Maximizing Learning Impact in Cat Veterinary Clinics: A Needs Assessment Approach Using Business Metrics

As learning professionals many of us aren’t able to share our work on our portfolios due to non-disclosure agreements (NDAs) and confidential information. This poses an issue because we still want to showcase our skills outside of our organization.

The last time I updated my portfolio was in 2018. My portfolio mainly highlighted my skills in user interface design and elearning development. Now I’m ready to completely overhaul my portfolio and create a holistic look at my skillset. I’m also hoping that by focusing on the whole learning design process, I’m able to demystify what comes before we jump into an elearning authoring tool by showing realistic mock examples of an end-to-end project. This journey not only aims to enhance my portfolio but also to illustrate the fundamental role of Learning Needs Assessments in developing effective learning solutions.

I’m sure you’re wondering, okay, but what’s all this got to do with the cats and needs assessments that you’re mentioning in the title of this post?

That’s where Tim Slade comes in. Tim Slade holds monthly eLearning challenges to put your instructional design and development skills into practice, solve real-world problems, and create samples of work for your portfolio.

The first new portfolio piece I am going to create is based off of Tim’s August 2024 eLearning Challenge: Managing Feline Diabetes. But here’s the thing, I’m putting my own twist on it.

Instead of only creating an elearning, I am going to take you through an end to end instructional design process. In this post we’ll begin with the Learning Needs Assessment. 

Just in case you’re not familiar with Learning Needs Assessments. Let’s learn more about them before we explore how we might tackle one for the August 2024 eLearning Challenge: Managing Feline Diabetes.

What is Needs Assessment vs. Needs Analysis?

Learning Needs Assessment for Feline Fancy Veterinary Clinic

Okay, now that we all know what a Learning Needs Assessment is let’s look at it in the context of our challenge.

For the challenge I’m the learning designer, I used ChatGPT to act as my stakeholder and SME, "a founder and the head veterinarian" of a veterinary clinic named Feline Fancy Veterinary Clinic. I didn’t define a tone or stance for "the founder and head vet" to take regarding learning. In this case we’re taking the “happy path”, where everything goes as planned. But that being said, this could certainly be a good opportunity to create a simulation where you have to consult and convince a stakeholder on your approach.

I used "the founder vet" as a sounding board to identify a business case where decreasing feline diabetes through education would be an effective solution.  

We started with reviewing our business goals. One of our goals was We aim to reduce operating costs by approximately $150,000 - $200,000 Year over Year (YoY) through a 10% (7K visits out of 70K visits) reduction in emergency visits in cats. I asked "the vet founder" about the cases that related to diabetes in those emergency visits. We found that there were a good chunk of emergency cases related to diabetes management in cats. So we added to our goals. We added, "We need to achieve a 20% reduction in visits related to diabetes in cats. This means preventing around 1.4K diabetes-related emergency visits (20% of 7K diabetes visits)."

I let "the vet founder" know that I’d work with our research partner to determine if education could help reduce these. The research team analyzed case notes for all of the cat owners who brought their cats in for emergencies related to diabetes. 25% of the 7K cats that came into the clinic had owners who reported they didn't know how to manage key aspects of feline diabetes. 

This leads us to believe education can help support our goal. Then we decided to create a Learning Needs Assessment document. This document will outline our objectives, the data we will collect, and the methods we will use to analyze the needs of our target audience.

What’s the value of a Learning Needs Assessment related to strategic business planning?

Conducting a Learning Needs Assessment alongside our strategic planning and goal setting is essential for ensuring that our educational initiatives truly align with the goals of Feline Fancy Veterinary Clinic. In the context of our project, this assessment will help us proactively identify the knowledge and skills gaps related to managing feline diabetes. By doing so, we can create targeted educational solutions that directly address the business challenges we’ve identified.

This proactive approach not only enables us to tackle pressing business problems but also positions us as strategic partners within the organization. When we align our learning initiatives with the clinic's goals, we demonstrate our value and contribute to meaningful outcomes, ultimately enhancing the overall effectiveness of our learning programs.

Let’s dive deeper into the Learning Needs Assessment document and learn about the importance of proactively assessing your business’ learning needs.

View the Learning Needs Assessment Document.

So what happens next?

For next steps I will conduct a Learning Needs Analysis to dive deep into the potential skills and knowledge gaps of emergency services customers with diabetic cats. Along with this I will put together a high-level learning project plan.

Have you faced challenges in conducting Learning Needs Assessments? What strategies have you found effective? Share your thoughts in the comments!

-Mel