Needs Assessment

MEDT 8462

WHAT IS A NEEDS ASSESMENT AND WHAT ARE ITS STEPS?

A needs assessment is a systematic process for determining and addressing needs, or "gaps" between current conditions and desired conditions or "wants". The discrepancy between the current condition and wanted condition must be measured to appropriately identify the need. The need can be a desire to improve current performance or to correct a deficiency

A needs assessment is a part of planning processes, often used for improvement in individuals, education/training, organizations, or communities. It can refine and improve a product such as a training or service a client receives. It can be an effective tool to clarify problems and identify appropriate interventions or solutions (Fulgham & Shaughnessy, 2008). By clearly identifying the problem, finite resources can be directed towards developing and implementing a feasible and applicable solution

Needs assessments can include data collection from many sources. Existing documentation, such as historical budgets, student achievement, and target population demographics, is typically available in program files. Interviews, focus groups, and environmental scans provide additional information on current practice. Surveys, however, remain the most common form of needs assessment, as they are relatively easy to administer and provide data in an accessible format (Reilly, 2016, p. 131)

Conducting a needs assessment requires a systematic approach that progresses through a defined series of phases:

1. Gathering needs-related information (usually the most critical and time consuming part of the process).

2. Reviewing and prioritizing need.

3. Documenting results and decision-making.

For the purposes of this first assignment, we will focus on technology in your school or place of work. Decide on how to organize the major components of the technology available in your classroom and shared resources for your campus. For example, in your media center you may have hardware (computers, smartboards, etc.) and software that students/teachers can use; or some classrooms might have technological tools students can use during class. These items may be standardized across the building (so that all classrooms have the same number of computers and devices). You will also have devices and resources which are shared between faculty members and/or students.

 

You will need to determine structure of your database to organize, categorize, and track the availability of the resources on your campus.

1. INFORMATION GATHERING

The first step in this process is investigating if your school/place of work already has a technology plan. This will save you a TREMENDOUS amount of time.

Information gathering can be time-consuming, so it is helpful to set a reasonable schedule and try to stick to it. It can make sense, however, to consider extending deadlines when important participants still have not offered their suggestions. It is essential to give everyone sufficient time to make their opinions heard. Information gathering should be approached with caution, as it often suffers from reactions representing two extremes:

 

· reluctant participants who may not see the importance of the project and may only be half-heartedly interested

· overly zealous participants who have been waiting years to unburden themselves of their endless requirements and difficult jobs, and may overstate opinions during the quest for information

 

The challenge to planners is to distinguish real from exaggerated need, and give each the importance it deserves. Several techniques for gathering information are presented in the table below:

 

Needs Assessment Information Gathering Techniques

Technique Definition Advantages Disadvantages Personal Interview Face-to-face meeting with individual technology users to determine "needs" using a prepared set of questions. Good for details about needs and related issues. Individual sessions encourage open and honest assessment of need. Time consuming. Findings may not always be comparable when participants have opportunities for open-ended responses. Group Interview Face-to-face meeting with multiple technology users to determine "needs" using a prepared set of questions. Time efficient because it collects opinions from several participants at once. Can lead to "consensus" opinions. Multiple participant approach may stifle individual input. May be difficult to reconcile conflicting opinions that arise. Written Questionnaire Written questions sent to multiple technology users with instructions for completing and returning the survey. Consistent set of questions for all respondents. Can be administered to a geographically dispersed group of users. Response rates can be low. Time consuming to review responses unless process is automated, which usually requires additional expense. Focus Group Facilitated discussion of job-related needs and possible technology responses in an open forum. Time efficient because it collects opinions from several participants at once. Can lead to "consensus" opinions. Multiple participant approach may stifle individual input. May be difficult to reconcile conflicting opinions that arise.

 

 

 This model also could be used to develop a different set of questions for identifying instructional technology needs via face-to-face interviews or a questionnaire.

Guidelines and examples of surveys for needs assessment (Your surveys should be different to the ones presented below, but you can use these as a starting point to develop your own)

https://owl.english.purdue.edu/owl/resource/559/06/

https://www.surveymonkey.com/r/?sm=lSsWCYRNQ56LYjmZiaIuwA%3D%3D

https://www.surveymonkey.com/r/?sm=dwkzQvq8wdQXnw2R4w03OA%3D%3D

http://www.update234.com/technology-needs-assessment-template.html

2. REVIEWING AND PRIORITIZING NEED

STEP 1: Set Priority of Needs

Criteria for assigning priorities among needs are based on several factors:

The magnitude of discrepancies between current and target states;

Causes and contributing factors to the needs;

The degree of difficulty in addressing the needs;

Risk assessment—the consequences of ignoring the needs;

The effect on other parts of the system or other needs if a specific need is or is not met;

The cost of implementing solutions; and

Other factors that might affect efforts to solve the need.

Set priorities in two stages: (a) broad areas, such as goals, concerns (needs) or target groups; and (b) critical needs within each area.

STEP 2: Identify Possible Solutions

Set criteria (or standards) for judging the merits of alternative solution strategies. At a minimum, proposed solutions should meet the criteria of effect on causes, acceptability, and feasibility (includes resources).

Generate and examine potential solutions. In examining possible solutions—review and document research and evaluation data that supports the merits of each alternative.

NEED	CAUSES	CONSEQUENCES	DIFFICULTY TO CORRECT (LOW, MEDIUM, HIGH)

In column 1: List needs that were previously identified in the needs assessment. In column 2: List all possible “treatable” causes of each need (concern), itemized separately for each need. A given need may have more than one cause. In column 3: List consequences if the cause is not removed and the need is not meet, also itemize separately for each need. There may be more than one consequence for each need. In column 4: Enter a rating (low, medium, high) of the difficulty of correcting the problem once it has occurred

3. DOCUMENTING RESULTS AND DECISION MAKING

STEP 3: Select Solutions

Evaluate and rate each solution separately against the evaluation criteria.

Consider whether each of the high-ranking solutions will drive toward the contemplated change or whether they will push in the opposite direction, preventing change.

On the basis of all the information, select one or more solutions for each need area.

STEP 4: Propose Action Plan

The plan should include descriptions of the solutions, rationale, proposed timelines, and resource requirements.

STEP 5: Prepare Report

At the end of this phase, a written report should be prepared to communicate the methods and results of the needs assessment to decision-makers, policymakers, and key stakeholders. The report should include:

Name, job description, and detailed description of work setting;

Description of the needs assessment process;

Current available technology

Description of stakeholders

Major outcomes (identified needs);

Priority Needs (and criteria used to determine such priorities);

Action Plan (with the data and criteria used to arrive at the solution strategies); and

Appendix with all the data collection materials.

Read these other resources, they will help you to understand the process, and to develop your needs assessment:

What is a needs assessment:

https://www.panopto.com/blog/how-to-conduct-an-educational-technology-needs-assessment-in-5-steps/

https://nces.ed.gov/pubs2005/tech_suite/part_2.asp

https://www.esc11.net/cms/lib3/TX21000259/Centricity/Domain/489/CNA%20Process%20Resource.pdf

Examples of need assessments:

Reeds spring IV schools

SERVE Center (this one includes several surveys that can help you developing yours)

References:

Fulgham, S. M. & Shaughnessy, M. (September–October 2008).  Q & A with Ed Tech Leaders: Interview with Roger Kaufman. Educational Technology. pp. 49–52.

Reilly, E. (2016). Developing technology needs assessments for educational programs: An analysis of eight key indicators. International Journal of Education and Development using Information and Communication Technology. 12(1), pp. 129-143