Assignment: Planning a Needs Assessment II One of the many reasons social workers conduct needs assessment is to provide support for new programs. Social workers have many methods available to collect necessary data for a needs assessment. Social workers can use existing data from a wide range of sources, including local and national reports by government and nonprofit agencies, as well as computerized mapping resources. Social workers can gather new data through interviews and surveys with individuals and focus groups. This data can provide the evidence that supports the need for the program. To prepare for this Assignment, review the needs assessment plans that you and your classmates generated for this week’s Discussion. Also, review the logic models that you created in Week 7 and any literature on needs of caregivers that you used to generate them. Consider the following to stimulate your thinking: Getting information about the needs of the target population: Who would informants be? What is your purpose for interacting with them? What questions would you ask? What method would you use (interview, focus group, questionnaire)? Finding potential clients: Who would informants be? What is your purpose for interacting with them? What questions would you ask? What method would you use? Interacting with the target population: Who would informants be? What is your purpose for interacting with them? What questions would you ask? What method would you use? By Day 7 Submit a 2- to 3-page paper outlining a hypothetical needs assessment related to the support group program for caregivers. Include the following: The resources needed to operate this service The program activities The desired outcomes A plan for gathering information about the population served Justifications for your plans and decisions A one-paragraph conclusion describing how you might conduct a follow-up to the needs assessment at the implementation stage of the program evaluation Week 7 needs assessment plans Statement of problem/need, problem conditions, and purpose for creating the program:  Military vets face incredible challenges as they reintegrate into civilian life after service. Veterans face psychological trauma, physical disabilities, unemployment, relationship issues and difficulty finding a new career path. This has led to rising cases of suicide, crime and violent conduct among some vets. Vets need not only counselling but empowerment to enable them to start over with access to jobs and entrepreneurship. The program will take place in the top five states with the highest number of veteran suicides that comprise of Nevada, Montana, Washington, West Virginia, Kentucky and Utah due to the high rate of veteran suicides (Knowlton and Phillips, 2012). This program aims to offer free readjustment counselling and referrals to vets enabling them to seamlessly reintegrate into society.                 Planning Anticipated Outcomes & Impacts Resources (Inputs) The people, time, $, and assets we already have and those we need for the program/ treatment Activities To address the need, we will conduct these general activities. For this exercise, choose from counseling, education, recreation, and basic needs. Outputs/interventions Expand upon the type of program in Activities. Include the specific services or products you intend to provide to recipients. Include how often, when, where, and what kind of users/clients you intend to address. Provide details! Short-term benefits for recipients Long-term benefits for recipients and wider community Near-immediate benefits for recipients who participate in the program Longer-term positive effects of the program on the recipients and community This project will require human capital, time, materials, physical space and financial support for it to be a success. The project will teach various professionals ranging from counsellors, entrepreneurs, motivational speakers, veteran welfare officials from the department of defense, veteran’s welfare organizations representatives, social workers and veterans living in the respective states. The project will also require meeting space, training materials, food and drinks for participants and guests. Also, guests will require accommodation while participants will require allowances. The project will require cabs for guests and an event planner (Logic Models and Program Evaluation, n.d.). Time is also a vital resource that must be managed to meet the project goals. The program schedule will teach the needs of the veterans to ensure they benefit through the free provision of counselling and referrals. The project will be carried out for one month, with six-hour sessions per day for the guests and participants. Basic needs Education. Counseling The counselors will ensure that the participants have access to counseling sessions. Volunteers will assist in creating publicity through the distribution of brochures to vets and vet organizations. The events planner will be hired to coordinate the meetings to ensure better coordination of the counselling sessions. The events planner will also provide catering services to participants to ensure smooth implementation of the project (Logic Models and Program Evaluation, n.d.). The project will hire business leaders, entrepreneurs and successful vets who have set the precedence so that they motivate the veterans. Empowerment sessions will allow the participants to change their perspectives, discover ways of tackling challenges and grow new networks through referrals. More veterans will benefit from interaction with counsellors so that they deal with mental and physical issues. Veterans families will know how they can provide further support to affected veterans Veterans will benefit from new and existing opportunities due to referrals. Also, new referrals will empower veterans to make better choices in entrepreneurship and employment. The veterans will better integrate into society since they will feel more supported to live a full and productive life Economic empowerment of veterans through the start of new careers will boost their productivity in nation-building. Free counselling sessions major activities will involve publicizing the program, notifying guests and participants, hiring an events planner, making reservations and allocating counsellors to each group. After group sessions, participants will have a chance of meeting counsellors for private sessions and further help. Furthermore, the referral program main activities will include inviting participants, matching veteran skills with industry needs and inviting relevant business leaders for the networking and referral sessions with participants. References: Knowlton, L. W., & Phillips, C. C. (2012). The Logic Model Guidebook: Better Strategies for Great Results. Thousand Oaks, CA: SAGE. Logic Models and Program Evaluation. (n.d.). Developing Nonprofit and Human Service Leaders: Essential Knowledge and Skills, 73-84. doi:10.4135/9781483388007.n7 

Discussion I thought it would be fun to look at a couple of examples of a relatively recent kind of hero: the scientific hero. This is a hero who can do amazing things with the knowledge that in theory, anyone has access to. Actually, these heroes are still well beyond most of us and usually have a lot of luck. One of my favorites is MacGyver (Links to an external site.) (the original played by Richard Dean Anderson), from a 1980s-90s TV show. He was basically a troubleshooter for the Phoenix Foundation, a philanthropic organization whose projects ranged from helping homeless teenagers to staging international hostage rescue missions. He hated guns, and made do with resources he found around him. He usually traveled with a Swiss army knife and duct tape. The verb "to macgyver" means to fix something using ordinary objects: "You just MacGyvered (Links to an external site.) your way into your house after being locked out (Links to an external site.) using a paper clip (Links to an external site.) and a shoelace." (Urban Dictionary) (Links to an external site.) "Hero Elementary" (Links to an external site.) is an animated series on PBS designed to teach children about logic and the scientific method. The young heroes do have superpowers, but there's always a point where they realize that their superpowers can't solve the problem, and that's when they say, "Let's use our superpowers of science!" And then they very logically figure out what to do. This series is also notable for including an autistic boy in a group of four friends, and sometimes his different ways of perceiving the world are an important part of solving the problem. In our modern technological society, it's not surprising that we have hero stories that valorize science and engineering. Many real-life heroes are in this category, too! Please add the name of a real scientific hero and a link to a webpage about them.

Module 6 Discussion Global Learning and Cultural DiversityConsider the following scenario:A high school technology class in the United States was participating in an online project with a class in an Arab country where the students worked in small groups to create a video presentation. As the project progressed, the American teenaged boys found the girls in their group to be fascinating and started flirting cautiously with them. The Arab teachers were so distraught with the situation; they withdrew their students from the project.In thinking about the outcome of this scenario, what led to the withdrawal of the Arab class? What might have been done to prevent the outcome? As a teacher, how do you recover from this?One of the benefits of providing training and learning opportunities for employees or students online is that students are not bound by geographical location. Course participants can live anywhere in the world, which provides rich learning experiences but also provides challenges. Instructional designers must be culturally sensitive in the development of assignments, instructions for engagement, and assessments.To prepare:Consider how eLearning courses can include global learning communities. Reflect how cultural diversity might impact eLearning design. Think about times when what one considers a “best practice” of eLearning design might result in culturally-based issues.By Day 3 of Week 11:Post a fictitious eLearning scenario exploring potential misunderstandings in the design of eLearning courses with potential international audiences. For example, in an eLearning course, requiring course participants to develop lessons that have mixed gender audiences may not be appropriate in some cultures. (Note: Keep descriptions of culture generalized. Do not mention specific countries, race, or cultures. Instead, identify characteristics of a culture to share the parameters).