Slides from INFD June 2009

1. Conducting Needs Assessments Lynda Milne 2009 Institute for New Faculty Developers

2. Basic Questions of Needs Assessment What changes in behavior, attitudes and performance are needed or expected? [How] will we get them? What are the expected economic costs and benefits of any projected solutions? Rouda, R.H. & Kusy, M.E. (1995). Needs assessment: The first step. If professional development is the solution, what’s the problem?

3. Needs Assessment Methods

4. Needs Assessment Methods

5. Which source? Mixed sources, usually Triangulation: multiple forms of overlapping, diverse pieces of evidence and perspectives. By using multiple forms of evidence and perspectives, a truer portrait of the student can be developed (Wiggins, 1998). While the same biases in evidence collection still come into play, because more types of evidence are being used to form one's opinion about the student, there are more cross checks on the accuracy of the decision. Multiple data sources (survey, observation, focus groups, interview Ensure non-overlapping areas of weakness and strength

6. NOAA’s 12 Steps for Needs Assessment http://www.csc.noaa.gov/needs/ Let’s try a few steps.

7. Examples and Cases CTL Biennial Faculty Development Surveys 2003 triangulated with survey of CAOs, survey of presidents, interviews with deans, focus groups of CTL Campus Leaders. Program design from yesterday Needs assessment for recruitment/retention of faculty of color Yours?

8. Reporting Reporting data so that stakeholders and decision-makers feel they have enough information is key. What changes in behavior, attitudes and performance are expected? [How] will we get them? What are the expected economic costs and benefits of any projected solutions?

9. Go forth and inquire! Needs evaluation: University of Texas http://www.utexas.edu/academic/diia/assessment/iar/programs/plan/types/needs.php Needs Assessment: George Mason University http://classweb.gmu.edu/ndabbagh/Resources/Resources2/Needs.htm ScienceDirect - Evaluation and Program Planning : Problems in needs assessment data: Discrepancy analysis http://www.sciencedirect.com/science?_ob=ArticleURL&_udi=B6V7V-4NP9839-2&_user=10&_rdoc=1&_fmt=&_orig=search&_sort=d&_docanchor=&view=c&_searchStrId=939124035&_rerunOrigin=google&_acct=C000050221&_version=1&_urlVersion=0&_userid=10&md5=db332240579260baf47 Who Needs What Training? A Look Askance at Training Needs Assessment http://home.att.net/~nickols/who_needs.htm Needs Assessment http://alumnus.caltech.edu/~rouda/T2_NA.html Instructional Design Models http://carbon.cudenver.edu/~mryder/itc_data/idmodels.html Needs Assessment Surveys: Do They Predict Attendance at Continuing Education Workshops? http://www.joe.org/joe/2002august/a4.php This set of links (and more?!) at http://www.diigo.com/list/lmilne/needs-assessment