THE ASSURE MODEL IN TEACHING

By Tri Hari Nurdi (1507042029)

A. Introduction

The ASSURE model is an instructional system or guideline that teachers can

use to develop lesson plans which integrate the use of technology and media
(Smaldino, Lowther & Russell, 2008). The ASSURE Model places the focus on
the learner and the overall outcome of accomplishing learning objectives.
The ASSURE model is an enriched evolution of the ADDIE general model.
Although the ASSURE model has six steps, which do not exactly correspond
to ADDIE's five, ASSURE also presents design phases, and shares with it the
two main features: the initial focus on analysis and the cyclic structure.

The peculiar feature of this model is that it is focused on "planning and

conducting Instruction that incorporates media" (Heinich, Molenda & Russel,
1993). Its main perspective is on how to integrate media (any kind of media)
into instruction in a method capable of producing the desired learning
outcomes. Developed by Robert Heinich and Michael Molenda decades ago,
the ASSURE model gained popularity because of its use in a popular textbook
for educators.

It is a well-known instructional design guide that uses the constructivist

perspective, which integrates multimedia and technology to enhance the
learning environment (Lefebvre 2006). The ASSURE model was modified to
be used by teachers in the classroom by Smaldino, Lowther & Russell, 2008.

Teachers prefer the ASSURE model because it is designed to be used for a

few hours of instruction and for each individual student. This model does not
require high complexity of delivered media, deep ID knowledge, or high
revision of designs (Gustafson & Branch, 2002). The main difference between
an inexperienced teacher and an expert teacher is that an expert teacher
can easily decide on content, appropriate teaching strategies, and delivery
medium. The ASSURE model gives new (inexperienced) teachers a general
roadmap to follow to help them think more like expert teachers.

B. ASSURE model for educational media

The ASSURE Model has six steps, each represented by a letter in the
acronym title, with each step describing a set of task central to the informed
selection and use of educational technology. The ASSURE acronym stands for
these important components:

Analyze Learners;

State Objectives;

Select Methods, Media and Materials;

Utilize Methods, Media and Materials;

Require Learner Participation; and Evaluate and Revise.

Analyze Learners: General Characteristics

The first step in the ASSURE model is to Analyze Learners. To Analyze the
Learners you must examine the learner in detail. Like most things, without
taking the time in the beginning to examine the learner, nothing you have
prepared will be effective. Once you have an understanding and reasonable
grasp for the learners’ competence at the beginning of the instruction, the
teacher can modify to assist the learner in their learning endeavors (Callison
2002).

As part of analyzing your learners you must identify your audience. Your
audience can be students, teachers, group members, an organization, a
youth group, among many others. You must know the audience if you are to
select the best medium to meet the objectives you have set. The audience
can be analyzed in terms of their general characteristics (grade level, age,
sex, mental, emotional, physical or social problems, socio-economic status
etc.) with specific entry competencies (prior knowledge, skills, and attitudes
about the topic), and learning styles (visual, musical, verbal, logical, etc.).

(1)General Characteristics (of the learners)

A superficial analysis of leamer characteristics can provide helpful leads in

selecting instructional methods and media.

CHARACTERISTICS OF THE LEARNERS DEPEND: -reading skills, ethnic or

cultural subgroup, learner’s apathy, social background and etc.

The more advanced have a sufficient base for using audiovisual or even
verbal materials.
If learner apathy toward the subject matter is a problem, consider using a
highly stimulating instructional approach, such as a dramatic videotape or a
simulation game.

Learners entering a new conceptual area for the first time may need more
direct, concrete kinds of experiences, such as field trips or role-playing
exercises. More advanced learners usually have a sufficient base for using
audiovisual or even verbal materials.

Heterogeneous groups, which include learners varying widely in their

conceptual sophistication or in the amount of firsthand experience they have
with the topic, may profit from an audiovisual experience such as videotape.
Such as media presentation provide a common experiential base that can
serve as an important point of reference for subsequent group discussion
and individual study.

(2)Specific Entry Competencies

At the beginning, you have to assume that the learners lack the knowledge
and skills But they possess the knowledge or skills needed to learn and
understand from the lesson.

This assumption that learners have the prerequisite knowledge or skill to

begin the lesson can seldom be accepted casually in school settings.
Teachers of mixed ability class routinely anticipate that some students will
need remedial help before they are ready to begin a particular unit of
instruction.

These realizations suggest that instructors must verify assumptions about

entry competencies through informal means (such as in-class questioning or
out-of-class interviews) or more formal means (such as testing with
standardized or teacher-made tests). Entry tests are assessment, both formal
and informal, that determine whether students posses the prerequisites.

(3)Learning styles

Learning style refers to a cluster of psychological traits that determine how

an individual perceives, interacts with, and respond emotionally to learning
environments.

Gardner was dissatisfied with the concept of IQ and its unitary view of
intelligence. He identified seven aspects of intelligence: (1)verbal/linguistic
(language), (2) logical/mathematical (scientific/quantitative), (3)
visual/spatial, (4) musical/rhythmic, (5) bodily/kinestetic (dancing/athletics),
(6) interpersonal (ability to understand other people and (7) intrapersonal
(ability to understand oneself)

State Objectives

The stated objectives are statements describing what the learner will do as a
result of instruction. In other words, objectives are the leaming outcomes,
that is, what will the student will learn from the lesson? In order to develop
proper objectives you must frame them in terms of desired behavior. What
the learner will be able to accomplish after completing the instruction. The
objectives you use should be as specific as possible so the learner
understands what they are to accomplish. If objectives are clearly and
specifically stated, both the learning and teaching will become objective
oriented.

Most objectives contain four parts:

1. Audience-who your leamers are?:

2. Behavior to be demonstrated;
3. Conditions under which the behavior will be observed; and
4. Degree to which the learned skills are to be mastered.

OBJECTIVES SHOULD BE STATED IN TERMS OF:

1. What the learner (audience) will be able to do as a result of instruction

(behavior).
2. The conditions under which the student or trainee is going to perform
and the degree of acceptable performance should be included.
3. The next step is to state the objectives as specifically as possible.
4. The objectives may be derived from a needs assessment or a course
syllabus, stated in a textbook, taken from a curriculum guide, or
developed by the instructor.

The ABCDs of Well-Stated Objectives

1. A well-stated objective starts by naming the Audience of learners for

whom the objective is intended.
2. It then specifies the Behavior or capability to be learned and
3. The Conditions under which the capability would be observed.
Specifies the Degree to which the new skill must be mastered-the standard
by which the capability can be judged.

(1)Audience
a) Focus on what the learner is doing, not on what the
teacher is doing.
b) Learning is most likely to take place when the learner is
active- mentally processing an idea or physically
practicing a skill.
c) Not what the teacher does, the objective begins by
stating whose capability is going to be changed
(2)Behaviour
a) The heart of the objective is the verb describing the new
capability that the audience will have after instruction.
b) This verb is most likely to communicate your intent
clearly if it is stated as an observable behavior.
c) What will the learner be able to do after completing
instruction?
d) Vague terms such as know, understand, and appreciate
do not communicate your aim’ clearly. Better are define,
categorize, and demonstrate, which denote observable
performance.
(3)Conditions

A statement of objectives should include the conditions under which

performance is to be observed, if such conditions are relevant

(4)Conditions

A statement of objectives should include the conditions under which

performance is to be observed, if such conditions are relevant

(5)Degree

The final requirement of a well-stated objective is to indicate the standard by

which acceptable performance will be judged Includes: What degree of
accuracy or proficiency must the learner display? Whether the criteria are
stated in qualitative or quantitative terms.

Classification of Objectives

An objective may be classified according to the primary type of learning

outcome at which it is aimed. Although there is a range of opinion on the
best way to describe and organize types of learning, three categories (or
domains), of learning are widely accepted: cognitive skills, affective skills
and motor skills. To these we add a fourth, interpersonal skills, because of
the importance of such skills in teamwork. Objectives are not intended to
limit what a student learns but rather to provide a minimum level of
expected achievement.

Select Methods, Media, & Materials

Once you know your audience and have a clear idea of what they should get
out of the lesson, then it is time to select the appropriate method for the
given learning task, select available materials, modify existing materials, or
design new materials to help accomplish this task. (Smaldino, Lowther, &
Russell, 2012). At this step, the Instructor should connect the audience to the
objectives. To connect the two the teacher must determine what method to
use.

A systematic plan for using media demands that the media be selected
systematically at first.

The selection process has two stages:

(1)Deciding on the appropriate method for the given learning tasks,

First, it would be overly simplistic to believe that there is one
method that is superior to all others or that serves all learning
needs equally well. Teachers often structure assignments to allow
students with different preferred learning styles to pursue their
individual practice through different methods (e.g. “having
abstract random” thinkers use a role-play simulation while
‘concrete sequential” thinkers use a lab manual for structured
problem solving).
(2)Choosing an appropriate media format and selecting, modifying,
or designing the specific materials within that format.

Choosing a Media Format

A media format is the physical form in which a message is incorporated and

displayed. Media formats include, for example, flip charts (still images and
text), slides (projected still images), audio (voice and music), film (moving
images on screen), video (moving images on a TV set) and computer
multimedia (graphics, text, and moving images on a TV set). Each has
different strength and limitations in terms of the types of messages that can
be recorded and displayed. Choosing a media format can be a very complex
task because of the following:

Vast array of media available, the infinite variety among learners, and the
objectives to be pursued.

Things to consider in media selection models:

a) Instructional situation or setting (e.g., large-group, small-group,

or self-instruction),
b) Learner variables (e.g., reader, nonreader, or auditory
preference)

And the nature of the objective (e.g., cognitive, affective, motor skill, or
interpersonal) must be considered against the presentational capabilities of
each of the media formats (e.g., presenting still visuals, motion visuals,
printed words, or spoken words).

c) Some models also take into consideration the capability of each

format to give feedback to the leamer.

Obtaining Specific Materials: Select, Modify, or Design

Obtaining appropriate materials will generally involve one of three

alternatives: (1) selecting available materials, (modifying existing materials,
or (3) designing new materials.

Once you decided what media format suits your objectives the next thing
that you should consider is in finding specific materials to convey the lesson

Selecting Available Materials

The majority of instructional materials used by teachers and trainers are “off
the shelf” that is, ready-made and available from school, district, or company
collections or other easily accessible sources.

Survey of Sources

Your first step might be to survey some of the published media reference
guides to get a general idea of what is available. The decision about whether
to use a particular piece of instructional material depends on several factors.

Recent research confirms the critically of certain criteria in the appraisal of

materials among the questions to be
Asked about each specific piece of media are the following:

Does it match the curriculum?

Is it accurate and current

Does it contain clear and concise language?

Will it arouse motivation and maintain interest?

Does it provide for learner participation?

Is it of good technical quality?

Is there evidence of its effectiveness(e.g., field-test result)?

Is it free from objectionable bias and advertising?

Is a user guide or other documentation included?

If you cannot locate any suitable materials you can always modify what is
available. This can be both challenging and creative.

Designing New Materials

certain basic considerations must be taken into account when designing new
materials. For example:

- Objectives

What do you want your students to learn?

- Audience

What the characteristics of your learner?

- Cost

Is sufficient money available in your budget to meet the cost?

Technical Expertise

Do you have the necessary expertise to design and produce the kind of
materials you wish to use?
 - Equipment

Do you have the necessary equipment to produce or use the materials you
intend to design?

- Facilities

if your design calls for use of special facilities for preparation or use of your
materials, are such facilities available?

- Time

Can you afford to spend whatever time necessary to design and produce the
kind of materials you have in mind?

Utilize Methods, Media, & Materials

The Utilize Methods, Media & Materials step is where you develop your plan
for implementing your media and materials. For each type of media or
materials, the teacher selects and describe in how they are going to
implement the media (or material) into your lesson to help your learners
meet the lesson’s objective. The media, materials and technology selected
should be focused on carrying out the selected method. If you decide to use
electronic equipment, be sure to use it before, even practice if you have to,
to insure the equipment is functioning properly. In that same regard, it is also
important to practice the lesson itself before introducing It to the learner.
Next, prepare the room, the necessary equipment and facilities. It may be
obvious, but both the learner and teacher should be prepared for the
learning experience.

To get maximum learning impact from your presentation, you must follow
certain utilization procedures:

Preview the Materials

No instructional materials should be used blind that’s why during the

selection process you should have determined that the materials are
appropriate for your audience and objectives.

Practice the Presentation

After previewing the materials, you should practice your portion of the
presentation. However, do not over practice, or the presentation will sound
“canned, “

Prepare the Environment

Wherever the presentation is to take place classroom, auditorium, meeting
room, or whatever the facilities will have to be put in order. Utilization of
many media requires a darkened room, a convenient power supply, and
access to light switches.

Present the Material

This is what you’ve been preparing for, so you will want to make the most of
it. Our term for this Is showmanship. Instructor should be able to direct
attention in the classroom.

Require Learner Participation

The Require Learner Participation step requires you to describe how you are
going to get each learner actively and individually involved in the lesson.
Students learn best when they are actively involved in the learning
experience. Whatever your teaching strategy, be sure to incorporate
questions and answers, discussions, group work, hands-on activities, and
other ways of getting students actively involved in the learning of the
content. You should seek to pay close attention to your learners and feel
confident that they are truly grasping the content and not just listening.
Participating in the learning will facilitate this level of understanding. Allow
them to construct knowledge as opposed to trying to "teach" them
knowledge. Finally for this step, feedback must be provided to the leaner
before any type of evaluation is conducted.

The fifth step in the ASSURE model is to provide opportunities for learners to
practice the capability being taught.

Educators have long realized that participation in the learning process by the
learner enhances learning.

John Dewey urged reorganization of the curriculum and instruction to make

student participation a central part of the process.

Behavioral psychologists such as B. F. Skinner demonstrated that instruction

providing for constant reinforcement of desired behaviors is more effective
than instruction in which responses are not reinforced.

Evaluate Student Performance:

The last step of the ASSURE method is Evaluate Student Performance. Here
the evaluation should be matched to the objective. Ultimately this last stage
is the most important. You must evaluate the instruction process from start
to finish using the objectives you created in the beginning. It is helpful to
reflect on your objections, the Instructional strategy, the instructional
materials, and the assessment. By evaluating the learners against the
objectives it can be determined if the lesson was effective and whether any
step needs to be modify or re-examined.

The ASSURE model supports the field of educational technology. It is based

on the principal that no one student acquires information in the same way.
While the ASSURE model is used to systematically design instruction, it steps
away from the traditional means of instruction, (textbooks, lectures, etc) to
the use of technology to deliver the instruction. (Academy of Teaching
Excellence, 2002). In conclusion, the ASSURE model has six components
each necessary for the successful implementation of the instruction,
including: 1) Analyze learners, 2) State Objectives, 3) Select Methods, Media,
and Materials, 4) Utilize Media and Materials, 5) Require learner Participation,
and 6) Evaluate and Revise.