Last March 08, 2022, I reached out to an Alternative Learning System teacher from the DepEd Schools Division Office of Imus City via Messenger, asking her if I can perform my special project in their institution. Thankfully, getting their consent was short and simple. The office of the Alternative Learning System was eager to have instructional designers who could help them.
Getting Their Consent
The teacher I was chatting with instantly said yes, but told me to ask permission from the Program Specialist-II too. I've already planned to do this before she asked. I believe that as a researcher or insructional designer, it is my duty to ensure that all potential participants understand what the project involves. I have yet to take EDS195 in the next semester, but I did an advanced reading already. I learned from BERA (2018) that researchers must operate within an ethic of respect for any persons involved. That entails also letting the potential learners know about the project I am conducting, especially since they are the main participants.
Upon entering the office, I was greeted by the teacher and program specialist. We had a small talk about my program. I mentioned that BES specializes in non-formal education, which is why I believe that I will be able to apply my knowledge and skills best in DepEd's Alternative Learning System. I can also help them give insights about online and distance education since they've been operating on that setup ever since the pandemic with little to no readiness.
Both teacher and program specialist preferred an instructional design project over research. They mentioned that some researchers conduct studies in an institution but don't came back to share the results anymore. They also thought that some conclusions and recommendations are not applicable to their institution. I believe that researchers' findings should be communicated well. They must add something to the institution's knowledge of an issue, such as aiding in making changes to their instruction, curriculum, and strategies.
They prefer an instructional design project because the instruction I will develop will automatically benefit them and the learners. Regardless of whether they adopt my strategies or not, the one-time project will prove to help both parties.
The teacher and I also talked about her students, how she teaches online, and her personal experiences of being an ALS teacher. Then, she let the program specialist sign the consent form and my project log, with the note that says "approved". I came back after two days for the formal letter.
Preparing for the Needs Assessment
Right now, I am currently preparing for the needs assessment. Although my conversation with the teacher was enough to provide a background of DepEd ALS and its learners, I want the needs assessment to be based on the guidelines of conducting learner and context analysis. For the learner analysis, I am currently combining the approaches of (1) Morrison, Ross, and Kemp; (2) Dick, Cary, and Carey (University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, 2019). And for the context analysis, I am using the framework of Doolittle (2010).
I am planning to conduct all of the following for the needs assessment:
An online interview with the teacher.
Sit in on one of their online classes.
Assess the learning materials they are using.
It's challenging to decide which aspects of the "needs" I should include in the assessment since there may be many problems in the institution that my instructional design project cannot solve. For example, an instructional design may not be the solution to organizational issues or problems in DepEd's mandated curriculum. They say the essential needs to be discussed can be determined by the objectives of a project. However, I can only formulate the objectives once there is an identified problem.
Right now, I want my instructional design to be relevant to adult education, online education, and non-formal education. So perhaps I should focus on their adult, online, and non-formal learning needs, while making sure it's specifically relevant to Imus ALS learners at this time.
I can't wait to show you my final Needs Assessment form (Appendix B) and how it went. Learn more about the learners and context of DepEd ALS Imus City in the background section of my ePortfolio!
References
BERA (2018). Ethical Guidelines for Educational Research (Fourth ed.). Retrieved from: https://www.bera.ac.uk/publication/ethical-guidelines-for-educational-research-2018
Doolittle, P. E. (2010). Context assessment. In Designing instruction for student learning, pp. 9-10. Available at https://sites.up.edu/wp-content/uploads/sites/3/2015/05/Doolittle_ID_doc.pdf
University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. (2019). Learner analysis, Part I: Differences and similarities [Video file]. Available at https://www.coursera.org/lecture/instructional-design-foundations-applications/learner-analysis-part-i-differences-and-similarities-zvPPo
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