Job Aid 2:

Analyzing the Learning Environment

1.      Describe the teachers or trainers for the course: range of experience, interests, backgrounds, preferences. 

The computer teacher will teach this course.  The teacher will have extensive knowledge of computer usage, software, hardware, and networking.

2.      Describe the existing curricula (scope and sequence) into which this course fits.  Include the philosophy, strategies, or theories underlying this curricula.

The purpose of Midland School’s computer curriculum is to provide students with the necessary computer skills to be prepared in school, home and the workplace.  Four areas of study include general computer skills, keyboarding, computer applications, and Internet skills. 

3.      Describe the instructional hardware that is currently available. 

There are 26 computer workstations equipped with Dell Optiplex GX270, Pentium 4 computers. They are networked together and share a scanner and six printers.  There is a projector connected to the teacher’s computer. 

4.      Describe the classes (in general, detailed learner analysis will be conducted in the next chapter) and facilities that will use the course.

This course will be used in a lab setting with each student at his/her own computer with a computer teacher present.  Class sizes fluctuate tremendously year to year.  Classes are grouped according to Math ability.  An average class size is approximately 14 students.  In any given year, though, actual class sizes may range from 3 students to 25 students.

5.      Describe the school or organization in which the learning will take place.  Attach any organizational charts to this form.  Include description about how decisions regarding which instructional materials are selected are made.

Midland School is a PreK – Grade 8 school in the Rochelle Park School District.  We are a sending district to Hackensack High School.  Midland School is a sending district to Hackensack High School, but about 1/3 of each class chooses to attend other public high schools or private high schools in the area. 

The district is comprised of a Superintendent, Principal, Business Administrator, Faculty, and support staff. 

Instructional materials are selected and monitored by curriculum committees which are headed by the principal and superintendent.  Teachers with expertise in subject area are placed on committees.

6.      Describe the community in which the school or organization resides.  Specifically identify any characteristics which might influence the acceptability of the instruction in this content area.

The Township of Rochelle Park has a population of approximately 5,200.  The school population (PreK-8) is approximately 490.  Approximately 83% of students indicate English as their primary language.   The school has a student mobility rate of about 7% each school year. 

Job Aid 3: Describing the Target Audience

1.  Cognitive characteristics

        a.  General characteristics

• general aptitudes—Classes are grouped according to language and math ability.  There are three class sections for each grade level.  One class has highly motivated, above average students in math and language; one class has average students in math and language with various levels of motivation, and the third class has below average students in math and language.

• specific aptitudes—Good computer skills

     • developmental level, such as Piaget's levels of cognitive development—Students would be in Piaget’s concrete operations level of cognitive development.

• language development level—Eighty-three percent of the students state English as the language primarily spoken and have adequate language development.  The remaining students will get additional help from the ESL teacher with computer specific terminology before this lesson.

• reading level—Two-thirds of the students have average to above average reading level for their grade.  One-third of the students have below grade level reading ability.

• level of visual literacy, ability to gain information from graphics--High

• cognitive processing styles–preferred and most effective—Using the Myers-Briggs Type Indicator, the cognitive processing style preferred and most effective is “sensing.”  Students feel more comfortable and gain computer skills more quickly by experimenting.

• cognitive and learning strategies—Most students learn most by “doing.” For those students that don’t, different learning strategies will need to be applied.

• general world knowledge—Sixth grade students have a lot of world knowledge due to Internet exposure.

b.      Specific prior knowledge

• past experience—The majority of students have completed 7 years of computer instruction.  They are competent in word processing, use proper computer terminology, and have created spreadsheets and graphs using The Cruncher 2.0.

2.  Physiological Characteristics

      • sensory perception—Adequate sensory perception

      • general health—No health problems that would hinder computer instruction.

      • age—Students are approximately 11 – 12 years old.    

3.  Affective Characteristics

• interests—Students in grade 6 are very interested in sports, music, and fashion.

• motivation—Most students seem to be motivated by peer pressure.

• motivations to learn—Most students are very motivated to learn new computer skills.

• attitude toward subject matter—Students enjoy computer class.

• attitude toward learning—Most students have a good attitude towards learning.

• perceptions of and experience with specific forms of mediation—Specific forms of mediation used are calls to parents, teacher detention, principal intervention, office detention and suspension.  Most sixth graders would rather get sent to the office than have his or her parents notified.  Sixth graders in general have a negative view of mediation and behave so mediation is not needed.

• academic self-concept—Due the grouping of students according to math ability, students in the top class have a very high academic self-concept; students in the lowest group have a low academic self-concept.

• anxiety level—No anxiety noticed.

• beliefs—N/A

• attribution of success, i.e., locus of control—Parental involvement.

4.  Social characteristics

• relationships to peers—Peer pressure in extremely prevalent with this age group.

• feelings toward authority—For the most part, students have positive feelings toward authority, especially with teachers.  Unfortunately our school has a revolving door with administration and it is hard for students to develop a relationship with their principal and superintendent.

• tendencies toward cooperation or competition—Six grade students have a little difficulty working in groups due to peer pressure. 

• moral development, such as Kohlberg's stages of moral development—Most sixth graders fall into Stage 4 (Law and Order) of Kohlberg’s stages of moral development.

• socio-economic background—About 93% are middle to upper middle class.  There is a transient population of about 7% of students that would seem to fall in lower to middle class.

• racial/ethnic background, affiliations—Majority of students are white.  The remaining student come from varied ethnic backgrounds.

• role models—For sixth graders, role models tend to be parents, teachers, sports figures, and entertainers.

5.  Design Implications

        •Grouping of students by reading level

        •Amount of time for instruction

Job Aid 4:

Goal Identification and Task Analysis

A.  Write the instructional goal of the course, unit, or lesson in performance terms.  (Remember, you may omit the standards at this time.)

·        To recognize terminology for Excel

·        To find cells in an Excel spreadsheet

·        To construct a spreadsheet

B.     What kind of learning outcome does this goal represent?  

•There will be concept learning outcome from this goal

C.     List the 3 - 12 information processing steps that an expert would use in completing this goal.  (Remember you may wish to write a representative test question to guide this analysis.)    

Creating a Spreadsheet and Graph in Excel

1.      Show an example of a spreadsheet

2.      Show an example of a column

3.      Show an example of a row

4.      Show an example of a cell and active cell

5.      Show an example of a cell address

6.      Locate the following:

a.      B4

b.      A2

c.       E11

d.      Column C

e.       Row 7

7.      Type “Candy” in cell A1

8.      Type “Calories” in cell B1

9.      Type “Junior Mints” in cell A2

10.  Type “210” in cell B2

11.  Type “Kit Kat” in cell A3

12.  Type “290” in cell B3

13.  Type “M&M Plain” in cell A4

14.  Type “240” in cell B4

15.  Type “M&M Peanut” in cell A5

16.  Type “250” in cell B5

17.  Type “Life Savers” in cell A6

18.  Type “110” in cell B6

D.  For each step in the information processing analysis, indicate the prerequisites.

·        Steps 1-18 require a prerequisite knowledge of keyboarding and general mouse skills

E.  Write a performance objective for the instructional goal, each step in the information processing analysis, and each prerequisite in your instructional analysis.

·        Learners will be able to identify specific items in an Excel spreadsheet using proper terminology

·        Learners will be able to key in specific text and numbers specific cells

Job Aid 5:

Assessment Design

1.  Identify the purpose of your assessment instrument and the type of model that you will follow in its development.

The purpose of my assessment instrument will be to determine the level of learner competence in Excel terminology and identifying cells.

2.  List the kinds of assessments (entry assessments, pre-assessments, etc.) that are necessary and where they should occur in the instructional strategy

A post assessment test will be given at the end of the Excel tutorial.

3.  Write the item specifications for each objective which you determined in your task analysis.

·Learners will recognize terminology for Excel

4.  Write an instrument blueprint for each of the assessments identified in #2.

See Job Aid 5A and 5B

5. Write complete instruments using item specifications and blueprints as a guide (this goes beyond specifications to development of actual instruments).

10 question assessment of Excel Tutorial

            1.  Which is an example of a correctly named cell?

                        A)  15                  B)   D14                    C)   2D8      D)   16F

            2.  Each ________ is labeled with numbers.

                        A)  active cell      B)   spreadsheet       C)  row        D) cells

            3.  Text is entered into individual rectangular areas called ________ on the spreadsheet.

                        A)  address         B)  cells                     C) columns  D) spreadsheet

4.  Each ________ is represented by a letter.

A)  column          B)  cell                       C) active cell D)  row

5.  Every cell has its own _________, which is a series of letters and numbers.

A) active cell      B)   spreadsheet        C)   cell        D) cell address

6.  Which is not an example of a graph type in Excel?

A)  bar                B) column                  C)  autosum  D)  line

7.  Autosum performs which function in Excel?

            A) creates a graph   B)  adds a series of numbers

            C)saves a spreadsheet   D) prints a spreadsheet

8.  A variety of graph styles can be made in Excel.

            T/F

9.       Only numbers can be entered into an Excel spreadsheet.

T/F

10.   Excel has a chart wizard to guide you through the creation of graphs.

          T/F
Job Aid 5a: Item Specifications

for        Excel Tutorial                                                              

                        (project name)

Objective:  Supply the objective to which these specifications apply

The learner will identify terminology used in Excel

Description of Test Form: Describe the form of assessments to be used for this objective.

The test will be computer-based in which the learner will answer multiple choice and T/F questions.

Sample Item: Provide a sample assessment item that is appropriate for this objective.

Include directions for the item.

Respond T or F:  A spreadsheet can contain text, numbers or formulas.

Multiple Choice: Which is an example of a correctly named cell?

                        a) 15    b) D14   c) 2D8   d) 16F

Question Characteristics: Describe any relevant characteristics of the question or assessment situation to be provided. These characteristics will delimit and describe the tasks that are appropriate for this objective.

All questions on the assessment will be able to be answered with just the information given in the tutorial.

Response Characteristics: Describe any relevant characteristics, of the responses or activities of learners who engage in this assessment.

Students will have three tries to get the right answer for each question of the assessment.

Number of Items: Prescribe the number of items of the sort described which will be needed to assess learning of this objective.

There will be 10 questions; seven multiple choice and three T/F.

Mastery Criteria: Describe, preferably in quantitative terms, how well a learner must perform in order to reflect mastery of this learning objective.

The learner must achieve 80% on the assessment test to reflect mastery of learning objectives.

Job Aid 5b: Instrument Blueprint

Instructions: complete the instrument blueprint by supplying information requested in order to guide construction of the assessment instrument. You should have available to you the Item Specifications for each objective before you begin.

Objective (number): Copy from Item Specifications

Form: Format of item(s) for each objective. Copy from Item Specifications

Number of Items: The number of items are described in Item Specifications for each objective needed to adequately assess each objective. Copy from Item Specifications.

Criterion Level: How well the learner should perform on these items. Copy from Item Specifications.

Proportion: What proportion of the overall test will be devoted to assessment relating to this objective? Total should be 100%.

	Form	Number of Items	Criterion Level	Proportion
Objective 1	T/F and Multiple Choice	10	8/10	100%

Job Aid 6: Planning the Organizational Strategy

Component

Lesson Prescriptions

Job Aid 8: Sample Instructor Guide Form

Lesson Title: Excel Tutorial

Course: 6^th Grade Computer

Instructor:    Mrs. Carney

Lesson Goal:

·        To recognize terminology for Excel

·        To find cells in an Excel spreadsheet

·        To construct a spreadsheet

Terminal Objective:

·        Given data, a spreadsheet can be created

·        Given cell addresses, individual cells can be identified

·        Proper terminology for Excel will be used

Desired Learning Outcomes: The learner will recognize Excel terminology, be able to identify and find cells, and construct a simple spreadsheet.

Purpose of lesson: To gain familiarity with Excel

Equipment needed: Computers, Projector, Projection Screen

Materials needed: Excel Tutorial

Time required: 10 minutes

Location:  computer lab

Synopsis of Lesson:

This tutorial will be used as a self-paced introduction to the basics of Excel or a self-paced review of Excel

Lesson Plan                                                                                                           page no. 1

 

^*Adapted from USAF, Air University,

Academic Instructor School Lesson Planning Form

Desired Learning Outcomes	Student Activity	Instructor Activity
(time required: 10minutes)	Students will used the self-paced tutorial	Monitor and assist individual students as needed