THE VALUE OF LEARNER ANALYSIS

We have heard this phrase always: “Know your audience!” If you’re making a speech, you are taught to know your audience. If you’re writing a paper, you are taught to know your reader. If you’re selling a product, you are taught to know your consumer. So if we are designing lesson, we need to know our learners!

In the ASSURE model we call this a learner analysis. It is the process we go through to find out who we are designing the lesson for.

The ASSURE model is a six-step Instructional Systems Design (ISD), intended to help teachers utilize technology and media in the classroom. ASSURE is a way to ensure that the learning environment is appropriate for students. ASSURE can be used in lesson plans to improve your own teaching and your students’ learning while using technology. The ASSURE acronym stands for these important components:

The ASSURE model is a fantastic way to plan effective, media-rich lessons. ASSURE is based on “Events of Instruction.” The model is Constructivism-based; in other words, it is a framework that assumes passive learners will not learn at their best; learners must be actively participating in their own learning, interacting with their environment and peers. ASSURE also recognizes the different learning styles of all students.

In analysis stage of ASSURE model , information such as the number of students, grade or age level, gender, socio-economic factors and cultural or other types of diversity,  learning styles such as  auditory, visual, and tactile/kinesthetic,  prior knowledge of topic; psychosocial characteristics, such as motivation, attitudes, socioeconomic, is very vital to be considered.

Here are some of the values of learner analysis

·         The number and location of our learners will affect our choice of teaching strategy (i.e. e-learning vs. teacher-led vs. on-the-job).

·         The experience and knowledge level of our learners affects the kind of activity choices during the lesson.

·         The cultural mix of our learners will affect what we say and how we say it during the lesson.

·         The presence of subject-matter experts (SMEs) in our future learner group will affect the structure of our class, as we may want to use them in some way to help teach the novices in the group.

·         The knowledge of any physical disabilities of our learners will affect our choice of classroom and classroom layout.

·         It helps to determine the best teaching methods for specific learners in a specific context, attempting to obtain a specific goal.

Therefore in order to become skilled in today’s classrooms it is crucial to know when to use a wide range of instructional strategies and passive and interactive media.