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Needs Assessment Cycle

Misti Nichols

CUR/528

March 21, 2016

Siddeeqah Johnson
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Needs Assessment Cycle

Knowledgeable customer service representatives are important in the business field. In the

educational field, customer services representatives that are knowledgeable in financial aid and

military education benefits is important to ensure that the learners are provided all options

available to them. Creating an assessment for the financial aid and military educational knowledge

is important so that each representative is providing accurate and complete information.

Identifying the purpose, level of assessment and stakeholders involved will be important to know

when developing the assessment. In addition, determining what information is important to know

and where the information is accessed with also be valuable to creating a good assessment.

Course Information

Financial aid eligibility varies from person to person. Each individual’s circumstances are

used to determine eligibility. Individual military benefits also vary for service members depending

on active duty or veteran status. Knowing the different benefits available to learners is an

important knowledge base for customer service representatives in the educational field. Having a

training program is important for customer service representatives so that learners are not misled

in understanding their financial aid or military benefits while in an educational setting. Mis-

advisements can lead to learners owing back military benefits, missing out on benefits or losing

benefits completely for military benefits or missing deadlines for financial aid benefits or owing

back federal funding received. Therefore the purpose of the assessment will be to ensure that each

representative is providing accurate and complete information based on each individual learner’s

financial circumstance.

Assessment questions can be used to help the customer service representatives

demonstrate knowledge of how all types of financial benefits work separately and together. There

are many levels of assessment that will be needed for the customer service representatives.
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Enrollment representatives will need to have an overview knowledge of financial aid military

benefits and specific knowledge about the enrollment forms and what each question means for the

military member. Academic representatives will need to have an overview about each benefit and

have an understanding of how the different benefits are affected when a learner has a change in

schedule. For instance, a student receives financial aid and military benefits. Each customer

service representative will need to know how each benefit works for the student. They will need

to understand that while a break in attendance is not a problem, a break in attendance is a problem

for the financial aid aspect. Financial representatives will need to know all the same information

as the enrollment and academic representatives. In addition, the financial representatives will need

to know how each financial aid or military benefit provides financial payment, how schedule

changes impact the financial payments and additional financial options if a learner runs out of

financial aid or military benefits. The financial representative will also need to ensure that they are

learning any and all changes that are made for any of the financial benefits and be able to explain

any changes to the learner.

Budget

In order to complete the assessment, a budget will be needed. There will be many factors

that will be applied to the budget. Creating the training and assessment documents will be

completed through the training department’s representatives. Once the training and assessment is

completed, conducting the training will be important to ensure each representative has the

appropriate knowledge. To minimize cost, the training and assessment will be created and

conducted using technology resources such as Power point presentations and multiple choice

assessments graded electronically. These tools will minimize cost and ensure each representative

demonstrates knowledge in the same areas.

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The stakeholders for the assessment will be the representatives and management team.

These stakeholders are the front line of making sure the financial aid and military information are

accurate and up to date. The learner is a stakeholder in this process because the learner will be

receiving information from the representative, but will also be responsible for ensuring their

personal information is fully identified so the learner can make the correct financial decision. For

instance, if a learner only uses financial aid and does not disclose until halfway through their

educational program that the learner is also active duty, then the financial impact will be great.

Additional stakeholders are the entities that provide the actual payment such as federal

financial aid or the military payments. The stake that these entities have is in the accuracy

information is presented to the learner. Many choices that are made are irrevocable and can

impact the learner and the financial entity greatly. For instance, the military may over pay for

classes if the financial representative did not verify active duty benefits available to the learner.

Needs Assessment Information

The information needed for the training and assessment will be from a variety of sources.

External and Internal information will be used to create the training. The external sources are

important as the external resources will provide the most up to date information. For instance,

Post 9-11 benefit eligibility is listed on the Veteran Affairs website and states that a learner must

have at “least 90 days of aggregate active duty service after Sept. 10, 2001, and are still on active

duty, or if you are an honorably discharged Veteran or were discharged with a service-connected

disability after 30 days, you may be eligible for this VA-administered program” (United States

Department of Veterans Affairs, 2015).

Internal knowledge will be provided through direct contacts between the various military

benefits and the educational learning center. The communication provided between the military
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benefit options and the educational center will be important and the internal communications will

be communicated to the customer service representatives through internal memos and emails.

The basic assessment would need to be completed through traditional assessment options

including multiple choice questions and fill in the blank questions. Providing the assessment in the

traditional assessment is important so that each customer service representative is provided an

unbiased scoring of the knowledge gained. In addition, the traditional assessment will allow for

each representative to be tested on the direct answers as obtained through the source of the

question. This will allow the representative to guide the learner to the additional information

through the external resources as necessary. For instance, if a learner wanted to know their

specific eligibility for the Post 9-11 benefit, the representative will be able to direct the learner to

the Department of Veterans Affairs website. If the learner had questions about repayment of

student loans, the representative would be able to direct the Department of Education’s website as

well.

Ongoing assessments would be completed for each representative. For the financial aid

knowledge, the ongoing assessment that would be completed through nontraditional assessments

such as observational assessment and coaching services. The observational assessments will be

through knowledgeable quality assurance teams that will review recorded calls for compliance,

accuracy and other customer service guidelines. The coaching services will be provided by the

management team in direct contact with the representative. For the military knowledge, a

traditional assessment will be provided yearly to ensure knowledge for the military benefit options

is up to date and that will allow the representatives to continue to provide knowledge about

military benefits. The ongoing assessment will be provided by managers and support personal for

the representatives. The ongoing assessments will focus on ensuring the most accurate knowledge

of military benefits are provided to each learner.

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Conclusion

By ensuring each customer service representative is knowledgeable about financial aid and

military benefits available to learner, the educational system will continue to service the military

members. Using the internal and external resources will ensure that the representatives are

providing the most up to date information. Using traditional and non-traditional assessments are

important to ensure that the same information is being assessed throughout each group of

representatives.
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References

United States Department of Veterans Affairs . (2015). Education and Training. Retrieved from

http://www.benefits.va.gov/gibill/post911_gibill.asp