Return to the list of Needs Assessment IDAs | Return to the IDA Library Home Page

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:

Your team did very good work on this IDA! Here is some specific feedback:

1. Excellent -- right on target.

2. Of those you listed in the first part to #2, only b and d are really symptoms that something is amiss.

3 & 6: Your problem statements are good, but they don't address who will take responsibility for solving this problem. I always recommend putting the organization or group that has responsibility for the instruction as the subject of this sentence. (Please review other examples of problem statements of exemplary IDAs listed in the IDA library.) Is it part of the TIP program to teach these skills. If so, the fact that TIP students don't have these skills when then ENTER the program is not a problem because the TIP curriculum is already designed to deal with it. However, if the TIP program expects such skills to be prerequisite, then the problem may be related to the screening procedures of the TIP admission process.

4. Given that this IDA is hypothetical, I was hoping that you would come up with data sources that would be more rigorous and far-reaching that the ones you listed. If you had the time and money, what would you do to REALLY know if this is really a problem or not. (I get the sense that what you are reporting here is some actual data that you have gathered, right? If so, that's great because you can definitely use that in your team's actual project.)

One suggestion for your final team project: please be sure to label your needs according to those described in class (i.e. normative, Felt, Expressed, Comparative, Anticipated or Future).

5. Good!

7. Excellent! You correctly stated your goals in terms of the expected performance.

 

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:

Adults enrolled in the University of Georgia graduate TIP program who do not know how to build and maintain a simple web site.

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:

*Our target audience is a subset of English speaking, computer-literate individuals who would like to have their own web site and have access to a computer connected to the Internet. It is also a subset of the increasingly growing portion of society that is connected to the Internet, uses the Internet on a daily basis, and feels a need to have their own presence on the Internet. * The TIP program is the "Technology Integration Program" within the Department of Instruction Technology and is a specific master's and educational specialist degree program for teachers, school technology coordinators, and others with an interest in K-12 educational technology. The Instructional Technology Department is in the College of Education at the University of Georgia, which is part of the University System of Georgia comprising 34 institutions of higher learning. * Most students in the TIP program are teachers or otherwise employed by K-12 schools in the state of Georgia. Additional information about the TIP program can be found at http://itech1.coe.uga.edu/tip/program_tip.htm.

The instructor's feedback to step 1:

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:

a. Some TIP students feel intimidated by the process of building a web site; they are unaware of easy-to-use, no-cost tools available and do not know how to use them.

b. Web pages are often poorly designed and unreadable.

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:

a. Although a course in Dreamweaver is part of the TIP program, some TIP students may want to be able to create a simple web site prior to taking that course. b. Students who feel intimidated by technology are unlikely to attempt to learn that technology unassisted. c. Websites that are not maintained or are carelessly designed present a poor public image of the web page owner. For a school or teacher, this is very poor public relations. Instruction in good web design and maintenance principles could remediate this problem.

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:

Some TIP students are unable to build and maintain their own web sites when they enter the TIP program.

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:

Informal conversations with TIP students, a visual review of school and teacher web sites, an oral survey of TIP students.

Your final response:

1. Informal conversations about general knowledge of building web pages.

2. Visual web page surveys indicated relevancy, timeliness, link operation, whether it loaded or not.

3. Oral survey asked whether the TIP students knew how to build a web page, a comfort level (1-5), and whether they would like to learn how to build a web page.

Your final response:

1. Informal conversations with TIP students indicated a lack of knowledge in this area from some students. (felt need)

2. A brief survey of school and teacher web sites shows many outdated web pages with non-functional links. (normative need)

3. An oral survey of eleven TIP students showed four with minimal knowledge of web site construction and maintenance, three that rated themselves as experts (5 on a scale of 5), and the rest would like some level of instruction. (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:

5. Prioritize needs 1. TIP students need to have the skills to build a web site 2. TIP students need to learn to maintain web sites. They should be able to maintain their own sites and if they are employed as school technology specialists, they may be required to maintain the school's web site. 3. TIP students should be aware of various web-building tools.

Your final response:

5b. Reasons for Priorities 1. It is necessary to know how to build a web page before one can learn how to maintain a web site. 2. After acquiring a basic knowledge of web building and maintanence techniques, learners can make intelligent choices among the wide variety of web building tools available.

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:

6. Restate problem statement: We are happy with the problem statement listed above.

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:

7. Instructional Goals: 1. Student will be able to use a simple, no-cost web building tool such as Netscape Composer to generate a simple web page. 2. Student will be able to organize multiple web pages into a website. 3. Student will be able to demonstrate competence in designing simple web pages that include text, graphics, and links. 4. Student will be able to publish and maintain their web site.

 

Your final response:

7b. Reasons for Importance 1. Students must know the basics of web design before they can use more advanced tools and before they can publish and maintain a web site. Once the procedure for publishing a specific web site to a specific host are learned, they can be repeated for other web sites to be loaded to the same host.

The instructor's feedback to step 7:

No specific feedback given on this step.