Needs Assessment - Week 5

As we have understood by now, the purpose of a needs assessment is to determine whether there is a need for instruction to be developed.There are 3 circumstances in which needs assessment are to be used.

1. There is a problem. For example, there are a rising number of graduates in Singapore who are experiencing unemployment

.2. There is or may be something new that learners need to learn. For instance, the LTA introduced the must-give-way zones on some roads in which drivers / motorists are to give way to buses from bus bays. This means that drivers need to learn about the new rules.

3. No problem is apparent, but the organization wishes to or is required to engage in evaluation of its learning / training program to see if the goals and reality are congruent.

There are 3 faces of the needs assessment, and they are (A) Problem model, (B) Innovation model and (C) Discrepancy model.

Discrepancy model is used when the cause of problem is related to learning and instructions were given. To quote an example, regular fire drills were conducted for foreign workers to prepare them to evacuate their domitories should there be a situation where there is a fire. However, some of the foreign workers were still unable to follow the instructions given by the employers after repeated number of trials. Discrepancy model may then be used to assess the problem.

Innovation model is used when the cause of problem is related to learning but no instructions were given. For example, e – learning was incorporated into schools located in the rural villages with the aim of improving the learning performances of the students.Students were provided with computers and CD-ROMS that they could utilise.However, as the students did not have prior training on how to use these foreign technologies, their results did not improve.Hence, the innovation model is useful in this case to assess the learning problem.

Lastly, when the cause of the problem is not related to learning or instruction, but past instructions were given, we should then adopt other solutions. For example, there is an increase in the number of children in singapore who are supposed to be in primary one but are not schooling, although there is a rule that makes it mandatory for children to go to school. Reasons could be that the parents of these children are unaware of the law, the children are unable to go to school as they are helping to supplement their family's income or their parents are simply to poor to send them to school. Thus, other solutions may then be required to solve the problem.