Speaker 1: Needs assessment process. In step one, we identify the problem. This is where we start to get an idea of what the gap is. But how do we identify the problem? How do we know this is a gap? So usually, not all the time, but usually as a learning experience designer, a curriculum designer, a trainer, a mentor, a faculty member, a teacher, all the different titles and jobs, someone comes to you and says, hey, I think I have a problem and I need to create something to help my students and participants learn this. And so that is how a gap is usually identified. So while you are meeting with these stakeholders in the audience, you wanna ask them, how do you know this is a gap? Do you know this is a gap based on data? Do you know this is a gap because you feel it's a gap? Do you know this is a gap because somebody's telling you it is missing? So you also wanna know, how do you know this is a gap? It's really important because everyone's how might be different based on their perceptions of the gap itself. And you wanna know why. Why do you see this as a problem or a gap? Is this a problem just for you? Is this a problem for the students? Is this a problem for the participants? Are participants who take a training with you not getting what they need to do to be successful when they walk out the door? Are participants floundering on one step? You've taught them five steps, but one step they just can't seem to get. Or do you just feel this might be a problem because you wish that they would get from point A to point C by stopping at point B, but somehow they have workarounds and get to point C and everything still works out, but you really wish they would do point B. So again, the who, the how, and the why are really important for you to help find and identify this gap. In step two, we identify the data sources. Here is where we find all the data that already exists that might help you understand the situation or the gap or what is missing. How do we find these data sources? So I'm gonna go over a few for you. The first is grades and scores. So say you are giving a test and you realize that 50% of the students are missing question B. And you're like, hmm, that's a lot of students missing that question. And you're going to then think about that data source and that grade and be like, check your materials and say, am I covering it correctly? Am I sharing the correct information? So using grades and scores to help you figure out what is missing in your learning content is one of the ways you can identify the gap. Having focus groups. So meeting with your target audience and asking them questions to help them describe and explain what is happening, what is missing, what could be missing. I mean, you might, in a focus group, hear a completely different gap than the one that you were there listening for. So focus groups are a good way to find out information as well. Evaluations. We all know higher education, we have end of course evaluations. In this course, I also have a midterm evaluation and I use that data to help me figure out what is missing, what is working, what is not working. It also happens when you attend a training, you're asked to complete an evaluation. Well, not everyone does. I wish they would because it's very helpful for most of us who actually look at these evaluations and use that data to find out what is missing and then fix it or find those gaps. So observations. So if you are, we'll go back to a training experience, watching the skills, like in a skills lab, you can observe and see what is being missed. I am by nature an educator, but I started out in early childhood education. So I spent many years mastering the art of observations of children to learn what skills they were mastering, what skills were coming next so I could help scaffold that behavior. So just by watching, you can find out a lot of information as well. Again, next, surveys. So you can ask, you can send out surveys that are geared towards what this gap may be to find out if it is really a gap, what part of this is missing in whatever training or gap you're looking to figure out. You can also use reviews. So a lot of times if you create courses, you get reviews, you can find reviews for technology platform, checking out the reviews and finding out information. These are just a few data sources. So I do suggest that you check out all the different kinds of data that you can find. In the next step, we're gonna talk about data collection. So here's where you're gonna gather all that preexisting data and start collecting new data. You're gonna go ahead and think about what issues the data is going to address. You're going to figure out what population you're gonna sample for your new data and even some preexisting data. What techniques will you be using? Are you gonna use a survey? Are you gonna use focus groups? And then who will be collecting the data? So a lot of times you are not able to collect all the data and you have to ask your company or whoever you're working for to help you collect the data. So you really wanna know who is going to do that for you and then how you're gonna access that data. If I want data across campuses in our system, I can't get it because of different security measures based on what we use here at one university, a different university might use it differently. So you really wanna know how you are going to get to that data because you need that data for the next step. And that next step is data analysis. This is where you're going to dig into that data and see what it is telling you. And you're gonna really think about what does the data say? Is it showing you a gap? Does it align with what you were told the problem or the gap is? Sometimes it does not align with that and you may find that there is no gap or you may find that the gap is different. Did you consider the data collection and process? I mean, where is this data from? So you may have had a sample size of five people yet this is going out to 5 million people. So does the data collection process and the data population fit the analysis? But really what you're looking for is just seeing what the data is saying to you. And based on what the data says to you, you create recommendations. So this is where you give information to that subject matter expert or SME or SME, however it's called in your region or to the learning designer and you give them this information and let them know what is recommended to fill the gap. So what are your recommendations? Do you recommend a training? Do you recommend getting more data and asking one-on-one questions, working one-on-one? And then what are yours as a learning experience designer or their next steps as a company or a business? Are you going to create the training? Are they going to create the training? And finally, how will you deliver those learning sessions? Will you deliver them synchronously where you're all on Zoom or you're all in a classroom at one time? Or will you deliver them asynchronously where they are engaging with the materials on their own time, in their own space, in their own place? Will they be interactive or will they be videos? Will they be interactive, walking through each step on a computer training scenario? I mean, there are so many different things you'll have to think about in these recommendations to help your subject matter experts or whoever requested you do a needs analysis and to help you if you are going to be creating that training to move forward and create something that fills the gap and meets the needs of the students or participants.