ANALYZE

= **ANALYZE ** =

**‍** //At this stage the intsructional designer// //conducts contextual analysis involving instructional analysis, and// //analysis of learners and educators' characteristics.//

**3. Context of online learning activity** As pointed out by Morrison, Ross and Kemp, "the context influences every aspect of the learning experience" and is a "collection of factors that can inhibit or facilitate instruction and learning" (2007:63). Familiarity with the learning environment, the infrastrcuture and available resources is therefore a necessity to the instructional designer. The instructional designer needs to be familiar with the environmental factors that will affect the instruction. The Language in Practice (LIP411S) course I deliver runs for one semester, i.e. about 15 weeks. There are 3 face-to-face hours allocated on the Full-time (FT) student’s time-table, and 1 laboratory hour. The second laboratory hour is not indicated on the timetable due to different time slots. The majority of the students doing this course are first year students from the rural parts of Namibia, with limited exposure to technologies by the time they enter the institution. A compulsory basic computer training course is offered to all students. Some students are from urban areas and are competent at using computers. English language proficiency is an issue of concern, and many students do not perform well due to language barriers. A few foreign students doing this course did not have English medium in high school and can only use Basic English. Though motivated to study, unlike FT students, Part-time (PT) students do not usually perform well due to other commitments. Students enjoy using computers in the laboratories, but PT students do not make use of the lab hour as they have only 3 hours allocated for English per week and are therefore disadvantaged as they write the same exam with FT ‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍students ‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍.

There are three computer laboratories in the department but are shared with all other students the department serves. This explains why student access is limited to two hours per week. There are 25 to 30 computers in each laboratory while the average number of students per group is about 30. Extra computers are accessible to students in the library. Connectivity is generally reliable, but there are times when it becomes an issue of concern. Another disturbing issue is the fact that the institution blocks many of the web sites, including the educational ones. Policy documents are in place, i.e. the institutional [|E-learning Policy 2010[1.pdf]] document and the e-Learning Strategic plan. The Centre for Teaching and Learning in collaboration with the Computer Department provides support to both students and staff, e.g. registering students on the LMS.

An observation has been made that the existing teaching and learning approaches do not meet students’ needs. The needs analysis that was conducted [|https://docs.google.com/spreadsheet/gform?key=0Au8sRFZkfWmmdHpzT0NzX21SODBKWm9qS2tkWjQ1Q2c&hl=en_US&gridId=0#chart] indicates how students would like to see some changes to the course, especially in terms of computer/laboratory hours that they would like to be increased. Learning activities are not challenging in terms of interests and relevance. The timetable lacks guidance on WHAT to teach during the 2 laboratory hours allocated, though there are different lecturers delivering the same course. This resulted from the constant change of the Learning Management System (LMS) which discouraged staff to develop new content for the new LMS. There is an existing complicated template for developing new courses on the LMS but is not flexible and requires extensive training. These are some of the contributing factors to a blank time-table in terms of laboratory hours. Observations and an informal survey questionnaire were used for contextual analysis. The questionnaire provides more insights on the learning environment, including the content and the learners. **‍**

**4. Content**
In addition to an informal survey that was conducted with students and instructors to get more information about the course, the course syllabus []was also used as one the informal methods of gathering information about the existing course. As reflected in the syllabus, the existing teaching and learning approaches do not effectively meet the needs of students. The same sentiment was shared by students during the survey [|https://docs.google.com/spreadsheet/gform?key=0Au8sRFZkfWmmdHpzT0NzX21SODBKWm9qS2tkWjQ1Q2c&hl=en_US&gridId=0#chart] when they pointed out the need for more laboratory hours. Though expected to attend an online component of the course at least once per week, the syllabus lacks guidance on WHAT is to be done during the online session. This implies a dire need for development of online learning materials for the course. According to institutional policies, there are no restrictions in terms of selection of technological tools, but social networking tools are only permissible between 13h00 and 14h00 hours and after working hours. This affects selection of technological tools such as ‍face book ‍ and blogs.

5. Students
<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 120%;">According to Morrison, Ross and Kemp (2007), understanding of the learners for whom the programme is being designed is of importance to the instructional designer. As Morrison, Ross and Kemp clarify further, "the measure of success of an instructional plan will depend principally on the learning level accomplished by the learners involved" (2007:52).The majority of the students for whom this instructional design is intended are first year FT students, but there are also PT students who attend evening classes. Many of the Full-time students are young students who have just completed formal education. Part-time students are a mixture of working young adults and young unemployed students who could not be accommodated in the FT mode of study due to various reasons. Nevertheless, these students have limited computer usage skills by the time they enter the institution, but it is compulsory for them to do a course on basic computer usage skills during their first year of their studies. Additionally, these students’ proficiency in the English language is limited. This is a contributing factor to poor performance. Many of them do not put efforts in studying English as they regard it unimportant as compared to other subjects. They lack interest to learn English as it is not valued like other courses. Although a few of them are interested to improve their language skills, proficiency in the language remains an obstacle. Information about learner characteristics was also obtained through the survey that was conducted to shed more lights on the learning environment. Attached here <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 120%;">[]is a questionnaire that was used to gather more information about students and their needs, as well as their opinions on the existing course of study. Many of the student responses to the questionnaire <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 120%;">[|https://docs.google.com/spreadsheet/gform?key=0Au8sRFZkfWmmdHpzT0NzX21SODBKWm9qS2tkWjQ1Q2c&hl=en_US&gridId=0#chart] match with an observation made earlier in this sub-section. Among the 5 students who participated in the survey, 4 of them indicated that this is the first year they are using computers; only one of them has been using computers for more than 5 years. Some students also commented on the fact that students underestimate the course, which matches with an observation made earlier that students have an attitude to the course in terms of relevance. Comments given by students also indicate how students want computer laboratory hours to be increased as they requested that they be increased from 1 hour per week to 3. Accessibility of computer facilities does not seem to be a problem to students at all as all of the participants reported that they have access to computer facilities on campus.

<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 110%;">6. Educators
<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 120%;">Instructors acknowledge need for online learning. This explains why some have taken short e-learning courses offered by the institution to train staff in e-learning. Though arrangements are in place to provide computer training to staff members, training is not always successful due to time constraints. Staff members have access to facilities such as laptops; and all the lecture venues have projectors and interactive SMART boards installed. Nevertheless, staff members are not yet able to use SMART boards as it is a new technology at the institution, though training is under way. A few part-time staff members are contracted occasionally when there is demand but basically for evening classes. A survey questionnaire hereby attached <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 120%;">"[]". was also used to get more information about the educators. The questionnaire was mailed to two colleagues delivering the same course. Unfortunately only one of them responded before the expiry of the form. When the other one tried to respond later, after a couple of weeks when the form had been mailed, google doc was no longer accepting responsee to the questionnaire. Therefore, the responses hereby attached are only from one educator <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 120%;">[|https://docs.google.com/spreadsheet/gform?key=0Au8sRFZkfWmmdHJ6bF9QTERNcy1OZ0dtYUtPaVhEU1E&hl=en_US&gridId=0#chart]. From these responses one can deduce the fact that educators rely on using websites in isolation for teaching and learning. They wish to use the LMS though, but as stated earlier, developing content on the LMS is an obstacle.

<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 120%;">References <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 120%;">Morrison, G. R., Ross, S. M. and Kemp, J.E. (2007). //Designing effective instruction// (5th Ed.), 10-20. New York: John Wiley & Sons.