As teachers we create a great deal of learning material for our students. For courses, we find ourselves creating midterms, final exams, learning activities, homework assignments, final projects, handouts, lectures, screencasts, slide presentations, learning modules, websites, practice sheets, etc. We may create these things from scratch or by selecting from a myriad of resources such as a textbook, test bank, PowerPoint slides, websites, or digital libraries.
Regardless of where the content comes from, teachers still have to effectively package the information so that it educates the target audience - our students. It helps to know how our students learn so that we can create learning materials that will accommodate the many learning styles and preferences that our students have.
Ponder the following points.
Have you ever analyzed who your students are and how they learn?
Professional designers of instructional materials do this task all the time. Once the material is designed it is passed on to content developers for creation. As teachers, we are the instructional designers AND developers of our own material. So, we need to think like an instructional designer when coming up with the learning materials that we use in our courses.
What does it mean to analyze the learner?
In the instructional design world, the learner analysis is a process by which the designer attempts to determine how students learn by examining their background and demographics, prerequisite knowledge, skill set, and attitude towards the material. From my experience in teaching and designing course materials, I think that analyzing learners -
1) should take place before developing instructional content – knowing your student is crucial to developing engaging and content that is useful. When I create new materials, I usually do a learner analysis by surveying students at the end of the previous semester.
2) should ideally involve input from the students themselves – as teachers and developers of instructional materials, we need to understand our students' motivations, beliefs and needs in learning content.
3) should not be a long and laborious process – analyzing our students as learners must be quick and precise to produce good information. I use quick polls, analyze student responses on discussion forums and ask students questions through email.
4) should involve documentation that is reviewed by the intended users and revised accordingly – when you analyze your students, you should keep notes on your process. I do this by tracking semester surveys in Google surveys which uses spreadsheets for the results. When I design course materials, I use previous results which ensures accountability in the development process and also maximizes the chances of success.
What are the REAL benefits to analyzing your students as learners?
There are several benefits to analyzing your students as learners.
Benefit #4 - Analyzing your students gives you the opportunity to develop a model or profile of your typical student. When I develop assessments and learning assignments, I use a model of my "minimally proficient" student - these are the students that end up passing but struggle during the semester. Using this benchmark allows me to create materials that address the weakest students in my course. Then, from there I can enhance the learning activity to attempt to pull these students up and challenge them to be "A" students.
Benefit #5: Defining the learning personality and behaviors of your students fosters a more student-centered design of your materials. By doing this, you avoid making a common mistake that many teachers make. That is making assumptions about what instructional material is best for your students based on YOUR own preferences and experiences. One common example is when teachers design exams to a certain length based on how long it takes them to complete the questions.
References
Part 2 of 2 of this series:
Instructional Design for Teachers | Analyzing Your Student as Learner (Part 2 )
Simply Psychology - Maslow's Hierarchy of Needs
http://www.simplypsychology.org/maslow.html
There are several benefits to analyzing your students as learners.
Benefit #1: You focus on the the background and orientation of your students as learners who will benefit from the instruction.
Benefit #2: It is valuable to know the intent and expectations of the learners. In general, a typical learner desires to learn something new, review something already known, be inspired or be encouraged.
Benefit #3: It is good to learn what problems learners want to solve by receiving your instructional materials. This approach follows Maslow's Hierarchy of Needs which presents the typical learners' needs in five levels -
Benefit #2: It is valuable to know the intent and expectations of the learners. In general, a typical learner desires to learn something new, review something already known, be inspired or be encouraged.
Benefit #3: It is good to learn what problems learners want to solve by receiving your instructional materials. This approach follows Maslow's Hierarchy of Needs which presents the typical learners' needs in five levels -
Image source: Maslow's Hierarchy of Needs (http://www.simplypsychology.org/maslow.html)
Benefit #4 - Analyzing your students gives you the opportunity to develop a model or profile of your typical student. When I develop assessments and learning assignments, I use a model of my "minimally proficient" student - these are the students that end up passing but struggle during the semester. Using this benchmark allows me to create materials that address the weakest students in my course. Then, from there I can enhance the learning activity to attempt to pull these students up and challenge them to be "A" students.
Benefit #5: Defining the learning personality and behaviors of your students fosters a more student-centered design of your materials. By doing this, you avoid making a common mistake that many teachers make. That is making assumptions about what instructional material is best for your students based on YOUR own preferences and experiences. One common example is when teachers design exams to a certain length based on how long it takes them to complete the questions.
References
Part 2 of 2 of this series:
Instructional Design for Teachers | Analyzing Your Student as Learner (Part 2 )
Simply Psychology - Maslow's Hierarchy of Needs
http://www.simplypsychology.org/maslow.html
Additional Resources
Free 'Clickers' for All: Using Google Forms to Survey Your Students
Google Surveys https://www.google.com/forms/about/
Using Google Forms for Student Engagement and Learning
