1 Instructor Overview
We are strong believers in a discussion approach to teaching, particularly with this course. We have made this manual one that should facilitate your role as a guide rather than as a lecturer. Each chapter consists of a series of discussion questions that you may want to use with your students. We find that students learn more by discussing the material rather than just listening to a lecture. Second, we give you some activities that you might have students complete in or out of class. Finally, we list test questions for each chapter.
There are two major training tools in this manual. First, we have provided a complete needs assessment for students to critique after they have read the chapter about doing a needs assessment. To make it a useful learning device, we put the class in a circle and discuss the paper as a group. Students are asked to make substantive comments and are encouraged to evaluate the pros and cons of the write up.
We evaluate the paper page by page, saving the executive summary for the end. In a couple of hours, we
can get lots of student ideas and more learning takes place through group sharing. With an instructor asking probing questions, students get a deeper level of learning.
The second major tool is the skeleton of Sugarbad. Sugarbad is a fictitious corporation that we created based on our consulting experiences. Using the materials provided, the instructor assumes the roles of everyone in the company so that students can interview employees. They get introduced to the VP for Phoenix and have access to everyone in the company. We do not provide students with an organizational chart. While there is a guide for using the document later in this manual (p. 45), we would encourage you to put on your acting hat and play all of the roles in the organization. It is an excellent tool to teach students the art of interviewing and for highlighting some of the problems they will have in conducting a needs assessment. If you get asked a question that is not provided in our material, make up a logical response and use it in future sessions.
We welcome your comments and suggestions regarding this manual and will provide updates as material is collected. Thanks for your help.
