Transition Tip #1: Conduct a Needs Assessment

I do a lot of work with Teaching: a Pathway to L&D founded by Sara Stevick because I found that a useful resource point when I started my transition and I want to help teachers. One of the hardest questions that Transitioning Teachers ask me is “Where should I start?” because my answer is basically, “That depends.”

Now, I’m formerly an English teacher and currently a Learning Experience Designer, so “It depends” is a notoriously common phrase in my repertoire. Life is nuanced. Literature is nuanced. Learning is nuanced. I do well with nuance, but it doesn’t always make for a satisfying answer for someone desperate to get out of one job and into another.

What I really mean is: Start with a needs assessment, and yours may be very different than mine was.

My Story

When I found instructional design, I was not desperate to leave teaching. I was feeling frustrated, not sure where I could grow, and like going back to normal post-pandemic wasn’t going to work for me for the next 20-30 years. But I wasn’t desperate to get out. I had a pretty sweet teaching gig with a community of AP and IB students I adored, decent administration, and great colleagues. My salary was too low for my effort/skills, I felt, but it wasn’t unsustainable. I was getting by, but I just wanted more growth, more salary, and new challenges.

When I applied for my first Instructional Designer job, I wasn’t sure I even wanted to do it. (I was after that interview cycle, where I almost got the job but fell short, potentially for telling a C-Suite level executive this was my very first application outside of teaching and I just did it on a lark—this was not a good move—or potentially just because the other finalist had been building a portfolio and working towards it a lot longer than I had!)

What Worked?

So, my journey was fast, furious, and filled with iterations, but reflection to these iterations was always the key.

Alt Text: (decorative) A girl in a peach sweater (not actually a picture of me, but she’s a pale-skilled brunette woman like me) sits with a pencil poised to write in a peach notebook. There are two other notebooks and a laptop on the table in front of her.

My Process

I sat down after the first few places I interviewed and I wrote out a simple needs assessment. I used the structure of ADDIE at the time.

For example, I would write down the tasks I associated with the level of ADDIE:

Analysis:

• Understanding learners (learner personas)

• Matching objectives to learning tasks

• Understanding business needs/goals

• Planning with the tools available and the environment of learning (understanding resources and constraints)

• Examining existing data for gap analysis

Then I would think “Am I good at this? What is my teaching/education story that shows it? Or can I show it with something I did outside of my current job?”

I would also identify areas where I felt I was probably “weaker” such as “Understanding business needs/goals”. While I had actually done a lot with understanding organizational goals in Education, including helping to develop and plan for School Improvement Plan (SIP) goals and analyzing SIP goals in multiple schools and districts for my Masters in EDL, I was not business savvy. My business acumen was rusty in some places and non-existent in others. So, I read books and articles about business. I watched videos about business. I looked into industries I was interested in, such as tech and healthcare, and I identified current trends and performance problems. I looked for examples of how gap analysis might be done in a business vs. in a school.

I conducted my own needs analysis, expanding on this once needs were identified (and most teachers will find they have needs upskilling can help fill), and what I did was built off of my own gaps—what did I know vs. what didn’t I know? And the more you learn, the more you realize you don’t know, of course! But because I planned my gap analysis in full upfront, I knew what I was going to put in my portfolio/develop to show existing skills vs. where I needed to go learn.

I also analyzed job ads—what was most important? I found that actually while I enjoy needs assessment and analysis a lot personally, what most people wanted in entry level roles was some combination of designing, developing, and implementing usually, with analysis and evaluation being there occasionally but lighter. So, that business acumen I lacked? Yeah, some people would mind it, but others would be happy with the basics I’d been able to self-study if I could solve their development needs. That’s why I focused on tools/a portfolio first and why I’m focusing on data analysis, needs assessment, and evaluation currently to learn, now that I’m in industry (because it’s easier to learn those once you have the skills to help people, such as my job or even my volunteer work where I was initially useful as a developer but became more useful as a consultant as I built my analysis/evaluation skills).

Alt Text: (decorative) A picture of a newspaper zoomed into an advertisement block that says “We’re hiring Apply now:” and is circled in yellow highlighter.

Suggestions

However you categorize skills (and I don’t know that I’d use ADDIE today or that anyone needs to), I suggest labeling/sorting skills by three levels:

• Proficient and I can prove it (with a specific resume bullet/experience, a clear STAR interview answer, or even better a portfolio example if it’s a hard skill)

• Proficient but I’m not sure how to prove it yet (the need is to find a way to prove it!)

• Need to Learn (sort in priority for upskilling based on what employers seem to be looking for in job ads or informational interviews etc.)

Iterate on this needs assessment, but let it drive your plan and upskilling. Dedicate time to making a plan, not just following steps someone else has given, and you will be addressing your own needs most efficiently!