ABSTRACT
Instructional design is conducted for a purpose. That purpose is to help produce a desired change. The change could be many things, such as an improvement in attitudes of employees toward a particular job task, an increase in knowledge of students taking a high school history course, or an upgrade of the skill level of consumers using a new word processor. Therefore, an early step-if not the first step-in the instructional design process is to identify the change that is requested and the different variables surrounding this change. These variables include identifying the desired change that needs to occur, who wants the change, and in what environment this change should occur. This process constitutes a needs analysis. The information gathered during a needs analysis will help the instructional designer to be clear about what instruction needs to be developed or if instruction is even necessary to help bring about the desired change.
