CUIN 7390: Instructional Design University of Houston

Learner Analysis
Ai Li 2023
Entry behaviors: What behaviors do learners have that could influence your
instructional design?
For online Mandarin classes conducted using Zoom, the following entry behaviors of
students could influence my instructional design:
[Link] proficiency: Students need to have a basic understanding of how to use
Zoom, including how to annotate on the virtual whiteboard, share their screen, and
mute themselves when necessary. In case of any technical issues, students should know
how to rejoin the meeting if the conference ends unexpectedly.

[Link] preferences: Online students may have different learning preferences, such
as visual, auditory, or kinesthetic learning styles. Novice Mandarin learners require
visual aids to assist with learning, and audio-only input may not be sufficient. For
instance, providing visual aids like pictures and videos may help to improve
understanding. For example, in the case of my Grade 3 student, he may prefer auditory
learning to memorize Chinese characters by listening to stories.

[Link] and interruptions: The online learning environment is more prone to
distractions and interruptions, such as sometimes my students like to annotate
randomly on the teacher's screen or make noise. It is important to minimize these
disruptions during instruction by providing clear guidelines for classroom etiquette and
minimizing unnecessary interruptions.


Prior knowledge of topic area: What do your learners already know about your topic?
This student is well-versed in gaming and has significant experience playing games. He is
familiar with the Scratch website from school and enjoys playing Minecraft, which bears
some similarities to Scratch. However, he needs help introducing these games in
Chinese.

Attitudes toward content: How do your learners feel about your topic?
Based on my observations of this learner's behavior and participation in class and
activities, I suspect he will be very interested in the topic. They used to share their
games in English but struggled to express themselves in Chinese. This topic presents an
excellent opportunity for learning and growth for him.

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Attitudes towards the delivery system: How do your learners feel about how the
instruction will be delivered?
The student enjoys showcasing newly acquired skills and discussing their games. They
also enjoy watching the teacher model tasks or concepts. He isn't fond of mechanical
rote memorization but enjoys memory techniques involving stories and games. His
suggestion: Hope for more gaming activities

Academic motivation (ARCS): In general, what characteristics do your learners have in

terms of attention, relevance, confidence, and satisfaction? (For more about ARCS, see
[Link]

Attention: The learner shows his interest and focus on the learning material. He is is
very focused, he has the advantage of delayed gratification, I respect his hobbies (watch
his games at the beginning of class or before the class ends), and actively participate in
the class the rest of the time, he respects the teacher and learning. He is interested in
stories, challenging games.
Relevance: The student is well-versed in gaming and has significant experience playing
games. He is familiar with the Scratch website from school and enjoys playing Minecraft,
which bears some similarities to Scratch. He understands the relevance and importance
of the material being taught. And he can share his game in Chinese with his
grandmother after the class.
Confidence: He feels confident in his ability to understand, to make a Scratch game and
to introduce it in Chinese. He is willing to try new things in the Scratch game (to record
his own voice). He is willing to talk about his lovely games in Chinese.
Also, the teacher always gives him positive feedback and he is confident.
Satisfaction: He feel satisfied with our past classes, and he is motivated to continue
learning and applying what he has learned.

Education and ability levels: Do your learners have the same general education level
and abilities or are they diverse? What is their range of education and ability levels?

My one-on-one online classroom consists of students with diverse ages, grade levels,
prior knowledge and skills, learning styles, and special needs. After understanding their
individual needs, I utilize various educational technologies to enhance their learning
efficiency.
As this is a one-on-one Chinese course, the above student situation analysis is targeted
toward my third-grade students with a higher level of Chinese proficiency. If the
students have lower Chinese proficiency, each individual's situation would be different.
They are located in other geographic locations, have different Chinese language

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environments at home, and attend schools with different language environments.

Additionally, their foreign language proficiency levels vary. Though their learning goals
differ, Scratch can still be used to facilitate teaching.
For my one-on-one adult students, I wouldn't use Scratch as a teaching tool as it may
seem too juvenile. However, in the context of family language education, I could use
Scratch as a teaching tool so that my adult student (who is also a parent) can teach it to
their child. He has a degree, his Chinese is at a high level, he has communication needs,
and his topics are more profound. Naturally, language courses based on books are not
acceptable. He can quickly understand the content of my course, and when he
encounters something, he doesn't understand, he quickly searches it with a search
engine and solves this difficulty by himself. Also, this adult student has a need for
Business Chinese, therefore I design courses tailored to their specific needs. For some
other minor learners, in Mandarin learning, they do not have the ability and spirit to
learn actively after class. They have online search capabilities. There are two who have
just learned the ability to take screenshots.

General learning preferences: How do your learners prefer to learn?

Primary school students like to learn easily through online games. They are sometimes
tiring to study online, so they like to share something about themselves. They prefer
visual aids such as images, sounds and videos.

Attitudes toward class, group, or organization: What attitudes do your learners have
about the class, group, or organization to which they belong?
For my one-on-one class, there is only me and the student, but the learners have
positive attitudes towards our class. They enjoy the atmosphere I create in the class,
and the adult learners cherish the opportunity to learn with me. The young learner loves
sharing his online games with me, and I am seeking ways to make my class even more
engaging and to improve its overall efficiency.

Group characteristics: What are the overall characteristics of the group in terms of
heterogeneity? How large is the group? What are your overall impressions of the group?
NA.

What data sources did you use for your responses to the previous questions?
I used sources such as student surveys (oral surveys), classroom observations,
assessments, and student work samples, to gather information and insights about her
students' learning preferences, attitudes, and behaviors. I have a teaching record file
(Excel sheet) and a teaching folder for each student. I record the teaching and learning
problems I find in each class.

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What implications do these answers in your learner analysis have for the way you
design your instruction?
The answers in the learner analysis have important implications for the way instruction
is designed. Based on the diverse ages, prior knowledge, and skills, learning styles,
special needs, and attitudes towards the class, group, or organization, I should be
tailored to meet the individual needs of each learner.
I understand the learner’s characteristic and needs is essential for effective instructional
design. When incorporating technology and multimedia elements into instruction, I
need to consider learner’s needs.

Description of learner interview

(Your description should include who you interviewed, why you selected them, the
length of the interview, what questions you asked, and at least one thing that you
discovered through the interview that you did not now before or that surprised you.)

I interviewed one of my one-to-one online tutoring students with strong verbal

communication skills (in Chinese or English). He is a third-grade student studying with
me for three years. Currently, we have two classes per week. During the interview, I
discovered that he had been introduced to Scratch software at school but had yet to
learn how to record sound.