Training and Development For Dummies

Chapter 4

Assessing Needs and Developing Learning Objectives

In This Chapter

Describing how to conduct needs assessments

Determining whether it is a training need

Gathering data about your audience

Demonstrating how to write learning objectives

If you remember nothing else about training from this book, remember this: It’s all about the learner.

In this chapter, I begin the design of a training program for the learner. The design follows the five stages in The Training Cycle presented in Chapter 3. This chapter addresses the first two stages of the cycle:

• Assess and analyze needs
• Develop learning objectives

Conducting Needs Assessments

Designing training may be like planning a sightseeing tour in a strange country. You have lots of things you would like to do, many things you would like to learn, but you have no idea how far apart any of these things are, what the people will be like, how long it will take, what attire is appropriate, or which activities should be higher priority.

When you plan a sightseeing tour, you most likely read a travel guide or two, contact a travel ...