Current trends in task analysis

Abstract

Perhaps the most important trend in task analysis today is the substantive and temporal integration of task analysis with instructional design. Task analysis and instructional design are being integratedsubstantively by using designactivities (such as sequencing and synthesis) as a basis for selecting different types of task analysis, and by using specificstrategies (such as a procedurally-based simple-to-complex sequence) as another basis for selecting different task analysis methodologies. The area of synthesis is one that deserves to receive considerable attention in the near future. Also, as new instructional strategies are developed to utilize the capabilities of new delivery systems (such as new strategies for sequencing and synthesis), new task analysis methodologies will be needed to provide the information necessary to design those strategies into the instruction.