Student Presentation + Freire's Method = Needs Assessment

During a student presentation in a class on Paulo Freire, I saw Freire's Cultural Circle technique introduced a new way that I had not seen before. The students doing to presentation posed a series of questions related to job interviews to the other students. They took the key words that came up in the answers and wrote them on the board. Then they said that the words on the board could be used to drive the agenda and discussions.

When it was presented this way, I could not help but make a connection between needs assessment and this technique. This is almost needs assessment in its purest and simplest form. In the past I would use techniques such as asking the students what they hoped to get out of the class or ask them what they were most interested in learning about the topic. But in my experience, the answers have always been pretty narrow. What I saw with the student’s reactions to open ended questions related to the topic was a different experience. It was like mind-mapping the class agenda and objectives.

I have used a similar technique for brainstorming sessions but it seems like it may be so much effective in assessing the needs of the student in a training or learning environment. Of course, this type of technique will require more flexibility in the class' structure, but it seems like it will almost instantly create interest and engagement, which in turn will increase motivation.