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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:

You did a good job here. You seem to understand the process well. Take a look at my feedback below, though, especially with regard to how to write a problem statement. I think too, that your "problem" is fairly narrow in scope. The process of needs assessment as we are describing it works best for larger scope problems. So, for example, instead of just map reading, perhaps expand this out to more general issues related to geography education.

 

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:

Geography Classes (middle/junior high school)

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:

Geography courses are offered at different educational levels including the middle/junior high school level. It is taught in the 6th an 7th grades as social studies and is considered the cultural study of different areas of the world.

The instructor's feedback to step 1:

OK, but this could be extended considerably.

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:

Students are unable to find locations on a map of the U.S. much less on a global perspective. Reports on the ability of Americans to find places on a map. Many people get lost on vacations and other outings. Many people can not read a map correctly.

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:

Getting lost can a lot of times be caused by the inability to read a map. Many humans think visually, so an understanding of location is important to understanding. Also, understanding geography can help people determine the location of events and how they might be affected by these events. Understanding where other people are from can lead to better understanding them.

The instructor's feedback to step 2:

Good.

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:

Middle/Junior High school students do not go into high school with a grasp on global geography or how to correctly read a map.

The instructor's feedback to step 3:

This needs to be reworded so that the system of interest - geography classes -- is the subject of the sentence. An example is this: "The geography classes do not prepare students adequately to correctly read a map".

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:

1. Federal Education Reports 2. State Education Reports 3. National Testing Scores 4. Street Surveys 5. Teacher Interviews

Your final response:

1. Federal Education Reports will provide a national summary of geography requirements and issues. 2. State Education Reports will provide a localized study of methods, requirements, and shortfalls. 1,2. reports show a lack of importance in making geography a priority in learning. Math and Verbal skill are the top priority. 3. National Testing Scores will give data to verify shortcomings through scores. 3. Shows that students do better in math and verbal areas than geography. 4. Random Street Surveys of individuals in different age groups from different cities in the U.S. will result in accumulated data to analyze problem details. 4. People under 25 have a serious lack of geography knowledge while those 35 and over have a better knowledge of locations. 5. Teacher Interviews will give an in depth look at different teaching methods that work and those that don't. 5. Teachers use a wide variety of methods to teach. The more interactive the learning experience the better the students perform.

Your final response:

1,2. Geography needs to be a priority area of learning in middle/junior high schools. (felt) 3. Students aren't scoring high enough on tests (normative) 4. People under 25 have a serious lack of geography knowledge.(felt) 4. People want to know where locations of high priority in the news are located. (expressed) 5. Teachers need to find interesting ways of communicating the importance of geography to students. (felt)

*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:

This section was very well done! Very thorough hypothetical analysis of data pointing to the needs.

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. Geography needs to be a priority area of learning in middle/junior high schools. 2. Teachers need to find interesting ways of communicating the importance of geography to students. 3. Students aren't scoring high enough on tests 4. People under 25 have a serious lack of geography knowledge. 4. People want to know where locations of high priority in the news are located.

Your final response:

Needs 1 and 2 are the highest priority because I believe that fullfilling these needs will aid in the fullfillment of the other needs. If administrators move geography to the forefront as a priority, it will get more attention. This could lead to encouraging or helping teachers find news ways of teaching geography that would make it fun and interesting. Of course this would help in the area of 3. Needs at level 4 are general public needs and not related directly to the middle/junior high school area. However, these needs to originate through an indirect connection with middle/junior high education.

The instructor's feedback to step 5:

Well done.

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:

Middle/Junior High school teachers need to develop new ways to educate students on global geography and how to correctly read a map so that the students will better understand the world around them.

The instructor's feedback to step 6:

This was much better than your draft problem statement. Still, I recommend that you keep the system of interest as the subject of the PS. By doing so, it pinpoints where the instructional efforts should be focused.

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:

1. Develop a task force that will use publicity measures to bring geography to a higher priority among subjects. 2. Create a Web community for the communication of geography teaching ideas between teachers. 3. Develop posters and materials for schools that will aid teachers in raising the excitement level of learning geography. 4. To develop or find a tool that will educate students in geography and other subjects simultaneously.

 

Your final response:

1. The task force will be of importance to encourage the development of ideas and tools to aid in geography education. 2. The Web community will be a channel through which the teacher will be able to produce better methods of teaching geography. 3. Posters and material which are interesting, colorful, and overall attention grabbing will help teachers make learning geography more fun and entertaining. 4. Tools to teach math, reading, typing, etc. are already being used to help aid these high priority subject areas. A tool that will allow a blended/co-subject method of learning has a better chance of being used by schools than another tool that is subject specific.

The instructor's feedback to step 7:

Good general goals. However, goal 1 is not an instructional goal. I think goals 2-4 go together in the general improvement of geography education. The next step -- on the next IDA -- is to turn these goals into ones that can be evaluated in terms of student learning outcomes.