Performance Gap Analysis

Actual performance vs. Performance Discrepancy

Desired Performance:

The ultimate goal of St. Brendan's online e-learning environment is to enable the learner to independently study and prepare to take and pass the corresponding Advanced Placement (AP) exam with a passing grade of at least 3 or higher.

Actual Performance

According to our analysis (of the numbers provided us by St. Brendan's College), 57.28% of students already achieve this. Of the remaining 42.72%, Motivation accounts for 56.5%, Resources account for 26.25% with Knowledge and Skills claiming the remaining 17.25%.

We can only address issues that deal with Knowledge and Skills. Resources and Motivation are important issues, but they cannot be resolved through training. We have included a list of suggestions on how to deal with these discrepancies without training in Appendix B.

The maximum possible benefit from training would be a 7.37% increase.

Purpose

The purpose of the training is to enable students to use St. Brendan’s e-learning platform, and improve their independent learning strategies.

Instructional Goals

1. Identify the elements of the St. Brendan's e-learning platform.
2. Demonstrate a working knowledge of the tools within this platform.
3. Create a learning schedule for this e-learning platform.
4. Develop independent learning strategies.

Learner Analysis

Learner Group

• Learners complete the course independently within course guidelines.

Characteristics

• The average students are between the ages of 14-18 years old.
• 97.88% are enrolled in a public/private learning institution.
• Some have time built into their schedules, while others the training is in addition to formal training.

Numbers

• Based on prior enrollment, an average of 7.5 students will be taught per year above the number taught the year before. Given the average dropout rate of 2 students/year over the past 3 years, enrollment for 04-05 should be 39-43 students

Location

• 60-75% of learners are in rural areas
• Approximately 90% have personal computers and internet access
• Students who do not have internet access will train at their local learning institution or library.

Experience

• The average student has finished at least their primary education (k-8) and is working toward a certificate in secondary or higher education.
• Most students have a counselor

Attitude

• The majority are taking the course out of interest in the subject area or desire for college/university level credit.
• 80% of the students who dropped the course reported that they did so because they "found the unstructured, open learning environment too much to deal with" and thus dropped the course.
• Those students who continued in the course liked the flexibility of things but they need solid dates because they find it easy to slack off.
• Past students reported they would like to be able to talk with other students and have more interaction with the teacher(s).
• They hate to wait for information to get back via email.
• Would like more clarity of assignments.
• Students feel the course takes considerable amount of time.

Skills Related to Delivery Mode

• Approximately 50-60% are independent learners based on learning style inventories.
• Currently, there are no pre-measurement methods in place to measure student computer/e-learning/distance learning knowledge. Hence, little is known about these skills.

Resource Analysis

The following are resources we feel are important and/or essential for successful execution of our recommended training proposals. They are contingent upon the delivery model you choose. Please consider them carefully.

Probable Delivery System

Option A

1) A web-based training module

2) A web-based training manual available in HTML and PDF format

This option will provide a two unit web-based training module that utilizes the St. Brendan's College e-learning platform. The learners will also have a web-based manual that they will be able to download in one of two formats.

Access to the web-based module will be located on the home page of St. Brendan's College e-learning platform. A link on this page will be used to take the student to a replica of the e-learning platform, where students will be given a series of instructions that will simulate an actual e-learning platform session. The web-based manual will also be located on the same page as the web-based module via a link. The manual will be made available in both HTML and PDF format to all students. The manual will contain all necessary instructions for students to begin and complete the e-learning platform simulator.

This option will take learners between 3-5 hours of instructional time to be completed over a one week period.

Option B

1) A CD Rom or web-based video training module.

2) A web-based training module.

This option will provide a CD Rom or web-based video file(s) that provides learners with a step by step, guided process of how to access the St. Brendan's College e-learning platform. The CD Rom or web-based video will be sent to students upon enrollment in St. Brendan's College. In addition, the learners will have access to a two unit web-based training module that utilizes the St. Brendan's College e-learning platform.

This option will take learners between 3-5 hours of instructional time to be completed over a one week period, including approximately 20-30 minutes of video.

Option C

1) Training session, provided by the media specialist at the student's local high school.

2) A web-based training module.

This option will allow students to receive instruction on how to use St. Brendan's College e-learning platform through the use of a media specialist. If there is a student enrolled in St. Brendan's College, the media specialist at their school must go through an instructor's online training course. The media specialist will teach the training session through the use of handouts and a two unit web-based training module, which will be available on St. Brendan's College home page.

This option will take the learners between 3-5 hours of instructional time to be completed in one training session to be held at the media specialist's discretion.

Estimated Costs

Overview

Option A Cost Breakdown

Option B Cost Breakdown

Option C Cost Breakdown

Analysis Signoff

We have reviewed the proposed training analysis and materials and have decided that training is needed to improve student capacity of the overall efficiency of St. Brendan’s on-line learning platform and individual learning strategies. We feel that the best option to maximize results is delivery model ____________ (choose A, B, or C). We recognize that this training can yield a maximum 7% increase in overall success. Factors not directly affected through training (such as resource and motivation issues) will not be addressed in this chosen delivery model.

Client

Client

RAID project manager

Suggested Alternatives

As stated in the Performance Analysis, roughly 35% of the performance gap is due to either a lack of resources or motivation. Although these are not reconciled through training, we would like to make a few suggestions on how you can also improve your overall desired outcomes, if we may. These are merely observations from our analysis. Take them for what they are worth (as suggestions from objective outsiders).

Motivation

A large part of the problem seems to be resolvable by increase accountability. Currently, few, if any, students use the available discussion resources. We feel that a large obstacle in asynchronous e-learning Advanced Placement courses is the lack of discussion that would normally occur in traditionally-taught face-to-face Advanced Placement courses. Two of our researches have done a good deal of investigation into discussion forums in higher education and have found that the most efficient method of generating open-ended inquiry discussion is to require participation at least twice a week. When participation is either not mandatory or well spread out, students never really seem develop the necessary discussion skills for the subject. Because half of the Advanced Placement test score depends on a student’s ability to debate topics in the desired area, regular and mandatory participation in discussion forums would likely increase the student’s ability to debate any number of studied topics likely to appear on the Advanced Placement exam.

Resources

We recognize that nearly 25% of students who last the duration of the course do not take the final examination due to a lack of money. We realize that the AP exam is scheduled near or after graduation and therefore students have greater money constraints than during other times of the year. We have two suggestions. First, get a commitment from students earlier in the year to take the exam and have them actually deposit the money ahead of time, to be returned if the student decides not to take the exam. The second option is to provide a long-term cost comparison of paying USD $80 for a potential 6-12 university credits compared to hundreds of dollars per credit at most universities. A time comparison of potential university graduation with and without the AP credits could also aid this process.

Thank you for choosing RAID development team. We hope to hear from you soon and continue this exciting project.