Page 32 - Making Instruction Work

chap 3 3/11/97 4:45 PM Page 20

20 making instruction work

Target Population Description (Chapter 9)
The target population (TPop.) description summarizes the
key characteristics of those who will be the recipients (the tar-
gets, the audience) of the instruction. By knowing their charac-
teristics, it is possible to better mold the instruction to each
student: to select objectives, examples, terminology, media,
and procedures that will best allow each student to accomplish
his/her goals.It is one of the key techniques for making instruc-
tion work. (Note: TPop. descriptions are sometimes drafted
after the instructional outcomes have been derived and stated.)

Course Prerequisites (Chapter 10)

Prerequisites describe what students must be able to do
before they can profit from your instruction (they are not
course descriptions). Prerequisites are derived from the TPop.
description and from decisions about what will and will not be
taught during the course.

Developing the Instruction (Part IV)

The design/development phase includes the drafting of
measuring instruments (tests), as well as development, tryout,
and revision of the instruction itself. Though some consider
one or more of these steps to be part of the analysis phase, it is
a hair unworthy of splitting.

Criterion Tests (Chapter 11)

More commonly referred to as “performance checks” or
“skill checks,” criterion tests are the instruments by which stu-
dents and instructors can determine whether the instruction
works; that is, whether a student, after instruction, can perform
as an objective demands. They are the instruments by which