember, not all goals can be solved through instruction. The instructional goals you identify will be the starting information for the next steps in the instructional design process. List the instructional goals in order of priority.

 

Instructional goals by priority

Reasons for importance

Your final response:

Students will be able to utilize the textbook to create an outline/web of a social studies chapter which will be a studying techinque that could improve test scores. 1. Learn to create an outline 2. Utilize the textbook/outline as a study tool 3. Improve test scores

 

Your final response:

Summarizing by identifying main idea/details is an important critical thinking skill. Also, being able to organize information into an outline/web is also a higher order thinking skill. These two actions will lead to students being more involved with the textbook which in turn will lead to improved test scores.

The instructor's feedback to step 7:

No specific feedback given on this step.