Analysis
Importance
of Needs Analysis
In our previous lesson, the people of Gondwanaland would have been
better served had Rachana conducted a proper needs analysis from the start.
Upon doing so, she would have discovered that training was not the solution
to the problem she was investigating.
What's contained in the Needs Analysis?
The Needs Analysis contains
3 steps and identifies types of needs that relate to problems and distinguishes
between instructional and non-instructional solutions.
Step
1: Determining
the gap
The first step in the needs analysis is to determine the actual and desired situation. The table below shows this determination as it applied to the development of this course:
|
Actual Situation |
Desired Situation |
|
People involved in sustainable development/agriculture espouse the POTENTIAL of the Internet to increase access to agricultural information but are not actively packaging materials/developing content that can be delivered over the Internet. |
People involved in sustainable development/agriculture are equipped with the skills to package knowledge for education/training that utilizes the Internet. |
The gap is the space between the actual
and desired situation. Ultimately, this is the need you are analysing
and trying to fill. Do you think there is a gap between the actual and
desired situation from the example above?
Step 2: Analyzing the gap
What is causing the gap between the actual and
desired situation? You need to collect data using whatever methods are
appropriate for your context. Methods might include direct observation,
interviews, questionnaires or document review.
Step 3: Closing the gap
How might the gap (need) be filled? The answer
to this question will depend on the conclusions you reached in Step 2.
It is important to keep in mind that many gaps will not be solved by
training, as was demonstrated in the previous lesson. Even if a human
performance problem is causing a gap between a desired and actual situation,
the solution may involve some change to the work environment rather than
change to the performance of individuals through training. For example,
if the quality of a teacher's performance is low, the cause may be due
to a negative attitude as a result of not having received her/his salary
for the last two months because of budgetary probems at the school. The
solution to this problem is clearly not training (the teacher is not performing
poorly due to a lack of knowledge or skill), rather, the solution is to
fix the budgetary/administrative system and pay the teachers on time!
Next lesson
In the next lesson, you will learn to analyze your audience, resources and constraints to ensure that the instruction meets the learners' needs interests and motivations.