eJournal Entry 3: Analyzing Learners -- by Ami Stovall

Analyzing Learner Characteristics

Demographic Characteristics

For my eJournal Entry 3, I am charged with analyzing the learner characteristics as it relates to the design of my supplemental instructional course. The purpose of this process is to design and develop instructional materials that will meet a particular objective/need. As I mentioned in my eJournal Entry 2, I chose this topic because during my various teaching and learning experiences working with students who are taking introduction level high school/college-level chemistry courses, they are falling short with the problem-solving skills needed to fully comprehend the topic of content that is essential to know when moving on to various vital career paths such as nursing, premed, prepharmacy school, and others, which in turn, can be ultimately a huge problem. As a result, a fellow colleague and I felt that there was a need to create the above-mentioned supplemental instruction for those learners who aren’t fully grasping the required student learning outcomes in this area of the content. So, for my project, Introduction to Chemistry Problem Solving using the Metric & United States Common System (USCS), there are various things that I need to consider as I design and developed a help-session course for my target audience, the learners of the content.

As part of this process, I will look into the learners of my supplemental course as it relates to the course and location of the course that they are struggling in Dallas College: 2020-2021 Catalog - Course Descriptions for CHEM (dcccd.edu). For the initial, introductory to chemistry course, there is no prerequisite to enroll in this course, which is important as it relates to the individual learners who will have various levels of math skills, come from various age groups that may range from age 16, sophomore high school learners, to the emeritus senior adult learners. In addition, I need to learn more about these students whose current performance within the core curriculum introductory to chemistry level college I would like to improve upon. To accomplish this, there are a series of questions that I would like to explore on my learners that are asked of them via a student questionnaire including:

• Is this content interesting to them, or will it fulfill a requirement within their individual degree plan(s)?
• What are the learners' ability levels and educational background?
• What do learners know about this subject matter before entering my course?
• What do learners need to know before taking my supplemental course?
• What is the learner’s comfort level with graphing calculators and technology in general?
• What is the learner’s individual background knowledge, educational level, and abilities?
• What is the learner’s individual comfort level in math and science?
• What is the learner’s individual learning style?
• What is the learner’s preference regarding instructional delivery method (i.e. – face-to-face, online learning, or hybrid instruction)?
• What motivations do the learners have for taking this course?
• What predetermined ideas or beliefs about the subject matter do the learners have if any?
• What predetermined ideas or beliefs do the learners have about the way the course will be taught if any?
• What prerequisite knowledge do learners have prior to taking my supplemental course?

Of note, academically, the college district that I am creating my supplemental course for is Dallas College, which requires that students adhere to the Dallas College: 2020-2021 Catalog - Texas Success Initiative (TSI) Program (dcccd.edu) as well as the Academics | Texas Education Agency and the TEKS Guide by TEA | TEKS Guide for graduation requirements protocol. So, this is the initial foundation for the entry-level learner for this supplemental course.

Attitudes and beliefs about learners are important things to consider when designing instructional materials. An individual’s attitudes and beliefs are factors that may describe a person’s internal or external motivations for learning in general or even contribute to their attitudes about learning a specific subject even. These, in turn, may result in adversely affecting the learner’s learning process through a given subject matter, and contribute to the learner’s overall academic performance within a course. So, these are important factors that should be considered when designing and developing instructional materials for your specific learners. According to J. Daniel House, Edward J. Keely & Richard S. Hurst, results of a study, indicate that initial learner characteristics were significant predictors of student achievement in a general education course taken during the first year of college. These results provide evidence supporting the consideration of initial learner characteristics in the instructional design process.

Regarding the student learners for the course, I am designing and developing instructional materials, in working with previous students from the same introductory level chemistry course, the students come from wide and varied socioeconomic backgrounds, various levels of English speakers, and include various levels of learners that also include students with disabilities as well. In addition, from previous semesters working with students enrolled in similar level of college chemistry courses, the students often have a variety of math and calculator skills necessary to do well in that course. These are some learner characteristics that I can use to draw from when I proceed through the instructional design process of my supplemental course for learners who typically struggle within the above-mentioned introductory college level chemistry course. However, I will continue to assess the current students as well as students in future introductory chemistry courses to make sure that if and when these learner characteristics change, then I can adjust the design of my supplemental course to use with future students.

From there, exploring further the specific needs of the individual learners will assist me in developing instructional materials to fulfill that purpose. In going through this methodical systematic process with instructional design, I have learned that this is important in assuring that the material being developed and created will meet the specific target audience and fulfill a specific need/purpose through the learning process.

 

Site used:  Relationship between learner attitudes, prior achievement, and performance ...: EBSCOhost (tamuc.edu)