Week 5

Using ADDIE as processes of Learning Design, week 4 covered on Evaluation and Design, whereas this week covered on Evaluation and Analysis, particularly Needs Assessment.

Needs Assessment

The rationale of Needs Assessment, according to Smith and Ragan's reading, is "to determine that there actually is a need for new instruction to be developed". I interpret it as finding out the factors that will improve the learning context, if any. This is so that designers can prevent themselves from spending unnecessary time on factors that do not pose as a problem for the learning context.

An example of Needs Assessment comes from the lecture activity done by my group. We agreed on studying the learning context of the errant taxi drivers. In the end we established "ineffective learning" as the cause of errant taxi drivers, we thus determine "further instruction" as the solution/ needs under Needs Assessment.

Three conditions of learning context

According to the lecture and Smith and Ragan's reading, the way of going about Needs Assessment begins with determining the condition of the learning context. We learned three main types of conditions (which I'll explain in a minute), although there are many other conditions. Each condition follows an approach to Needs Assessment.

The first kind is the presence of a problem. E.g. errant taxi drivers. The second kind is the presence of new thing(s) to learn. E.g. new traffic rules. The third kind is the presence of a gap between "the optimal" and "the actual". E.g. Using the number of warning letters sent by a taxi company as the guide, "the optimal" is less than 20 within a month, but "the actual" is 40.

Problem Model

A condition with "the presence of a problem" follows the Needs Assessment approach known as Problem Model. Firstly, determine if the cause of the problem stems from learning. An example of a problem that does not stem from learning was mentioned during lecture - the cause of cabin crew taking sick leave for short flights (problem) is not due to learning, but due to dissatisfaction with the low allowance given. Thus, if the cause of the problem does not stem from learning, proceed to developing other solutions. In other words, determine the other cause(s) of the problem (instead of learning) and develop solution(s) accordingly. If the cause of the problem stems from learning, proceed to the next step to determine if instruction for these learning goals is offered. If it isn't, proceed to Innovation Model. If it is, proceed to Discrepancy Model.

Innovation Model

A condition with "the presence of new thing(s) to learn" follows the Needs Assessment approach known as Innovation Model. Firstly, determine the nature of the "new thing(s)". Secondly, determine the learning goals based on this previously determined nature. Learning goal, as learned in coming Week 6, can be defined as "broad statements of design intent". Thirdly, determine if these new learning goals are suitable and important in the learning context. If they are, proceed to the last step. The last step is to proceed to the next phase of the Learning Design, which I am actually unsure of what it means exactly. Is it something to do with what we learned Week 7 onwards?

Discrepancy Model

A condition with "the presence of a gap between 'the optimal' and 'the actual'" follows the Needs Assessment approach known as Discrepancy Model. Firstly, list the (current) goals of the learning context/ "the optimal". Secondly, determine how well these goals are already being achieved/ "the actual". Thirdly, determine the gap(s) between "the optimal" and "the actual". Fourthly, prioritise the gap(s) according to agreed-upon criteria. Lastly, determine which gap(s) are instructional needs and which are most appropriate for design and development of instruction. In other words, determine whether the gap(s) can be narrowed/ closed by changing instruction or developing other solutions. An example of a need to develop other solutions, according to the Smith and Ragan's reading, is when students are performing badly in tests due to absenteeism and not learning (question: doesn't this bring us back to the first step of Problem Model?). More details of the steps in going about narrowing/ closing the gap(s) via changing instruction are discussed in Week 6.

Some reflections

Regarding the effectiveness of analysing the learning context (there are two steps in going about it, namely a) Needs Assessment and b) description of learning environment, where the latter is not covered in lecture but the Smith and Ragan reading), I think I'm pretty convinced by both the lecture and readings - analysis of the learning context is indeed necessary in order to come up with a good Learning Design. As how the idiom goes, "the first step is always the hardest". After going through such tedious chore of analysis, a designer can prevent himself from developing useless instruction that is not targeting at the learning goals at all, resulting in a waste of both learning resources and time. With analysis of the learning context, the designer ensures that he is coming up with a very focused and likely-to-be-useful Learning Design.