Needs Analysis or Assessment

Based on the discrepancy model. It assumes that there is a training need and it
defines the gap between the current performance of a target audience and the
desired performance. At a high level it identifies the knowledge and skills that are
missing and might also delineate workplace issues and attitudes that could affect a
training initiative.

How to get the information:

 Interviews with stakeholders and managers

 Interviews with target audience members
 Interviews with other relevant staff, e.g., Information Technology and Human
Resources
 Provide surveys and questionnaires to the target audience to assess
knowledge
 Observation of target audience members performing relevant tasks

Audience Analysis

The goal of an audience analysis is to help designers and developers understand

their audience to serve them most effectively. The audience analysis identifies each
audience group who will engage in training and the characteristics of each group.

Try to identify the following:

 Demographics (gender, age range)

 Cognitive characteristics (educational level, language, prior knowledge related
to subject, computer literacy; learning preference—independent, motivated,
requires assistance, etc.)
 Work characteristics (job roles, work responsibilities, work schedule)
 Affective and social characteristics (interests, attitudes and biases, what
makes them laugh, what they disdain)
 Any other traits that could influence the strategies and approaches to learning
you might use

Although each group is composed of individuals, try to focus on the similarities within
each group. After your audience analysis, you may want to see how to create learner
personas.

How to get the information:

 Interviews with members of each audience group (individual or as a group)

 Interviews with supervisors of each audience group
 Interviews with Human Resources
 Surveys and questionnaires completed by the audience members
 Research about the field

Task Analysis
The task analysis breaks down all the tasks that are part of a specific job role. It
includes: task descriptions, subordinate tasks, importance of tasks, length and
frequency of tasks, task difficulty, equipment required to do the task, and the work
environment and conditions in which the task is performed.

How to get the information:

 Interviews with those skilled in performing tasks (individually or groups)

 Interviews with their supervisors
 Observation of skilled individuals performing tasks (on site and via video)
 Documentation regarding the job role
 Relevant training materials
 Research about the field

nstructional Analysis

The instructional analysis (or learning task analysis) examines and breaks down the
learning tasks of each specific instructional goal. It provides the steps and
associated subordinate tasks that are required to reach each goal. The instructional
analysis should only include what’s really necessary to reach the goal and eliminate
the extraneous material. A good reference for this is The Systematic Design of
Instruction. See this demonstration of how to do one type of instructional analysis.

How to get the information:

 Analysis of the content from relevant training materials, organizational

documents
 Interviews with Subject Matter Experts
 Focus groups
 Observation of the skills to be taught

Environment Analysis

The environment analysis identifies the learning environment(s) in which a course

will occur. The environment can vary from mobile employees listening to a podcast,
to employees in one room watching a synchronous webcast, to virtual employees
engaging in an independent learning project.

How to get the information:

 Discussion with project manager and supervisors

 Observe the environment

Technical Analysis
The technical analysis identifies the hardware and software specifications that an
online course must accommodate. This includes the type of device on which the
course will run, operating system(s), type and availability of Internet access, media
capabilities (audio, video, graphics), authoring tools required, and the requirements
of learning management system if one is being used.

How to get the information:

 Discussions with IT manager

 Discussions with course Project Manager

This list is just a starting point for getting started with analysis and to really conduct
one, I suggest you research it more extensively. The most important thing to
remember is that most analysis simply involves getting down to the details … and
using common sense.

Steps in ID

Learning experiences effective, interesting, and engaging for a learner

Know your Audience/Learners

Knowing who your learners are and where they are coming from will help you decide
how to develop content that best meets their needs.

Questions to ask during the Analysis Phase-

1. Who are your learners and what are their needs?

2. Are they computer-savvy or completely non-technical?
3. How much do they already know about the topic at hand? Are they experts or
newbies?

Separate “Need to Know” from “Nice to Know”

distinguish need-to-know information from nice-to-know information.

omit superfluous information that doesn’t help learners do their jobs or tasks.

What information to include in your course? Ask yourself: Is this critical? Will the
learners ever need to know this to do their job? And if they don’t know this, what
would be the impact? If the information falls into the nice-to-know category, leave
it out.

Follow a Basic Course Structure

 A basic framework for e-learning courses:

1. Welcome: Welcome your learners to the course.

2. Instructions: Explain how they will navigate the course, which buttons they need to
click, etc.

3. Introduction: Tell learners why they are taking the course, and what benefits they’ll
receive by completing it.

4. Objectives: Outline the specific course objectives, so learners have a good sense of
what’s ahead.

5. Content: Build your main course content here. Depending on the length, you might
chunk it into lessons, each with its own intro, content, assessment, and summary.

6. Assessment: Give learners an assessment to see whether they’ve actually learned

the material.

7. Summary: Revisit the course objectives you stated up front.

8. Resources: Offer additional content or resources that reinforce the course material.

9. Exit: Give final instructions on how to exit the e-learning course.