Conducting a Learners and Contexts Analysis
This worksheet will guide you through steps to conduct an analysis of learners who will be the primary
recipients of your instructional project, and the contexts in which learners will receive instruction and
ultimately perform the skills learned.
Learner Analysis
Understanding learner characteristics is an important part of designing instruction and should be
conducted early on in the process. The more information you are able to determine about your
learners, the better.
Please complete this activity with your project in mind. Not all items will be relevant for your project. If
there is information that is necessary but not yet known, identify a few techniques your group can use
to collect this information (e.g., surveys, observation, interviews, etc.).
Characteristics to consider in Learner Analysis
General Characteristics
Age:
Gender:
Work Experience:
Education:
Ethnicity:
Cultural differences:
Socioeconomic background:
Barriers: Do they have family and/or work responsibilities outside of school?
Comfort level using technology (e.g., computers, electronic health record systems,
mobile devices, learning platforms, etc.):
Access to technology, high speed Internet (at home and/or at school):
Academic Information
Educational level completed; major subject areas studied:
Grades; GPA:
Scores on standardized tests; basic skills tests (reading, writing, mathematics):
Specific aptitudes—propensity for learning sciences, anatomy & physiology, advanced
clinical skills, etc.:
Preferred learning styles; learning strategies; self-directedness; study habits; etc.:
Specific Prior Knowledge (e.g. content, prior courses, academic background, etc.):
Personal and Social Characteristics
Age and maturity level:
Motivation; attitude toward subject:
Expectations and aspirations:
Previous or current employment/work experience:
Special talents:
Mechanical dexterity:
Ability to work under various environmental conditions (high-pressure, noise, etc.):
Ability to work as part of a team:
Relationships to peers (working in a cohort, peers unknown, etc.):
Feelings toward authority/instructor (e.g,. require direction vs. autonomy):
Tendencies toward cooperation or competition:
Affective Characteristics
Interests:
Motivations to learn (primarily extrinsic/reward-driven? Intrinsic factors? Satisfaction?)
Attitude toward learning:
Interest in subject matter:
Attribution of success (internal/external):
Morrison, G.R., Ross, S.M., Kalman, H.K., & Kemp, J.E. (2012). Designing effective instruction (7th Ed.). Hoboken, NJ: John Wiley & Sons, Inc.
Richardson, J., et al. (2013). Purdue EDCI 575 IDA course materials.
Analyzing Contexts
Analyzing the instructional and performance contexts in relation to your goals can help provide rich data
for designing more realistic examples and learning scenarios for your learners. Context has an overall
effect on the quality of instruction, so analyzing your learning environment is an important step to
ensuring your project plans will fit the instructional environment. This section will introduce and
summarize your overall context.
This activity is designed to give you hands-on practice with the learning environment phase of the
analysis of the learning context. Complete the activity with your individual project in mind.
Orienting Context
Focuses primarily on the learner. For example:
Their goals for taking or attending the course/instruction:
Perceived utility and relevance of instruction:
Learners’ perceptions of accountability in mastering content presented:
Instructional Context
Provides information about the physical learning environment. For example:
Lighting, noise, temperature, seating, accommodations, etc.
Equipment & technology:
Scheduling:
Length, meeting times, etc.:
Transfer Context
Considers opportunities to encourage transfer of knowledge and skills to new situations (e.g., from
instructional context to performance context). For example:
Factors in environment that promote application of new knowledge and skills:
Ways learners can apply content to their jobs or profession:
Opportunities for continued refinement and practice:
Support and feedback needed:
Adapted from:
Morrison, G.R., Ross, S.M., Kalman, H.K., & Kemp, J.E. (2012). Designing effective instruction (7th Ed.). Hoboken, NJ: John Wiley & Sons, Inc.
Richardson, J., et al. (2013). Purdue EDCI 575 IDA course materials.