Task Analysis
To conduct our task analysis, our team followed the approach given by Jonassen et al. (1999) as described by Brown & Green (2015).
​Describing tasks: the process of elaborating the tasks identified in the inventory.
Hobbs (2010) defines access as “finding and using media and technology tools skillfully and sharing appropriate and relevant information with others,” (p 19) and analyze and evaluate as “comprehending messages and using critical thinking to analyze message quality, veracity, credibility, and point of view, while considering potential effects or consequences of messages,” (p 19). While these more detailed explanations provided a great framework for our team, they are still too general for our team to identify specific tasks. We returned to our needs analysis and learner analysis to determine specific gaps that exist for our audience. Our analyses indicated a strong need for tasks related to monetary scams, health information, and current events.
Selecting tasks: prioritizing tasks and choosing those that are more feasible and appropriate if there is a large quantity of tasks.
After narrowing our scope to Hobbs’s (2010) Access and Analyze & Evaluate competencies in addition to determining our audience’s areas of need, we generated a list of tasks we want learners to accomplish.
We want our learners to:
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Identify common characteristics of phishing emails.
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Generate a list of credible news sources that can be easily accessed.
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Critically analyze health information found online and determine its trustworthiness.
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Develop a reliable system for sharing information and content with others.
Inventorying tasks: identifying tasks that need to be developed for instruction.
According to Hobbs (2010), media literacy consists of five essential competencies: access, analyze & evaluate, create, reflect, and act. Due to this large scope of media literacy, our team decided to focus on only the competencies that we found to be most engaging for our learners. We determined through our learner analysis that while older adults agree that more education related to media literacy is needed, they do not feel that they specifically would benefit from it and are confident in their existing knowledge and abilities. In fact, many of them indicated that they are not interested in learning more about media literacy. Given this insight, our team decided to focus on the access and analyze & evaluate competencies as these can be more easily incorporated into our learners’ current media usage.
Sequencing tasks and task components: defining the sequence in which instruction should occur in order to successfully facilitate learning.
At this point, our team is unsure of the exact sequence and components we want to include in our design. We have agreed that we should ensure learners can easily access digital resources before moving into the analyze and evaluate competency, however, we also want to ensure that our design incorporates the flexibility to accommodate the different levels of background knowledge our learners will likely bring to the course.
Analyzing tasks and content level: describing the type of cognitive behavior, physical performance, or affective response required by the tasks.
As stated in the previous section, our team has not developed any specific deliverables at this point in the design process, however, we do have some ideas that we are interested in exploring further. Our SME, Dr. Donna McCabe, suggested that we incorporate case studies and other real world examples to engage and motivate our learners. We are considering asking learners to complete their own case study throughout the course. Because this course is heavily focused on digital media and sharing, we are also interested in possibly incorporating peer-to-peer feedback and other similar interactive tasks.
References
Brown, A.H., & Green, T.D. (2015). The Essentials of Instructional Design: Connecting Fundamental Principles with Process and Practice, Third Edition, Routledge. ProQuest Ebook Central, http://ebookcentral.proquest.com/lib/nyulibrary-ebooks/detail.action?docID=3569720
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Hobbs, R. (2010). (rep.). Digital and Media Literacy: A Plan of Action. A White Paper on the Digital and Media Literacy Recommendations of the Knight Commission on the Information Needs of Communities in a Democracy. Washington, DC: Aspen Institute. Retrieved February 19, 2022, from https://files.eric.ed.gov/fulltext/ED523244.pdf.