Task Analysis, Learning Outcomes and the Importance of Constructive Alignment

Task analysis, learning outcomes and the importance of constructive alignment

LDA 3 template: Thinking about tasks

Important note:

As you begin work on this LDA, you may find that your overall learning objective/outcome is more on the course level – and needs to be broken down into modules. By identifying the level of your goal or outcomes, you will know where to start with the LDA (e.g. part one: course; part two: unit; or part three: lesson), and will be able to focus your analysis on the particular module or sub section you will be creating.

Step 1. What are the major topics to be covered in your course?

Whatever learning design approach you are taking, you will still need to understand the content yourself and the major topics you are considering covering from the curriculum. This will also help you refine your learning objectives in Step 2.

Major topics to be covered:

Step 2. Use your major topic categories to help you develop your learning objectives.

The focus here is on what the learners will be able to do upon completion of the course. What learners do should beobservableto them, so they know what and if they have learned. Learning objectives can be at the lesson level, course level, units, chapters, etc.

For example, in a full semester course you might expect to have approximately one learning objective per week.

When writing learning objectives (Mager, 1962; 1975), be sure to include these elements:

A description of the action that will demonstrate learning
A description of the conditions of demonstration of the action.

Words of advice:Don't have too many learning objectives/outcomes and don't combine learning objectives (e.g. 'identify and analyse')!

Major topic / Learning objectives
Topic 1:
Topic 2:
Topic 3:

Think about how you can describe your major topics in ways that might have greater appeal or meaning to your learners. The language you use can help to place the learner rather than the content at the centre of the course. The selection and order of your topics is also an important part of the overall story or narrative that runs throughout the course.

Step 3.Identification of learning tasks.

This is where you identifywhattasks are to be learned by decomposing the learning objectives. Later you will identifyhowthe task will be learned (learning activities).

Be sure to include all pre-requisite skills needed in order to achieve the learning objectives. The purpose of this process is to identify the cognitions that make up the higher order learning goal. For each task/step identified in the LDA, ask: 'What must the learner know or be able to do to achieve this task/step?' Do this for all tasks/steps until you know everything the learner must know to achieve the learning objective.

Tip: This is when you are really beginning to focus on how learners will learn. From this point forward, you will identify sequences of learning tasks, related assessments and teaching strategies.

Guiding questions/steps for completing this analysis:

What must the learner know or be able to do to complete each step in the process?
Is there any specific content knowledge that the learner must possess to execute each step?
Is there any specific attitude or characteristic that the learner must possess to execute each step?
Are there any physical abilities or psychomotor skills that a learner must possess to execute the steps in reaching the goal? (This may only be applicable if your goal is primarily a psychomotor goal.)
One way to proceed is to ask, ‘What mistake might students make if they were learning this particular skill?’ Often the answer to this question is the key to identifying the appropriate subordinate skills for the skill in question. The kinds of misunderstandings that students might have will indicate the understandings, also known as skills, which they must have.

Words of advice: Plan on no more than 3–5 tasks (and thus learning objectives).And remember, this is an iterative process;there is always room for refinement. This is a worksheet, not a recipe that has to be followed for every course.

Add your tasks and pre-requisite skills to each of your major topics and learning objectives:

Major topic 1

Learning objectives/outcomes

Tasks for each learning objective/outcome

Pre-requisite skills for each task

Major topic 2

Learning objectives/outcomes

Tasks for each learning objective/outcome

Pre-requisite skills for each task

Major topic 3

Learning objectives/outcomes

Tasks for each learning objective/outcome

Pre-requisite skills for each task