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Instructional Design Activity: Needs Analysis

 

Overall Instructor Rating: Satisfactory

Ratings explanation:

  • Exemplary - A model answer in almost every way (this is given out very rarely).
  • Satisfactory - Very well done; you've met the expectations of the assignment. There are some minor problems, so read my feedback well.
  • Marginal Pass - You pass, but there are lots of issues to consider. Read my feedback very carefully and be sure you understand the points/issues I raise.
  • Not satisfactory, redo and resubmit - The assignment was not completed appropriately. I am concerned that you do not understand the process well enough yet. To get credit for the assignment, you need to redo it, most probably on another topic. Read and consider my feedback very carefully before redoing.

Instructor's Overall Feedback:

Hi Holly: Your new instructional goals that you e-mailed me are much more aligned with how the instruction will impact the instructional problem you identified. Nice work. Dr. Law Hi Holly: You wrote, "4. Clean as well as past employees". While this may be a good benchmark to go by initially, you should have objective criteria in place to measure performance. It would be better to evalute performance against a set of criteria that is clearly stated and specific. Your instructional goals need to be reformulated to specify what the learners will be able to do after taking the instruction. If the instructional approach is a self-paced handbook, then you should describe it in those terms. It would be more effective to implement a training course in which employees learned how to: 1. Identify the standards for proper cleaning of the plantation and its various rooms. 2. Describe the procedures for cleaning the specific types of rooms. If you did a live class then you could provide for practice, feedback, retention, and enhance the motivational/attitudinal component that may also be at work here. Please address these issues and resubmit your assignment for instructor feedback.

 

1. Preliminary: Describe the context within which this potential instructional problem takes place. This will pinpoint where the problem is located. If instruction is deemed necessary, this will be the place where it will be designed and implemented.

a. List the context, also known as the "system of interest".

Your final response:

Proper Cleaning Procedures for Stone Mountain Park's Antebellum Plantation Employees

b. Describe or show how the context relates to the bigger environment. Show how this context relates to other levels of the system within which it works.

Your final response:

The Antebellum Plantation at Stone Mountain Park is a collection of original buildings built between the years of 1790 and 1875 that have been moved to the park from different places in Georgia and restored. The buildings are open for self-guided tours year-round and the plantation also offers a field trip program for local schools. The employees of the Plantation are responsible for the cleaning and upkeep of the buildings so they are in good shape for the tours and school groups. Employees receive a little on-the-job training on housekeeping and are required to sign off monthly that they have cleaned the rooms of the houses.

The instructor's feedback to step 1:

No specific feedback given on this step.

2. Symptoms of a problem. Write a brief description of some symptoms that make you stop and wonder if something is wrong.

Your final response:

The houses show signs of neglect-cobwebs, dust, grim, ect. The employees have signed off on the cleaning schedule that they have cleaned the rooms but still the rooms look dirty.

Using the evidence cited above, describe why you believe that these symptoms signal a problem. Keeping these questions in mind, describe the reasons for identifying these symptoms as problematic.

Your final response:

The symptoms obviously indicate that the employees are not cleaning the houses like they should be. If the houses are not clean, the tours and school programs will not be offered the quality they were promised and may not come back again. Also, the houses themselves are worth a great deal of money, as are the antiques that are in the houses. These valuable items cannot be left to deteriorate. Since the employees are signing off each month that they have cleaned the rooms, evidence suggests that the employees are not cleaning them as well as they should be.

The instructor's feedback to step 2:

No specific feedback given on this step.

3. Preliminary Problem Statement. Based on 1 and 2, write a preliminary draft problem statement. Your context should be the subject of the statement. This is just the initial pass -- the statement will be revised in subsequent steps.

Your final response:

The on-the-job training does not adequately explain the proper cleaning procedures for the Antebellum Plantation.

The instructor's feedback to step 3:

No specific feedback given on this step.

4. Verify the problem and determine specific needs. Two things will now happen concurrently. First, you need a systematic procedure to identify and collect data in order to verify that a problem exists. Second, you must identify information that the data sources may help uncover.

 

Data sources (who, what)

Information gathered

What did you find? (Needs)*

Example: Interview participants in course; administer class survey; administer test of understanding.

Example: Participant opinions on IDAs and course; Participant score on test.

Example: Participants believe there is too much jargon (felt need); Participants don't understand ID vocabulary as compared to other classes (comparative need); Participants don't score above national average (comparative need); Participants don't/couldn't see the relation between their work and the ID process)

Your final response:

Interview the employees; observe employees cleaning; administer a written test

Your final response:

Through the interviews, it was found that employees did not understand exactly what was expected of them regarding the cleaning procedures. They felt the small amount of on-the-job training did not prepare them to fully understand what was expected. They thought more training would help. After observing each employee cleaning a room, it was found that the cleaning was not done as deeply and thoroughly as needed. The written test showed that employees did not understand the proper cleaning procedures.

Your final response:

The assistant lead of the plantation (me) feels the employees need written instructions for each building/room. The employees need to study these instructions and then should be tested on them.-Felt Need The employees feel they need more training. They should be trained until they fully understand what is expected of them. -Felt Need Employees do not clean the buildings as well as past employees. -Comparative Need

*Note: You are not required to gather data; you can draw on your experience or imagination to list the data you might gather.

The instructor's feedback to step 4:

No specific feedback given on this step.

5. Prioritize your list of needs.Which are most important? Why are they most important?

Prioritized needs

Reasons/evidence for priority

Your final response:

1. Written instructions 2. Test on written instructions 3. More training 4. Clean as well as past employees

Your final response:

The employees should study and fully understand written instructions. They should then be tested on the written instructions to insure their knowledge. Then, they should have supervised training on the cleaning procedures. This will lead them to clean as well as expected and as well as past employees have cleaned.

The instructor's feedback to step 5:

No specific feedback given on this step.

6. Rewrite your problem statement. Take a moment to look carefully at the initial problem statement that you wrote. Revisit your prioritized needs and check if your problem statement is still accurate and appropriate.

Rewrite the problem statement here:

Your final response:

The on-the-job training does not adequately teach the employees the proper cleaning procedures for the Antebellum Plantation.

The instructor's feedback to step 6:

No specific feedback given on this step.

7. Identify the instructional goals. The last step in Needs Assessment is to list a few goals of instruction. Remember, not all goals can be solved through instruction. The instructional goals you identify will be the starting information for the next steps in the instructional design process. List the instructional goals in order of priority.

 

Instructional goals by priority

Reasons for importance

Your final response:

Employees will understand the cleaning procedures after reading the written cleaning guidelines and signing a document that insures the guidelines have been read and fully understood. (This will give management proof that any cleaning mistakes are not of a result of an employee not understanding what was expected.) Employees will prove they have memorized the cleaning guidelines after scoring a 100% on the written cleaning guidelines test. (This will ensure that the employees are fully knowledgeable on the cleaning procedures.) Employees will be able to clean according to the cleaning guidelines after completing a minimum of 5 supervised on-the-job training hours of cleaning. This will give employees a chance to ask any procedural questions that come up.

 

Your final response:

The employees will fully understand cleaning procedures and guidelines and will prove that they understand these guidelines through a test. Any future problems with cleaning after this will be assumed to be caused by laziness of the employee and not a lack of understanding.

The instructor's feedback to step 7:

No specific feedback given on this step.