Front End Analysis(Needs Assessment & Learner Analysis)

EDU 553 – Principles ofInstructional Design

Dr. Steve Broskoske

Outline

• Review of remote activities.• What is front-end analysis?• Needs assessment.• Learner (audience) analysis.

Review of Remote Activities

• Thoughts/ideas/what you learned about:–Design positive emotion into your

application.–Designing for emotion.–Reducing cognitive load.

What Is Front-end Analysis?

• Essential part of systematic design of instruction.– Impacts all aspects of

instruction (approaches, media, assessment, level and type of language, examples, overall look and feel of instruction).

– Makes for more effective instruction.

– Allows you to “sell” your proposal for instructional intervention.

Instructional Design Process

• Needs assessment.• Learner analysis.• Task analysis.• Objective formulation.• Method and activity selection.• Evaluation.

High-levelDesign

Document

Needs Assessment

Needs Assessment

• The systematic design of instruction begins by conducting a detailed analysis of the instructional needs of a particular audience.

• Should be an objective evaluation of the performance deficiencies of a target audience.

• Culminates in a needs assessment report (contained in the high-level design document).

Performance Deficiencies

• A performance deficiency exists when a learner lacks a skill that is necessary to perform a task.– Learner’s background or initial instruction is

insufficient.– Changes occur after a learner has received

instruction.– Changes in equipment, methods, standards,

or content can require new abilities for which the learner has not been instructed.

Purpose of Needs Assessment

• Identifies what problems are affecting performance.

• Prioritizes critically needed interventions.• Provides a baseline to assess

effectiveness of instruction (“Here’s where we started.”).

About Needs

• Needs: Gap between expected and existing conditions.– Normative needs: Against national standard.– Comparative needs: Against similar

institutions.– Felt needs: Desire of target audience to

improve.– Expressed need: Felt need turned to action.– Anticipated needs– Critical incident needs

Types of Needs Assessment

Discrepancy Analysis• desired performance: Being by describing the

desired performance in as much detail as possible, making clear exactly what the learner should be able to do.

• current performance: Next, describe exactly what the learner is able to do now. Try to point out weakness and missing capabilities. Your description may also describe confusions or inappropriate behaviors.

Types of Needs Assessment

Input – Output Analysis• input: Describe exactly what sort of

training and preparation learners are provided now in terms of teaching them the desired performance.

• output: Describe the learners’ current performance (i.e., exactly what the learners are able to do now as a result of the training provided to them).

Types of Needs Assessment

Cost – Benefit Analysis• cost: Describe exactly what is presently invested

in training learners to realize the desired level of performance.– Amount of instructor time, learner time, and facilities

time invested.– Quantity of materials consumed.– Nature of facilities required.– Other investments/costs involved in providing the

present training.• benefits: Describe exactly what the learners are

able to do in terms of the desired performance as a result of their present training.

Steps in a Needs Assessment

1. Define the scope of the work.– Problem identification

2. Implement strategies for gathering information.

– Focus groups– Interviews– Observations– Surveys– Existing data reviews

Steps in a Needs Assessment

3. Implement strategies for quality assurance.– Performance checks– Assessments

4. Identify assumptions.– Existing relevant conditions– Constraints– Opportunities

5. Schedule the analysis tasks.– Process steps– Time allocations

Steps in a Needs Assessment

6. Report the results.– Overview– Needs matrix (immediate, one year, five

years)– Data gathered– Inferences– Recommendations– Instructional goals/objectives

Strategies for Collecting DataInside Organization

• Analyze performance measures. Compare to desired performance ratings.

• Talk with teachers/trainers and appropriate staff to gather impressions of the status quo.

• Talk with former students concerning what they feel they got or should have gotten out of training.

• Seek recommendations from administrators (management) or examine requests from them for training.

• Examine organizational records for data to support the benefit of improved training.

– Academic: GPA’s and college admissions, higher graduation rates, better discipline.

– Business: Higher production and sales records, higher graduation rates, improved safety records.

Strategies for Collecting DataOutside Organization

• Interview instructional staff at other comparable organizations and ask them to rate the effectiveness of instructional techniques they are using.

• Identify appropriate instructional materials and approaches used by other organizations and determine how well you think they would fulfill your organization’s needs.

• Survey present practices and identify needs that professionals in the field recognize.

• Compare with existing standards.

Deeper Analysis for a Company

• Identify which needs can benefit from an instructional intervention, and which needs require other types of intervention.– System discrepancies.– Management discrepancies.– Motivational discrepancies.– Environmental discrepancies.– Interpersonal discrepancies.– Health discrepancies.– Skill and knowledge discrepancies. Can benefit

from training.

Needs otherintervention.

Needs Assessment Report

• Needs assessment report: The final product of the needs assessment.

• Goal: Present and analyze the collected data in a clear and focused manner, so that evaluations of present instruction and recommendations for future instruction are readily apparent.

Needs Assessment Report

• The report should:– Review the data collected in order to:

• Evaluate existing instruction.• Prioritize topics for future instructional

development.

– Describe changes and problems that are suggested by the analysis.

– Discuss any discrepancies uncovered by the follow-up activities.

Putting It All Together:Needs Assessment Report

• Perform a needs analysis in order to justify training needs and to sell your training solution.– Describe the need for training (the “problem”).– Choose an analysis strategy:

• Discrepancy, input-output, cost-benefit analysis.

– Research and present data:• Test scores, results of a survey, institutional

records, comparative data.

What topic will you teach?

• Remember for the final project:1. High-level design for an instructional

module.

2. Computer-based training stand-alone PowerPoint designed for remedial, practice, or advanced student (individual or group) work.

What topic will you teach?

• Topic should be…– Definable.– Narrow in focus.– Task/procedure that can be taught.

Discuss

ion

Needs Assessment• What is the current and desired

performance?• What can you say about this situation?

– How will training help?– How badly is training needed?

• Choose an analysis strategy:– Discrepancy, input-output, cost-benefit

analysis.• How can you justify the investment in

training?

Discuss

ion

Learner (Audience) Analysis

Learner (Audience) Analysis

• Conducting a learner analysis is an essential part of designing instruction.

Learner (Audience) Analysis

• Products of the learner analysis affect all aspects of instruction.– Objectives must be made realistic and

compatible with the entry skills of the learners.– Content and starting point of instruction

depend on what the learners already know.– Learner characteristics determine the media

and method of instruction used in the product.

Answers Two Questions

• In conducting a learner analysis, ask the following questions:

1. For whom is the instruction created?

2. What are the implications?

Purpose

• Learner analysis is used to identify:– Range of possible solutions.– Relative budgets for solutions.– Possible constraints.

Planning!

Steps in Learner Analysis

1. Analyze previous performance and existing performance.

2. Interview associates regarding learner expertise (if in a company).

3. Consult subject matter experts.

4. Seek input from potential learners.

5. Examine previous efforts at instruction.

How to Report Learner Analysis

• General Description– Discuss characteristics such as age,

educational level, achievement, rank, grade level, etc.

– Intention: To provide a general description of the characteristics of the learners.• You will ultimately use this information to make

decisions about aspects of the educational intervention.

How to Report Learner Analysis

• Strengths– Describe those characteristics of the learners

that might be viewed as enablers, or characteristics that may help them to learn the material under study.

– Strengths may include items such as:• Previous pieces of knowledge.• Previous performances in learning.• Ways that learners were selected.• Attitudes or habits of the learners.

How to Report Learner Analysis

• Weaknesses– Discuss the characteristics of the learners that might

be viewed as dis-enablers, or characteristics that impede their learning the material under study.

• Areas of Potential Difficulty– Describe the particular areas of the material under

study that learners with these general characteristics and strengths and weaknesses may have particular trouble with.

In effect, you are considering where learners’ strengths and weaknesses interact with the material under study.

How to Report Learner Analysis

• Potential Strategies– Present a list of strategies that you propose to

use to:• Take advantage of the learners’ strengths.• To minimize their weaknesses.• To resolve areas of potential difficulty.

Don’t forget about brain research and how you can incorporate that into your design document.

Some Learner Characteristics

• Basic demographics of learners:– age and maturity– attention span– gender– demographic/social economic status– cultural focus– interests– anxieties– health– perceptual abilities (ability to grasp new learning)– culturally diverse learners– learners with special needs

Some Learner Characteristics

• Existing knowledge or skills in subject area:– previous experiences in subject content– existing conceptual knowledge– misconceptions that need to be unlearned– entry skills that may interfere with acquisition

of new skills

Some Learner Characteristics

• Attitudes toward instructional content:– positive/negative attitudes toward entire

content– positive/negative attitudes toward parts of

content– motivation

Some Learner Characteristics

• Language:– language levels

• reading level, comprehension level, expressive language skills

– language preferences• style, vocabulary (including jargon), sentence

types, length of sentences and paragraphs

Some Learner Characteristics

• Learning skills– note taking, outlining, memorizing, test taking

• Learning preferences– media choices, mode preferences (self-instruction, small group,

teacher-mediated)• Learning style(s)

– convergers: abstract conceptualization and active experimentation

– divergers: concrete experience and reflective observation– assimilators: abstract conceptualization and reflective

observation– accommodators: concrete experience and active

experimentation

Adult Learners

• Highly motivated• Need to see the benefit• Time is a factor• Instructor must be competent• Work experience• Self-directed and independent• Want to participate in class decision making• Less flexible in changing habits• Cooperative work can be more successful

Putting It All Together:Learner Analysis

• Define your audience.• Describe the characteristics of audience.• Describe strengths.• Describe weaknesses.• List areas of potential difficulty.

Ultimately, what does this mean for training? Learner analysis should have implications for training (methods, approaches, examples, motivation, etc.).

Learner Analysis

• Who will your audience be?• What are the characteristics of your

audience?• What are their strengths?• What are their weaknesses?• What are the areas of potential difficulty

for these learners?

Discuss

ion

Learner Analysis

• What strategies do you propose to use to:– Take advantage of the learners’ strengths?– To minimize their weaknesses?– To resolve areas of potential difficulty?

Discuss

ion

Review

• Importance of front-end analysis.• Needs assessment.• Learner (audience analysis).

Review: Needs Assessment Report

• Report should:– Review the data collected in order to:

• Evaluate existing instruction.• Prioritize topics for future instructional

development.

– Describe changes and problems that are suggested by the analysis.

– Discuss any discrepancies uncovered by the follow-up activities.

Review: Learner Analysis Report

• General Description• Strengths• Weaknesses• Areas of Potential Difficulty• Potential Strategies

Next Steps

• Select a topic to teach (if you have not already done so).

• Start preparing the front-end analysis:– Needs assessment.– Learner (audience) analysis.

• Reminder: Final project information.– High-level design for an instructional module.– Computer-based training stand-alone PowerPoint

designed for remedial, practice, or advanced student (individual or group) work.