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Needs assessments influence course design by identifying gaps or problems intended to be resolved via instruction (if that is the chosen path). I think this is especially true with adult learners as they may have a choice whether to attend instruction/training or not. A needs assessment can help focus energies on more specific and measurable outcomes that help make time in training feel well spent. As to which areas are most affected by a needs assessment, I don't know that I can make that distinction; they all seem affected by the results of a needs assessment and interconnected. Based on our reading, the right content must be chosen to address a need, a method of learning must be appropriate to the learners to be most effective and efficient, and materials, I would think, would be affected by the learners' styles, skills and abilities.

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A quote from the Brown/Green chapter on Needs Analysis stood out to me on page 46:  "Before I can truly analyze anything, I need to know the desired end result."  How do we get our students to the intended outcome?  For me, the methods we choose in which to convey the content of a course greatly determine how a student will receive the materials and content.  Many examples in our readings talk about teachers who present content appropriately, but their students do not fully grasp the content when assessed.  To me this speaks to the need for an adaptation of how we instruct rather than a problem with content.  I think most often when we are designing courses or modifying them,  we are not asking what should be taught but how the method of instruction should be taught.

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After reading about needs design for this class and also in my textbook for Reading and Vocabulary, I now understand that needs analysis is a crucial aspect of course design. For example, in the field of TESOL, every student comes from different ethnic backgrounds with various levels of literacy in their first language, not to mention representing a wide range of proficiency levels across so many areas of English (e.g. grammar, reading, writing, pronunciation), as well as the possibility of having had years of formal instruction in English or none at all. There are so many different factors to consider for each student! It would be unwise to begin a course without establishing the proficiency level of the students and finding out about their previous ESL education. After ESL teachers research these and many other topics through needs assessment, they can develop course content that targets their students' needs as specifically as possible. Materials and activities are certainly affected by an awareness of needs, but in my opinion, content is most affected because it is designed to address the needs of the class; materials and activities are the means by which the content is implemented.

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I really struggled this week with some of the vagueness discussed in the needs analysis section of the Brown & Green text.  For me, needs analyses are something that should heavily influence the structure and design of a course, particularly when the course is designed to be set in a specific setting, but also when a course is aimed to be a generalized course.  In this regard, how is the course assessing the needs of a diverse group of student and adult learners.  What was most interesting to me was conversations around whether needs assessments were necessary when organizations had already identified their organizational needs.  Coming from the EDLR program, accompanied with coursework and experiences in Participatory Action Research, I struggled with the validity of such needs assessments that are not grounded in effective research methodologies and take into consideration biases and organizational politics that may cloud judgement.  With all of that being said, I believe that a needs assessment has the potential to structure a course design from the very beginning, from the initial content and objectives level all of the way through the individual activities.  As a K-12 teacher, no setting was ever the same, even though content standards remained consisting within various work settings.  I believe that to be a responsive designer and instructor, courses should be continuously responding and growing with the understanding of the population being served.

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A needs assessment should provide an overall framework for a course, including an initial confirmation that instruction is the way to address the problem at hand. Needs assessments are designed to address current problems and urge responsible decision-making through data collection and analysis. If resulting recommendations include instruction,  those plans may then include the content that should be taught to implement a change in performance (attitude, knowledge, and/or skills). Content descriptions also form the basis for planning course materials and activities, so all three are connected to the results of the needs assessment.

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I feel that needs assessment is an important step to design a course more effectively. The area that needs assessment affect the most is content. If students need to focus more on a specific skill, the content in the course would reflect that majority need. For example, in my citizenship class, most of them express that they want to practice more interview questions. So I have to break down the course content in a way that most of the class time will be spent on the interview questions. Other parts of the class will be introduced as well, but instructions will be given to them so that they can practice at home.

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Needs assessment allows us to understand how to construct, design, and/or alter the course design based on the problem at hand by collecting data to adequately address the problem. If we aren't certain of the problem, how can we create an intervention to ultimately produce a desired change? We won't even know what change will help! Additionally, if we haven't assessed the needs of our target audience, how will you know the course will be appropriate for the students that will ultimately enroll? It really seems ineffective to design a course without a needs assessment, as it should have implications for all of the areas mentioned: content, materials, activities, etc. I think specifically to making sure the needs assessment understands the target audience as well as the context. From pursuing my undergrad education in a 4-year public institution to now working in a community college, I see now how different institution types can be (with very different student populations) and how courses need to reflect their population, culture, diversity, etc. in order to ensure student success.

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Needs assessment influences course design because it is a method of determining the desired change. For example, this can be in either skill, behavior, or attitude. Determining the desired change is the starting point with course design. First, we have to identify what problem exists, who is being asked to change, and what are the conditions or the environment with the individual (Brown and Green, 2016). The critical part of identifying influences on content, materials or methods and isolated change is through evaluating the success of the needs analysis. Conducting an evaluation of the needs assessment through data gathering tools can also be useful for identifying what areas were most effected. I agree with Celina's point that there can be ethical challenges of authenticity and bias when designing a needs assessment.  One can be in a position to manipulate data or lead with a course design that is biased and largely based on personal opinion.

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I think a needs assessment is extremely important because it can determine the reasoning for the course and what the desires of the audience and what they want learn or a problem that needs to be examined. I also think a needs assessment lends a point to the course as a whole. If you cannot properly explain the reasons for a course - should the course even exist.

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Needs assessment impacting buy in from students

https://sites.psu.edu/jessicar/2015/10/05/ethical-challenges-faced-when-conducting-a-needs-assessment/

-ethical challenges of authenticity (minimize bias and personal opinion): Am I steering the direction of the needs assessment to improve the acceptance of the target audience. Am I manipulating data to create a particular course outcome?

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Needs assessments can influence everything about course design! Because you are looking at a changing body of learners, constantly evolving societal demands, different learning environments, and a multitude of educational contexts, you have to frequently reassess your content and teaching methods. Although I think content is the most affected by a needs assessment, materials, activities, etc. all provide scaffolding for learning the content and can change just as dramatically as a change in content. However, a needs assessment can reveal appropriate course content. A course may simply need restructuring, different activities, or different teaching methods. After this needs assessment, content wouldn't change so much as how the content is delivered.

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I hit enter before I could finish on my phone and I wasn't able to edit it.

I think that it can work the same way like Shelbe is saying that you could be teaching at a level that they don't already know and you are too far above the student's level. Meaning, I think that the content and activities and scaffolding are probably most affected by the doing or not doing a needs assessment because without you are just guessing.

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Needs assessments influence course design by identifying gaps or problems intended to be resolved via instruction (if that is the chosen path). I think this is especially true with adult learners as they may have a choice whether to attend instruction/training or not. A needs assessment can help focus energies on more specific and measurable outcomes that help make time in training feel well spent. As to which areas are most affected by a needs assessment, I don't know that I can make that distinction; they all seem affected by the results of a needs assessment and interconnected. Based on our reading, the right content must be chosen to address a need, a method of learning must be appropriate to the learners to be most effective and efficient, and materials, I would think, would be affected by the learners' styles, skills and abilities.

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Needs assessments can vastly influence course design! I don't think it is something that instructors should shy away from doing. The worst possible situation I can imagine is teaching a whole course and then realizing that I was teaching at a level 5 when students only came in with a level 2 understanding. All my teaching was for naught in the above situation it would have frustrated learners and probably dissuade them from engaging with the material again. Needs assessments can affect the content, as in the example above. It would also change the materials used if I knew most of my students preferred to read instead of listen (if lecturing I could do a Powerpoint so readers can follow along and those who learn best by listening could listen to me.) I can imagine that activities would be modified as well to adjust for different content or materials throughout a course.

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I feel a needs analysis influences overall course design simply because it is an analysis of the environment and context. and since there are many different environments it seems logical that each one will have different needs. And if the needs are different, and the gaps are not the same then the course which is created or improved to fill those gaps must align to those needs. The areas most affected in course design by a needs analysis, at least in an ESL/EFL course might be the activities and tasks used in trying to achieve an objective that fills a need. For example, if you want students to be able to craft a cover letter, bu those students are 13 and 14 year-olds, I think we can agree that motivation in doing these tasks would be low. Moreover, it is probably something they do not need at this time.

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Any thoughts on Needs Assessment impacting buy-in from students?

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Any thoughts on Needs Assessment impacting buy-in from students?

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I think a needs assessment would make your time and the people taking your course more efficient. If some sort of analysis isn't done then as an instructor you most likely will be covering material that people may already know.

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Needs assessment serve important function starting from identifying the needs - providing data for assessing the effective of an instruction. Thus, I think needs assessment have a positive impact on a course design. The impact of needs assessment is not limited to a specific area in the course design. I believe needs assessment affect all the area of course design. However, probably the most affected part would be the content because it’s the area of the actual step to design or build content that makes a desirable change.

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I believe needs assessment plays an important role in terms of course design. I'd say it's vital for any kind of instructional design that helps solve a problem or bring some changes in performance. From my teaching experience,
needs assessment can affect all areas of the instructional design process since everything is connected to each other. However, I think materials could be most significantly influenced by needs assessment because educators choose teaching materials by their needs for the class to make an improvement.

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I think that a needs assessment influences most areas of the course. The needs assessment is the foundation to why a course is conducted in the first place. The needs assessment determines the content that is developed. It also determines the activities and learning outcomes. I think the needs assessment answers the "why" question to the course. Why are the students taking the course? Why am I teaching this material to the students. The needs assessment is a critical element.

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Since the needs assessment is the driving force behind designing a course, it seems like it would impact all areas of the course. Perhaps the most impacted area would be the content. I think content would be most impacted because the needs assessment determines what the desired change is and how that can be achieved. After the content/objectives has been created, then all other areas of the course will fall under those same outcomes, and therefore have a secondary impact.

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That is a very hard question. I think all areas mentioned would be affected. I think what others have said makes sense because your materials & activities would be based on the content, so it would seem content is most affected. However, if you are creating a course to teach students how to make a PB&J (I'm using a simple example to try and make sense of things, here!), unless the needs analysis says that the students have no clue what a PB&J is, I could imagine that the content would remain largely the same but the materials/activities would be adapted to challenge students in new ways.

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I think needs assessment positively affects course design, improving the quality of the course. By questioning and reflecting thoroughly on what needs to be changed to improve current performance, a course can be designed effectively and systematically by primarily focusing on the gap that needs to be filled. The result of systematic needs assessment is used as a framework and guideline for designing an entire course to bring about desired outcomes. So, it is difficult to pick just one area that needs assessment becomes the most influential during the course design process. To be specific, the course designer will choose content based on the changes that need to take place and the choice of materials also will be affected by the result of needs assessment because there will be required instructional materials to fill the gap between current performance and optimal performance. In addition, depending on where the desired changes will be applied to and take place after completing the course, the choice of activities would vary.

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I think needs assessment is essential for any course desgin. otherwise, the goals for the course may not match the students' needs, students cam be bored in class because the material and content is under thier level, or they can be over challenged and the class can be too hard for them and not at their level. activities, content and materials are all affected by the needs assessment, but I might say content is the one who will be affected the most. the course desginer will assess the needs of the students, then will coose the content that would match and build on the knowledge the students already have.

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I can see a needs assessment (being done in order to design a course) having a great affect on the content firstly. If the goal is that we want our students to be able to speak conversational English by the end of the year, then our content is somewhat narrowed. Methods--in this case--would be a little less narrowed because everyone learns differently, so in my opinion this could be something that is a little more hit or miss. Maybe a certain group of activities worked for one class, but maybe that class was predominantly Mandarin-speaking. However, if a somewhat informal needs assessment was done in the middle of the course, this could be figured out, and the methods and activities could be affected greatly! In general, it seems to me like needs assessments makes "us" answer the questions, makes "us" really think about our goals, how to achieve them, and where to start.