Running head: IDD ANALYSIS WORKSHEET 1 

IDD Analysis Worksheet

Filling out this worksheet should help you to organize your initial insights and analysis about
your Instructional Design Document (IDD) topic.
As you fill in information in response to the prompts in this worksheet, you will be working
toward creating your final IDD.
Note: For each section of this worksheet, be sure to refer to the IDD Outline, Section II,
subsections A, B, and C, for more information about what will be required in the final IDD.
Note: Except for the first table, and for any notes about information that does not apply to your
specific project, I’m expecting to see sentences and paragraphs.
Note: Be sure to turn in your worksheet in MS Word. This makes it about 10 times easier to
provide feedback on your assignment. 

Brief Introductory Info

Provide information in this table to give the briefest idea about your topic.
Your Name
Your IDD Topic
Organization (Where the learning
solution will be implemented)
Learners (Target Audience—it’s
possible that you’ll have both a
primary audience and a secondary
audience)
Sean Ponsi
“Aries Gradebook” Learning Module
Soledad Unified School District Professional
Development
Primary: For new teachers to SUSD with no experience
with Aries Gradebook.
Secondary: For returning teachers who need retraining
or to develop greater efficiency in the use of Aries
Gradebook and Google classroom integration.

Needs Assessment
Data Collection.​ Briefly describe how you collected data about your situation. Possible methods
include: interviews, observation, surveys, reviewing work products or reports. You may include
questions and raw data in an appendix.
Note: I’ve set up the paragraphs after the worksheet prompts to be in normal APA Style
(1/2-inch indent for the first line and double-spaced lines). This will make it easier for you to cut
and paste paragraphs into your final IDD document, which will be in APA Style. This also makes
it easier for your professor to read your document, so please do not alter the paragraph settings.
(Be kind to your professor.)
IDD ANALYSIS WORKSHEET 2 

An Introductory Note
IDD ANALYSIS WORKSHEET 3 

I have been working with computing technology for as long as I can remember and this

has influenced my development and technology skills. Since working at Soledad High School I

quickly got recruited into the district technology committee. This involved working at the

district-level to recommend and provide district-level recommendations and training. On the site

level the committee members provide user level technology assistance and classroom application

of technology based tools.

First Source (Observation)

One of the site-level trainings my senior and I provide training on the Aries Gradebook

system. We are normally given about 30 minutes to cover grade book creation as a review for

returning teachers and as first time instruction for the new teachers. While my colleague is

covering the general walk-through I provide small group work with the new teachers since the

pace can be fast due to the time allowance. By the end of this training the new teachers only

created one grade book quickly and incompletely and do not yet have the practice to be

proficient.

Second Source (Observation)

After providing training for many of my colleagues, they are having errors and other

problems with the grade book application or submitting grades. They brought up these issues in

casual conversation resulting in me providing immediate assistance.

Third Source (Technology TOSA: Teachers On Special Assignment)

This year the amount of help requests for Aries differed from the technology department to the

TOSA has increased dramatically. Some of these requests have since been sent to us at the site
IDD ANALYSIS WORKSHEET 4 

level and has made it into the next iteration of professional development trainings. Since the

company's representative is unavailable to provide training I will be conducting it this training

cycle.

Problem or Opportunity. ​Based on the data you collected, describe the issue you want to
improve, whether solving a problem or taking advantage of an opportunity.

Here’s Where We’d Like to Be

As each year starts every teacher needs to comfortable using Aries Gradebook to take

attendance, create grade books, maintain grade books, submit grades as needed, review and enter

student data.

Here’s Where We Are Instead

Most returning teachers are able to enter attendance, create and maintain grade books,

and submit grades. Some teachers are still having difficulty creating grade books, submitting

grades, and entering student data. All new teachers start the year with no understanding of

attendance, submitting grades, viewing and submitting student data and have half of a grade

book constructed. This creates a lot of confusion about what is required of new personnel and

undue stress when required documents are due. I have seen teachers sitting and crying out of

frustration during grading periods due to a lack of training in the use of this management

application.

This Is the Gap We’d Like to Fill (The Difference Between What Should Be and What Is)
The administrative parts of teaching can and do interfere with professionals who should

be focusing on pedagogy, instruction and mentorship. Attendance is taken daily with weekly

reports that should be easily integrated into the classroom instruction. Grade books should not
IDD ANALYSIS WORKSHEET 5 

impede instruction but help organize and track it. Providing grade reports needs to be an easy

task transferring data from the grade book to generate a letter grade based document. Teachers

should be able to find and enter relevant data into the Aries student management portal.

Cause(s) of the Gap. ​Explain what’s causing the gap. You may not have all three of the major
causes shown below. If not, indicate which ones don’t apply to your project. For those that apply,
write a few sentences to describe the cause.
Note: A lack of training is ​not​ a cause for a performance gap. A lack of knowledge & skills i​ s​ a
cause that can be solved by training (or some other learning solution).

Lack of Knowledge and/or Skills

New teachers are inadequately trained in the requirements and software that allows them

to process administrative data. This lack of knowledge is delaying and preventing timely,

accurate and efficient processing of student performance and feedback.

Lack of Motivation
This is not due to a lack of motivation as proper training will reduce user stress and

reduce time spent accomplishing required tasks.

Issue(s) in the Organization or Environment

On site internet connections can provide intermittent connections causing difficulties in

the connection to and input of data into the Aries web portal despite the multi-platform support

and issued computer systems.

Initial Solution(s).​ Briefly describe your initial ideas for removing the gap. We’re studying how
to do instructional design in IST522, so we’re hoping that there’s a gap in knowledge and/or
skills that you will want to close with a learning-oriented solution. Many times, there are other
gaps that you should consider (or point out to someone in your organization), even if you will not
try to conquer them with your IDD project.

Learning Solution
IDD ANALYSIS WORKSHEET 6 

Training new teachers and providing access to resources will keep new hires from having

to figure out how to properly do the job they have dedicated to do. This can reduce stress and

improve the efficiency of the already overloaded teachers that are trying to improve their

technology skills. By creating a base level of knowledge and resources the teachers will be

allowed more time to focus on helping students.

Main points to cover are: Attendance, Grade book configuration, and reporting grades.

Entering grades should not interfere with the act of teaching. When the tools are not used

properly and become a hindrance it interferes with the district's and sites' goals.

Other Possible Solutions

Provide training before teachers are required to implement the needed the skills provided

from training in this software system. This training should to be administered at new teacher

orientation with site specific requirements covered at or in site based groups. With the skills

presented and scaffolded to the new personnel early these users have time to seek additional

assistance if needed.

Goals for Your Project. ​Organizational goals​ often include things like saving money,
increasing customer satisfaction, improving quality, increasing the percentage of students
reading at grade level, decreasing the dropout rate, or providing personnel who have reached a
certain level of fluency in key languages. ​Learner goals a​ re less formal and precise than learning
objectives. Often, they are not particularly measurable. For a learner goal, we’re looking for a
broad statement about what the learners will learn. See Piskurich, pages 130 to 131, for
definitions and examples.

Main Organizational Goal(s)

This I believe is to better serve the parents and students of the district. This is one area

that can enhance administrative, and educator efficiency while providing better communication

with all stake holders in the districts educational community.

IDD ANALYSIS WORKSHEET 7 

Main Learner Goal(s)

The goals are to create a user knowledge base that allows for users to become capable

and competent in the processing of student attendance and grades using the Aries software

platform.

Learner Analysis 
Data Collection.​ Write a sentence or two to describe how you collected data about your learners.
Possible methods include: observation, interviews, focus groups, surveys, and reviewing work
products or reports. (You might, at this point, have only one source, or you might have more than
three. The headings are there to provide structure for your answer.) You may include questions
and raw data in an appendix.

First Source
The main source of information has been through observation during training and post

training. Many people can not keep up the limited current training. This proves a need for a

follow up and differentiated training.

Second Source
District-level training committees continue to show interest in providing varying levels of

training to support faculty achievement.

Learner Profile.​ Describe your typical learners (they will often possess a range of knowledge,
skills, and other characteristics). Include additional information if you have a secondary audience
for your learning solution. Most important will be information about relevant experience, prior
knowledge (what they already know about your topic), tool skills, aptitudes, attitudes, and
motivation for learning what you want to teach them.
Note: Please do use ​learning styles​ as a factor in your learner analysis. (These will ​not​ help you
to make design decisions.) Also, be extremely cautious about making assumptions about
generational differences. Some young people have no clue about technology. Some older folks
invented the technology that we use today.
IDD ANALYSIS WORKSHEET 8 

What Work or Study They Are Doing Now

My learners are all k-12 educators that are required to use this software to complete their

job. Some of this audience is also using a secondary grade book software and/or have been using

this software and need to be placed in the appropriate level.

Prior Knowledge About This Topic

Some of the learners have been using this software for years and desire for more

advanced skills. This introductory level is for teachers without prior knowledge.

Tool Skills
The purpose of this lesson is to develop an operational level of knowledge in the use of

Aries SIS gradebook. Skills include creating and management of gradebooks and grade

submissions.

Expected Ease or Difficulties in Learning

Basic functionality is a training issue making the subject-matter easy to learn or follow

directions. The issues become the frequency of use as the basic knowledge is used only once

annually.

Motivation for Learning About This Topic

This topic is motivated through necessity. The users need this software training to

properly accomplish their daily tasks.

Other General Characteristics That May Impact Their Instructional Experience

I am concerned about overloading the learners with too much information. The amount of

tasks that are covered in this lesson might become overwhelming.

IDD ANALYSIS WORKSHEET 9 

Prerequisites or Entry Requirements. ​If applicable, note any requirements that your learners
must meet before they are eligible to take the learning solution that you will offer. (If not
relevant, say so.)

Prerequisites (Courses)
None, this is designed as an introductory or beginning level course.

Entry Requirements (Everything Else)

Professional development registration or offering this training to new hires during

orientation.

Context (Workplace/Environmental/Setting) Analysis 

Data Collection.​ Write a sentence or two to describe how you collected information about the
context of your situation. Possible methods include: observation, interviews, surveys,
organization records. You may include questions and raw data in an appendix.

First Source
Based on observation through both experience and serving on the technology and now

professional development committees. I know that we will use classrooms to facilitate the

training. This is done to provide access to educational technology resources allowing for multiple

approaches for instruction. This very important in this case where the training is technology

based.

Numbers & Locations. ​How many people are in your target audience, and where are they?

Number of People in Your Target Audience

The target audience consists of approximately 60 teachers at the high school with 45 at

the middle school and an average of 30 teachers across five elementary schools. This equals

about 255 personnel requiring a level of knowledge in this subject. On top of the general
IDD ANALYSIS WORKSHEET 10 

numbers for who need to be competent at this task for the 2018-19 school year we had 35 new

personal that required training.

Location(s) of People in Your Target Audience

All of the people in my target audience is spread across seven sites that are brought

together for professional development trainings. This creates a large class size potential based on

interest and possibly multiple sessions.

Work Setting Logistics, Resources, Constraints.​ This might include instructors, classrooms,
and availability of tools, equipment or technology.

Classroom Instruction Considerations (If Applicable)

The classroom needs to have a strong projection system to display a computer with

access to the Aries platform. A laser pointer is extremely helpful and is recommended.

Online Instruction Considerations (If Applicable)

I am planing on implementing online instruction modules as a review or post instruction

instructional resources.

Content (Task) Analysis 

Data Collection.​ Write a sentence or two to describe how you collected information about the
content for your learning solution. Possible methods include: interviews with subject-matter
experts (SMEs), documentation, observation of master performers (or others), existing courses,
and articles, video tutorials, etc. You may include questions or other details in an appendix.

First Source
Most of my knowledge was self taught in this software through necessity. I did a few

district provided trainings when I first started but I can't remember who conducted it at the time.

Content to Include.​ Describe the main tasks, content, or procedures that you intend to include in
your module. Your earlier analyses should help you to decide the level and depth of these tasks.
Include citations for your content descriptions if you consulted written sources. Include general
statements about how well your learners should be able to master the content.
IDD ANALYSIS WORKSHEET 11 

Main Tasks to Master (Overview of the Content)

The main task is the creation of a gradebook using Aries SIS software. During this I will

be covering how to assign students to the gradebook and the construction of categories and how

to use them. This is followed by the creation of assignments and integration with Google

Classroom.

Essential Declarative Knowledge (Things People Should Be Able to Talk or Write

About)
This is not applicable as this training is about development of skills that utilize procedural

knowledge.

Essential Procedural Knowledge (Things People Should Be Able to Do)

This lesson is designed to demonstrate and walk people through the processes listed

above. These tasks: gradebook construction, definitions, population and assignment creation.