Instructional Development (EDER675) February 24, THE WORK SETTING

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Instructional Development (EDER675)February
24, THE WORK SETTING PERFORMING JOB, TASK
AND CONTENTANALYSIS
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Agenda for tonight

• The Work Setting / Analysis
• Organization environments
• Organization culture
• 2. Job, Task Content Analysis
• procedures
• Transfer (cognitive) vs. Process (skills) tasks
• 3. Case 29 Mary Robbins

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Workplace Setting/Analysis
Workplace Setting Analysis

• Ed Admin. 700 on one slide
• Is the administration / work flow integrated or
  hierarchical?
• Bureaucratic - or less than bureaucratic?
• Division of labor
• Technocratic - or less technocratic?
• Division of expertise and related power regimes
• Is the organization open or closed?
• Is the organization pro-change or change averse?
• Is this a learning community or a production
  community?
• Is there a cultural component that is important?
• Do clear values support the mission/goals/policies
  ?
• Who leads?
• Employees
• Supervisors
• Committees

After Sergiovanni, 1990, Drucker, 1997
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The Main Instructional Development Concern about
the Work Environment is..
Workplace Setting Analysis

• The total surrounding context for the person or
  subject of interest.
• Because
• The instructional design process is a change
  effort that is intended to meet or avert
  deficiencies in knowledge, skills or attitudes.
• (Kazanas, 1998, p. 103).
• Considering
• Organization resource constraints (time, money,
  people, ) and culture affect
• The length of time a project can take
• Which media can be used
• Which instruction testing strategies can be
  used

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Weisbords (1993) Issues Analysis for
Instructional Developers and Designers
Workplace Setting Analysis

• What business are we in, and how does instruction
  contribute to that?
• How is the work divided up - How does the
  division of labor affect instruction
  (bureaucratic)?
• Do all the needed tasks have incentives, and what
  incentives exist for participating in - and
  applying instruction?
• Does the organization possess coordinating
  technologies - and does the instruction designed
  also possess coordinating technologies?
• How is conflict among the technologies managed -
  and how is that addressed through instruction?
• What part does instruction play in organization
  maintenance (adapted by Kowch).

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Workplace Setting Analysis How to Identify
which factors matter..
Workplace Setting Analysis

• Environments affecting ID development, delivery
  and application matter - especially if you are
  have a constructivist / inquiry designer
  epistemology.
• Focus on 3 environments
• 1. Development Environment
• 2. Delivery Environment
• 3. Application Environment

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Organization / ID Environment Assessment
Characteristics
Workplace Setting Analysis

• Developmental
• Desire to change
• Org philosophy
• Org operating philos.
• Org goals Plans
• Org structure
• Gap Type (Kn/Att/Sk)
• Resources Available
• Predisposition my mgt. To certain designs

• Delivery
• Lrnr indep. Pref.?
• Lrnr group Pref.?Lrnr dependence on instructor
• Place emphasis on content or Instr process?
• Lrnr competitive pref?
• Need for order/quiet
• Rule clarity (instr).
• Lrnr rule prefs
• Lrnr/Instr innovation-capacity for different
  venues/technologies

• Application
• Involvement
• Peer cohesion
• Supervisor support
• Autonomy
• Pressure
• Control
• Physical comfort
• Leader style
• Work style
• Worker capacity
• Job satisfaction
• Reward system
• Stress/psnl problms

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Organization / ID Environment Assessment
Characteristics
Workplace Setting Analysis

• Some High Performance Workplace Characteristics
  for Instructional Development (Work)
• Training and continuous learning
• Information sharing
• Employee participation
• Organization Structure
• Worker - Management partnerships
• Rewards systems exist and are understood
• Employee job security
• Supportive Work Environment

(Dubois and Rothwell, 1996)
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Setting Analysis Quality CheckAs a Developer,
Did I Get it Right?
Workplace Setting Analysis

• Was the analysis conducted?
• Was the analysis conducted at the proper time?
  Place?
• SWOT Analysis Is instruction right for this
  organization?
• Strengths of this org for T D
• Weaknesses of this org for T D
• Opportunities for T D
• Troubles foreseen with T D in this context
• Designer Competency Check
• Is the designer capable of explaining why they
  conducted a setting analysis and the reasons they
  chose to focus on certain features of the design,
  delivery and application environments?

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(Work Analysis) Job, Task and Content Analysis
Needs Assessment (finds the gap)
Learner Analysis (finds learner Characteristics)
Organization Analysis (Identifies Training
Constraints)
Work Analysis (procedures in the Org.) Identify
what worker does, how they do it, what mental and
physical Requirements exist,what kinds of tasks
are done, what Constitutes mastery or low
performance,
Create Perform. Objectives
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Agenda for tonight

• The Work Setting / Analysis
• Organization environments
• Organization culture
• 2. Job, Task Content Analysis
• procedures
• Transfer (cognitive) vs. Process (skills) tasks
• 3. Case 29 Mary Robbins

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Job Analysis
Job analysis

• Job analysis is a systematic examination of what
  people do, how they do it, and what results they
  achieve by doing it.
• Position the tasks and duties performed by an
  individual
• When do ID people do this
• When there is no job description
• The job description is outdated
• Decision makers want more from the job than the
  job is
• Why do a Job Analysis?
• Reality check what does Bob actually do?
• Reality check does Bob perceive that he does
  this?
• Reality check does the supervisor perceive that
  Bob does this as normal work
• Reality check we need to know this to plan for
  (job) change/growth.

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The 5 Step Job Analysis
Job analysis

• Identify the Jobs to be analyzed
• State the desired results from the analysis
• PLAN Prepare a plan to tell you
• Who will do the work
• What the analysis is for
• How the results will be applied
• Data collection and analysis methods
• DO the job Analysis

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Job Analysis Results(good for job-specific
training/instruction needs)
Job analysis

• 4 possible ID results needed from a Job
  analysis
• A Job description is created
• Activities, duties responsibilities are stated
• Å Job Spec Sheet is created
• Specifies entry level skill/knowledge for a job.
• A Task List is made
• Lists the activities performed by a job holder
  (incumbent)
• A Job Performance Standard is identified
• Minimum expectations for performance
• Task listings
• Job specifications

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Job Analysis (Planning for one)(good for
job-specific training/instruction needs)
Job analysis

• Who will do conduct it?
• Why do it?
• How will the results be used?
• Who depends on these results?
• What data collection analysis methods should
  be used?

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Job Analysis (Implementing the Plan or Doing
It)(good for job-specific training/instruction
needs)
Job analysis

• Do the plan steps (previous) to collect info.
  About jobs under investigation
• THE RESULTS
• A Job description
• A job specification
• A task listing

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Task Analysis Task Language
TASK analysis

• 2 Types of Tasks
• Cognitive Task (Mental performance).
  Unobservable performance. (Knowing cannot be
  observed by Kazanas Do not follow a prescribed
  order. IE Choose a personal computer.
• Also called a transfer task
• Goal Find a personal computer.
• Action Task (physical performance). Observable
  performance. Action causes change. Often a
  prescribed order. IE Change a light bulb.
• A series of behaviors involving person/person or
  person/object interaction
• A series of behaviors that changes the person in
  some way
• A series of behaviors that accomplishes a goal.
• CRITERIA for evaluating an action task
• Task has a beginning and an end
• Task is performed in relatively short time
  periods
• Task can be observed
• Task can be measured
• Task is independent of other actions

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Task Analysis
TASK analysis

• Knowing what they do,
• how they do it,
• why they do it
• A task analysis is an intensive examination of
  how people perform work activities.
• Tasks A discrete unit of work performed by an
  individual, it has a beginning and an ending.
• Subtasks the smallest step into which a work
  activity can be divided.
• Elements a step within a step separate
  time-motions
• Task listing A list of actions done in work.

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Task Analysis The Results
TASK analysis

• To determine the components of competency
  (competent performance)
• To identify activities that may be SIMPLIFIED or
  IMPROVED
• To determine exactly what a worker must
• KNOW
• FEEL
• DO to learn a specific work activity
• To clarify resources /conditions needed for job
  competency
• To establish minimum standards (expectations) for
  each task appearing in a job description.
• There are many techniques for Task Analysis
• See Leshin Pollock, Riegeluth, Dick and Carey,
  Smith and Ragan, Kazanas. And so on

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Task Analysis 5 Steps
TASK analysis

• Identify Jobs or tasks to be analyzed
• Clarify the desired results
• Prepare a Plan to do the Analysis
• Implement the Plan
• Analyze the results

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Step One Identify the Task to be Analyzed by
identifying the KIND of task
TASK analysis

• Procedural observable action processes (people
  machines)
• Example Filling a gas tank
• Process partly observable, bound to a particular
  process (people people)
• Example Equitable hiring practices
• Troubleshooting observe an outcome trace it
  back to the observable action that led to the
  outcome ( people machines or people people)
• Example I always get 2 copies of email from her.
  
• Mental Unobservable cognitive tasks
  (abstraction, compare/contrast). Sequences may be
  predictable. (person)

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Step 2 Clarifying the Desired Results
TASK analysis

• Ask yourself What do you want from this task
  analysis?
• Watch that your level of detail is not too fine.
• Jackson (1986) suggests
• 1. Find a task input
• 2. Find a task output
• 3. Figure out the steps between!
• Results can be application of an intellectual
  skill (comparison), a cognitive strategy
  (memory), verbal information, motor skill or
  attitude.

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Step 3 PLAN to do the Task Analysis
TASK analysis

• 3 Questions to guide your Task Analysis Plan
• 1. Who will do it?
• 2. What task performance will be examined?
• 3. How will I collect Analyze data?
• Remember the TIME and it will take to analyze
  a task.
• Will INSIDE ID people or EXTERNAL ID people do
  the analysis?
• Sources of Information to consider when Planning
  a Task Analysis
• Performers (master, average, low)
• Nonperformers (managers, people affected,
  resource people, SMEs, future performers)
• Documents (reference by performers to do tasks
  (manuals, online guides often list the tasks
  quite welloften)
• Environmental features The conditions of
  instruction and learning

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Steps 4 and 5 IMPLEMENTING the Task Analysis
TASK analysis

• 1. Break the job down into its component parts
• 2. Compare the parts with correct performance
  criteria.
• 3. Restructure the parts to create an improved
  task performance
• OUTLINE THE TEACHING AND LEARNING REQUIREMENTS
• To summarize To design OJT,
• Do a task list
• Analyze the task list
• Use the task list to become the basis for
  performance objectives
• Generate the instructional intervention to
  improve GAP tasks.

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Another approach to Task Analysis CONTENT
Analysis
CONTENT analysis

• We are still looking for a way to design
  instructional interventions that improve
  performance
• This is the process of braking large bodies of
  subject matter or tasks into smaller
  instructionally useful units. Can be called
  Chunking.
• Focuses on the information or knowledge
  requirements rather than on sequences or
  procedures
• Åssumptions
• Learners must know before they can do
• Work tasks might not be a good basis for
  instruction-- do all tasks boil down to a single
  set of tasks?
• Different instructional content might apply for
  different tasks.
• Go to Text page 135 Table 7.2

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6 Step Content Analysis
CONTENT analysis

• Identify the subject
• Identify what subject experts know
• See how people perform the mental activity by
• Asking them
• Observing work related activity
• Using other methods
• Conduct a lit search on the subject
• Develop a model of the subject
• Describe the subject
• There is an idea that if you study the content of
  a mental process or job, you will likely find an
  order or sequence that dictates what part of the
  content must be known before others, and known
  well for subsequent learning to occur.

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Content Analysis
CONTENT analysis

• Step 1 Identify the Subject (ie teaching
  writing skills).
• use databases
• Step 2 Investigate what Expert performers
  (master teachers) know
• use interviews, questionnaires, observations,
  docs, internet to explain what a subject is and
  how it relates to the work, and how they would
  orient a new person to the work.
• Step 3 Investigate how people perform the
  activity
• Check mental performance by job shadowing, other
  methods (see Leshin).
• Clarify what knowledge is applied in what
  setting, how people organize that knowledge.. Sit
  with performers while they work.
• Step 4 Conduct a lit search on the subject ID
  research too.
• Step 5 Create a model that fit the subject onto
  a performance plane flowcharts, events networks,
  graphic models organize information visually. You
  want to know what is done, when, and how well it
  must be done to design interventions for
  performance improvement. (Dick and Carey, 1994).
• Step 6 Describe the subject in a way that will
  facilitate learning by others. Present what must
  be known my experts. THIS IS GROUND FOR SETTING
  PERFORMANCE OBJECTIVES. NEXT.

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JUDGING WORK ANALYSIS
WORK analysis

• ASK YOURSELF
• Was the work done properly? (often you will be
  handed this work)
• Wrong analysis wrong design
• Was the purpose of the analysis clear at the end
  of the study?
• Was the job, content, task described well enough
  that you could understand what it takes to do
  the job?
• Did ways to improve job performance (tasks,
  content) jump out for you?
• Did you identify WAYS to instruct others (say new
  people) on how to do the job?
• What constraints affected the analysis? (, time,
  people, organization)
• What necessary resources were unavailable?
• How cooperative was the organization (measure of
  learning capacity).

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Competency Assessment

• Supplants Task Analysis today at times
• Competency can mean
• Knowledge
• Skills
• Attitude
• Competency is a degree of excellence in
  performance, using exemplars as excellence
  criteria.
• Competency assessment is the process of
  discovering the competencies of exemplars.
• Competency models are derived from competency
  assessment. They can be created for job
  categories, departments or organizations.
• Organizational competencies can be defined too.

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Competency Assessment

• Is popular as it is a more holistic way to
  approach training, as minute tasks and processes
  are less of a focus.
• A focus on knowledge, skills and attitudes is
  thought to be enough for the complex work world
  today.
• It is a model of intangibles (Kazanas).
• Approaches include borrowed (from another org.),
  process driven (doing a content and task analysis
  on a specific org. unit), isolating
  characteristics of exemplar performers and
  verifying the model.
• MINIMUM competencies are assessed via focus
  groups with both expert and non experts.
• There are trends driven approaches, and rapid
  assessment approaches where outputs, competencies
  roles and quality requirements from work
  functions, responsibilities and behaviors emerge.
  Gaps are filled by working on the gestalt by
  using behavioral interviewing in the group.
  (Delphi).

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Adieu for this week, EDER 675Readings for The
Next WeeksEstablishing Performance
ObjectivesWriting statements of Performance
ObjectivesChapter 8, Rothwell KazanasCase
Ross Caslon, Case 4 Context AnalysisEugene
G. KowchAssistant Professor of Educational
Technology