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Ashley Chiasson, M.Ed

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Terminology Tuesday: Task Analysis

July 14, 2015

I sat in on some training yesterday, and the trainer was discussing task analysis…I have a love/hate relationship with task analysis, because within the military, these are often very tedious to develop. However, they are important. I understand that.

Task Analysis

A task analysis involves breaking down a task into each step and sub-step required to complete the task. It seems simple enough, right? Task analysis are important when it comes to breaking down the components of a task to ensure effective training. Often times we take for granted things we already know how to do, but when we’re trying to teach someone else how to do a certain task, the learner needs to know each of the elements required to effectively complete the task.

For example, the task “Make a latte” involves more than just a cup, espresso, and milk. It may require:

– Selecting the appropriate sized cup

– Selecting a steaming pitcher

– Remove milk from fridge

– Pour milk into steaming pitcher

– Steam milk

– Brew espresso into cup

– Remove cup once espresso has finished brewing

– Pour steamed milk on top of espresso

Now, these are just some of the steps, but within these steps, there are sub-steps. For example:

– Steam milk

– Place steaming wand in milk

– Place thermometer in pitcher of milk

– Activate/turn on steaming wand

– Begin aerating milk

– Steam to a temperature of X

– Remove pitcher of milk

– Wipe steaming wand down

– Turn on steaming wand to clear milk residue

– Turn off steaming wand

And within these sub-steps, there may be even more sub-steps. When conducting a task analysis, you really want to break down the original task into the most painful of details (and sub-tasks).

Within the military, this often involved extremely lengthy Job Task Analysis spreadsheets, that would further break down whether each task and sub-task was considered a knowledge, skill, or attitude. These further breakdowns will allow you to better refine the way in which you train the user how to do the task/sub-task.

Ensure you’re concise with your task analysis and that you’re only including one task or sub-task per item. Nothing should piggyback on top of one another…that’s just lazy and will become ineffective when you move on to develop training.

Task analysis are also useful when working with other developers (e.g. programmers or media developers). You can use a task analysis to describe the breakdown of media or programmatic (or both) elements, and then you have a detailed account of what should happen and when so that these developers have a greater understanding of how to develop the content they’re developing.

Stay tuned for a time-lapse demo and freebie of a task analysis template!

Resources

Task Analysis in Instructional Design by Donald Clark

How to Do a Task Analysis Like a Pro by Articulate

Task Analysis: An Individual and Population Approach, 3rd Edition by S. Wilson and G. Landry

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Meet Ashley

Ashley ChiassonI’m a Instructional Designer with over 15 years of professional experience, and have developed e-learning solutions for clients within the Defence, Post-Secondary Education, Health, and Sales sectors. For more about me, click here!

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