Hello and welcome back everyone. In this module, we're going to begin our journey of learning instructional design process. As the first step, we will be talking about analyzing learning context. This is part one of the analyzing learning contexts lecture, focusing on needs assessment. Here is the list of topic. We will first look at needs assessment, and then we'll talk about how to write learning goals. Finally, we'll complete our discussion with a reality check on needs assessment. Here is the ADDI model. Needs assessment is an important step of analysis. As you can see, there are activities of instructional analyses. The first activity is context analysis, which consist of a needs assessment and learning environment analysis. The second activity is analyzing characteristics of learners. And finally, the third activity is analyzing the learning task. As mentioned in the prior slide, the context analysis consists of a needs assessment and learning environment analysis. In this lecture, we will be primarily discussing needs assessment. So, why do we need to conduct needs assessment? First, needs assessment helps us to assure that instruction is the appropriate solution to the problem presented. Needs assessment is basically to determine that there actually is a need for a new instruction to be developed. So, by conducting needs assessments, instructional designers try to identify that there is indeed a need for instruction to effectively respond to the problem. Second, during the needs assessment process, before actually starting the design process, by spending actually time and resources, an instructional designers try to get as much information as possible such as characteristics of target learners, and the environment that instruction will be delivered, and what is perceived need for the instruction and the scope and the nature of the instructional task. So, by doing so, at the end of the needs assessment, why we need to develop instruction, by investing time and money for a new instructional design project must be very clear and well justified. At the end of the needs assessment, instructional designers should have first, a clear problem statement describing what the problem is, and why this new instruction is needed. Therefore, well defined learning goals, which are the focal point of the instruction. In terms of needs, there are three types, problem-based, innovation-based and discrepancy-based. So, the first one is a problem model or a crisis model. Someone in an organization identifies a problem in the organizations achieving its missions. Then you would need to see whether there really is a problem, whether the cause of the problem is related to learners achievement or performance, whether the solution to the problem is learning, and whether instruction for these learning goals is currently offered. What would be the examples of problems? Some easy examples that I can think about are the things that sometimes frustrates us as customers, as those can be related to performance of the people that we interact with at the stores, companies, restaurants, and other services. The second innovation model is typically used when there are new things that people need to learn. You need to look at the nature of the innovation. You need to determine, whether the new learning goals should be added to the existing curriculum to accommodate those changes or innovations within the organisation. What would be the examples of innovation model situations? There could be new guidelines from the state government, or new national level standard that your organization should meet, or your organization need to use new equipment, that employees need to operate. What if a certain work process has been changed and employees need to learn that new process? These are all good examples that instructional needs come from innovation rather than a problem. The last one is discrepancy model. This is also called as summative evaluation model. You will not see a big apparent problem. The learning goals are already identified and the instruction is currently offered related to those goals. However, the organization wants to, or requires summative evaluation of its learning and training programs to see if the goals are met effectively. Meaning that, whether the goals and the reality are congruent or there is a discrepancy. In terms of needs assessment phases, there are define, analyze, and select as three major steps. First, you need to define the problem. Therefore, the gap between the desired status and the current status. Then you need to analyze what causes the problem. Third, you need to select the solutions. In our case of course, instructional solutions to address those causes. How do we identify or define a problem? Here is the process. First, identify key business or educational goals that are not being met. It could be any of the areas in organizations. Such as, sales, manufacturing output, market share, company culture, or test scores. Second, determine how well the identified goals are already being achieved. We can look at individual, unit, or organizational performance goals related to unmet business goals. So for example, in terms of sales, we can see the target monthly sales growth. For manufacturing out there, we can perhaps check the line output per person. For market share price, we can see the number of prospective customers contacted. The next step is to determine the gap by comparing what is and what should be. Fourth, we need to analyze why such gaps are happening. This is where the data collection is necessary. Finally, we need to identify and prioritize solutions to address those causes. We can communicate with our stakeholders to help us to confirm and explain our findings. These are the questions that are useful during the needs assessment process. What is not happening that should be happening? What leads you to believe your needs will be addressed by training and education? What indicators or measures of performance suggests that there is a problem? What is causing this problem and what solutions are most likely to close the gap in results. You can use these questions when meeting with the stake holders in make items in the data collection instruments. To conduct needs assessment, there are a number of data collection methods. Those are surveys and interviews. You can also observe people through site visits, group discussions, questionnaires, document review, records, reports, and any other relevant written materials. I think surveys and document analysis are certainly good ways to collect data. But for instructional design, I think that it's really helpful to talk to people and observe how people perform. Depending on the problematic areas, talking to their customers also very helpful to understand the problem. In that case, I think the short surveys sometimes can be helpful. I also would like to recommend collecting data in a naturalistic setting as much as possible and using only one method is limited, as each method has its own strengths and weaknesses. So, I recommend that you would use a few as a mixed approach, so that there will be triangulation and also cross validation of data and findings. As I have mentioned earlier, evaluating and refining learning goals are important step. As we select learning goals, there are a number of things that we need to keep in mind. First one is whether or not it will work. So, will the development of this instruction indeed solve the problem that led to the need for it? Second, are these selected goals are acceptable to the stakeholders and decision-makers who approve the instructional development effort? Basically, will they like it? The third one is about visibility. So, are there sufficient people and time to complete the development of instruction for this goal? So, basically, is it doable? The reason that we're doing needs assessment is to identify the accurate needs. But we also need to refine and also prioritize that needs in a form of learning goal. Learning goals are clear and general statement of learning outcome, that are related to an identified problem and needs assessment. They're also should be aligned with important organizational needs, they should be achievable through instruction of course. Sometimes people get confused with the goals and objectives. The learning goals are relatively broad statements of what students will be able to do in the performance context, and where we want our participants want to be after the instruction. The objectives are the steps necessary for them to getting there. Can you think about what kinds of information we need to include in learning goals? A complete learning goal statement should be specific and clear. So, learning goal statement should include: who the learners are, what the learners will be able to do in the performance context, and the performance context in which the knowledge, skills, and attitudes will be applied, and the tools that will be available to assist the learner's performance in the actual context. Once again, the learners, what the learners will be able to do, and the description in the performance contexts, and the tools that they need to use for their performance. Shall we see an example together here? The assisting and newly hired teaching staff will demonstrate appropriate and consistent child guidance techniques in different situations during their daily indoor and outdoor activities with children at the center by considering the child's age and social, emotional, cognitive, and psychomotor development, without additional support of head teachers. Can you tell me who the learners are? Yes, the assisting teaching staff as well as the newly hired teaching staff. Then, what will the learner's be able to do here? Demonstrate appropriate and consistent child guidance techniques. Does this statement describe any performance context? During their daily indoor and outdoor activities with children at the center. Do you see any tools available to assist the learner's performance in the actual context? It does not necessarily specify tools, but the goal states that the learner should be able to perform pretty independently without additional support from their supervising teachers. I would like to end this topic with a reality check on needs assessment. In reality, you would often conduct an instructional design project that a clear needs are ready well identified by your clients. In that case, you might make effort to understand the nature and context of that needs, but we've not conduct a needs assessment. Sometimes you might need to deal with more than one type of needs for an instructional design problem. Even though there is no clear problem, ability to identify innovation, change-oriented needs in a timely manner is important for maintaining or promoting the success of the organization. The problem that you found from the needs assessment should be congruent and well-connected to the goal and the instructional solution to effectively solve the problem. Please remember that a performance context is different from a learning context. When writing goal statement, you should have the performance context in your mind. After identifying a need depending on the project, sometimes you would need to conduct a job analysis in order to clearly identify the gap between the ideal performance and the current performance, so that the instruction can accurately address that gap.
