• Appreciate the importance of analyzing students and their learning environment and the impact it has on design, development and delivery of a lesson
• Identify categories of information to analyze students and their learning environment
• Describe student analysis results and the possible impact it would have on the design and development of a course
• Describe methods for analyzing students and the learning environment

Do I really know my students and their learning environment?

Now that you have spent some time self-reflecting on your readiness to teach online, next it is time to ask…Who are my students? And under what conditions do they learn? What are their current skills and knowledge about the topic? Do they have the motivation to learn? How about their learning styles? What about prior experiences, their culture, values or their age? Do they have the resources (such as computers, time, access to the internet or library) which they will need to complete your lesson? What instructional media are available to them? What technology requirements do students have to meet in order to successfully participate in your course? What internet connectivity does your course/course materials require? What tools and software applications are necessary for students to actively participate in your course? And most importantly……are these available to them?

These factors all have an impact on the learning experience, and ultimately your student’s performance outcomes. Although you cannot create a course to meet everyone’s specific needs, the more you know about your students and the learning environment, the better equipped you will be when it comes time to make decisions about the design, and delivery of the lesson to ensure you meet their needs as well as yours.

This critical, analytic step in the course development process is often overlooked. Instead, we (instructors) plug along, create a lesson, and focus on the content to be taught and assuming that all students are equally as excited and interested. In this unit, we encourage you to take the time to find out more about your students and the learning environment so you can provide an optimal learning experience for them, as well as for yourself!

So, why analyze students?

Let us start with real life story…

In 2004, after noticing graduate students were not performing as expected on their research paper in the previous semesters, a Professor consulted with an Instructional Designer at the College of Public Health for advice. After an initial review of the course, the Instructional Designer conducted a student analysis to assess students’ skills, knowledge and experience with citing references, using online library resources, using scientific journals, and the rules of plagiarism. (These were the three most common problems with the papers.) What they uncovered was quite a surprise! Quite of a few students knew little about writing a scholarly paper, which was originally set as a pre-requisite to this graduate-level course. In the end, the instructor worked with the instructional designer to develop a self-paced module to teach students how to cite references, use reliable resources and avoid plagiarism. Students’ research paper improved greatly after the implementation of this learning module.

Before we elaborate, take a few minutes to view this digital story we created (still under construction). While watching this presentation pay particular attention to the categories of questions asked and the impact of the results on the design of the course. It should be evident by this digital story, the need and importance of conducting a student analysis before you design and plan a course.

What do we want to know about our students?

Results from an analysis of your students and the learning environment can uncover:

• General learner characteristics (age, gender, experience, education, ethnicity,
  cultural characteristics)
• Affective & social characteristics (motivation, attitudes. feelings toward peers and authority)
  Prior knowledge and skills
• Instructional media and resources available to the students
  
  

You are probably saying to yourself, “well that’s all well and good, but what will I do with this information?” Your results may have the following implications:

• It will drive the context of your instruction (those instructional strategies/ methods you will use in your lesson).
• It will drive your decisions about using individual vs. group activities, and if you do use groups, it may change the way you form your groups
• It will drive whether the format of your content - whether or not the content has text, images, audio, video or a mixture of all of these.
• It will drive the pace of your instruction and whether or not you have activities interspersed in your lesson or separate from your main lessons.
• It will drive the decision on what to teach!
• (E.g. you may think that the students are prepared for your topic, but they may be missing important skills or resources required to complete your lesson.)
• It will affect the ‘visual design’ of your lesson. The font size, colors, the amount of visual
  graphics vs. text.
• It will drive the examples you use to teach your topic. (E.g., I may use a clinical setting for an example with nurses and a public health setting as an example with health educators.)

Don’t worry about making these decisions now. You will learn more about the implications of learner characteristics on the design and development of your course in future units. In addition, your Instructional Designer will help guide you as you make these decisions
as well.

Learning Activity #1:

Technology as we know is constantly evolving. What is new and updated today is old in matter of days if not hours. Your student profile is no different. With the advent of newer technologies and easier integration into their daily lives, students can no longer be considered ignorant when it comes to technologies. As a matter of fact, they are coming to us with more and more experiences and knowledge of how the web and these collective technologies work. Needless to say, these students are changing the way technology is being used in higher education. Review this fascinating article on the tech-savvy net generation of students and the subsequent impact of educational technology and teaching practices to help these students learn. In addition, familiarize your self with the results of a COPH online student survey conducted a few semesters back at USF COPH. You will be able to dispel some of your own preconceived notions of who your students are today.

Take a minute here to reflect in your own words, why you think knowing and understanding your learners and their environment is important. Post your thoughts to the blog tool on the course site. (Blackboard access only) Throughout this module you will be recording your thoughts collectively and these will become a resource for you, as you get ready to design your first online course!

What tools are available to study learners?

Now that you understand the significance of a student analysis, the next logical question, what tools are available to me to learn my students? You can conduct your analysis using any of the following standard methods:

• surveys and questionnaires
• interviews
• observations
• suggestion box
• focus groups
• results from tests, exams, previous semesters

Try to use both qualitative and quantitative methods based on the types of questions you are asking. Here are some additional tips and tools that will get you started on this important step.

• View examples used in other schools to analyze students.
• Read the Tips for Writing Online Surveys document.
• Review the Learner Environment and Student Analysis Checklist to ensure you are asking the necessary questions
• Select at least 1 method (preferably 2) of collecting data based on the types of questions
  you decide upon
• Identify your sample of students and their potential learning environment
• Create the questions to use in your analysis
• Conduct your analysis and reflect on how you will act on these results using the
  Learning Environment and Student Analysis Review form.

As you may already realize, this unit is part 2 of a three part series. Self Analysis, Learning and Learning Environment Analysis and lastly Lesson Analysis. Understand that these elements are key in knowing how you will teach (and if you’re ready), who you will teach (and under what conditions) and finally what you will teach?

End of Unit 1.2