Return to search

Creation of a Support Tool for the Needs Assessment Process: A Design and Development Study

Organizations in the private and public sector provide employee training for different reasons and cover a variety of subject and skill areas. In some cases, training is provided without implementing the complete instructional design process, omitting the needs assessment and analysis step, which can result in less than desired training outcomes. Research details challenges that private and public sector organizations encounter related to needs assessments, along with the benefits of assessing needs prior to the design of a training program. This development study and research supports these details. As a part of this research, a needs assessment tool was designed to assist instructional designers and training managers gather key information to better determine if training is needed and to identify the best means for moving through the instructional design process. An expert review of the needs assessment tool validated the tool and provided feedback for further development of the tool. This study presents the challenges and benefits of identifying needs, describes the development of a needs assessment tool, analyzes and summarizes expert review and feedback, and suggests potential revisions to the tool. / Doctor of Philosophy / Organizations in the private and public sector provide employee training for different reasons and cover a variety of subject and skill areas. In some cases, training is provided without implementing the complete instructional design process. The complete instructional design process involves conducting a needs assessment, analyzing the needs assessment, designing a learning plan, developing the instruction based on the learning plan, implementing the instruction, and evaluating the instructional outcomes. When the first step, conducting the needs assessment is omitted, in some cases this may result in less than desired training outcomes. Research details challenges that private and public sector organizations encounter related to needs assessments, along with the benefits of assessing needs prior to the design of a training program. This development study and research supports these details. As a part of this research, a needs assessment tool was designed to assist training developers, instructional designers, and training managers gather key information to better determine if training is needed and to identify the best means for moving through the instructional design process. A group of individuals who work in the training and instructional design field, also referred to as expert reviewers, reviewed and validated the needs assessment tool and provided feedback for further development of the tool. This study presents the challenges and benefits of assessing needs, describes the development of a needs assessment tool, analyzes and summarizes the expert review and feedback, and suggests potential revisions to the tool.

Identiferoai:union.ndltd.org:VTETD/oai:vtechworks.lib.vt.edu:10919/97595
Date10 April 2020
CreatorsTrotman, Carmalita
ContributorsEducation, Vocational-Technical, Lockee, Barbara B., Johnson, Alicia Leinaala, Potter, Kenneth R., Bond, Mark Aaron
PublisherVirginia Tech
Source SetsVirginia Tech Theses and Dissertation
Detected LanguageEnglish
TypeDissertation
FormatETD, application/pdf, application/pdf, application/pdf, application/pdf, application/pdf
RightsIn Copyright, http://rightsstatements.org/vocab/InC/1.0/

Page generated in 0.0015 seconds