In this weeks reading I got more out the examples than anything else. I thought it was interesting at the level of detail that is necessary for good analysis to take place. The one thing I am curious about is it seemed like the methods for gathering data were really only based on interviewing and observation. I am wondering with all the improvements in technology and analytics if there aren't other methods as well. One thing I can certainly say is that there is a lot more to this process than I ever would have guessed. Understanding the target population is one thing, a very big thing, but add to it managerial support, aspects of the site, relevance of the skills to the workplace, etc... Honestly after reading over all that I am bit overwhelmed, there is so much to consider and as 'details' person myself I get the need to know as much possible and that this is quite an exhaustive process to get the information that you need.

A few good tips from the chapter were to always find out what the site constraints are before starting as this may be a major problem for your instruction. If computers are needed for the instruction to take place you need to make sure the software is compatible, the network is capable of running the program, the computers are able to process what you are doing, etc... I have done trainings that have started out poorly because the projector didn't work or the wifi was slow or the program was blocked by the network filter. We couldn't do any of the training in the way that was planned because of these issues.

I did think it was important to note that as instructional designers work they go back to fine tune earlier decisions as they gather new information. I see instructional design as a process that is somewhat fluid as you are in the analysis section. You want to be able to make alterations as you find out information that will be impacted by your discoveries. I had a professor that always said, "the devil is in the details" I can definitely see that with instructional design. There are a lot of details and getting them right is what determines whether or not the instruction is effective.