Analyzing Learners and Contexts

Shawn Atwood
Foundations of Instructional Design
EDPS 6430

“Analyzing Learners and Contexts.”

Well, this past week as I have embarked even further upon the quest to define what an instructional designer is and how I would tell my mother-in-law all about it, studying “Chapter 5: Analyzing Learners and Contexts” helped me quite a bit in the attempt to define the field. For me, I almost feel the answer is within this title. An instructional designer is one that is continually analyzing the learners and the context and then modifying the content being taught to best fit the needs of the learner.

It is apparent to me that as an instructional designer is continually analyzing their audience then they will learn what it is that the learner needs and as they adjust their teaching, then with regards to the instruction, the learner will “find it relevant to their interests or job, feel confident that they can learn it and will be satisfied when they do” (p.105). This backs up the theory of constuctivism that we studied this week as well because as learners begin to connect material with past experiences, then it becomes both relevant and meaningful to them.