Performance Needs Assessment Mozhgan Jangi 1

Performance Needs Assessment

Managing Writing Discussion Forums

1 Background of the Project

This section provides the background for the performance needs assessment. The

paragraphs below present the context of the project, followed by the research strategy employed

to conduct the investigation.

1.1 Background information

The Head of the English Department at the University of Saskatchewan (USask) is

concerned about the low average grade of undergraduate students of English in their creative

writing classes. Apparently, the previous training for professors on the use of asynchronous

writing discussion forums has not helped the quality of student writing. Professors are expected

to make regular use of discussion forums and provide timely feedback. Therefore, as the sponsor

has requested, a performance improvement campaign will be conducted to implement

appropriate interventions.

1.2 Summary of the research strategy

In order for a thorough investigation of the situation, a number of research strategies were

used:

Documents on the official website of university

The website of the English Department allows access to information about core and

elective creative writing courses and their syllabi (University of Saskatchewan Arts and Science,

n.d.). The program catalogues are provided for all writing courses including Introduction to

Creative Writing, Creative Writing Nonfiction and Creative Writing Poetry (University of
Performance Needs Assessment Mozhgan Jangi 2

Saskatchewan Course and Program Catalogue, n.d.). I consulted the syllabi to gain data on class

schedules, assignments and in-class activities, student support and evaluation rubrics (University

of Saskatchewan Syllabus, n.d.).

Review of Journal articles

1. There is a wealth of research on how to engage students of creative writing and

improving their academic outcomes (e.g., Aloni & Harrington, 2018; Ebrahimi, Faghih &

Dabir-Moghaddam, 2017; Arshavskaya, 2015; Williams, 2011; Rovai, 2007). The articles

provided me with some tips and strategies instructors could employ to further engage

students on discussion forums.

2. To explore the organizational concerns regarding the use of blended learning strategies

and the integration of synchronous and asynchronous discussion forums in course

curricula, I reviewed a range of journal articles (e.g., Abel & Palmero, 2022; Oboko &

Omwenga, 2018; Loncar, Barrett & Liu, 2014; Garrison & Kanuka, 2004).

Faculties’ online profiles

I studied online profiles to be informed about the professors, associate and assistant

professors and the lecturers who offer creative writing (University of Saskatchewan Department

of English, n.d.). This information provided me with an insight into their academic positions and

responsibilities, the courses they have taught in addition to their interests and teaching strategies.

Websites and social media

1. I visited Rate My Professors website and read student comments on the professors of the

English Department of USask ([Link], n.d.). The postings related to

creative writing reflected the dissatisfaction of students and the poor class outcomes.
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2. To research the external organizational context, I viewed the USask page on LinkedIn

(University of Saskatchewan, n.d.). By reading the information section on this page, I

gathered data on the type of this organization and the services they offer.

2 Report of the Needs Assessment

This section will report on the result of the needs assessment. The following paragraphs

will first present the sponsor’s request and the business need underlying it. Later, in a sequence,

detailed information about the internal and external contexts of the organization, the description

of performance and the performer’s characteristics as well as the risks and constraints of the

project will be discussed.

2.1 Sponsor’s request

The Head of the English Department at the University of Saskatchewan has requested

that I “conduct a performance improvement campaign on the use of asynchronous writing

discussion forums in creative writing courses and implement appropriate interventions” (Source:

The sponsor, Head of the English Department).

2.2 Business need

The business need driving this project is to contain expenses for the Department of

English. Discovering the faults in the management of regular writing discussion forums will help

to improve the quality of students’ writing and, subsequently, their final grades. This way, the

financial burden on the department as a result of the low enrollment in creative writing courses

and the professors’ requests for time off work due to overwork will be alleviated.

2.3 Organizational context

The paragraphs below will thoroughly explain the internal and external context of USask

as the organization under investigation. The descriptions include the organization type and
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structure, the goals and undertakings, the products and services it offers, as well as the issues and

obstacles that exist in the organizational setting.

2.3.1 Type of the organization

USask is a higher education organization that hosts approximately 26,000 students,

comprising undergraduate, graduate, indigenous and international students. A diverse range of

academic programs and faculties are offered by this organization. Over 130 programs cover

various fields of study including arts, sciences, business, engineering, health and agriculture

(University of Saskatchewan University Catalogue, n.d.).

2.3.2 Mission of the organization

The mission of this organization is to take an interdisciplinary and collaborative approach

to inspire people, teach and build a community. The stakeholders take initiatives to remain

among the best universities in Canada by conducting outstanding research, maintaining a healthy

environment for work and study and offer various educational services. In their institutional

policies they highly value transparency and accountability and they conform to rules of equality

and human dignity (University of Saskatchewan Mission, Vision and Values, n.d.).

2.3.3 Key products and services

USask offers varied products and services ranging from academic to administrative

activities. In the category of academic services, in addition to the higher education programs,

USask has 16 colleges and schools that offer numerous courses in Law, Medicine, Nursing,

Education, Arts and Science and more. Considering the administrative services, items such as

human resources services, financial operations, planning and design should be mentioned

(University of Saskatchewan Service Catalogue, n.d.).

2.3.4 Organizational structure

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This organization operates with a well-defined hierarchical structure. In descending order,

the executive roles include the president of the university, vice presidents, the leadership team

and department heads. The president is responsible for the overall leadership direction and the

vice presidents oversee the administrative functions in services, information technology and so

forth. Some of the members of the leadership team are information security officers, library and

data center technicians, consumer service directors. The next roles in this hierarchy are the

department heads one of whom is the sponsor of this project (University of Saskatchewan

Governance Office, n.d.).

2.3.5 External context of the organization

This university functions extensively in various domains. It engages globally with its

counterparts to address issues on a global scale and has sustainability commitments by

prioritizing United Nations Sustainability Goals in its vision and values (University of

Saskatchewan University Plan, n.d.).

Data sharing and reporting are USask’s other plans. It cooperates with external

organizations to collect, share and analyze data about higher education and research policy

development. As it is a member of the U15 group of Canada’s leading research-intensive

universities, they focus on areas such as enrollment and degrees, graduate student experience,

tuition and fees, faculty salary, student financial support and more (University of Saskatchewan

Leadership, n.d.).

2.3.6 Internal context of the organization

What highlights the current situation of USask is its strategic plan for 2025, which is to

be The University the World Needs. It is based on three strong commitments to address the

social, economic and environmental challenges (University of Saskatchewan Plan, n.d.).

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Regarding its products and services, the university is well known for its impact on areas

such as food, water, health and indigenous studies. It also provides numerous community

services to its students, faculty and staff and strives to maintain an inclusive and respectful social

environment for its members (University of Saskatchewan About USask, n.d.).

2.3.7 Emerging issue in the organizational context

The federal government in Canada is declining the research funding (University of

Saskatchewan News, 2023). As it is reported by the university, decrease in funding will have a

broad economic impact. It will also threaten the ability to attract and retain researchers, graduate

students and postdoctoral fellows.

On the other hand, USask has identified five research themes to address local challenges

such as climate change and food security, which include culture and society, indigenous people,

environment, natural resources and sustainability (University of Saskatchewan Research, n.d.).

Therefore, it will limit the university’s revenue.

2.4 Performance problem

This section will present detailed scenarios of the current and the ideal performance and

later it will give an account of the hierarchical list of tasks and their accompanied issues and

outputs. Lastly, the performance gap will outline the difference between the current and the ideal

performance.

2.4.1 Scenario of the current performance

Professor Harris is a faculty member at the English Department. Currently, in addition to

his teaching responsibilities, he supervises graduate students and conducts research. This is the

third semester that they have been using discussion forums in creative writing classes for

undergraduate students.
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This semester, Dr. Harris is teaching Introduction to Creative Writing. It is halfway

through the semester and he is preparing the reading materials and question prompts to upload on

the university’s LMS. Recently, he has been really busy teaching and commenting on thesis

drafts, so at present, he is using an outdated lesson plan and teaching material. He always

provides students with reading passages as input before requiring them to write and post their

paragraphs, but due to the lack of time, he only manages to rely on the weak and boring material

he has already worked on in his previous courses.

He starts reading students’ feedback for their peers on the thread he had created last

session. Only 30 percent of students have participated in discussions and the comments they

have provided for their classmates are merely affirmative and superficial. In their writing, there

are recurring mistakes in terms of the use of grammar and vocabulary and the basic principles of

writing. A considerable number of students in this class need further extracurricular exercises and

out-of-class support, but they only receive limited input through the reading passages that the

professor assigns. Dr. Harris makes an attempt to only give feedback on the areas which are the

focus of this week’s question prompt for this creative writing lesson. Thus, he disregards

mistakes which are out of the scope of this course and postpones feedback on writings that

contain too many mistakes.

Although students were asked to read their peers’ paragraphs and pose questions to

discuss in class, there are very few trivial questions under some of the postings. As a result,

instead of progressing according to the class syllabus, Dr. Harris omits the in-class discussion

and starts the next topic.

2.4.2 Scenario of the ideal performance

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Professor Harris is a faculty member at the English Department. Currently, in addition to

his teaching responsibilities, he supervises graduate students and conducts research. This is the

third semester that he has successfully implemented discussion forums in creative writing classes

for undergraduate students. Although at present he spends more time updating his lesson plan

and teaching material, he is happy to witness his students’ remarkable progress and their high

average grades.

This semester, Dr. Harris is teaching Introduction to Creative Writing. It is halfway

through the semester and he is preparing the reading materials and question prompts to upload on

the university’s LMS. Since he is supervising a few graduate students, his workload is

manageable and he succeeds to update his lesson plan. To enhance the quality of his teaching

material, he adds some compelling reading passages to the list of readings he assigns as out-of-

class input for students.

He starts reading students’ feedback for their peers on the thread he had created last

session. Almost all students have participated in discussions by writing insightful and

constructive peer feedback. They have criticized the style, genre and formality of language in

their classmates’ writing and recommended solutions. As a result, students’ progress is evident

both in terms of basic composition principals and the conventions of creative writing. The fact is

that Dr. Harris has provided his students with out-of-class support by assigning more

extracurricular exercises and mandating those students with basic recurring mistakes to take part

in writing workshops offered by Undergraduate Students’ Association. Therefore, the professor is

able to give effective and timely feedback on all student mistakes.

Dr. Harris has received the questions students have posed regarding their classmates’

writing. The majority of the questions are challenging and meaningful and thus make it possible
Performance Needs Assessment Mozhgan Jangi 9

to have a productive in-class discussion. The professor holds the discussion as scheduled in his

syllabus.

2.4.3 Tasks in the current performance

End result: Performers use their dated teaching material to teach creative writing via

writing discussion forums.

Outputs:

▪ Weak and repetitive input and exercises

▪ Frequent recurring mistakes, including grammatical errors and wrong choice of words, in

students’ writing

▪ Late and ineffective feedback from instructors

▪ Sense of disengagement, lack of connection and collaboration with peers and

deterioration of writing and critical thinking skills

Current indicator of performance:

▪ Inconsistent use of discussion forums

▪ Students’ poor quality of writing and low average grades

▪ Omitting class activities from the syllabus

1. Prepare an outdated lesson plan and teaching material.

Issues:

• Issue that arose: Teaching material did not evoke interest in the students.

• Type of issue: Student engagement.

• Reason for the issue: Material is too easy and it leads to disengagement.

2. Disregard mistakes in students’ writing.

o Disregard grammatical errors and wrong choice of words.

Performance Needs Assessment Mozhgan Jangi 10

o Ignore recurring mistakes.

Issues:

• Issue that arose: Miscommunication and reduced credibility of students’ writing.

• Type of issue: Pedagogical practices.

• Reason for the issue: There are recurring writing mistakes in students’ drafts

which are not corrected.

3. Postpone feedback giving.

o Prioritize in-class interactions over out-of-class online forums.

o Provide late feedback for writing drafts which contain too many mistakes.

Issues:

• Issue that arose: No improvement in creative writing.

• Type of issue: Pedagogical practices.

• Reason for the issue: Delayed feedback from the instructor hinders improvement

by preventing students from being aware of their mistakes.

4. Omit in-class writing exercises and discussions from the syllabus.

Issues:

• Issue that arose: Limited skill development.

• Type of issue: Educational challenges.

• Reason for the issue: Peer feedback and the questions that students posed were

trivial and did not initiate any discussions in the class.

2.4.4 Tasks in the ideal performance

End result: Performers use up-to-date teaching material and out-of-class support to teach

creative writing via writing discussion forums.

Performance Needs Assessment Mozhgan Jangi 11

Outputs:

▪ Clear, purposeful and effective lesson plan and teaching materials.

▪ Opportunities for self-study and self-reflection.

▪ Optimization of student learning, motivation and interaction.

▪ Enhancement of active participation, skill development and feedback opportunities.

Current indicator of performance:

▪ Regular and consistent use of discussion forums.

▪ Effective and timely feedback from peers and professors.

▪ Improvement of student writing quality and average grades.

▪ Completion of class activities as indicated on the syllabus.

1. Update the lesson plan and teaching materials.

o Add reading passages and creative writing samples as input.

o Increase group work and student collaboration.

Issues:

• Issue that arose: Lack of resources available.

• Type of issue: Resource constraints.

• Reason for the issue: Budget constraints and working on outdated technology.

2. Provide students with out-of-class support.

o Assign extracurricular exercises.

o Mandate participating in writing workshops.

Issues:

• Issue that arose: Burnout as a result of the pressure for sustainability and

providing consistent support.

Performance Needs Assessment Mozhgan Jangi 12

• Type of issue: Long-term viability.

• Reason for the issue: High expectations for the performers.

3. Provide timely feedback to all students.

o Devote time to monitor postings and discussions on discussion forums.

o Evaluate students’ writing and peer corrections on discussion forums.

Issues:

• Issue that arose: Delivering feedback to a large number of students was

overwhelming for the performer.

• Type of issue: Workload management.

• Reason for the issue: High expectations for the performers.

4. Organize in-class writing exercises and discussions in accordance with the syllabus.

o Mandate students to read their peers writing and pose questions.

o Use students’ questions to run exercises and discussions in class.

Issues:

• Issue that arose: Performers needed to be flexible in adjusting writing exercises

based on students’ needs and progress.

• Type of issue: Student-centered approach and responsive teaching.

• Reason for the issue: Performers were supposed to provide authentic assignments

based on students’ needs and mistakes.

2.4.5 Gap between current and ideal performance

The gap between the current and the ideal performance lies in several areas:

1. Professors’ workload: Full-time faculty members, including professors, associate

professors and assistant professors, are responsible for teaching and assessing students,
Performance Needs Assessment Mozhgan Jangi 13

conducting research, and supervising students’ theses and Ph.D. dissertations. At present,

another duty is imposed on these professors, which is helping students with basic writing

problems. This has increased their workload and thus they are not able to assist all

students.

2. Teaching material: Currently, dated lesson plans and teaching materials are being used by

the professors. They are not compelling and challenging enough to pique students’

interest and initiate any discussions on the forum.

3. Out-of-class support for students: Ideally, students with writing difficulties and low

grades should be provided with extra help from the English Department and the

Undergraduate Students Associations at USask; however, no workshops or writing

assistants are offered currently.

4. Adhering to the class syllabus: Presently, the class syllabus is not followed as scheduled.

Students are supposed to send their writing to the forums regularly and pose questions to

be discussed as an in-class activity, but only a small population of students send

paragraphs and leave comments for their peers. As a result, class discussions are omitted

from the syllabus.

2.5 Performers

This section will give an account of the performers’ characteristics and the influences on

them. First the personas for three types of performers, namely high maintenance, medium

maintenance and low maintenance, will be presented and later their demographic data will be

discussed.

2.5.1 Personas

High maintenance
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Professor Watson is a faculty member at the English Department of USask. He is in his

late fifties, and in his full-time career, he has several roles. He teaches students at undergraduate,

graduate and Ph.D. levels and he is a graduate supervisor. Besides, to comply with the policies of

the university, he conducts research and writes books. At present, he is busy publishing his

chapter on cinema experiments in a handbook on Canadian cinema. Indeed, he often feels

demotivated to teach the large number of undergraduate students and he is reluctant to allocate

time for monitoring discussion forums and tracking student interactions and questions online.

Medium maintenance

Dr. Morris is an assistant professor. She works full-time at the English Department and

her duties include instructing graduate and undergraduate students, conducting book reviews and

publishing articles in credible peer-reviewed journals. She is a 37-year-old energetic lady with a

high work ethic. She is punctual and has time management skills, so she succeeds to run most of

the online discussion forums. However, due to the large number of her responsibilities, she

avoids creating forums for some of the sessions and thus skips some of the out-of-class activities

scheduled in her class syllabus.

Low maintenance

Dr. White is a 40-year-old lecturer at the English Department of USask. He is in charge

of teaching and supervising undergraduate students. He does not conduct much research, but

sometimes he reviews and evaluates scholarly articles as a referee. He is enthusiastic about the

use of technology in education and he passionately assigns online discussions and follows

student interactions. Also he sometimes cooperates with the Undergraduate Students Association

to run workshops on basic principles of writing.

2.5.2 Demographic information

Performance Needs Assessment Mozhgan Jangi 15

The demographic information about the performers as well as their previous knowledge

and current skills, according to their online profiles on the university website (i.e., University of

Saskatchewan Department of English, n.d.), are provided below.

• Demographics: There are 25 faculty members and lecturers at the English Department. In

detail, there are 9 professors, 5 associate professors, 6 assistant professors and 5 lecturers.

Regarding their gender and ethnicity, on the whole, they are 14 female and 11 male

faculty members and lecturers of diverse ethnic backgrounds.

• Educational level: The faculty members and lecturers have obtained their university

degrees from Canada, the United States, the United Kingdom and India. The majority of

them hold a Ph.D. in English and a number of them have an MA in English or linguistics.

• Current skill level: The most common skills mentioned on the website are

communication, critical thinking and leadership skills, as well as research and teaching

capabilities.

• Influences: they belong to various associations that represent their interests and values.

Some examples of the associations are Association of Canadian College and University

Teachers of English, Canadian Association for Commonwealth Literature and Language

Studies, Canadian Society for Digital Humanities and Modern Language Association.

Some of the other factors that may influence them are the culture and climate of their

workplace at the English Department, expectation and feedback of their students and

peers, as well as resources and support for their teaching and research.

2.6 Performance gap and other issues

Based on the research conducted, the overall problem is that teaching creative writing via

asynchronous discussion forums does not engage students enough; as a result, it does not help
Performance Needs Assessment Mozhgan Jangi 16

students to improve their final grades. The main causes of this issue are listed below using

Gilbert’s Behavior Engineering Model (Crossman, 2010).

2.6.1 Overall causes of the performance gap

Environment

Information Resources Incentives

▪ Professors have the ▪ Study spaces, computers ▪ No bonuses are

knowledge and skills to and printing services are considered for classes

teach creative writing provided at the library with the high rate of

courses; however, they locations. student grades or student

are unable to allocate time ▪ The university does not satisfaction.

to extracurricular provide adequate out-of- ▪ No compensation is

activities for students with class support and offered for extracurricular

basic writing issues. educational resources for activities such as writing

▪ Professors have students. There are workshops held by the

participated in a training recurring mistakes in professors.

program on how to students’ writing which

implement discussion are too basic to be

forums, but not all the discussed in a creative

professors are willing to writing class and the

add an online component shortage of time does not

to their face-to-face class allow for troubleshooting.

due to their workload and ▪ The LMS, called Canvas,

lack of time. is available through

Performance Needs Assessment Mozhgan Jangi 17

▪ Professors have access to [Link], but no

the syllabus and lesson IT Support Services are

plans of their previous available to the users.

creative writing courses,

but they are not up-to-

date.

Performer

Knowledge Capacity Motivation

▪ Professors at the English ▪ Professors have taught all ▪ The full-time professors

Department are highly the creative writing do not have the

educated, but due to courses, but as they are motivation to integrate

overwork, no time is left supervising several discussion forums into

for updating their graduate students, they their classes as it requires

knowledge and resources. cannot spend adequate more time for

time renewing their supervision.

teaching materials. ▪ Assistant professors and

lecturers who are less

occupied show a higher

tendency to run online

discussions and interact

with their students.

2.6.2 Issues that contribute to the performance gap

Performance Needs Assessment Mozhgan Jangi 18

The issues that impede the ideal performance are the professors’ overwork, and therefore

their reluctance to change their traditional approach to teaching creative writing and the lack of

support from the university for students who have difficulties with writing. The detailed

descriptions of these issues are as follows:

1. The majority of professors are obliged to conduct research, teach and supervise students.

2. This process requires updating lesson plans and adding further input and exercises.

Moreover, students’ postings on discussion forums should be monitored and supported

with feedback.

3. The Undergraduate Students Association or the English Department do not offer any

services such as workshops on creative writing, or general English subskills such as

grammar. Writing assistants are not available to provide consultation or proofread

students’ writing.

2.7 Risk factors for performance improvement efforts

A number of risk factors can affect the process of implementing asynchronous discussion

forums in creative writing courses.

Strength of leadership support

This factor has a high risk for the process. The Head of the English Department at USask

can play a vital role in addressing this concern. The Head’s approval is needed to update and

expand the creative writing sources available to undergrads at the library. Moreover, services like

workshops and writing assistants should be offered by the Undergraduate Students Association,

which should be mandated by the Head. Constraints that the Head might consider, such as a low

budget or a lack of space or staff, can pose a high risk to the project.

Strength of employee/member support

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Professors’ motivation and willingness to make regular use of discussion forums, assign

extracurricular activities and give timely feedback are essential for the success of the project;

therefore, this factor can pose a high risk. As the professors are already burdened with their

teaching and research responsibilities, contributing to discussion forums requires more time and

motivation.

Variety of locations

This is a low-risk factor for the process. The online discussions occur out of class while

students prepare for their in-class session. Asynchronous forums enable them to study anywhere

and anytime as long as they have an internet connection and a digital device like a laptop,

desktop computer, tablet or mobile phone to post their paragraphs on the forum and leave

comments for their peers.

Ability to support technologically

The university’s capability for providing technology support can pose a medium risk. If

students do not have access to personal digital devices, computers that have an internet

connection should be set up in the library or in quiet spaces available to students.

Ability to support logistically

Deficient logistics can put the project at a medium risk. The out-of-class support for

students, namely workshops and troubleshooting sessions with writing assistants require the

allocation of suitable space for instance classrooms, conference halls, the library or the computer

labs. Electronic devices like desktop computers or laptops in addition to overhead video

projectors would be necessary.

Ability to support financially

Performance Needs Assessment Mozhgan Jangi 20

This factor is of high risk for the implementation process. An insufficient budget does not

allow for updating the creative writing resources or hiring instructors for workshops and writing

assistance.

Availability of sufficient time

Enough amount of time ought to be spent by the professors to manage discussion forums

and by the workshop instructors and writing assistants to hold effective sessions. Inadequate time

can be a high risk to the project.

Barriers to implementation

A high risk can be imposed on the implementation of asynchronous writing discussion

forums by barriers such as a low budget, lack of technology and logistics support, insufficient

time devoted by the performers and the reluctance of the Undergraduate Students Associations to

cooperate in the project.

2.8 Project constraints

A number of constraints may affect the progression of the project. These barriers are

listed below.

• Must-meet deadline: The performance improvement campaign and the appropriate

interventions must be complete by the end of August 2024.

• Not-to-exceed budget: The budget should fit in with the usual amount necessary for

purchasing books to equip the library, equipping workshop classes with computers and

video projectors and covering the salary payments of the instructors.

• Must-include staff: Staff and instructors at the Undergraduate Students Association.

Performance Needs Assessment Mozhgan Jangi 21

• Corporate culture and project history: The Undergraduate Students Association may be

understaffed or lack instructors who are capable of holding workshops for creative

writing students.

3 Requirements

This section discusses the requirements for the administration of the performance

improvement campaign. In order to clarify the aim of the project, the business objectives and the

required competencies are stated. Next, the competencies will be checked and an overview of the

performance metrics will be provided.

3.1 Business objective

The business objective driving this campaign is to contain expenses for the Department

of English. By discovering the deficiencies in the implementation and management of writing

discussion forums, students’ quality of writing and their final grades will improve. Therefore, the

aim is to increase the number of students who enroll and remained enrolled in creative writing

classes and reduce the workload of professors.

3.2 Competencies

End result: Manage writing discussion forums regularly and complete the syllabus.

1. Write a new lesson plan consisting of more comprehensive input and extracurricular

activities.

Output: Further opportunities for out-of-class practice and self-study.

Indicator of performance: Reading passages and creative writing pieces introduced to students as

samples.

Requirement: Creative Writing resources available at the university library.

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2. Provide out-of-class support by assigning extracurricular exercises and mandating

participation in writing workshops.

Output: Students’ improvement in creative writing.

Indicators of performance:

• High-quality writing

• Increased average grades

Requirements:

• An updated syllabus

• Creative writing workshops accessible to undergraduate students

3. Provide timely feedback to all students by monitoring postings on the forum and

evaluating students’ writing and peer corrections.

Outputs:

• Students’ awareness of their writing problems and possible ways to resolve them.

• Opportunities for students to read their peers’ samples, learn from them, and criticize

them.

Indicators of performance:

• Ongoing discussions on writing forums.

• Fewer mistakes in students’ writing as a result of effective feedback.

Requirements:

• Devoting adequate time to read paragraph postings and peer corrections on the forum.

• Challenging question prompts on the forums that raise students’ sense of interest and

motivation.
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4. Pursue all the activities in the syllabus by organizing in-class exercises and running

online after-class discussion forums.

Outputs:

• Opportunities for students to reflect on their writing.

• Opportunities for self-initiated learning by posing questions on the forum and discussing

them in class.

• Enhanced chances for group work and collaborative writing.

Indicators of performance:

• Covering all the topics and objectives of the syllabus.

• Answering student-initiated questions in the class.

• Holding regular discussions on the forum.

Requirement: Students’ active participation on the forum, which is indicated by their regular

paragraph postings, feedback and questions.

3.3 Performance metrics

Metrics determining whether or not performance is improved at the individual level and

within the organization are explained below.

Individually:

• Number of writing discussion forums held

• Final average grade of students in creative writing classes

Within the organization:

• Number of extracurricular writing workshops held

• Number of creative writing resources added to the university library

• Number of writing assistants added to the staff of the English Department or the

Undergraduate Students Association.

Performance Needs Assessment Mozhgan Jangi 24

References

Abel Jr, A. L. V. A. R. E. Z., & Palmero, H. (2022). The inner voices of students in asynchronous

online learning approach. International Journal of Social Sciences and Education

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Aloni, M., & Harrington, C. (2018). Research based practices for improving the effectiveness of

asynchronous online discussion boards. Scholarship of Teaching and Learning in

Psychology, 4(4), 271–289. [Link]

Arshavskaya, E. (2015). Creative Writing Assignments in a Second Language Course: A Way to

Engage Less Motivated Students. InSight: A Journal of Scholarly Teaching, 10, 68-78.

Crossman, D. C. (2010). Gilbert’s Behavior Engineering Model: Contemporary support for an

established theory. Performance Improvement Quarterly, 23(1), 31–52.

[Link]

Ebrahimi, A., Faghih, E., & Dabir-Moghaddam, M. (2017). Student perceptions of effective

discussion in online forums: A case study of pre-service teachers. Innovations in

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Performance Needs Assessment Mozhgan Jangi 27

Appendix

Design Statement

The four key challenges that I came across while writing my performance needs analysis

were:

1. Describing the organizational context.

2. Creating personas for three performers.

3. Writing about project constraints and the risk factors.

4. Preparing the competency statements and performance metrics

An excellent practice that Read-Me-first-Guide--Week-3 gave me was how to investigate

the organizational context. I visited the websites of the three organizations (i.e., Centraide of

Greater Montreal, Loblaw Companies Limited, and US Customs and Border Protection) to

collect information about their type of organization, mission, key products and services and

organizational structure. This exercise prepared my mind for the research I needed to conduct in

order to describe various features of the organization in my project.

What helped me in writing personas was the Read-Me-First-Guide--Week-4. The website

[Link] provided an explanation of the benefits of personas and the elements of personas

such as job titles, demographics, goals and tasks, which gave me the overall idea and reason for

writing personas. The example provided on the website was a useful sample that guided me in

writing personas for the performers of the American Customs Hall.

In order to distinguish between the project constraints and the risk factors I consulted

Read-Me-First-Guide--Week-4. Detailed explanation of risk factors including strength of

leadership support and barriers to implementation assisted me to understand their difference with

project constraints including must-meet deadline and not-to-exceed budget.

Performance Needs Assessment Mozhgan Jangi 28

In writing competency statements and metrics I read all the passages assigned, but what

made it clearer to me were my colleagues’ postings on the forum and the way they differentiated

the two levels of individual and within the organization.

I would also like to add that the article by Rummler and Brache (1991) clarified the

concept of process management for me. The title “Managing the White Space” seemed like a

perfect match for the issue that was described. When different sectors in an organization perform

separately and do not consider the goals of the whole group, issues will remain that no one will

take responsibility for.