The Role of Needs Assessment in ID&T Conceptual Framework

1

NEEDS ASSESSMENT IN ID&T

The Role of Needs Assessment in ID&T Conceptual Framework

For me, the concept of a needs assessment and analysis is so fundamentally a part of creating a solution that I now probably take it for granted. From an engineering and project management perspective, a needs assessment and analysis is part of the early development phase of a technical project. However, if rushed or taken for granted the needs of the client will not be deeply understood and the risks of the solution not meeting those needs are much greater.

Operational Definition

Context

Instructional design is the art and science of applying instructional theories and models to create products and programs that lead to learning (Richey, Klein, & Tracey, 2011). I think of instructional design solutions in terms of projects and systems. A project is a discrete activity that has a beginning, an end, has funding limits, consumes resources, and is meant to create a final product or deliverable (Kerzner, 1998). A system is a collection of components and processes arranged to take inputs from its environment and uses internal activities and feedback to create an output or outputs (Kerzner, 1998). Combining these ideas in an instructional design context, an instructional designer leads and manages projects that create systems that when resourced will result in instructional products or programs as outputs.

My experience with the technical project management literature is that the overall effort and resources spent on a project follow a classical bell-like curve when drawn as a function of time. Kerzner (1998), illustrates the traditional project management life cycle found in the engineering and management knowledge base:

A traditional project starts in a conceptual state, its scope and logistics are defined in a planning state, a solution is next designed, then implemented, then the final solution is handed off to the client and the project is complete. This model is how I’ve always envisioned the general management of a project.

However, the critical aspects of a needs assessment and analysis are missing from this approach. In retrospective practice, this ideal now seems very flawed. I don’t think the above illustration accurately reflects the effort that needs to be spent on the initial needs assessment and analysis, especially when designing instructional systems. In actuality, the real-world project life cycle for an instructional design project probably should have more peaks early in the project.

Needs Assessment

A needs assessment is the determination of the gap between how a system should function and how that system is actually functioning. To consider a complete systems approach this assessment should include all three ‘levels’ in an organization. These levels in the system would include the users, service providers, and system supports (Altschuld & Kumar, 2010). In an educational context the first level will consider students, the second level will include faculty, instructors, and probably staff, and the third level of a needs assessment will involve administrators and the support infrastructure for those faculty and students.

Needs Analysis

Once the needs of students, faculty, and administrators have been defined, and data collected, the next step is to analyze the results. A needs analysis is the study and determination of what is causing the discrepancy between the system results and the desired results. Part of this analysis would include prioritizing these needs and beginning to create a project scope or multiple projects phases based on priorities.

A more complete representation of a project life cycle is created when considering and focusing on a needs assessment and analysis (this more complete model should also include periodic phases of formative, summative, and confirmative project evaluations during the planning, design, implementation, and conversion/completion phases of the standard project management approach). The revised project management figure presented below illustrates an approach that advocates spending more time and resources learning the needs of the client before developing the solution. This perspective on the operational definition of an instructional project life cycle better integrates needs assessment and analysis in the larger scope of a project. Requirements

There are several key knowledge, skills, abilities, and attitudes that are required by an instructional designer to assess and analyze the needs of students, faculty, and administrators.

Knowledge

Knowledge in this context is the formal education and training that a designer has that can be applied in given workplace situations. For instance, if I am writing a job description for an instructional systems designer, I’d like them to understand overall project management and workflows, and how a needs assessment and needs analysis are part of the early development of a project. I also think the knowledge of different data collection tools and techniques would be necessary, such as knowing that focus groups, individual interviews, and surveys can be used to triangulate towards the true needs of the organization and new system.

Skills

Skills are typically described as psychomotor, hands-on tasks that a designer would need to know. These talents would include the basics such as computer or web/multimedia development skillsets. However, this category should also include communication skills, which would be a critical asset to have when conducting a needs assessment. Effective communication is often a weakness among technical staff, though listening skills and deriving the initially unspoken needs of a client is an important strength. As we’ve discussed in this class, and others, clients may not know exactly what they are looking for in the solution, or have the wrong solution in mind. Investing the time listening and communicating with the client will provide further details to confirm what the true needs are.

Abilities

Abilities are the observable results of applied skills. An example of an ability could be a demonstration of a designed system, product, or program.For instance, if I’m interviewing an instructional systems designer, I can imagine asking for some evidence of their assessment and analysis strategy, or at least a description of how they would document their assessment and analysis.Another ability that I would now be interested in learning more about would be their approach to needs assessment data gathering. Needs assessment and analysis should now become an integral part of a systems designer’s documented position description, and so I’d be particularly interested in the various methods or strategies that they have used to gather information.

Attitudes

I think an instructional designer who conducts needs assessments should have a strong customer support focus. Their attitude should reflect the desire to understand the needs of the client and the importance of finding a solution to those needs. This support attitude is especially true from an instructional systems support perspective, where the fundamental objective is the support for faculty and students.

Overall, I think a successful instructional designer needs to have an understanding of systems, project management, client levels, data collection techniques, be customer support focused, and have a good communication skillset to be able to perform a detailed and comprehensive needs assessment and analysis.

Summary

One of the great failures of my career was a complex, state-of-the-art, technical solution that met all given and documented design specifications, and was even delivered on time and under budget. However, because I did not spend enough time learning the needs of the end user, I designed a system that did not meet their needs. That scar has forever underscored the importance of what we’re now describing as a needs assessment and analysis. Instead of only using initial design specifications, a much more effective approach would have been to thoroughly assess the needs of the three client levels, collect data, analyze the data, and then determine the actual needs. Spending instructional design resources in these early steps is critical to formulating an accurate project scope, development plan, and ultimately delivering a successful project or system.

References

Altschuld, J. W., & Kuman, D. D. (2010). Needs assessment: An overview. Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage Publications, Inc.

Kerzner, H. (1998). Project management: A systems approach to planning scheduling and controlling (6th ed.). New York, NY: John Wiley & Sons, Inc.

Richey, R. C., Klien, J. D., & Tracey, M. W. (2011). The instructional design knowledge base: Theory, research, and practice. New York, NY: Routledge.