Page 269 - Making Instruction Work

chap 21 3/11/97 5:18 PM Page 255

course improvement 255

Figure 21.1

Real world,
job,
another course

Competent Analysis
students

Instructions Objectives

Here’s how to think about answering the three key ques-
tions:
1. Does it work? This question is answered by comparing
student performance with the objectives of the instruc-
tion (See Figure 21.2). It is not answered by looking at
the content of the instruction, at the instructional proce-
dures, or at what people are doing on the job. (By now
you know that there are several factors that influence
what people actually do on a job, or in a classroom, and
that skill is only one of them. In other words, there are
many reasons why people may not do what they know
how to do. That’s why it is not possible to assess whether