Page 27 - Making Instruction Work

chap 3 3/11/97 4:45 PM Page 15

strategy of instructional development 15

used to group the procedures, all are important to the success
of the instruction.
To provide a picture of how the chapters of this book fit into
the overall process, I’ve grouped the major steps in the process
under seven general headings (See Figure 3.1). (Chapter titles
and numbers are shown under the activities to which they per-
tain.) This diagram deliberately emphasizes the instructional
part of the process because, after all, that’s what this book is
mostly about. Often, however, instruction plays only a small
part in solving human performance problems. Here is a brief
tour of the diagram, starting at the upper left.

Quick Tour of the Process
Analyze the need and select solutions. The process begins
when a need is identified. This generally happens when some-
one decides that instruction is needed, or that one or more
people aren’t doing what they should be doing. The need is
then analyzed so that appropriate actions (remedies, solu-
tions) may be selected.

Design/develop non-training solutions. Because actions
other than—or in addition to—instruction are almost always
part of the solution mix, development and implementation
of these non-training solutions is initiated. These remedies
usually include information about performance expec-
tancies, feedback, job aids, task simplification, and so on.
(Implementation of these actions usually provides immediate
benefits—whether or not instruction is ultimately included in
the solution mix.)

Derive the instructional outcomes. If instruction is part of
the solution, the intended outcomes (objectives) of the
instruction are derived and stated, skill hierarchies depicting
the relationship between those objectives are drafted, the