Tentative Program

Week 2:

Today's Agenda:

RECAP: Intros + Vision, Mission, Goals, Objectives + Bloom & Maslow

A- Website Design

B- Syllabus Design (Brief discussion)

• • What a syllabus should include
  • What a syllabus serves as
  • When to give the syllabus to our students

C- Course Design

• • SKAAs
  • How to best measure a course
  • What systematic instructional design is
  • What critical thinking entails (POLL) and how important it is in course design
  • Overview of the Dick & Carey Model
  • Front-end analysis to identify instructional goals
    1. 1. Needs assessment (Focus) 
       2. Performance analysis
       3. Job analysis

HW: In Groups

• • Group 1: Syllabus Design
  • Group 2: Course Design (Needs Assessment)
  • Group 3: Prepare a syllabus to share.

A- Website Design 

• • Start: Choosing design & title
  • Inserting text, dividers, images
  • Adding pages
  • Publishing site
    

B- Syllabus Design

A syllabus should include the following information:

1. 1. Goal & Rationale (why the course is important & how it fits in the discipline)
   2. Learning Objectives (based on Bloom & Maslow)
   3. Basic Information 
   4. Course Content (what topics will be covered)
   5. Student Responsibilities
   6. Grading Method (rubrics + when assignments will be due)
   7. Materials and Access
   8. Teaching Philosophy

A syllabus serves as:

1. 1. A contract
   2. A permanent record
   3. A learning tool

(Parkes & Harris, 2002)

Links:

• • Harvard University: Syllabus Design
  • University Of Illinois Urbana-Champaign: Creating a Syllabus
  • Rutgers University: What to put in a syllabus
    

C- Course Design

Courses and instructional events are developed in order to provide learners with the required (SKAAs)

• Skills to accomplish a task
• Knowledge to accomplish a task
• Attitudes to accomplish a task
• Abilities to accomplish a task

How is a course or an instructional event best measured?

A course is best measured by

• Its ability to assist learners in the mastery of the required SKAAs for the accomplishment of a given task 
• The application of those SKAAs and the value added by their application.

Systematic instructional design is:

• Performance based
• Learner focused
• Interactive
• Data driven

=> for creating effective instructional events.

It is an effective way of facilitating and replicating the design and development of instruction that achieves results.

What does critical thinking entail? (p.18) 

1. Be open-minded
2. Be objective
3. Seek root causes
4. View problem from multiple perspectives
5. Give a fair hearing to evidence on multiple perspectives
6. Suspend judgment until all pertinent information has been heard
7. Listen to contrary views
8. Change a conclusion in the face of compelling information.

An overview of the Dick and Carey Model

Front-End Analysis to Identify Instructional Goals

Front-end analysis consists of:

1. Needs Assessment or Needs Analysis
2. Performance Analysis
3. Job Analysis

According to instructional designers, the best approach for identifying instructional goals is performance technology in which instructional goals are set in response to problems or opportunities within an organization. (p.16)

Designers engage in needs assessment and performance analysis processes in order to:

1. Identify problems
2. Find causes of problems
3. List possible solutions
   • Identify instructional goals
   • Identify changes needed (seldom is instruction the single answer to a problem)

1. Needs assessment: Ways to conduct one (p.23) (Example)

• Surveys (past and present)
• Insightful interviews (individual or group interviews)
• Direct observations
• Questionnaires
• Other data collection techniques

Components of needs assessment

• Desired status
• Actual status
• GAP > need

Results of effective needs assessment

• Description of need
• Evidence of its validity
• Possible solutions

2. Performance analysis (p.18)

According to Dick & Wager (1995), performance analysis is the use of analytical tools for

• Identifying organizational performance problems
• Developing the most appropriate solutions

Purpose of performance analysis study (p. 20)

The purpose of performance analysis study is to

• Acquire information in order to
• Verify problems and
• Find solutions

Outcome of a performance analysis study

• Clear description of problems
  • Failure to achieve desired results      vs.
  • Desired and actual employee performance
• Evidence of problem causes
• Suggested cost-effective solutions

3. Job analysis (p.23)

• The people who work in the job + the environment surrounding the job provide the characteristics of the job.
• Task inventory: the tasks that comprise the job > duties
• Screen task inventory by
  • Asking SMEs (Subject Matter Experts)
  • Job incumbents
    if tasks are really part of the job
• Revise
• Format tasks as survey, response scales, directions
• Pilot test the survey
• Final revision
• Distribute survey to a sample of job incumbents
• Summarize responses on a task-by-task basis
• Choose high priority tasks for further review
• THEN, conduct a TASK ANALYSIS
  1. Break down tasks for review into component elements
  2. Explain in detail the relationships among elements
  3. Describe tools + conditions involved in performing each element
  4. Write standards for successful performance

Relevant Links:

• An overview of the Dick and Carey Model
• Conducting Needs Assessments to Inform Instructional Design Practices and Decisions
• Needs Assessment for Course Design
• A Problem-Solving Approach to Designing and Implementing a Strategy to Improve Performance
• Job Analysis: Overview
• Job Analysis
• How to Write a Job Analysis and Description

Main Textbook:

• "The Systematic Design of Instruction" by Dick, Carey & Carey (Digital)

Additional Textbooks:

• "Understanding by Design" by Wiggins & McTighe
• "50 Strategies to Boost Cognitive Engagement" by Rebecca Stobaugh
• "Teaching Students to Drive Their Brains" by Wilson & Conyers

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