Training Needs Assessment Tools, Essay Example

According to initiative taken by the Info Center, it is important to confirm that the information services being given to users assist them meet corporate or departmental business aims. To obtain the maximum benefits and impacts to the organization, the objective of training programs meant for information services must be to enable the user to more easily reach his/her business goals.

Undertaking a Training Audit or Needs Assessment will help you obtain an overall plan and training programs to cope with specific user requirements. Goals of a Training Needs Assessment should range from: 1) comprehending how the training has to be applied by users to 2) determining the existing skill levels to 3) learning users’ anticipations of training results. This knowledge and skills will equip you to get used to the attributes of the training program to meet specific needs. Attributes that must be defined include:

• Format,
• Audience,
• Cost,
• Length,
• Technical specifications,
• Purpose or optimum use

Observation

A Needs Assessment can also be an informal assessment based on features. Observing how customers, for example, use a workstation in the Information Center and keeping follow up of their request for help with the items can be the first step to comprehending what training would make the yields easier to use. If the questions centre around mechanics of the service, your ways to training will be different than if the questions are more aimed on content.

Patterns found in a specific user groups or when recovering certain types of information and ideas can also point out training requirements. If people in the marketing group constantly inquire about recovering certain forms of information, there can be a need to undertake training in this application. You will be able to aim training needs of the user if you critically observe the user interaction with an information service/product.