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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:

You did a good job with this IDA. I think you get the general idea of a needs assessment. However, there are some things you need to reconsider or rework (you don't have to resubmit anything, just keep all this in mind as begin to work on your final project). Problem statement issues: Benita, you are a little confused about the concept of context. As Dr. Rieber suggests, the description of the context should refer to an *instructional context*, such as a course, a curriculum, a training department, etc. You may also want to look at the “Analyze Learners and Contexts” on page 6 of Chapter 1 to see the conceptual difference between learners and the context. So here for the context, you may want to refer to the training program for swimming instead of the “Perfecting swimming technique”, which is the result of the training. You did very well in describing 1b. ( Note from Lloyd: Yes, this is correct. I think your context would something like the "YMCA Swimming Program.") You did very good job on preliminary problem statement of step 3, but on step 6, you seems to get confused. Dr. Rieber always recommends putting the organization or group that has responsibility for the instruction as the subject of this sentence. You did that in 3, but you did not in 6. So, I suggest you use the style written in 3 for your final project. (Note from Lloyd: Maggie is right on target here too. We don't want to suggest that the students are the problem. So, rewrite your final problem statement along these lines: "The YMCA Swimming Program does not adequately provide training to swimmers in the execution of the breastroke and butterfly strokes." Interesting, I noted that your first draft was very close to this!) Data resources: Benita, it seems that the order of your answers to 4a and 4b is reversed. You mentioned both the collected information and data resources in 4a but only data resources in 4b. I guess it might has happened by mistake. Needs description: You did very well in describing the performance gaps and needs. The only suggestion here is to further identify the types of needs for each. For example, “Students believe there is too much distraction in the pool area. Too many activities going on at once.” can be the type of “felt”. You did very good job on 5b and 5c. Instructional goals The content of the instructional goals themselves are very good. But you will notice later that usually instructional designers are not encouraged using vague verbs such as “know”, “understand” when they are writing instructional goals. You may want to use the Bloom’s Taxonomy as a reference ( http://projects.coe.uga.edu/epltt/index.php?title=Bloom%27s_Taxonomy) . In addition, the last goal of “Changing the levels of advancement will provide students with more instruction in the stroke for satisfactory understanding and implementation. Students will not be able to advance until they have mastered the stroke” looks more like the instructional process or treatment instead of an instructional goal. According to Dr. Rieber's advice, instructional goals should be written in terms of what the learner will be able to know or do *after* the instruction takes place. (Note from Lloyd: Yes, you began to fall into the temptation of describing instructional strategies or delivery systems -- that comes later. For needs assessment, instructional goals should be written only in terms of the knowledge or performance expected of students after the instruction takes place.)

 

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:

Perfecting swimming technique in the butterfly stroke.

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:

Swimming lessons are provided at the Lawrenceville, YMCA. Approximately 20 groups of students between the ages of 8-16 participate in 6 week swimming classes to improve their technique and stamina. We have available to us two swimming pools (one inside and one outside), 5 swimming instructors, 2 supervisors, several lifeguards, active parent involvement, motivated (for the most part) students, and several classrooms with wireless capacity.

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:

After the 6 week course many students have improved their technique but very few students perfect it. Almost none of the students are fully able to understand the butterfly stroke. Students advance to the next level (guppy - minnow - shark - etc) without a thorough understanding of this swimming stroke.

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:

Students inability to understand the strokes are demonstrated in practice - incorrect technique. Butterfly strokes are observed to be incorrect in student performance. Instructors are not teaching the strokes correctly; students are not listening while teachers instruct; students are unable to understand stroke; students want to be 'first' instead of correcting stroke slowly. Yes, some students, albeit few, do learn the strokes correctly. Probably, there are a multitude of factors that could influence students; parents might be a distractor; students want to play instead of learn; so many classes going on at once might be distracting All of these factors inhibit students from perfecting the stroke.

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:

The swimming classes do not prepare students for advancement; students do not understand how to correct their techniques for mastery.

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:

Student technique is observed to be inadequate. From my observations of student technique. Correlation, students are not learning technique which is the goal of the class. Students need to improve technique. Well, students easily improve technique on freestyle and backstroke. Instructors, my own experience, students, supervisor experience. Here are my data sources: *Interview the students and assess what inhibits their learning. *Survey the swimming instructors to assess what they might deem as problems in student learning. *Show students an example of a swimmer with perfect stroke and have students compare their own stroke to that of the example. Assess student perception related to perfect stroke example.

Your final response:

*Observations, discussions with other instructors, supervisors, parents, students, lifeguards. *Survey data from instructors, students, lifeguards. *Interview results (opinions) of students. *Student perception of their own stroke mastery as compared to an example of someone with perfect stroke technique.

Your final response:

*Students believe there is too much distraction in the pool area. Too many activities going on at once. *Students believe that the instructors demonstrate the stroke too quickly and that there should be another means of transferring the butterfly stroke; maybe through videos showing examples of the butterfly stroke step by step; maybe writing the butterfly stroke steps down on paper so that students can take them home and practice. *Students believe that the stroke (butterfly) is too difficult to master. When students did the perception activity they scored low on their own mastery of the butterfly stroke as compared to the example they were given. *Students were easily fatigued by the stroke and preferred to learn the stroke "a little bit at a time" instead of in one day. *Instructors and lifeguards commented to change the advancement structure - if students are not ready to advance, don't advance them until they have perfected the stroke.

*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:

*Students believe that the stroke (butterfly) is too difficult to master. When students did the perception activity they scored low on their own mastery of the butterfly stroke as compared to the example they were given. Motivation is needed here. *Students were easily fatigued by the stroke and preferred to learn the stroke "a little bit at a time" instead of in one day. *Students believe that the instructors demonstrate the stroke too quickly and that there should be another means of transferring the butterfly stroke; maybe through videos showing examples of the butterfly stroke step by step; maybe writing the butterfly stroke steps down on paper so that students can take them home and practice. *Students believe there is too much distraction in the pool area. Too many activities going on at once. *Instructors and lifeguards commented to change the advancement structure - if students are not ready to advance, don't advance them until they have perfected the stroke.

Your final response:

Students should be motivated on this level so that they would be able to have a positive perception of the stroke in order to master it. If they go into the activity believing that they would fail then they probably will. Butterfly is a very intensive stroke and can fatigue the body fairly fast; so teaching the stroke a little bit at a time would benefit the students. If students can take home a graphic on how to practice the stroke at home then they might be able to master the stroke faster. Schedule less activities to reduce the amount of distraction. A suggestion here could be that classes could be on a rotating schedule where some classes are classroom based one week and pool based on another. Keep students in the class until they have mastered the stroke before any advancement can take place. This way students might be more motivated to practice and master.

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:

Students do not understand how to correct their butterfly stroke for mastery.

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 motivated to master the butterfly stroke. Students will be able to learn and understand the butterfly stroke one step at a time over several weeks until they have mastered the stroke. Students will be able to take home a visual graphic that demonstrated the stroke step by step. Students will be able to understand and implement butterfly stroke effectively. Students will be able to learn in an environment which does not distract them. This will be done by rotating the schedules of the classes at different times and days. Changing the levels of advancement will provide students with more instruction in the stroke for satisfactory understanding and implementation. Students will not be able to advance until they have mastered the stroke.

 

Your final response:

If your students are not motivated and think that the stroke is too difficult to master then, I believe, they have already failed. Motivation is thus at the top of my list since the students have to believe that they can learn the stroke step by step and eventually master it. Learning is a step by step process and this is the case with the butterfly stroke as well. Butterfly is a very difficult stroke to master but it can be done "a little bit at a time" and through practice.

The instructor's feedback to step 7:

No specific feedback given on this step.