CHAPTER 5
Examining the Situation
Needs, Task, and Learner
Analysis
Chapter 5: Learner
Analysis
Learning Outcomes
Identify the common attributes among a group of learners that are most
important to determine for purposes of designing instruction
Organize the data collected about the learners into a format that is useful
Learning Outcomes :
Identify important learner characteristics for instruction.
Organize learner data in a useful way.
1. Know your learners before you teach.
You need to understand who they are, what they already know, what they are good at, and what they need. This helps you plan the best way to
teach them.
Analyzing Learners
Understanding the target audience of learners and determining in advance what
they can and will do is an essential element of any instructional plan.
Most educators now perceive learners as individuals who come to each
instructional situation with a variety of background experiences that affect the
new experience. To appropriately prepare instruction requires consideration of
the learners’ prior knowledge, abilities, points of view, and perceived
needs.
Each learner is unique.
- Learners come with different experiences. Some may know more than others, some may need extra help, and some
may have different opinions or learning styles.
To understand and interpret learner characteristics in a way that helps in the design
of effective instruction.
Good instruction needs good
understanding.
- If you want to create effective lessons,
you must study your learners and use
that knowledge to design suitable
activities and materials.
What the experts say Gagne, Wager, Golas, Keller(2005):
- There are many types of learners, and it can be hard to plan for everyone.
- So, we look at common traits that most learners share.
- These common traits help us design instruction that works well for most students.
Gagne, Wager, Golas, and Keller (2005) explain goals of learner analysis as a rational
approach to reducing the vast number of individual learner characteristics to a single set
of general characteristics that make instructional planning feasible through the
identification of common learner characteristics that have a direct impact on the
instructional design and the range of learners’ experiences and abilities that will affect
the learning results.
Quantifiable aspects of learner analysis—easy to determine physical
characteristics such as age or gender Easy learner info (Quantifiable):
Some details like age or gender are easy to measure.
Cultural and psychological information can be far more difficult to define
accurately. Hard learner info (Cultural & psychological):
Things like beliefs, culture, emotions, and motivation are harder to understand but still very important.
Example:
You are planning a digital learning program for secondary school students.
Easy to find info: Most students are aged 13–15 and are familiar with smartphones.
Harder to know:
Some may feel shy using new apps.
Some may not like group work due to cultural reasons.
Some students may lack confidence or motivation.
- If you only plan based on age, you may miss deeper needs.
By understanding both easy and hard info, your lessons will be more effective and
respectful of all learners.
Human Needs
Before looking at the intended audience as a group of learners, it is a good idea to
recognize them as a group of human beings. Basic human wants and needs must be
addressed before any instructional intervention is attempted.
Students are human first.
- Before we think of them as learners, we must remember they are people with basic needs—like rest, food, safety, and comfort.
Once it has been established that the intended audience’s needs are met to a point
where they are ready to receive instruction, the designer must determine what content
the learners are prepared for and how best to deliver that content to keep all
participants active and interested.
Learning comes after basic needs.
If these needs are not met, students may not be ready to learn.
Once their needs are taken care of, we must find out:
What they already know.
What they are ready to learn.
How to teach them in an interesting way.
Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs (from bottom to top): Education Example:
A teacher wants to introduce project-based learning:
Physical Health
Basic needs: safety, security, comfort. - First, she checks if students are physically comfortable (air, light, seating).
- If students are hungry or tired, they can’t focus on learning.
- Then, she builds a supportive classroom (group work, encouragement).
Emotional Health
Needs: feeling accepted, recognized, and valued. - Next, she creates lessons that help students explore ideas creatively.
- Students must feel safe and supported emotionally in class.
- Finally, she allows students to do meaningful projects that match their
Mental Health interests and goals.
Needs: understanding, exploring, finding order and meaning.
- Students enjoy learning new things and organizing knowledge. ----This shows how understanding human needs helps improve teaching and
learning.
Spiritual Health
Needs: helping others, fulfilling personal goals, realizing one’s full potential.
- This is the highest level—where students want to make a difference
or grow personally.
Captive Audience or Willing Volunteers?
Captive audiences are those people who receive a mandate to receive the
instruction developed Captive Audience :
- Learners who are required to join the instruction (e.g., school students, staff in a training).
- They didn’t choose to attend—it’s mandatory.
Willing volunteers participate in the instructional activity because they
are motivated to do so without a mandate:
Willing Volunteers :
- Learners who join because they want to.
- They are self-motivated and interested in learning.
Motivation can be essentially divided into two classes: intrinsic and extrinsic. If learners
enjoy the instruction for its own sake and take pleasure in the activity, the motivation
is said to be intrinsic. Types of Motivation:
Intrinsic Motivation: Learners join because they enjoy learning itself.
- They feel happy and excited to learn something new.
Extrinsic Motivation: Learners join for a reward (e.g., passing a test, getting a prize).
- They learn because they want something at the end.
If learners participate in the instruction because
they anticipate some reward beyond the instruction
itself (for example, they are paid or completing the
instruction allows them to do something they truly
enjoy), the motivation is said to be extrinsic
(Malone & Lepper, 1987). The question that must be
answered while conducting a learner analysis is,
“What motivates the target audience to participate
in this instruction?” - When learners join a class or training to get a reward (not just to enjoy learning), it's called extrinsic motivation.
- Examples of rewards:
- Getting paid
- Earning a certificate
- Gaining skills for a job
- Doing something they enjoy after completing the lesson
---------This kind of motivation comes from outside the learning itself.
According to Arthur Ellis (2005):
- Different students learn in different ways.
- Some learn best by seeing (visual), some by hearing (auditory), and others by doing (kinesthetic).
- Teachers should try to understand each student’s learning style to help them learn better.
Learning Styles
Arthur Ellis (2005) explains that most people who advocate focusing on
learning styles stress the idea that everyone receives and processes
information differently; therefore, teachers should try to know how each of
their students learns best.
Example:
In a science lesson:
- Ali learns best by watching videos (visual learner).
- Siti prefers listening to explanations (auditory learner).
- Ravi understands best by doing experiments (kinesthetic learner).
A good teacher will:
- Use videos, group discussions, and hands-on activities
- So that every student can learn in the way that suits them best.
Research shows that teaching based on each person’s learning style (like only giving visuals to visual learners) does not always improve results
(Ellis, 2005).
But it is still important to remember that students learn in different ways.
So, the best approach is to use different types of activities to help all learners stay engaged and understand better.
There is little evidence that designing instruction to meet
the specific learning styles of individuals increases
academic achievement (Ellis, 2005). However, awareness
that learners comprehend information differently should
remind anyone responsible for designing instruction to
provide a number of activities that stimulate learners’
thinking in a variety of different ways.
Example:
In a history class:
The teacher shows a video (for visual learners),
Plays a podcast or story (for auditory learners), and
Lets students do a role-play or drama (for kinesthetic learners).
--------- Even if learning styles don’t guarantee better results, using a mix of methods helps reach more students and makes learning more fun
and effective.
- Universal Design for Education (UDE) is about creating a learning environment where everyone has equal access to learning materials and opportunities.
- It doesn’t just help students with disabilities—it helps all students by making lessons easy to use and understand for everyone.
- Instead of giving special help to some students, UDE tries to design the classroom and activities so well that almost no special help is needed.
Universal Design for Education
The universal design for education movement seeks to create
environments and instructional contexts that provide equal access to the
resources necessary for academic success (Curry, 2003):
When schools introduce universal design, student diversity becomes a
powerful component of the education environment. But implementing the
universal design framework goes beyond accommodating individual
learners. Because it makes education environments seamlessly and
inherently functional for almost all students, universal design minimizes
the need for individual accommodations.
(Curry, 2003, pp. 56–57)
Example:
A teacher is preparing a digital science lesson:
She uses videos with captions (helps hearing-impaired and visual learners).
She adds images and audio explanations (supports ESL students and auditory learners).
She allows different ways to complete the task (write, draw, or record a voice note).
--- Now, all students—with different needs, skills, or backgrounds—can learn together without needing special
treatment.
Instructional designers (people who plan lessons or training) must:
- Understand that learners are different (age, culture, abilities, learning styles).
- Create lessons and activities that allow everyone to join and learn in a meaningful way.
This helps all students feel included and motivated to learn.
Instructional designers must be aware of the needs of
diverse learners and plan activities that welcome
meaningful participation by all members of the target
audience.
Example:
In a classroom with students from different countries and learning abilities:
- The teacher gives instructions in simple English, with pictures to help understanding.
- Activities include group work, hands-on tasks, and individual options.
- Everyone feels they can join, learn, and contribute.
------------- This is how you make instruction inclusive and meaningful for all.
User-Centered Design (UCD) means always thinking about the user (learner) when creating a learning product (like an app, website, or
lesson).
Designers should understand the user’s needs, tasks, and environment at every step.
A key part of UCD is usability testing—watching real users try the product to see if it works well and is easy to use.
User-Centered Design
The essential premise of user-centered design is that learner (or user) analysis should be an
ongoing activity throughout the process of designing and developing software. Consideration
for the characteristics of the end user must be a part of the designer’s thinking from beginning to
end, “gathering, analyzing and specifying user personas, their tasks, their work environment,
and usability and [user interface] requirements” (Seffah, 2003). An essential part of user-centered
design is usability testing.
Put simply, usability testing is an analysis method whereby observers watch
individuals or groups use the product to complete a set of prescribed
tasks.
Example:
A company designs a math learning app for primary school students.
Before building it, they ask students:
- What devices they use (phone or tablet)?
- What games or apps they like?
During testing, they watch how students:
- Tap buttons, move between pages, and finish tasks.
- If students find it confusing, the designers make changes.
This is user-centered design—creating with the user in mind from start to finish.
According to Baek, Cagiltay, Boling, and Frick (2008):
--------User-Centered Design can be done in two ways:
1. Product-Oriented Design
- The designer creates a finished product (like an app or book) that people will use as it is.
- There are no changes after it’s done.
2. Process-Oriented Design
- The designer focuses on how people learn and interact with the product.
- The product may change or improve over time based on user feedback.
Baek, Cagiltay, Boling, and Frick (2008) point out that user-centered
design can be viewed as either product-oriented or process-oriented.
With a product-oriented approach, the designer may view his or her
task as that of creating a specific, fixed product others will use as is
once it is released. With a process-oriented approach, the designer
may view his or her task “in the context of human learning, work, and
communication” (Baek et al., 2008, p. 660)
Example:
A product-oriented designer builds a math app, finishes it, and launches it without updates.
A process-oriented designer builds the same app, but keeps checking how students use it—and makes changes to improve learning over
time.
------Process-oriented design is more flexible and focuses on real human learning and experience.
Popular Approaches to Analyzing Learners
Mager (1988, p. 60) recommends analyzing and articulating the following about
the target audience:
1 Age range. Age & Gender
2 Sex distribution.
3 Nature and range of educational background. Education level
4 Reason(s) for attending the course. Why they joined the course
5 Attitude(s) about course attendance. How they feel about attending
6 Biases, prejudices, and beliefs. Beliefs and biases
7 Typical hobbies and other spare time activities.
8 Interests in life other than hobbies. Their hobbies and life interests
9 Need-gratifiers (rewards that would work). What rewards motivate them
10 Physical characteristics. Physical traits (e.g., disabilities)
11 Reading ability. Reading level
12 Terminology or topics to be avoided. Words/topics to avoid
13 Organizational membership. Group memberships (like clubs)
14 Specific prerequisite and entry-level skills already learned.
What they already know
Dick, Carey, and Carey (2011) list the following as useful information for
instructional designers about the target population:
• Entry skills (similar to Smaldino et al.’s (2012) entry competencies).
• Prior knowledge of topic area.
• Attitudes toward content and potential delivery system.
• Academic motivation.
1. Entry Skills
• Educational and ability levels. – What skills do learners already have before starting?
• General learning preferences. 2. Prior Knowledge
• Attitudes toward the training organization. – How much do they already know about the topic?
• Group characteristics.
3. Attitudes about Content & Delivery 5. Education & Ability Levels
– Do they like or dislike the topic and the way it will be taught (e.g., online, face-to-face)? – What is their general academic background?
4. Academic Motivation 6. Learning Preferences
– Are they eager to learn, or just doing it because they have to? – Do they prefer visuals, hands-on activities, group work,
etc.?
7. Attitude toward the Institution
– Do they trust and respect the organization providing the training?
8. Group Characteristics
– Are they similar in background, or is there a lot of diversity?
- This step helps you collect and organize data about your students.
- You make a chart to show the range of abilities in your class.
- You can compare three groups:
Learner Analysis Procedures 1. Challenged learners (need more support)
2. Average learners (at the expected level)
3. Gifted and talented learners (perform above level)
Charting Learner Characteristics Data
The chart shows different ability levels for skills like reading, maturity, or
physical coordination.
This activity involves deciding what data to gather and creating a chart that
illustrates the range of the learners’ abilities (see Figure 5.2).
Struggles to follow written steps Reads and understands complex
Can follow simple instructions
manuals
Easily distracted, needs reminders Follows rules with guidance Self-disciplined and focused
Assembles complex models
Difficulty handling small parts Can build simple structures independently
This helps the teacher prepare:
Extra support for challenged learners,
Standard tasks for average learners,
Enrichment activities for gifted learners.
- To understand your learners better, you can create a fictional profile that represents a "typical" learner in your group.
- You use real data (like age, skills, education) and add some imaginary details (like a name or life situation).
- This helps instructional designers connect with learners on a personal level when planning lessons.
Creating a Fictitious Profile of the Typical Learner
This requires a little creativity; the learner has to be created from the data provided
plus some fictional elements (such as a name).
This type of profile helps you design lessons that fit your learners' real-life situations and abilities.
Why It's Useful:
- It makes learner analysis more realistic and relatable.
- Helps you think about individual needs within a larger group.
- Can also create different profiles for challenged, average, and gifted learners.
- After you finish your instruction, check if your learner analysis was accurate.
- Compare what you expected (based on your analysis) with what really happened during the lesson or training.
- Also, ask learners for feedback to see if the instruction was useful, clear, and suitable.
Evaluating the Success of a Learner Analysis
Compare the learner analysis results with information on the students who
participate in the instruction and listen to what students have to say about the
instruction after they have completed it. This is an important summative evaluation
activity that will help in determining the best course of action for subsequent
learner analyses.
This process is called summative evaluation, and it helps you:
Example:
- Improve future lessons You prepared a digital storytelling workshop based on learner analysis.
- Understand what worked or didn’t
- Plan better for the next group of learners - Your analysis said most participants were comfortable using PowerPoint.
- But during the workshop, many struggled with simple features.
- In feedback forms, learners said they preferred more hands-on guidance.
Result: Your analysis missed their real skill level, so you now plan to include a pre-
workshop survey or tutorial next time.
Member Check Example (Short):
You say in your learner profile: / If the teacher says yes - your profile is correct.
X If they say no - you need to update your profile.
“Teachers are not confident using Google Classroom.”
This is called a member check.
You ask a real teacher:
“Does this sound like you?”
One way to evaluate the learner analysis during the design and development of the
instruction (part of a formative evaluation) is to conduct a member check. A member
check is a comparison method of evaluation; the interpretations drawn from the data
gathered are shared with a peer who has similar experiences with developing
instruction for a similar population.
A member check can also be conducted with someone from the target audience.
Asking a member of the target audience if the profile developed seems appropriate
(essentially asking, “Is this you?”) can be very helpful in determining the success of
the analysis.
Learner Analysis and the Instructional Design Process
Completing a learner analysis should help you answer the following questions:
• Who is the intended audience for the instruction? Who are the learners?
• What common traits do members of the learning group possess? What do they have in common?
• What are the differences among learners within the group? How are they different?
• What is the range of ability among the learners? What is their skill level?
• What is the motivation for participating in the instructional event? What motivates them?
• Do the learners’ have non-instructional needs (e.g., rest, food, safety) that must
be met so that they may focus on the instructional activity? Are their basic needs (food, rest, safety) met?
• What will make the instruction effective, efficient, and appealing for the target
audience of learners? How can the lesson be made effective and interesting?
• How has the instructional designer or design team planned for the
accommodation of culturally and physically diverse learners? How to include all types of learners (culture, ability)?
• What evaluation strategies will the instructional designer or design team use to
determine the success of the learner analysis and how to refine future analyses for the
Instructional event? How will you check if the analysis was successful?