Page 41 - Making Instruction Work

chap 4 3/4/97 4:56 PM Page 29

4

Performance Analysis

Situation: Someone has suggested that you either create a
course, modify an existing course, or locate and purchase a
course.You want to be sure that instruction is really needed
in this situation, and if not, what else should be suggested.
Or, you have noted that one or more people aren’t doing
what they’re expected to do; that is, that there is a differ-
ence between their actual and desired performance. You
want to know what you can do about it.

Suppose someone came to you and said, “Look. These stu-
dents aren’t coming to school on time. I want you to develop a
course to fix that.”What would you teach? The history of time?
How to read clocks? The importance of promptness? Pendu-
lum appreciation? You see the point. Students already know
how to get to school on time. If they don’t do it, it’s because of
some other reason. If there is a solution to the problem, it has
to be something other than instruction.
Like a hammer, instruction is only one possible tool for
getting a job done. It is usually the tool of choice when people
(workers, students, managers) cannot now do something they
need to be able to do. But what about those instances in which
students already know how to do what they need to do? Or part
of what they need to know? That is, what can you do when