In order to develop effective education programs for adult learners, it is necessary first to determine what the needs of those learners are. In this book, Donna S. Queeney offers step-by-step guidance on using needs assessment to design high-quality programs in continuing education settings. She identifies the factors to be considered in planning and conducting a needs assessment, such as the educational setting and characteristics of learners, and she tells how to determine the scope, target population, and level of complexity for an assessment.Queeney details specific needs assessment methods—such as self-reporting of needs and supervisor evaluations—that can be implemented with minimal experience and resources. She explains how to design surveys, questionnaires, and interviews that will motivate people to respond. And she describes how to integrate needs assessment into an organization to make it an ongoing asset to operations.

How to identify, analyse, and assess the various types of adult learning needs? How to develop programmes tailored to these needs? This study guide is written for postgraduate students preparing to become professional adult educators, as well as for those intending to plan educational programmes for adults. The book covers the various types of adult (learning)needs and provides hints on how to identify, analyse, and assess these needs. It presents typical challenges involved in performing such an analysis as well as theoretical considerations of the concept and types of needs, of diagnosing educational needs and their theoretical understanding. The author draws conclusions on how to develop programmes tailored to the needs identified. With a focus on practical concerns, she illustrates the necessary steps as well as the factors to be considered when designing an educational programme for adults, both in the planning stage and in the stages of implementation and evaluation. From the Contents: The Importance of Needs Analysis and Programme Planning in Adult Education Needs: Theoretical Considerations Fields of Needs Analysis in an Educational Context Methods of Needs Analysis in Adult Education Needs Analysis for Planning Educational Programmes Steps in Programme Planning in Adult Education

Needs and Capacity Assessment Strategies for Health Education and Health Promotion, Fourth Edition provides practitioners with a handbook that can be used in the classroom and in the field. It focuses on realistic needs and capacity assessment strategies with considerations for preparation, implementation, and incorporation of findings into the planning process. It also provides an overview of settings, specific target audiences, approaches to assessing needs, and recommendations for addressing problems encountered along the way. The Fourth Edition continues to be reader friendly and worthwhile in terms of practical recommendations. The twelve chapters are realistic process discussions with mini-examples at the end based on the authors’ experiences and those of others in the field. Case studies provide insight into various combinations of strategies used in a variety of settings. Two special articles at the end of the book provide further insight regarding community risk estimation and the use of metaphors to gain a better understanding of the perceived needs and capacities that are assessed.

What goals should be addressed by educational programs? What priorities should be assigned to the different goals? What funds should be allocated to each goal? How can quality services be maintained with declining school enrollments and shrinking revenues? What programs could be cut if necessary? The ebb and flow of the student population, the changing needs of our society and the fluctuation of resources constantly impinge on the education system. Educators must deal with students, communities, and social institutions that are dynamic, resulting in changing needs. It is in the context of attempting to be responsive to these changes, and to the many wishes and needs that schools are asked to address, that needs assessment can be useful. Needs assessment is a process that helps one to identify and examine both values and information. It provides direction for making decisions about programs and resources. It can include such relatively objective procedures as the statistical description and analysis of standardized test data and such subjective procedures as public testimony and values clarification activities. Needs assessment can be a part of community relations, facilities planning and consolidation, program development and evaluation, and resource allocation. Needs assessment thus addresses a xiii XIV PREFACE broad array of purposes and requires that many different kinds of procedures be available for gathering and analyzing information. This book was written with this wide variation of practices in mind.

In 1995, Witkin and Altschuld proposed a three phase process model of needs assessment: - Preassessment (learning as much as possible from existing, inexpensive sources) - Assessment (collecting new information about the needs in consideration) - Postassessment (prioritizing needs, understanding their causes, and translating priorities into action plans for organizations). The model has been extensively re-conceptualized and forms the basis for this book. The content includes a user-oriented approach to a comprehensive overview of the three phases and the 14 key steps necessary to implement them. Numerous examples and practical illustrations are given throughout the text as guidance for needs assessors and those who do research on the topic. An extensive glossary of needs-related terms and an outline of a final report are also provided. The book is the first one in the Needs Assessment KIT with connections to the other four.

Drawing on the contributions of 75 leading authors in the field, this 2010 Edition of the respected Handbook of Adult and Continuing Education provides adult education scholars, programme administrators, and teachers with a solid foundation for understanding the current guiding beliefs, practices, and tensions faced in the field, as well as a basis for developing and refining their own approaches to their work and scholarship. Offering expanded discussions in the areas of social justice, technology, and the global dimensions of adult and continuing education, the Handbook continues the tradition of previous volumes with discussions of contemporary theories, current forms and contexts of practice, and core processes and functions. Insightful chapters examine adult and continuing education as it relates to gender and sexuality, race, our aging society, class and place, and disability.

Making informed decisions is the essential beginning to any successful development project. Before the project even begins, you can use needs assessment approaches to guide your decisions. This book is filled with practical strategies that can help you define the desired results and select the most appropriate activities for achieving them.