Instructional DesignⅡ

The first step in needs analysis is to identify and understand the origin of the project, then list the stakeholders, i.e., beneficiaries and victims of the activity, and describe their intentions, problems and issues, and what they want to do about them. The following is a brief description of the process.

Normally, when a client (or an orderer, or an initiator in the case of an internal project) wants to order a new educational activity, there is something that triggers it. For example, it was discussed or decided at an internal meeting, the need to add or replace an existing training program became apparent during a review of the training system or existing training programs, or the person in charge was assigned by the department head.

And there is some background to such initiating events. The main reason is to achieve a business goal (e.g., to increase sales by XX%, to improve CS evaluation, to obtain ISO certification) or to solve a problem (to ensure compliance). However, there may also be internal reasons (wanting to show the presence of the department within the company, wanting to conserve budget, and not being able to stand on its own feet if it doesn't follow its competitors). It is not uncommon for multiple backgrounds to be intertwined.

However, clients often say, "I would like you to conduct training to increase the power of sales representatives" or "I would like to introduce e-learning on compliance" without mentioning the reason for the request.

 When starting a case, it is necessary to understand the facts and events that led to the occurrence of the case, determine the cause of the occurrence to some extent, and share this information with the client through hearings. This is because it is necessary to determine whether education is an appropriate means and, if so, to define the goals and learning objectives of the case.

 If you don't understand the genesis and background of the project, you won't be able to make a proposal that just fits the client, and the educational activity won't be "successful" in the first place. This is because we don't know what "success" is for the client.

Once you have the background and the genesis of the project, list the stakeholders of the project, and describe their intentions and the benefits (or damages) they can enjoy from the project. If we look only at the client's needs, we can say, "E-learning has been started, but no one is doing it. "The training was implemented, but it got a bad review. "The training was implemented, but it got a bad review.

 Stakeholders can be divided into four main categories. There are four main types of stakeholders: clients, learners, and the people around them.

Client	The person who placed the order for the matter
Around the client	Supervisors, colleagues and subordinates. Department head of the ordering department. People involved in educational activities (management staff, instructors, etc.). Their supervisors and managers. People in related departments and companies (parent companies and subsidiaries). Investors and shareholders/investors. Supervisory authorities, etc.
Parties to the problem/issue	The person who is actually involved in the problem to be solved or the task to be accomplished. Usually this will be the learner (participant).
Periphery of the party	Supervisors, colleagues, subordinates. Customers and business partners. Family members, etc.

 Describe the intentions of these people, what they are struggling with, what problems or issues they are facing and what they want to do about them, and how they will be affected by the implementation of the project.

 You don't have to describe all of these things, and in fact, it is impossible, but describing as much as possible will help you identify what you need to take into consideration when planning and will help prevent mistakes.

 Usually, the learners are the people involved in the project, but in some cases, it is better to use the people around them as the learners. For example, when you want to improve sales performance, you may consider training your sales representatives, but you may find that it is better to train their supervisors and have them develop their sales representatives. In such cases, switch the "parties" and re-examine.

 In many cases, the client is not aware of the stakeholders, their intentions, benefits and damages, or who is appropriate to be the learner, or even if they are aware, they do not make it clear when placing the order. Try to find out as much as you can during the interview.

 （References）
・Minoru Uchida, "Practical Instructional Design" (2005), Tokyo Denki University Press, Chapter 2. (in Japanese)

At the same time, analyze the environment in which the project is located (it is best to proceed with both needs analysis and environmental factor analysis at the same time).

 There are two types of environments: external and internal.

 The external environment includes trends in the industry to which the company is trying to introduce e-learning (in this case, trends in the insurance industry) and trends in similar educational activities (in this case, trends in informal education).

 By examining these trends, we can often get hints for analyzing needs and developing concepts and ideas.

 Regarding the internal environment, the instructor (Kitamura) divides it into three categories.

(1)Learners: Factors for examining the entry and exit points for learning -> learners' work, the environment in which they are placed.
(2)Technology: Factors for considering the selection of appropriate media and the establishment of support systems (also called environment" in the narrow sense)
(3)Business aspects: Factors to consider for client satisfaction and whether or not to accept the order -> Circumstances of both the client and the accepting party, given conditions, image of success, etc.

 For (1) and (2), please refer to  the text in block 1 and  the chapters of Introduction to e-Learning and Instructional Design I shown in the text. In this section, we will discuss (3).

 (3) The business environment is a factor that affects what will satisfy the client and the profit (both financial and otherwise) of the person receiving the order.

First of all, it is necessary to sort out the client's situation and the given case. It is necessary to examine whether or not to accept everything as it is, and whether or not to make counter-proposals from the standpoint of constructive criticism, but first of all, in order to understand the client, it is necessary to sort out the issues without including subjectivity.

 As for the client's satisfaction, it is fundamental to define the exit of the project (the finished product), how to evaluate it, and how to "grip" it in advance so that the client will be OK with it. At the same time, it is also necessary to clarify the realistic percentage of the total number of people who need to complete the project. If the target is too unrealistic (e.g., all 1,000 students completing the course), then you will need to adjust it to something more realistic.

 You should also clarify the type of order (contract development or subcontracting?), the scope of the order (development from the content or just authoring?), delivery date, budget and cost, product life (how long will the product be usable?), and copyright (who will own the copyright? Can it be resold?).

 We will then consider whether to accept the order or not.

An example (sample) of the analysis results for the sample case is shown below.
Please refer to it to see how the items are analyzed and described.
Please note that this is a sample" and not a "model," so please look at what is described with a critical perspective."

Session 8 Analysis Results（PDF：172KB）