needs assessment with comments / feedback

"The instructional design process begins with the identification of a problem or need"

"A need assessment can help us avoid providing too much instruction when it is not necessary.

"For the instructional designer, the needs assessment process serves four functions:

1. It identifies the needs relevant to a particular job or task, that is, what problems are affecting performance.

2. It identifies critical needs. Critical needs include those that have a significant financial impact, affect safety, or disrupt the work or educational environment.

3. It sets priorities for selecting an intervention.

4. It provides baseline data to assess the effectiveness of the instruction.

Morrison et al (2007 p.29-30)

this is a really interesting topic and challenge. you might consider revisiting it in your next course! you might want to look at the non-training changes you’ll need to put in place to support this organizational change. and have a look at “Why change efforts fail? by John Kotter in HBR… ~2000 - this is his preliiminary report on change efforts… eventually produced a book… title escapes me right now!

also, are there external agencies that can help you establish goals and outcomes for your program… I know health profession programs have to follow standards established by their professions… nice to have an external agent be your ‘bad cop’

Consider a scenario in which you could develop a plan for a needs assessment. If you were to implement your plan in this scenario, what might you learn about the need for instruction?

Scenario: For a variety of reasons, (see http://www.mathopenref.com/site/techreasons.html and http://teacherswithapps.com/top-10-reasons-technology-is-important-for-education/)

an educational institution wishes to introduce technology into its instructional methods. A needs assessment could include a questionnaire to see what kind of experience the educators within the institution have and how the technology might be integrated in to the classrooms and curriculae. Personal characteristics such as motivation to learn ,expectations, prior experience and learning style can be integrated into the questionnaire to help the instructional designer create meaningful lessons.

consider that this is also about change management… asking people to work in a different way… what information do you need to share with them about why they can’t continue to work/teach in the same fashion… and help them reimagine themselves without losing the essence of teaching...

Session 2

1. Identify the Need for Instruction (see above)

2 Plan for Needs Assessment

Audience	adult educators
Data	general characteristics, specific entry characteristics and learning styles
Data Collection Method	poll questionnaire
Data Analysis Method	quantitive analysis based on qualitative data :)

3. Course Title: Technology for the Educator Program: _________________________

Goal	Educate the educator on the relevance in the classroom.
Topic