Brandi Kirkland and Skyla Forrester

Is Instruction the Answer? Purpose for identifying the problem is to determine whether instruction should be part of the soultion. The instructional design process begins with the identification of a problem or need. The problem is identified and the most appropriate intervention is determined

Tools Instructional Designers can use to Identify Performance Problems: There are three tools instructional designers can use to identify performance problems: Needs assessment Goal Analysis Performance Assessment

Needs Assessment Used to identify gaps in performance and then determine whether gaps are worth addressing through an intervention

Functions of the Needs Assessment Process: Identifies the needs relevant to a particular job Identifies crucial needs Sets priorities for selecting an intervention Provides baseline data to access effectiveness of instruction

Types of Needs and Data Sources Normative Needs Comparative Needs Felt Needs Anticipated Needs Expressed Needs Critical/Incident Needs

Normative Needs Compares the target audience against a national standard Exists when the target population performance is below the established norm

Comparative Needs Compares the target group to a peer group Determines areas for comparison Must make sure the need is a viable training need as opposed to a status need

Felt Needs Desire or want that an individual has to improve either his or her performance or that of the target audience Expresses a gap between the current performance and the desired performance Best identified through interviews and questionnaires

Expressed Needs A felt need turned into action Example: A list of employees are placed on a waiting list for a training course Identified in suggestion boxes and in- house publications with a question- answer document

Anticipated Needs Means of identifying changes that will occur in the future Identified through interviews and questionnaires with additional questions about what future changes are anticipated

Critical Needs Failures that are rare but have significant consequences Identified by analyzing potential problems Asking “what-if” questions

Conducting a Needs Assessment There are four phases for conducting a needs assessment: Planning Collecting Data Analyzing Data Preparing Final Report

Phase I: Planning Focuses on one job classification or target audience: strategy developed

Phase II: Collecting Data Careful consideration of the sample size and distribution is required when collecting data Scheduling appointments, travel arrangements, and distributing and collecting questionnaires are also needed for collecting data

Phase III: Analyzing Data Prioritization of needs: economic value Identifies needs as an input to a goal analysis Set goals for training intervention

Phase IV: Final Report Consists of four sections: Summary of study’s purpose Summary of process Summary results in one or more tables and brief narrative Necessary recommendations based on data Recommendation should be appropriate to the problem

Resource Designing Effective Instruction 6 th Edition Morrison, Ross, Kalman, Kemp John Wiley & Sons, Inc. Copyright 2011, 2007, 2004, 2001