Education for a Digital World Advice, Guidelines and Effective Practice from Around Globe, 2008a

10 – General Principles of Instructional Design
• communication weaknesses;
• illiteracy or lack of knowledge; or
• a combination of these problems.
Remember that a simple approach such as a job aid,
perhaps a checklist, a print-based package, or a trainer
hired for a short time, may be the most reasonable solution.
Tip
Remember that many problems can be solved with
simple solutions.
A needs assessment can also result in a statement of:
• the difference between wants and needs;
• the range of skills and knowledge that are available,
and the range needed;
• how to bridge the gap between optimal workers and
the less-accomplished workers;
• individual opinions and feelings;
• any factors that can interfere with learning;
• potential solutions for problems; and
• ideas for meaningful examples, cases, problems, and
questions for use in the instructional solution.
Any resulting clearly defined instructional goal(s) should
be:
• cost-effective;
• reached by consensus; and
• achievable with respect to time and resources.
Conduct a goal analysis
A goal analysis results in a visual statement of what the
learner will be able to do. Consider the goal of a learner
who wants to learn how to film with a camcorder. Figure
10.2 illustrates how this general goal can be broken
down into specific learner requirements.
Figure 10.2 Goal analysis for operating a camcorder
To analyze a goal, describe in detail the consecutive
steps the learner will complete to achieve the goal. As a
rule of thumb the task should involve five to 15 steps. If
there are more than 15 steps, the goal is either too big or the
steps are too detailed. Some of these steps may be intangible,
such as making an estimate of materials needed.
Some steps may require a decision that results in two or
more alternate paths. Focus on what learners need to do
or perform, rather than what learners need to know.
Goal analysis includes classifying the goal into the
domain, or kind of learning that will occur. The domains
can be verbal information where learners state,
list, describe, name, etc., intellectual skills such as
learning how to discriminate, identify, classify, demonstrate,
generate, originate, create, etc., psychomotor
skills where learners make, draw, adjust, assemble, etc.,
and attitudes such as making choices or decisions [see
Fenrich (2005) for details on these domain classifications].
Establishing the domain is important in determining
what instructional strategies to use in
subsequent steps.
Conduct a subordinate skills
analysis
The sequential steps derived in the goal analysis are often
too large to be taught in one step. The learner might
need more information prior to learning a step. This can
be seen in step 7 in Figure 10.2, where the learner needs
some information about zooming in or out. Consequently,
you need to break the steps into smaller components,
using a subordinate skills analysis. When
identifying subordinate skills, ensure the components
are not too numerous, which can bore learners and interfere
with learning, or too few, which can make the
instruction ineffective. For each learning domain classification,
you need to conduct a different type of subordinate
skills analysis:
VERBAL INFORMATION
With verbal information, you should derive the subordinate
skills through a cluster analysis. In conducting a
cluster analysis, identify all of the information that is
needed to achieve the goal. After you gather the information,
organize the information into logical groupings.
Logical groupings should have up to five pieces of information
for weaker or younger learners, or up to seven
pieces of information for brighter or older learners. A
few people can handle nine pieces of information but it
is risky to assume that all learners in the target audience
can do this. Humans can only process a limited amount
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