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Developer's Toolkit
Conducting a Needs Analysis
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Debbie and John Waters have asked Meryl to develop a new employee training program for their chain of coffee houses. Currently, new employees are trained by an experienced worker. If the experienced worker is a good one, the training is equally good but if the experienced worker is only fair, the results are uneven. More than the lack of consistency, Debbie and John are concerned about the labor-intensive system. While training a new employee, the experienced one has limited availability for work in the store.
Debbie and John feel heard about online learning at a recent conference for business owners and thought it might be appropriate for their stores. So they contacted Meryl, who came highly recommended by a friend of theirs who works in corporate training, and who has extensive experience developing online learning products.
"So what do you think the course would look like? How long will it be?" John eagerly asked.
"To be honest, John, I don't know," Meryl responded. "I need to learn a lot more about the situation and set some measurable goals for this project before I could responsibly propose a course design to you."
Despite the temptation to design a course as soon as it's assigned, that strategy often fails to result in an effective learning product. For those who know a lot about a learning environment, too many assumptions are made, some of which are not correct. For those who do not know much about the learning environment, they do not yet know enough about the situation to determine whether a particular strategy is appropriate, even if the sponsor suggested it.
As with design for classroom courses and learning manuals, the first phase in designing online learning products is conducting a needs analysis. This chapter explains the specific types of questions you should ask in one.& Finally, I break style a bit in this chapter. Rather than providing the solution to the opening case at the end, I present pieces of it at relevant points in the chapter to more immediately illustrate the concepts presented.
Years ago, I was working with a group of trainers in a developing nation. We driven to a village to observe a democractically run, small credit union in action. This credit union, organized by farmers in the community, specialized in something called microcredit, loans that are too small for banks to consider, but have the potential to make a significant impact on people's lives.
The particular credit union that we observed was making a loan to a farmer for $50 so he could start raising rabbits. Rabbit meat fetched 1.5 times the price of chicken in the market. After discussing the merits of the loan among themselves, and their feelings about the recipient, the credit union voted to offer the loan.
My colleagues, all of whom had experience as bank officers, were aghast. "They didn't ask him to give collateral. He didn't sign a statement." The could not believe that the credit union extended a loan with no other guarantee than blind trust.
But all of the credit union members know each other and, at that point, trusted one another to repay the loan.& I responded that, until then, apparently the trust system continued to work for them. But as soon as someone defaults on the loan, there will no end to the collateral and guarantees that individuals will need to provide when receiving a loan.
What does this have to do with the design of e-learning? Like the members of a credit union, when course developers first start a new type of project, they tend to approach it naively. With experience, they manage it in a more sophisticated manner.
The problem is, design of e-learning courses demands a sophisticated approach, even to the first project. At the least, these projects have technical issues that warrant attention and coordination. At the most, they have issues with learners, sponsors, and content that demand a fair amount of in-depth understanding of both the content being presented, the context in which it will be applied, and the business and political pressures surrounding the content.
Only by learning as much about the project before proceeding to design it can you ensure that these issues are identified and addressed.
Specifically, you need to learn about the following categories of issues:
The next several sections introduce you to the types of issues you should address when investigating a project.
The first step in analyzing the needs underlying a request to develop an online course is restating the request. When doing so, use the exact words that the sponsor has used.
For example, if a sponsor has asked you to develop a "two-part sales training course, one of which focuses on the product and another that focuses on techniques for relationship marketing," you would begin this part by stating that you have been asked to develop a "two-part sales training course, one of which focuses on the product and another that focuses on techniques for relationship marketing." At this point, you might expand on the request.
Starting the project by using the same words that the sponsor used is a way of saying, "I listened to your request exactly as you stated it." Few things build assurance and trust the way that type of listening does. Repeating the request using the sponsors' words does not mean that the final project must take the form of the request. For example, a sponsor might request that you design and develop a synchronous course but you feel that the sponsors' needs are best served by an asynchronous one. However, the sponsor is more likely to take your suggestions if the sponsor believes that you understand the initial request.
In addition, as you restate the request, you should also clarify it to make sure that you fully understand it.& If there's a question about the specific request or the intended learners, clarify it now. Although later areas of inquiry will also explore these issues, by clarifying now, you make sure that you're asking questions about the right issues.
Here's an example of a restated request.
Management Development has requested an online learning course about time management.
In Training for Impact (1989), Dana and James Robinson advise training and performance improvement professionals that managers and executives are most likely to value our efforts, and that these efforts are most likely to effect change, if they are directly tied to a business need.
In practical terms, this means that a course on effective customer service is most likely to have impact if it addresses a revenue or cost problem that the business currently faces and if the customer service techniques taught in the course are tied to the measurements of effectiveness for customer service representatives.
The best time to create this linkage is at the very beginning of an effort to develop an e-course--before you even consider the content for the course. At this point, the effort should be tied to one (and only one) of these three categories of business goals:
| Generating revenue | Some course development efforts are intended to increase revenue to the organization. For example, sales representatives usually participate in product training courses so they can sell those products. |
| Containing expenses | Some course development efforts are intended to increase staff productivity, reduce the number of errors, or increase self-sufficiency (so users do not need costly, in-person help). For example, user training for software is intended to reduce their reliance on the more costly support services, like the help line. |
| Complying with regulations | Some course development efforts are required by government, industry, or corporate guidelines. For example, occupational safety and health courses are often mandated by law. One typical regulatory course is Right to Know, which informs workers of dangerous chemicals in their workplaces, and how to work with them. |
When identifying a business need, choose one -- and only one. Many sponsors would like for a single course to address several business needs. "Oh, it should result in an effect on revenues and expenses," the sponsor might proclaim loudly. Unfortunately, such a course has two foci and, like most things that try to do too much, the double focus increases the risk of it failing to succeed with either.
Also when identifying the business goal, state the business result as tangibly as possible. For example, if you have been asked to develop course that supports a sales effort, the business goal might be meeting the sales projections. Similarly, if you have been asked to develop a course to comply with an occupational safety and health regulation, your goal might be 100 percent compliance with the regulation. The more tangible the result, the more likely that the business will see the benefit of the completed course.
In addition, the type of business goal often suggests the relative budget available for the course. Generally:
&
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If the course
is intended to: |
The relative
budget is: |
|
Generate revenue |
High |
|
Contain expenses |
Medium |
|
Comply with regulations |
Low |
The business goal should not be confused with the business case. The business case is an economic justification for producing the course. The business goal is just one part of that case.
Here's an example of a business goal for a project.
The new employee orientation for the coffee house is intended to contain expenses by ensuring more consistent performance among new workers, and by reducing the labor needed to train them.
The performance gap is the gap between current and ideal performance (Dick & Carey, 1990). The training that the sponsor requested must ultimately bridge that gap. So as you start to consider the content and learners to addressed, one of the first things you need to consider is what does good performance look like and what does it look like now.
One way to think of this is like taking two snapshots, a before and after picture. The before picture describes the current results and the process by which performers reach them. The snapshot also describes the environment in which people work. This information might become relevant later, in better understanding why people are not performing in the ideal way. If you have several groups of learners performing the task in different ways, you might take several "before" pictures. These snapshots might also describe the work environment in which people perform the task and a bit about their motivations to do so.&
The after picture describes the performance desired by the sponsor. It should first describe the results that& people achieve in this ideal environment. Then, it briefly describes the process by which performers reach those results. (In the next area of inquiry, you'll explore this process in more detail.) Last, this snapshot describes the environment in which people work. This information might become relevant later; some aspects of this work environment might affect the choice of teaching strategy.
For example, consider these scenarios:
Currently: A new employee spends an entire day with an experienced one. At first, the experienced employee provides highlights of the employee manual, including the company's beliefs and mission, its commitment to service, policies for treating customers, the product line, the process for serving customers, and the division of labor for doing so. Then, a new employee shadows the experienced one for two hours. Afterwards, the new employee takes orders on his or her own, but under the supervision of the experienced worker. At the end of the day, the experienced and new workers debrief the training and identify any additional training that might be needed.
Ideal: A new employee learns about the company's beliefs and mission, its commitment to service, policies for treating customers, the product line, the process for serving customers, and the division of labor for doing so from an online course.& The course also shows staff members taking a number of orders. Then, the new employee goes on the floor and, after observing for 30 minutes, begins working the cash register under the supervision of an experienced worker. At the end of the day, the experienced and new workers debrief the training and identify any additional training that might be needed.
In this area of inquiry, you try to identify the specific process (or processes) that learners must follow to achieve ideal performance.
Specifically, in this area, you work with subject matter experts (giving highest priority to expert performers) to find out the tasks learners go through to achieve ideal performance.& The tasks come in three categories:
Each task begins with an action verb. An action verb describes a task that can be observed by an outside party. For example, the term "describe" is an action verb. Avoid abstract verbs when writing tasks. Abstract verbs are ones that cannot be observed by an outside party.& These include two terms closely associated with the learning business: know and understand. Replace these verbs with action verbs. For example, what can a learner do when they understand something? Can they explain? Describe? Define?
Tasks are presented as a hierarchy. At the top of the hierarchy are the most important tasks, called main tasks. A learning product typically covers 5 to 9 main tasks. To perform one main task, learners must often master several related tasks, called supporting tasks. Some supporting tasks, in turn, have additional supporting tasks.&
The end product of a task analysis is a tree of sorts, which breaks the main task into many supporting tasks, and breaks those supporting tasks into sub-supporting tasks, until the tasks cannot be subdivided any more.&
Performing a task analysis presents many challenges. One is the challenge of extracting information from experts. Some perform certain tasks so rotely, that they can not describe in complete detail how they do them. Other experts are reluctant to share their expertise, for fear that they'll lose their competitive advantage. In other instances, people will disagree about the tasks, and you will need to resolve the differences.
Because the process of performing a task analysis is beyond the scope of this book, I refer you to Bob Mager’s book on writing objectives for more details.
An example of the analysis for one task is (not that this example shows just part of the analysis):
In addition to learning about the content, you need to learn about the learners. Specifically, you collect the following data:
Also consider the learners' interest in, and relationship to, the content. Specifically, consider these three questions:
Decision Maker |
Decision Influencer |
Decision Receiver |
Someone who will use the content to make decisions for others |
Someone who will use the content to offer meaningful suggestions to others, from which those others will make decisions |
Someone who is using the content because they have been told that they must |
Later, when you develop the learning product, you should match the level and tone of the content to the users' interest in it. For example, most end users of corporate applications are decision receivers. They did not choose to the software they use, nor participate in the decision to purchase it.& This lack of involvement needs to be addressed. Similarly, a course on business cases is intended for decision influencers--people who prepare recommendations for decision makers. The course needs to acknowledge the importance of using the business case to persuade a decision maker to a particular point of view.
Nibbler |
Grazer |
Hungry Heiffer |
Someone who just wants to learn the least amount necessary to achieve the desired performance, and primarily focuses on how rather than why (unless absolutely necessary). An example of a nibbler is a customer service representative learning about the procedure for handling an incoming call. The majority of learners in a training context are nibblers |
Someone who wants to get a high-level picture of a topic area, but who will not directly use the content. An example of a grazer is a manager who needs familiarity with the key areas of artificial intelligence, but who will not be writing programs in artificial intelligence. Grazers are the second largest audiences for training. |
Someone who wants to know everything about a subject, either because the learner is going to have to answer the most difficult questions about the subject or because the learner wants to appear on the television show Jeopardy. |
Later, when you develop the course, you should match the quantity of content to the learners' appetite for it. For example, a course on computer systems for end users might provide a nibbler's quantity of content -- just enough to use the system. A course for managers might emphasize concepts and uses of the software, but might not include operating instructions if the manager is not going to use the software. And a course for technical support staff needs to provide extensive detail, because they will have to answer questions that might not be covered in the documentation.
Some e-learning courses just have one primary group of learners, others serve several primary groups. If a course has several primary groups of learners, you prepare separate audience descriptions for each group. That is, you would prepare a separate set of demographics for each group and separate sets of character descriptions. By separating these now, you can later see whether content for one group will be appropriate for the other, or whether it might need to be adjusted.& One of the strengths of e-learning is its ability to personalize content. But personalization is only effective if the course developers really understand the people.
Example of a description of the learners and the influences on them:
General Demographics: This learning product has only one primary audience: new employees. They range in age from 17 (the company does not hire people who have not yet entered their senior year of high school) to age 70. (Older employees are welcome, but as of now, none have applied for the job.) Most share a love of coffee and prefer to work for a local chain rather than a national chain of coffee houses.
Character Sketches
Thom is a second year art student at the Art College of the East Village. He hopes to become a graphic artist with a web development firm. Although he has student loans to pay college tuition, he needs to work 20 to 30 hours weekly to earn spending money, money for books, and the room and board his parents charge him (he lives at home). Because he has a strained relationship with his parents, he's a night person, and has afternoon classes, Thom hopes to work in the coffee house during evening hours. He does not have a car, and relies on public transportation to get to work.
Thom has previous food service experience, having had worked for Wendy's after school and summers during his high school years. He primarily worked in the kitchen and di not have experience working the cash register. In fact, Thom does not consider himself to be gifted using electronics nor does he like math. Ultimately he hopes to become a barista, but Jesse and Janet only hire experienced counter help from their stores for those coveted positions.
Freda is a 50-year-old widow with 2 grown children. Because she only has a high school diploma and has not worked outside the home since 1978, when her oldest child was born, she has little work experience. When her husband passed away a year ago, she found herself at loose ends at home, and also found that his life insurance policy did not completely fill the gap in his lost income. She has decided to work. Through friends, she learned that Something's Brewing is looking for people who might eventually become store managers. Before she had her children, Freda was an assistant manager for a private restaurant and thinks that's what she would eventually like to do. She likes the fact that Janet is supportive of her returning to work, and is willing to train her. Freda understands that her first position at Something's Brewing will be at the counter. Because Freda has not worked in over 20 years, she is a bit concerned about keeping to a regular work schedule and using all of the high tech equipment in the store. But she knows she has great people skills (Freda organizes and hosts the quarterly pancake breakfasts at her church).
Gina is a 25-year old college sophomore at State U. Her major is undeclared. This is her second stint at college; she flunked out of a private college in the middle of her junior year because she had difficulty managing time. Although Gina does not admit it, she also was active on the club circuit and found that it interfered with her studying. Her parents cut off her allowance after she was kicked out of college and Gina went to work in a succession of jobs. At first, Gina was a poor employee, lasting only 2 or 3 weeks in a job. But then she got a job at the cosmetics counter at the local department store, where she blossomed. Gina had hoped to continue in that job, but was told that she would need a college diploma to be considered for a promotion. She applied to State U and was accepted. She moved to town to start school. Although Gina's parents will cover the tuition and rent, they expect her to earn her own spending money and money for food. Because her department store does not have a branch in town, so Gina needs a new job. Unfortunately, the department stores that are in town do not need assistance in the cosmetics department, so Gina thought she would explore employment in another line of work.& The coffee shop seemed like something different--after all, that's where Jennifer Anniston got her start on Friends, so she thought she'd try her luck at Something's Brewing.
The environment in which people use the learning products might also affect what you can design. Some might limit you. For example, if people work in a large "bullpen" environment, including sound a learning product will be distracting to others in the work environment. Or if a company has an intranet that everyone regularly checks, that intranet might be helpful in announcing and promoting the learning product.
Specifically, you might look at the following types of issues in the learning environment:
Example of a description of the learning environment:
New employees will receive training in the store. Although each store has a unique design ("no two stores alike" is a marketing theme for the chain), each has the following facilities: an office, primarily intended for, but exlusively reserved for, the manager, with a computer in it, a storage room, a counter area where food products and coffee and tea are displayed, sold, and prepared, a seating area with tables, sofas, chairs, and magazine racks for customers, and rest rooms. The office is quiet and rarely used except at the beginning and end of a manager's shift, or during down times. The counter area is extremely crowded and busy, and all activity is visible by customers. The seating area is often full to overflowing with customers, some of whom are working quietly, others who are talking (sometimes loudly or on cell phones).
In addition to identifying the performance gap, the tasks to be covered, and the learners, you also need to identify the constraints affecting the project. Specifically you need to investigate four categories of constraints.
The first categories of constraints are product constraints.& These affect what you can present and how you can present it.
The second category the technology infrastructure in the organization. The technology infrastructure refers to the hardware and software that is standard in the organization. Whenever possible, organizations like to take advantage of this infrastructure and, rather than purchase new hardware and software to meet the needs of online learning, might try to find a way to use existing technology more extensively.
Specifically, you identify the following when considering the technology infrastructure:
Also consider the authoring tools and other learning software that are already in use in the company. Some IS departments make purchases before the Training department is ready to launch an e-learning effort.
The third area of constraints are standard business constraints. These include:
The last area of constraints are ones that you sould not include in a report to sponsors. These are issues of corporate culture and the sponsor's history with previous projects that will affect your work. These issues include:
By identifying aspects of the corporate culture, you can assess the influence of your sponsor in the organization, the likelihood that technical information will change during the course of the project, and the behaviors you need to succeed in the organization. (Hackos, 1994.)
Example of a list of project constraints:
Product Constraints: Although they have a corporate website and corporate identity developed by the largest design firm in the metropolitan area, Debbie and John do not have style or design guidelines for employee materials.
Technology Infrastructure: Although the stores have a computerized inventory and ordering system that's tied to the cash register, each store only has 1 free-standing PC at this time. That PC is intended for the manager and sits in the small manager's office next to the kitchen/back area of each store. The manager's PC is connected to the Internet through a DSL line, but also has sensitive personnel information on the hard drive. The PCs are replaced every 3 years, and are on a Windows platform. Software is upgraded every 18 months. Currently, they run Windows 98, Office 2000, and Internet Explorer 5.0. They do not have standardly provided plug-ins, nor do they have standards governing them.
Business Constraints: The not-to-exceed budget is $60,000. The drop-dead deadline is 6 months from today, three weeks before three new stores are scheduled to open. The project will be developed with contract learning specialists, but Dixie, the current lead trainer, will review all content for accuracy and Debbie and John want to review everything.
Corporate Culture and Project History: The stores reflect the company's laid back corporate culture. Sometimes, that means the managers and staff are not as aggressive as they should be.
Debbie and John have never worked with a professional training company before, and are not familiar with the design and development process, nor the complete range of services offered.
The chain does not really have a line item in its budget for the training. Although the company is profitable, most of its cash is being diverted to growth, and the cost of the new employee orientation will be an issue.
Although I have provided the seven areas of questioning, a list of areas only provides a starting point for your needs analysis. Because no two learning projects are alike, no single set of pre-scripted questions will identify all of the needs underlying a project. Therefore if you hear of something that feel may be relevant as you go through this phase, explore it.
Similarly, keep an open mind as you go through this phase. If you enter this phase with the solution already designed, then you will not ask the questions that might help you come up with the learning product best matched to meet the needs or you will tune out a valuable opportunity. Similarly, keep an open mind about the answers to the questions. Rather than entering this process for the purpose of confirming your answers, enter it to learn. You might find that your instincts are off.& Because you have not yet developed a course, you can easily change strategies.
The difference between the two scenarios is called the performance gap.
One of the major challenges of a needs analysis is finding methods of uncovering the information. Here are six.
Interviews. Conduct formal interviews with as many people who have information to share as possible. Typically, these people would include the sponsor, subject matter experts, and prospective learners. Other stakeholders probably have an interest in the learning product, too. When an interviewer gains the trust of the interviewee, much information is exchanged. But the information is all biased, from the viewpoint of the interviewee.
Focus groups. Focus groups are a special type of interview, in which you interview 8 people who are demographically similar at a single time. The focus group usually lasts 2 hours, and can cover 3 to 5 questions. An outside facilitator usually leads the focus group, and makes sure that each participant has an opportunity to speak. The advantage of a focus group is its efficiency; you can interview many people in less than the time it would take to interview 2 individuals. The disadvantage is that the participants are not able to exchange as much information and group pressure might prevent some from speaking honestly.
Surveys. A survey is a series of questions given to a selected group of people. The responses are recorded and analyzed. The advantage of surveys is that they can be given to large groups of people. The disadvantage of surveys is that people only answer the questions asked, that you do not have an opportunity to follow up on unexpected but interesting points, and that people do not always answer honestly.
A Day in the Life. One of the ways to learn about a subject is to experience it. An efficient way of doing so is by following someone through one day in their daily routine from the start of the work day until the end. Course developers typically follow an expert in the performance of the tasks covered in the learning product. The advantage of this approach is the hands-on nature of the experience and the depth to which a course developer can see the content in action. The disadvantages are the cost (especially if travel is required) and that the day only reflects one person's experience.
Intership. For some complex content, only an extended immersion in the environment provides sufficient background for preparing a learning product. An internship in a subject matter area or in the area where intended learners work provides such an immersion. Internships last from one week to several months, depending on the needs of the course developer and the budget of the training department. The advantage of an internship is the opportunity to learn the content through a hands-on experience. The disadvantages are the amount of time and budget needed to support them.
Artifact analysis. This is a term from anthropological research that merely means exploring artifacts that can provide useful insights into the content or the learners. These artifacts might include reports, memos and other correspondence, plans, and even other courses. The advantage of this method is that it unearths much good information. The disadvantage is that most people recognize that written records are permanent, and prepare them so that they reflect most positively on the author.
When conducting a needs analysis, you ultimately want to triangulate information. That is, rather than relying on one source for all of your information (at the best, that source might not be complete and, at the worst, it might not be trustworthy), you want to collect information from a variety of sources, at least three. By looking at the content from these different vantages, you can construct a more realistic portrait of the reality.
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