COLEGIO DE DAGUPAN

School of Professional Studies

Arellano Street, Dagupan City

ANALYSIS OF LEARNING AND LEARNING CONTEXT

Title of Report

Context: Analyzing the Learners

In many cases instruction is developed without any consideration given to who the learners are.
However, by understanding the learners, educators are better able to arrange the environment to
increase the probability of student learning. There are many factors that affect how an individual learns
from a particular learning environment. Here are a few:

Cognitive abilities of the learner.

Previous experiences of the learner.
Motivation.
Personal learning style.
Clarity of the message.
Interaction with the learning environment.

Dick and Carey (1978) describe the process of analyzing learners and identify a set of learner
characteristics shown to affect learning above and beyond general characteristics such as age, grade
level, and topic being studied. These characteristics are:

Entry Behaviors - These are skills associated with learning the goal that must already be mastered.
What should learners already know how to do in order to be successful with the new instruction? In the
last lesson you determined specific entry behaviors related to your goal, but there may also be some
general entry behaviors that were overlooked in the instructional analysis yet would be useful to
mention at this point. For example, the ability to read, or the ability to perform basic math functions.
Prior Knowledge of the Topic Area - What must learners already know about the topic?
Attitudes Toward Content and Potential Delivery System - What are the learners' impressions and
attitudes about a topic and how it might be delivered? In other words, will they have any preconceived
notions about the topic or the delivery system?
Academic Motivation - How motivated are learners to learn the topic, and how much is it likely to
interest them? You might want to ask potential learners these questions:
How relevant is the instructional goal to you?
What aspects of the goal interest you most?
How confident are you that you could successfully perform the goal?
How satisfying would it be to you to be able to perform the goal?

Educational and Ability Levels - What are the achievement and general ability levels of the learners?
This helps determine the kinds of instructional experiences they may have had and their ability to cope
with new and different approaches to instruction.
General Learning Preferences - What types of learning approaches do the learners prefer? For
example, lecture, seminar, case study, small-group, or web-based?
Attitudes Toward Training Organization - How do the learners feel about the organization providing the
training? Do they have a positive view of management and peers, or are they cynical about
leadership? With teachers, you may already know your students' attitudes about school, but keep in
mind that some students actually like school, while others may hate it. It's important to know which kind
of students you will be interacting with.
Group Characteristics - Is there heterogeneity within the target population? If so, you want to make
sure to accommodate any diversity. Also, get a general overall impression of the target population
based on interactions with them.
While this may seem like a lot of information to collect about learners, it can be very helpful in
designing effective education programs. Furthermore, whenever possible attention should be paid to
both the performance and learning contexts. The sections below present questions that can help
shape an understanding of these contexts that can influence instructional design decisions.

Performance Context
While it is not always possible to understand the context in which learners will use their new skills and
knowledge after the instruction is completed (especially when designing for a diverse group of
students), it is helpful to consider ‘real world’ applications whenever possible. Therefore, consider the
following questions when designing instruction:

What type of organization and managerial support can learners expect to receive when they use their
new skills?
Will the use of their new skills depend on certain equipment, facilities, tools, or other physical aspects
of the site?
Will they work alone or in a team? Will they work independently in the field or as a supervisor?
How relevant are the new skills to the actual workplace? Will the new skills actually be used in the
performance setting? Are there any physical, social, or motivational constraints to the use of the new
skills?
Learning Context
The context in which learning takes place can greatly affect student's ability to learn. Noise,
distractions, ventilation, discomfort, lack of equipment and smells can all distract and mitigate learning.
It is important to consider the learning context and its ability to facilitate the subject being taught prior to
the commencement of class in order to optimize learning for all students. Consider the following
questions when planning the learning environment:

What are the characteristics of the sites? What equipment and resources are available?
Does the site include any tools or other items that are necessary for the learning goals? Are there any
personnel or time constraints that may influence the learning?
Are the sites convenient to the learners, are there necessary conveniences available, and is there
adequate space and equipment for the expected number of learners?
Does the learning environment adequately simulate the eventual work environment? Is there anything
that can be done to make it more like the work environment?
Is the learning environment comfortable, free from distraction and does it adequately enable learning?

References:

https://canvas.instructure.com/courses/803402/pages/lesson-2-context-analyzing-the-learner