ABSTRACT
Designers can increase their efficiency by reusing a design that has proven effective in the past. However, a previously successful design may be totally inappropriate when used for a different instructional purpose or in a different culture or locality. Design is situated-shaped by facets of the environment in which it occurs. So as you analyze needs, learner characteristics, and content, you must also analyze the contexts of instruction. What are the contexts of instruction? There are many, but here are four that have wide-ranging effects:
• Performance context-the environment where new knowledge and skills are to be used. • Learning context-the environment where the learning experience takes place. • Cultural context-the values, goals, attitudes, and practices of a society or organization
that provide a frame of reference for learners, impacting how they interpret learning experiences.
