Muse #4

This week's lecture was about the three faces of needs assessment , namely, the problem model, discrepany model and innovation model.

Needs assessment is necessary before diving right into the design process. I find it a great pity when organisations fall into this trap in order to avoid competitors stealing their ideas, though I can understand why they would be so impatient. Still, I feel that it is more worthwhile to risk that happening and do the crucial needs assessment than to waste precious resources and time. After all, what could be more heartwrenching than to see all your efforts and hard work come to naught because it was not even needed in the first place?

I found that the reading quite effectively explained the concepts and steps involved in each model as well as the factors to consider when decribing the learning environment. This is because the same problem may require different solutions due to varying contexts (which include the trainer's preferences, availability of hardware and software, belief systems etc).

A particular point that I found interesting was the common misconception that evaluation comes after analysis. This is where the ADDIE model rightfully illustrates how evaluation should continually be done at every stage of the process so as to ensure the design is on the right track.

I am looking forward to reading about specific examples for each model in the other fellow students' blogs. (: