A Hypothetical Corporation

Quality Educational Design of San Diego

A hypothetical Corporation

Initial Analysis of
Problems and Opportunities

Descriptive Title for Your Report

Prepared by Your name here
for
Gabriel Ozgood,
President and Chief Creative Officer

Date goes here

Initial Analysis

Put descriptive title here

DELETE THIS MESSAGE BOX BEFORE FINAL PRINT OUT. If you CANNOT see the hidden notes throughout this document (dotted underline), you need to TURN ON the hidden text. In Word 97/2000 or Word 98 for Mac, go to the Tools Menu. Click on “Options,” then select the “View” tab. Under “Non-Print Characters,” check the “Hidden Text” option. Also, to facilitate inspection of the document layout, be sure to check “paragraph marks.” This will help you to see paragraphs and styles more clearly.
Revised 3/4/01

We have provided this “template” for your convenience in preparing an IA report for QED. It would be foolish to follow the template(or examples of student projects) slavishly: If a proposed topic/section doesn’t fit your situation or circumstances, modify or delete it. The template is merely a framework for your original work, not a form to be completed.

To make better use of this template, Go to “Contents and Index” (Help menu) and type “About Styles.”

Hide these hidden purple notes before previewing or printing your document. Go to the View Tab (see above and uncheck the “Hidden Text” option (see above) or find out how to do it through the help menu.

When printing your final document, be sure to use the print dialog box to disable printing of hidden text. Or if you prefer, simply delete all of the hidden notes.

Before you send your IA to QED, we recommend the following, if time permits.

Check your report for completeness against the criteria that your fellow contractors will use to evaluate your report for QED.
Run the spelling/grammar checker. Keep in mind that QED is expecting a crisp, business-style report, not an academic treatise. Try to avoid excessive use of the passive voice or unnecessary jargon. Tell your story simply and honestly but back it up with specifics.
Use Word’s “word count” feature to make sure your report does not exceed the 1,500-word limit imposed by QED (excluding appendices and references). For a fun way to get ideas on how to trim your report down to size, try “AutoSummarize” (Tools Menu) in Word 97/98. (Save a copy of your report first.) Recommended settings: “Highlight Key Points” at 85-90% of original.
Check the APA format for your references on the Web at
Preview your document in “Page Layout” (or print it out) and check for general appearance, page numbering, and the like.
Check the ET 544 course schedule for instructions on how to submit your IA.

Introduction

Although your report will obviously need an introduction, QED reviewers, like most readers, will probably assume that a report will start with an introduction. Therefore, consider deleting this header.

Analysis of Problems and Opportunities

This section is a re-work of your Initiating Memo to QED. Cut and paste from your IM document to this template. Delete all “line returns” (paragraphs) used for spacing. Delete unnecessary tabs.

Description of the Educational Context

Learners

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Evidence that Instruction is Appropriate as a Potential Strategy

Put your discussion of a prima facia case that instruction is appropriate here.

Blah blu dib dub blipo blap mapo con dorga. Slavo donk dingo dong. Abba dabba zaponista dorko bis mano goo nako. Qui con nibber domb, gako ick zoozy. Korba dim bitmo slap booty nick bit comin. Bitty wib coty gon nocker bis atmon qui cato ub dat dung! Blah blu dib dub blipo blap mapo con dorga. Qui con nibber domb, gako ick zoozy. Korba dim bitmo slap booty nick bit comin. Bitty wib coty gon nocker bis atmon qui cato ub dat dung!

Justification for Using an Instructional Product

Add your justification for using an instructional product (as opposed to, say, instructor-led training or education) here.

Sources and Methods of Data Collection

The methods section should include a description of how you selected respondents for your interviews/questionnaire, and how you conducted your survey.

Don’t assume that QED editors will be familiar with the terminology developed in ET 544 to refer to data sources (constituents, deliverers, etc.) so if you use these terms, make their meaning clear to the reader.

Sources of Data

Slavo donk dingo dong. Abba dabba zaponista dorko bis mano goo nako. Qui con nibber domb, gako ick zoozy.

Use bulleted and numbered lists where economy of language is important; lists often require fewer words that an equivalent narrative passage. Although lists often reduce the number of words, they typically increase space, because they are not as dense. BEWARE: excessive use of bulleted or numbered items can make readers feel they are looking at disjointed “laundry lists” rather than well-reasoned analysis or careful, coherent descriptions.

Use bullets for lists where order is inconsequential. In general, use numbers for ordered lists (representing sequences, for example) or when the you think readers might want to refer to items by number. If space is at a premium, list items in a single paragraph rather than starting each item on a separate line: (a) item number one, (b) item number two, (c) item number three.

Introduce bulleted and numbered lists with a brief statement. If the items in the list are mere phrases or sentence fragments, end them with a semi-colon or comma. Since the last item completes the sentence, end it with a period.

Make listed items parallel in structure. If the list is an extension of a sentence, then punctuate and capitalize individual items as if they are part of a sentence that begins with the stem statement. If the items stand alone as sentences, capitalize and punctuate each one as a sentence.

Below is an example of a bulleted list. If the list is an extension of a sentence, then punctuate and capitalize individual items as if they are part of a sentence that begins with the stem statement.

Write an introductory statement here. What follows is an indented and bulleted list:

item one, the first item;
item two, the second item;
item three, the third item.

Methods of Data Collection

Briefly outline your methods. For example, did you use interviews or questionnaires and if so, how many people did you contact? You needn’t describe the exact questions but give the reader an idea of the general organization and content. Describe how you administered the interviews and/or questionnaires.

Slavo donk dingo dong. Abba dabba zaponista dorko bis mano goo nako. Qui con nibber domb, gako ick zoozy. Korba dim bitmo slap booty nick bit comin. Bitty wib coty gon nocker bis atmon qui cato ub dat dung! Slavo donk dingo dong. Abba dabba zaponista dorko bis mano goo nako. Qui con nibber domb, gako ick zoozy. Korba dim bitmo slap booty nick bit comin. Bitty wib coty gon nocker bis atmon qui cato ub dat dung!

Findings

Headings for this section serve as reminders about issues you may need to address. However, you probably won’t need a separate subsection for each topic. Too many short subsections can make your report choppy and disjointed, so consider collapsing or combining several of these topics into a single subsection.

In the past, students have often diminished the authority of their reports by failing to cite specific evidence to support generalities. QED will be interested in general claims about the issues cited below but they will also want to know what evidence supports these claims.

The authority of your findings will be enhanced if you cite specific quantitative data (number or percentage of respondents) in support of generalizations.

Quote sources directly where doing so will clarify or support your general findings. Cite respondents by name (unless there are good reasons for them to remain anonymous). For example:

Robert Wiggens, Supervisor of Customer Service Representatives at the XYZ Company, confirmed that most customer questions relate to X") "We get relatively few complaints about Y and Z," Wiggens noted."

If you conducted a survey, why not communicate the results crisply and authoritatively by quantifying the responses ("seven out of ten respondents indicated that…")? These techniques will help to persuade readers that there is substance to your IA efforts.

How many people did you survey and what percentages/numbers of them...

--said X?
--agreed with X?
--can be characterized as X?

Description of Problem and Opportunities

Although this may seem similar to the background (context) you developed in the Initiating Memo, it’s an opportunity to present evidence that confirms (or disconfirms) you original assumptions as laid out in the IM.

Learner Attitudes Towards the Problems and Opportunities

Discuss the attitudes of learners (and if appropriate, other key sources) towards the problems and opportunities you have identified.

Abba dabba zaponista dorko bis mano goo nako. Qui con nibber domb, gako ick zoozy. Korba dim bitmo slap booty nick bit comin. Bitty wib coty gon nocker bis atmon qui cato ub dat dung!

Learner Knowledge and Skills

Learner/User Goals

The SITE model has led you to consider the goals of learners/users and how the Technical Subcontext might help them to realize these goals. Describe in general, based on the results of your data and your reasonable assumptions based on your general familiarity with the situations, these goals as you now understand them. There’s a section later in the template for listing specific learner and user/goals.

Conclusions and Recommendations

Summary of Findings

Briefly restate the major points from your findings section.

General Recommendations

It’s quite likely that your investigations have lead you to consider a number of problems or opportunities that are best solved with non-instructional approaches. Include here relevant recommendations regarding non-instructional strategies for addressing the identified performance problems (e.g., on-the-job training, incentives, provision of better tools, use of job aids, etc.).

Goals

Here’s a place for you to summarize (as numbered lists) your perceptions of learner/user goals and your recommendations regarding instructional goals.

User Goals

Summarize the goals of learners in the SITE model. What do they want to achieve, accomplish, be able to do? List (as a numbered list) some of the more important learner/goals. Keep in mind that learner goals may be quite different from instructional goals appropriate to the mission of a school, corporation or other enterprise. Example:

Instructional goal: Students will be able to use disciplined logic to develop simple programs in the Lingo multimedia animation language.

Learner/User goal: I want to be able to create really cool multimedia animation to accompany rock music scores.

Instructional goal: Employees will be able to use Excel spreadsheet to track corporate budgets.

Learner/User goal: I want to be able to use Excel to track my family’s vacation budget.

To distinguish learn/user goals from the instructional goals, we recommend using a phrase such as “I want to be able to…” rather than “Learner will be able to…”

Consider presenting your goals as a list, numbered for easy reference.

Korba dim bitmo slap booty nick bit comin. Bitty wib coty gon nocker bis atmon qui cato ub dat dung!
Slavo donk dingo dong. Abba dabba zaponista dorko bis mano goo nako. Qui con nibber domb, gako ick zoozy.
Korba dim bitmo slap booty nick bit comin. Bitty wib coty gon nocker bis atmon qui cato ub dat dung!
Korba dim bitmo slap booty nick bit comin. Bitty wib coty gon nocker bis atmon qui cato ub dat dung!

Instructional Goals

Use a preliminary version of your IA to brief (orally or in writing) a person who is generally knowledgeable about the STD, learners, and performance problems/opportunities. Then lead them through Mager and Pipe’s five-step goal analysis or the similar “goal analysis” process introduced in EDTEC 540 to generate your list of instructional goals. Your “goal statements” need not include conditions and criteria, but they should include an observable performance.