Analyzing the Task

The first thing that must be done before analyzing the task is stating your goal. While this may seem a silly thing to state, it is probably overlooked far too often. For example, if you are planning to teach someone how to change a tire, you can completely miss the mark by simply saying your goal is to teach someone how to change a tire. Do you want the person to know how to change car tires or bike tires? Should they be able to do it in a certain amount of time? Should they have to do it safely or correctly? It is important to decide what the real goal of your instruction is.

The best part about a good goal is that it leads to a good analysis. Once you have that goal, you can simply ask: "What will the learner have to know or do in order to achieve the goal?" From that you have your higher-order tasks. Once again, you simply ask yourself what the learner must know or do in order to achieve that higher-order task. You can continue that process until you reach: "in order to do _____, the learner must exist." It may sound easy, but often the skills required to reach a goal aren't as obvious as you'd think. Look at catching a pop fly in baseball. The player needs to see the ball, predict its trajectory based on speed, height, angle, and past experience, then decide on a route to get there before the ball hits the ground, and also use proper technique to catch it. While the steps I've used still aren't complete, most would simplify it further and say, "you see the ball, run to where it's going, and catch it," because they have done it or seen it done so many times that the subtasks are looked over. So the analysis is more difficult than it seems.