Module 10: Instructional Analysis

Introduction

The culminating activity in the design phase of the ADDIE process is defining the overall instructional plan and the specific instructional strategies you will use to help learners accomplish the goals you specified in the instructional goal analysis.

It's important that you conduct instructional analysis independently of any decisions about media or methods of delivery. In many cases, of course, someone or something will have already determined the delivery method. For instance, if you work for a multimedia courseware development company, the client or your supervisor will be pretty upset if you insist that you're conducting instructional analysis and you don't know yet whether you'll be delivering the instruction with a print package or multimedia.

The point is that even when you already know how the instruction is going to be delivered, conduct the instructional analysis as though you didn't. Forget about stand-up training, or video, or multimedia, or training manuals, and focus on the displays and events that will help people learn most successfully; in other words, forget about media for the moment, and focus on learning instead.

If you used the content/performance matrix to help you choose observable performances when you conducted your goal analysis, and if you used it again as you were writing your objectives and test items, then you're already well down the road to your instructional analysis. If you didn't do that (perhaps you "inherited" a set of objectives from someone else), then now is the time to figure out what you're working with.

Chapter preview

• Before you begin developing your instructional material, you need to decide how you will structure and sequence the information. This is sometimes called the instructional strategy.
• The instructional strategy will depend on the type of content you are teaching, and whether you want the learners to remember or apply the information.
• Merrill's Component Display Theory presents specific heuristics to follow depending on the content and performance of the information to be learned.
• Gagné's events of instruction presents a more global heuristic to follow, often used in stand-up delivery workshops and classrooms.
• Once the instructional sequence is decided, you need to select the media for delivery, based on specific strengths and weaknesses of the various modalities.

Module 10: Connect

In this module

Classifying knowledge
Specifying instructional strategy
Component display theory
Gagne's events of instruction
Media selection

Classifying knowledge

All right, for the last time, review the content/performance matrix (Figure 10-1). This is actually where its real purpose comes into play. Once we have classified the type of performance and the type of skills or knowledge we're dealing with, we can specify appropriate learning strategies.

-	Facts	Concepts	Procedures	Principles
Apply	-	Classify examples	Perform the steps	Apply a rule
Remember	Recall an association	Recall a definition	List the steps	State a rule

Figure 10-1. The content/performance matrix.

A word of caution. You can get bogged down with this step if you try to get too exact about distinguishing one category from another. Human classification systems are notoriously imprecise, and this one is no exception. Even practitioners in the so-called "hard" sciences, like biologists and physicists, use classification systems warily. Ask a biologist to differentiate between something as basic as "living" and "non-living" systems, for instance. If you only have a minute, you'll get a pretty clear answer. She'll tell you something to the effect that "living systems reproduce, respire, and move on their own." But if, uncautiously, you show signs of continued interest, she will quickly drop you into an abyss of conflicting evidence, she will taunt you with borderline cases, like viruses or things that exist in deep sea environments or… well, you get the picture. Before the evening is out, you'll no longer be able to classify yourself, let alone anything else.

The point is, nature doesn't seem to have a classification system. We as humans impose our invented categories on nature, and sometimes they fit very nicely, and sometimes they confuse us. Knowledge seems to fall into some nice categories, but as soon as you start looking too closely, the classification begins to fall apart. For instance, take the carbon cycle. "All right," you say, "that's pretty clear. We establish that the carbon cycle is a principle. Carbon goes from one stage to another, and you can predict what will happen next if you know the relevant conditions. It's not a procedure, because people don't 'do' the carbon cycle. Yep, that's a principle."

And, of course, you're right, the carbon cycle is a principle. But if you think too hard, you'll realize that there are a whole bunch of other principles involved in the carbon cycle, too, like the laws of thermodynamics that "rule" the molecular reactions. Annoying thoughts about concepts ("define 'respiration'") and even facts ("what is the 'carbon cycle?'") darken your brow. Beads of sweat blur your vision. You doubt that you've got it right after all.

What to do? Ignore your doubts. You probably got it right the first time, if you simply thought about it from the point of view of your learners. They're trying to understand what happens to carbon--how it gets "recycled" through various stages as a gas and a solid. These particular learners, at this time, aren't interested in the laws of thermodynamics. 

So, go ahead, classify your objectives. Do it carefully but sensibly--don't get caught up in fine distinctions. In cases where you have a hard time deciding, put yourself in your learners' shoes and think about how they are likely to perceive it. Then you can specify an appropriate instructional strategy. In those rare instances where you realize there really are, say, some important facts or concepts involved, you can always go back and include those as separate sub-tasks in your task analysis and even write separate objectives for them if you feel they're important enough. Remember, ADDIE isn't a linear process. You can always "jump" backward or forward to a phase you need to revise or anticipate.

OK, you've classified each of your objectives as dealing primarily with facts, concepts, procedures, or principles, and you've indicated whether you want learners to be able to "apply" or merely "remember" them. Now you can assign instructional strategies.

Specifying instructional strategies

For specifying instructional strategies, we'll combine two complementary approaches: Merrill's component display theory (CDT) and Gagné's events of instruction. Both are based on the idea that people benefit from several "components" (Merrill) or "events" (Gagné) in order to learn something.

CDT emphasizes "componetizing" the learning experience by sequencing it into a number of individual events -- so that, as designers, we avoid adding extraneous information that might limit, or even impede, learning. Gagné takes a somewhat more organic approach, and takes into account instructional motivation.

Merrill specifies different configurations of components for learning different types of knowledge. Variations of CDT are often used for designing instructional products like workbooks or multimedia, while Gagné's events lend themselves to designing instructional programs like courses or workshops.

Both systems, however, are based on the same fundamental ideas about learning and together they give us a grammar and syntax, as it were, of instructional design. We will synthesize the two approaches by looking first at component display theory, then seeing how that fits in the context of Gagné's events.

Component Display Theory (CDT)

As mentioned above, CDT specifies discrete components--seven of them--that help people learn. They are (1) objectives, (2) information, (3) examples, (4) practice, (5) feedback, (6) help, and (7) wraparound material, consisting primarily of motivational statements and directions.

Depending on the type of skills and knowledge you want learners to acquire (based on the content/performance matrix) you can specify a different mix of those components. Lest you panic ("Whoa! there are 2 x 5 = 10 -1 = 9--count 'em--nine different types of performances in that matrix!"), you'll be relieved to know that CDT lumps all the "remember" level objectives into a single strategy, since remembering one thing is pretty much like remembering another. Only the "apply" strategies require separate treatment.

The remember strategy

(1) Objective: The remember level strategy begins, as do all the strategies, by clearly communicating to the learner what they will be able to do when they have completed the instruction. This just means stating the objective you already wrote awhile back.

(2) Information: This is where you state the fact, define the concept, describe the process, specify the steps of the procedure, or state the principle.

(3) Help: Elaborate on the information, make it easier to remember. Present it in simpler terms, provide an analogy or diagram, give an example, relate it to something they already know, provide an acronym or rhyme. If possible, anticipate the errors people tend to make and give specific help in that area.

(4) Practice: Give learners opportunities to try remembering the fact, concept, process, procedure, or principle. Give them test items similar to those you will use to determine whether they are remembering correctly. If there is a lot to remember (memorizing a long speech, for instance), you may need to chunk it down into smaller pieces and give learners time to "digest" before putting all the pieces together into a single "memorable" performance.

(5) Feedback: Following close on the heels of practice, give learners the correct answers to the practice items. If possible, diagnose errors and provide remediation.

The apply concept strategy

As you may recall, a concept is a group of objects, symbols, or events that share common characteristics. Apply concept types of objectives require learners to identify examples that belong to the group, or discriminate between those that do and don't belong to the group, or perhaps identify the presence of absence of a specific characteristics of an example that would either place that example in the group or not, as the case may be.

(1) Objective: As always, start the learner out with a clear idea of what you want them to be able to do.

"At the end of this lesson, you will be able to recognize bacteria."

(2) Information: State the definition of the concept. Even if you're not asking them to remember the definition (this is an apply strategy, after all), they'll need to be able to refer to it.

"Bacteria is a microorganism with no chlorophyll, that reproduces asexually."

(3) Examples: Present several examples of the concept. Start with a typical example and move towards less typical examples. For instance, when people around the world think of "birds" they tend to think of robin-like birds, rather than, say, ostriches or chickens.

If the concept is complex, provide a range of examples that vary irrelevant characteristics one at a time. With respect to birds, irrelevant characteristics include coloration, body shape, beak or foot types, and whether or not they fly. Be sure to point out the relevant, or critical characteristics (feathers, egg-laying, etc.), as well as the irrelevant ones.

Depict examples when possible. Show illustrations or diagrams of concrete concepts. Use graphs or verbal representations of abstract concepts.

Non-examples are instances of closely related concepts--concepts that share some, but not all, of the critical characteristics. A non-example of a bacteria might be blue-green algae. Like bacteria, blue-green algae are microorganisms that reproduce asexually, but unlike bacteria they have chlorophyll.

(4) Help: Sometimes, providing an analogy for the concept is helpful. An analogy is another, already familiar concept that shares the same form or structure as the concept you are trying to teach. An analogy often used for teaching children the concept of mitochondria is that of a factory, converting energy into food.

(5) Practice: Present an assortment of examples and non-examples (one's that you didn't present earlier), and ask learners to distinguish between them.

(6) Feedback: Give learners the correct answers to the practice examples. If possible, detect errors and provide remediation. For instance, if a learner mistakenly classifies a lizard as a bird, point out that, while lizards, like birds, do lay eggs, they do not have feathers.

The apply procedure strategy

Procedures are step-by-step instructions for performing specific tasks. The key to teaching procedures is to demonstrate them and provide opportunities for enough practice to ensure eventual mastery.

(1) Objective: State the procedure the learner will be able to carry out by the end of the instruction.

(2) Information: For a procedure, the information generally consists of a step-by-step demonstration of the procedure itself, accompanied by an explanation of each step. Be sure to chunk the procedure into small enough steps that novices can follow it. If there are decision points that branch to different steps, be sure to indicate how to make an appropriate decision.

(3) Help: Clarifying a procedure with diagrams or illustrations is often most helpful. Research indicates that mediated demonstrations are most effective when shown from the learners point of view. That is, if the learner is removing a nut from a bicycle by turning a wrench counter-clockwise, show it from the angle the learner sees it, rather than that of a spectator on the other side of the bike. On the other side, the motion will be seen as clockwise.

Point out common errors in performing the procedure and guide learners as to how to avoid them. Define and explain any unfamiliar terms or symbols.

(4) Practice: Since procedures are, by definition, always conducted the same way, it is unnecessary to provide multiple examples. Instead, learners need to practice the steps of the procedure, either as isolated steps or as an whole procedure, depending on the difficulty of the task. For many tasks, learners will need multiple practices. If the context in which they are to perform the procedure is critical, try to simulate the context to whatever extent possible. For instance, if combat medics must perform procedures in short order amid noise and confusion, let them practice doing it in the classroom, first, then give them a simulation with at least some of the elements of real combat and let them practice it there.

(5) Feedback: Provide feedback at each step to help learners check whether they have correctly completed it. This may be in the form of an illustration ("Here is the bicycle power train following disassembly.") or a verbal description ("The patient should now be breathing a little easier."). Where possible, anticipate errors and provide remediation ("If the batter is too dry, check to be sure you added enough oil in step 3.").

The apply principle strategy

You may recall that principles are guidelines or rules that can be applied in a range of situations. Before learners can begin to apply a principle, they must be able to identify situations in which the principle applies.

(1) Objective: State that by the end of the instruction, learners will be able to apply the principle in a variety of situations.

(2) Information: State the principle itself, and any guidelines that will help the learner implement the principle. For the principle, "Include subordinates in decision making processes," you might recommend the following guidelines:

1. Subordinates feel more ownership of decisions in which they take part.

2. Include those subordinates who will be directly affected by the decision.

3. The more important a decision is, the more likely it is that subordinates will want to have a "say."

4. When you need to make a quick decision, you want as few people as possible involved in the decision-making process.

5. Include subordinates in decisions to the extent to which you wish to create a "culture" of shared decision-making in the organization.

6. If carrying out the decision successfully depends on the "buy-in" of subordinates, include them at some level of the process.

(3) Help: In many cases, you will need to elaborate on the principle or guidelines involved, by explaining "why" each is important and "how" it may affect, for example, the decision making process. You may also want to present an analogy from a different domain that will help learners understand the principle. For instance, sports team analogies are frequently used for organizational management principles such as decision making. Teachers helping students learn about principles of democracy might use a family analogy.

(4) Examples: Provide a range of examples and non-examples featuring a variety of situational contexts. For the shared decision making principle, for instance, you might describe situations in which faster or more deliberate decisions were required, or greater or lesser impact is expected to result from the decision, or the organization in question is attempting to create an organizational culture of shared decision making. Show how managers dealt with each of those situations, along with the outcomes in each case. For non-examples (undesirable outcomes), point out specific guidelines that were ignored.

(5) Practice: Unlike procedures, in which the actual performance closely resembles the instructional practice, applying principles requires "transfer" to novel, unexpected situations. No one, including the managers themselves, can foresee all the decisions they will have to make. To increase the chances that they will be able to apply the principles in new situations, provide multiple practices with varied situations.

Practices may involve written descriptions of situations requiring a written response, or role-plays in which learners must handle situations in "real time." As with procedural practices, multimedia simulations can provide more authentic context.

(6) Feedback: In some cases, individual reflection or small group feedback can help learners analyze how they might improve their performance applying principles. When individualized feedback is impractical, present a "correct" application of the principles for each practice situation, and explain why it is correct. If possible, anticipate learners' probable mistakes and provide remedial explanations.

These component display theory (CDT) strategies cover a wide range of instructional situations, but are most often used in designing self instructional products such as computer based training (CBT) or workbooks. Now let's turn to Gagné's events of instruction, which are frequently invoked when designing classes or workshops. Notice that these events are quite similar to the components of CDT.

Gagné's events of instruction

Robert Gagné identified a set of important instructional events--things that promote efficient and effective learning. The list here is based on a list of Gagné's events adapted by Dr. Bernie Dodge.

Motivation

Learning is itself a performance, and we saw earlier that motivation is one of the four factors that "drive" performance. Here are some ways to promote instructional motivation.

Novelty	Do or show something out of the ordinary.
Arouse Uncertainty	Present something that contradicts or seems to contradict what the learners already know. (Be sure to allow the learners to resolve the uncertainty at some point.)
Cite Model	Describe someone the learners would identify with who has mastered this content. Or... if the learners identify strongly with you, use yourself.
Establish Relevance	Describe how the lesson relates to future needs and activities of the learner.
Raise Confidence	State that the learner will be able to master the content even if that seems unlikely at the moment.
Establish Reward	Describe how mastery of the objective will be rewarded (or how non-mastery will be punished).
Establish Credibility	Describe whatever it is in your background that makes you a credible source for this information.

Objectives

As we've noted several times, stating the objectives for a lesson has several benefits, not the least of which is helping them marshal their attention and other resources to the specific task at hand. Here are two methods to achieve this.

State Formal Objectives	Be explicit about exactly what you're expecting the learner to be able to do when the lesson is over.
State Informal Objectives	State what the learner will learn without going into specifics about the conditions and standards of performance.

Prior knowledge

Prior knowledge is not specifically called out in component display theory. Reminding people what they already know about a topic or about an analogous topic can help get them "up to speed" more quickly. Here are two methods.

Cite Previous Learning	Remind learners of past experience that the present lesson will build on.
Use Analogy	If the present lesson has some similarity to something the learner already knows, describe the similarity.

Information Presentation

You might use component display theory in conjunction with the guidelines under this heading to help you decide exactly which information and examples to present and how to present them when teaching specific kinds of content and performances. Here are nine different strategies to help present information.

Provide Overview	Describe at a general level the information that you're about to present.
Provide Background	Describe new information that is necessary before going into detail in the present lesson.
Give Definition	Define a new term or terms before using them.
Examples	Give examples of concepts and principles.
Demonstration	Perform procedures, step by step. Or illustrate how a principle works by showing the principle in action.
Rhetorical Questioning	Introduce a topic by asking about it, rather than telling about it. Make clear that answers are not expected by not pausing too long before going on.
Discussion	Let learners provide some of the content through your guidance. Encourage participation by all.
Analogies	Describe your topic in terms of its parallels with something else that the learners are likely to be familiar with.
Summary	Review what has been presented highlighting the important aspects.

Practice & Feedback

Again, CDT may provide some guidance on practice and feedback for specific types of skills and knowledge.

Vicarious Practice	Let learners watch someone else practice the skill.
Simulation	Provide a simulated situation which allows learners to practice the skill.
Drill	Provide quick presentation of test items followed immediately by feedback.
Individual Practice	Learners work solo practicing the skill in the absence of immediate feedback.
Guided Practice	Allow learners to practice the skill one step at a time with help available on request at any point.
Group Feedback	Provide solutions to problems to whole group, letting individuals evaluate their own response.
Peer Feedback	Allow students to evaluate each other's performance, with input on request from the instructor.
Delayed Feedback	Learners turn in products of their performance for evaluation by the instructor to be returned at a later session.
Role Play	A type of simulation particularly appropriate for affective objectives and the development of interpersonal skills.

Testing

This is where you actually assess whether learners have met the lesson objectives. See Module 9 on writing test items to match objectives and their corresponding knowledge types.

Student Self Test	Learners test their skills on their own with no record going to the instructor.
Pre Test	Test given to determine deficiencies in entering skill level so that some students can be given remediation.
Post Test	Summary test of performance.

Enrichment & Remediation

In many course settings, such as K-12 classrooms, some students will complete the basic skills and knowledge instruction more quickly than others. This provides an opportunity to "push" them with enrichment activities. If some students do not master the objectives, there are two possibilities to consider. First, your instruction may be faulty. Second, the instruction was fine, but some students still didn't get it. If you determine the latter to be the case, provide remediation for those students.

Peer Tutoring	Put students who have mastered the material together with those who need help.
Extra Credit Assignment	Allow advanced students to work on an extension of the content that will challenge them.
Remedial Work	Assign extra practice for those who are falling behind.

Other

This category is particularly relevant to classroom instruction, though it may hold true for some types of mediated instruction, such as on-line or other distance learning courses as well.

Administration	Pass out or collect materials. Make announcements.
Social	Time for students and instructor to get acquainted, chat. Establish friendly environment.
Break	Interval for refreshment, stretching, biology.
Rearrange Classroom	Have learners move into another configuration... seated in groups, move to computers, etc.

These events of instruction, taken together with component display theory, provide an excellent approach for planning instructional sequences, be they programs or products. Once you know the kinds of events and displays you need to present to your learners, you can choose an appropriate delivery system, assuming it has not already been chosen for you.

Media selection

Choosing appropriate media for delivering instruction may not be a science, but here are some guidelines that can help:

Print

Printed texts and workbooks are relatively inexpensive to develop and deliver, and may eliminate the need for an instructor, let alone technological delivery systems such as computers or video machines. You don't usually need to train learners to use print materials, and they can control where, when, and how fast they want to learn. Print materials are relatively easy to revise, and can be stored indefinitely for future reference by learners. Print provides both text and graphics, and can provide limited feedback by giving learners the correct answers.

Print materials are less interactive than some other media, and rely more on learners to participate in diagnosing errors and seeking remediation. Print doesn't provide dynamic representation or sound.

Video

Video actually includes a broad range of delivery systems, from broadcast and cable television to digital video embedded in multimedia products to videocassettes. For the moment, we'll ignore broadcast and cable, address multimedia in a later section, and deal only with videocassettes.

Video can present dynamic visualization of data, including fast- and slow-motion, macro and micro photography, and animation. Dynamic visualization means frequent "state changes," helping maintain learner attention and motivation. Video also uses both visual and auditory channels, helping learners process information. Learners can control the pace of instruction, to some extent, by stopping and starting the videocassette player, but it is cumbersome to locate and review material by rewinding and fast-forwarding the tape.

Videocassettes are relatively expensive to develop and somewhat expensive to distribute, and learners must have a videocassette player and know how to use it. Linear video is relatively non-interactive, making practice and testing difficult, and in most cases is designed (or non-designed) to encourage passive learning.

Instructor-led courses and workshops

Instructor-led courses and workshops are relatively inexpensive to develop and revise. They can be adapted to learners' needs "on the fly" and may be designed to be highly interactive, at least on the whole group level. A good instructor can be highly motivating, though a poor one may have the opposite effect.

Courses and workshops may be expensive to deliver when you take into account factors such as facilities costs, instructor salary and travel, and student travel. They offer little opportunity for individualization of content, pace, or location, and are usually not very individually interactive. Traditional instructional methods like lecturing may rely excessively on passive learning, though student-centered, inquiry learning can help alleviate this problem.

Multimedia

Computer-based or web-based multimedia instruction can provide dynamic visualization, interactivity, and individualized instruction more easily than some other media. Learners can control the pace and, sometimes, the location of instruction. Multimedia is highly motivating for some learners, and is capable of providing immediate feedback and remediation. Well-designed computer-based training can track student progress and aid in course management.

Multimedia instruction is expensive to develop and revise, and may be expensive to deliver when you consider both media and the computers on which it will be delivered. Learners must sometimes be trained to use the instruction itself, and, even at its best, computers cannot provide some types of practice.

These are some of the pro's and con's of four types of delivery systems. These are not the only ways to deliver instruction (consider, for example, on-the-job training--OJT), and within each type there are significant subtypes, such as intelligent computer assisted instruction and simulations.

There are two bottom lines. First, no delivery system is superior to the events of instruction of which it is made. You might choose the best delivery system for your learners, but if you deliver ill-conceived instruction, all will be for naught. Second, there is usually no single best delivery system. You will nearly always use a combination of delivery systems. Print materials often accompany instructor-led courses and workshops, videocassettes, and computer based multimedia. Videocassettes may supplement instructor-led or multimedia instruction, and textbooks often come with videocassettes and/or multimedia products.

Choose the right mix media delivery system for the learners, the type of content, the nature of the instructional events, and the other considerations mentioned above.

Module 10: Apply

Activity 1

Read the following scenarios and then choose which media would be most appropriate to use.
Remember that there is no one "best media." Usually a combination are used during a course, workshop or product. Click here for a review of how to choose appropriate media for delivering instruction.

	Instructor-led Training	Printed Training Manual	Multimedia
You are hired to teach nuclear power plant control-room trainees on procedures during an emergency. Which do you think is the best media to use?
	Instructor-led Training	Videocassettes	Multimedia
Your boss wants you to design training that is delivered six times a year, to 50 sites, for new employees on safety issues.
	Print Materials	Multimedia	Videocassettes
You are contracted to design a course on American History for students going back to get their high school equivalency degree.You decide to design a self-paced course that is interactive and students can complete on their own time. Which media would you use?
	Workshop	Power Point Presentation	Printed Materials
You are the technology coordinator for your high school and have been asked to help set-up the career fair for seniors. Each presenter at the career fair is asked to conduct a one hour workshop. One of the presenters is a stock broker who is worried that her presentation will bore the young students. She asks you which media would be most appropriate to make the workshop both interesting and informative.

Useful Links

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Component Display Theory (M.D. Merrill)
http://www.media.gwu.edu/~tip/merrill.html

Conditions of Learning (R. Gagne)
http://www.media.gwu.edu/~tip/gagne.html

Learning Concepts
http://www.media.gwu.edu/~tip/concepts.html

Learning Domains
http://www.media.gwu.edu/~tip/domains.html

Lessons Based on Component Display Theory
http://penta.ufrgs.br/edu/telelab/teclec/lesson_c.htm

Module 10: Reflect