assessments needs in courseware designing

1. UNIVERSITY OF CAPE COAST
EIT801-INSTRUCTIONAL DESIGN.
QUESTION
What is a needs assessment?
What are the sources of instruction needs?
AMEDZRO RAPHAEL ANKAR YAO
(EDMIT/14/0011)

2. Presentation outline
Introduction
Definition of terms
Functions of needs assessments
Types of needs and source
of instructional needs
conclusion
references

3. introduction
• In the medical realm, doctors diagnose patients, identify
their problems and provide them with a panacea to solve
the patient’s problem.
• So it is with the designer has the sole responsibility to
identify the problem properly, then provide intervention.
• Failure on his part may address only the symptoms, with
no resultant change in the target audience’s performance.
• Needs assessment will aid the designer to critically
identify the problem in order to come out with a eternal
remedy.

4. Definitions of terms
 Need is defined as a gap between what is expected and the
existing conditions.
 Assessment is the process of obtaining information that is
used for making decisions about students, schools, curricula
and programs and educational policies.
 Needs assessment can be described as a tool for identifying
the problem and then selecting an appropriate intervention.
Kaufman et al. (1993)
 Sources of instructional needs can be explain as the origin of
the information related to a problem to be solved.

5. FUNCTIONS OF NEEDS ASSESSMENTS
The needs assessments process serve four major functions, they are:
 It identifies the need relevant to a particular job or task, that is, what
problems are affecting performance.
 It identifies critical needs: critical needs include those that have a
significant financial impact, affect safety, or disrupt the work or
education environment.
 It sets priorities for selecting an intervention.
 It provides baseline data to assess the effectiveness of the instruction.

6. TYPES OF NEEDS AND THE SOURCE OF INSTRUCTIONAL NEEDS
Normative needs: it is identify by comparing the target audience
against a national standard.
Example is comparing the end of second term Mathematics
examination to the WACE mathematical result.
Normative data is collected to solve a gap by first defining the
normative needs such as education, insurance, transportation,
etc.
The sources of normative data
• Professional societies such as WAEC, schools etc.
• Trade groups such as banks, Association of Road Contractors, Ghana,
Association of Ghana Industries (AGI), etc.
• Government agencies such as national lotteries, SNIT, etc.
Normative needs

7. comparative needs
 Comparative needs: are defined by comparing the status of the target
audience to a peer of an external measure or status.
 Comparative needs exits when there is a gap between a group.
 the comparison must be of the same group such as class, school, bank,
church, etc.
 To identify comparative needs, the designer must first determine the
areas for comparison
 Source of instruction is from the comparative audience.
 The individual classes, schools, universities, states may be contacted for
such a required information.
Sources of comparative needs

8. oFelt needs express a gap between current performance or skill level and
desired performance or skill level.
oIt targets on performance improvement of an individual or a group.
oExample of felt needs in the school are workshop that are organised to
improve on teachers teaching.
oFelt needs are best identified through interviews and questionnaires.
oFace-to-face interview is more effective since the designer can alleviate anxieties and
probe for additional details.
Sources of Felt needs

9. Expressed needs
 Expressed needs is defined as a felt needs turned into action
 It is an intrinsic in nature such that, the makes sure the desired needs is
achieved.
 Instructional designers are primary interested in this type of needs since it
improve the performance of the target audience or person.
 Examples of expressed sources include:
 Individual personal files and performance reviews
 Ask the appropriate supervisor or manager
 They are mostly identified in suggestion boxes and publications
 A designer using computer as data collection may use Frequently asked
questions.
Sources of expressed needs

10. anticipated or Future needs
 Anticipated or future needs are means of identifying changes that will occur
in the future.
 This needs aids the designer to prepare adequately for contingency.
 Sources of anticipated or Future needs include:
 Interview and questionnaire
 Interview and questionnaire must cater for future predictions.
 The designer may also identify potential problems areas.

11. Critical needs
 Critical incident needs can be explained as failures that are rare but have
significant consequences.
 Examples of such rare failures are chemical spills, medical treatment errors,
natural disasters, etc.
 Sources of critical incident are identify by analysing potential problems.
 They can be identify again by asking “what if”
 Example, what if the system fails?
Sources of critical needs

12. conclusion
 If the designer fail to identify the problem properly, then the intervention
may address only the symptoms, with no resultant change in the target
audience’s performance
 A good needs assessment will identify the needs for particular problems
affecting performance of identified audiences.

13. references
 http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sound
 Microsoft ® Encarta ® 2009. © 1993-2008 Microsoft
Corporation.
 www.csulb.edu/~murdock/histofcs.html
 Ely D. P. et al (1996), Trends in Educational Technology,
From Anglin,G.(Ed.) (1995) Instructional Technology: Past,
Present and Future. Englewood, CO: Libaries Unlimited, p 11-
19.