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Needs Assessment Chart at Work:

Sample Assessment for Materials Design Students

By Prof. Jonathan Acua Solano
Wednesday, August 27, 2014
Twitter: @jonacuso
Post 136



Although you may have not completed a formal Needs Assessment before, many
of the considerations in a Needs Assessment may already be a part of your everyday
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teaching practice. In this sample Assignment Chart, a Needs Assessment was completed
for a very specific course at the university level: ELT Materials Design and Multimedia.
Over here you can analyze both the learning and performance context for this course and
can describe how those contexts compare to student characteristics and entry abilities at
Universidad Latina, a higher education institution in Costa Rica. Then you will be able to
explore how the characteristics the instructor discovered here in his Needs Assessment
chart inform you about the course design for this class, ELT Materials Design and
Multimedia.

The first of the two charts included on this post is a good summary of what an
instructor will like to achieve to try to get to the courses exit profile. However, it is still
succinct when it comes to the whole instructional/teaching/learning process that is
required to fully complete the educational cycle involved in a hybrid or online teaching
scenario. To really get to the courses exit profile and guarantee that students are really
achieving the learning goals, a second kind of analysis [based on the ADDIE model] is
needed to get to know the whole scope of instruction and the tools that will be required
to develop student competencies in education technology.

Needs Assessment Initial Analysis
Course Instructional Goals Entry Level Abilities Exit Profile
ELT Materials
Design and
Multimedia


To have a solid
knowledge in the
creation/design of
EFL activities for
language skills
Understanding of
the four skills in
language learning
Lesson planning
training
To have student
teachers ready to
design and use
language
activities in class
To incorporate
their activities as
part of their
lesson planning
To understand
the theoretical
background for
accurate
language
activities
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To use Google
Sites to create an
interactive
ePortfolio that
can be used with
their current or
future students
Knowledge in
blog design and
posting
Former training
on how to use
blogs for
education
To prepare
student teachers
to create their
own site in
Google as an
ePortfolio
To promote
autonomous
learning among
students by
creating
interactive tasks
To use multi-
media and
freeware to
create/design EFL
material
Possible basic
background on
html, movie
maker, Office,
etc.
Use of freeware
such as iTunes
PDF creation
To instruct
students how to
embed
documents,
videos, etc. onto
their ePortfolios
To help them
develop their
understanding of
hosting platforms
such as youtube,
Scribd or
Slideshare
To train students
on how to create
their own
interactive
material in
various free
online platforms

Now that the Instructional Goals initially detected, along with the desired exit
profile for this education technology course, an instructor can fully comprehend the scope
of action required by teachers and learners in a hybrid or online course intended to teach
students the use of technology in language teaching and activity creation. That is why
after completing this questionnaire, what needs to be done to accomplish learning goals
is clearer and put in perspective. This simple but very complete needs assessment can
have one see where data can be collected, the desirable characteristics of learners, and
the implication that this input has in course design.

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Type of Information Data Source Characteristics
Implications for
Course Design
and Development
Instructional Goals
What are the instructional goals
that need to be accomplished
through the completion of this
course?


Course outline:
To have a solid
knowledge in
the
creation/design
of EFL activities
for language
skills
To use Google
Sites to create
an interactive
ePortfolio that
can be used
with their
current or
future students
To use multi-
media and
freeware to
create/design
EFL material
Understanding
of the four skills
in language
learning
Lesson planning
training
Knowledge in
blog design and
posting
Former training
on how to use
blogs for
education
Possible basic
background on
html, movie
maker, Office,
etc.
Use of freeware
such as iTunes
PDF creation
Possitive
Implications:
o Prior knowledge
in language
skills
o How activities
and tasks fit in a
lesson plan
o Prior training in
blogging
platform and use
in education
o Limited training
and html usage
o Limited
knowledge in
video production
o Self-training in
freeware

Negative
Implications:
o Lack of
knowledge in
these areas
imply the search
for additional
training sources
to have students
catch up with
the class
What does the institution
require students to know or be
able to do when they complete
this course?
Course outline
Same as
characteristics above
Ulatina requires
students to create
and design their own
EFL activities aiming
at facilitating their
work during their
teaching practicum
What do students need to know
and be able to do when they get
a job in this industry or
profession?
English Department
Learning outcomes
in course outline
When becoming full-
time teachers at a
private or public
school, Ulatina
wants them to use
technology as part
of their day-to-day
teaching and
planning
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Type of Information Data Source Characteristics
Implications for
Course Design
and Development
Performance Context Characteristics
Where will students use the
skills and knowledge taught in
this course?
All these technological competencies will be used in language
teaching scenarios in public or private high schools or adult
education, from their lesson plan to the execution of the plan in
class
Under what conditions will
students need to apply the skills
and knowledge taught in this
course?
To start with, competencies acquired in this course will initially be
used in their teaching practicum [before their graduation] and later
on in their daily teaching practice
Will the students use the skills
and knowledge taught in this
course individually or in teams
in the performance context?
The idea behind this course is that learners can use this knowledge
individually since theyll work with their own groups, but there is no
reason why they can embark themselves in joint ventures with
colleagues.
Learning Context Characteristics
Data Source
What equipment or technology
will be available for the course?
English Department If needed, labs
To what extend is the learning
context like the performance
context for the course content?
Instructors
experience
In my experience, it is a replica of what
students will face in the real world
General Student Characteristics
Data Source
What age are your students? Registrars Office
Mostly young adults, ages 18 to 25 and
some over the age of 30
What types of occupations or
hobbies do your students have?




Instructors
Interviews
o Most of them are not working though
those who are over 30 have a job
o Some of them work in call centers
o Just a few hold teaching positions
o Digital learning inclined
What cultural backgrounds do
your students have?
Mostly Costa Rican
A few foreign students
What obligations do students
have outside of your course?
o College responsibilities
o Some working mothers
o Many work to pay for their tuition
What expectations do students
have for the course?
To learn to perform
better in school
Extrinsic motivation
to learn on their own
How do students feel about the
content area?
Instructors
interviews
Confident
Subject-matter can
be used practically in
lesson planning
How do students feel about
taking an online course?
Excited
Extrinsic motivation
to learn on their own
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Type of Information Data Source Characteristics
Implications for
Course Design
and Development
Student Entry Abilities
What do students know already
about the course content?


Former education
technology courses
taken in the major
o Basic use of
Office
o Blogs in
Blogger.Com
o Understanding
of lesson
planning
o The four skills in
language
learning
o This course will
help them put
everything
together inside
their lesson
plans to teach
and provide
memorable
learning
experiences to
their students.
What misconceptions do
students have about the course
content?
o This course is to
develop
competencies to
create
interactive
materials, not
just paper-based
ones
o Initially,
believing that
this is just a
paper-based
materials
production is
overcome when
they have to
work online.
What relevant experiences do
students have outside of the
course?
o Former blogging
training and
basic use of
htmls
o Their prior
training is great
schemata that
they bring to
class and into
the course.
Do your students have the
necessary technology skills to
take an online course?
o YES!
o With the
constant training
of online tools
and our LMS at
Ulatina, students
are ready to
take the next
step.

There are indeed lots of challenges in trying to teach this course and have great
learning results with students, but there must be ways to palliate them. A Needs
Assessment can for sure define the steps to follow to create and design online or hybrid
learning instruction for ones students and a good way to mitigate challenges or obstacles
is to use ones former experience in the F2F classroom. These former experiences can
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help the instructor to visualize what the usual problem areas are to create media that can
help students understand what is needed from them more vividly.


Laureate Education. (2013). Hybrid & Blended Learning: Module 5, Content Design.
Retrieved on 2014, April 5 from http://global.laureate.net/portal.aspx#!home/faculty

Linkedin Corporation. (2014). SlideShare. http://www.slideshare.net/?ss

Scribd Inc. (2014). http://es.scribd.com/

YouTube, LLC. (2014). https://www.youtube.com/




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