Understanding Learning Outcomes: Evaluation Basics for Trainers
Training professionals don't always see immediate results from their work, but solid evaluation techniques can yield valuable information for you (and your boss) about how well your trainees are learning, whether they're applying that knowledge in the workplace, and how your training affects the company's people, products, processes and profits. You don't need a degree in statistics to evaluate, understand and learn from the outcomes of your training sessions. Designed by evaluation expert Donald Kirkpatrick, the Kirkpatrick Express Evaluation Toolkit gives you the resources you need to start evaluating training outcomes, be able to analyse and communicate your results, and make those results work for you.
You'll start with a comprehensive overview of Kirkpatrick's four levels of evaluation, the result of years of academic research:
The Toolkit's four evaluation tools gather information from learners and observers about the impact of training on people, products, processes, and profit. Measurement and analyses reveal the training's level of success and outline opportunities for improvement.
- Reaction
- How individual trainees react to the learning immediately after completing it. Did they enjoy your training session? Did they find it useful?
- Learning
- How much did trainees learn? Have they retained the key points addressed in the material?
- Behaviour
- How did your trainees change their behaviour to implement what they learned? What challenges did they face? Was what they learned useful to them back in the real world?
- Results
- What were the results for your organisation? What was the cost-benefit ratio? This level addresses five areas: people, products, processes, profits and overall impact.
All four of the levels are interconnected, and understanding each provides a better picture of the full value of the training.
To help communicate results, the Toolkit offers a process to identify stakeholders, tailor a compelling message, and choose the best channels to market findings, plus a presentation template and customisable reports.
How to Analyse the Results
You'll also gain valuable information on what's working and what isn't. The Kirkpatrick Toolkit will help you to pinpoint both strengths and opportunities for improvement in your training sessions, with tips on how to customise and refine your evaluation questions, get the best response and analyse your results.
How to Communicate the Results
The Toolkit will help you to target specific stakeholders in your organisation with the information they need to know; from individual participants to their supervisors to your CEO, you'll learn how to make the case for your department using the right channels and the right messages.
You'll also find plenty of useful information on overcoming obstacles and excuses, fitting other evaluation tools into the Kirkpatrick framework, and additional resources to help you build your training programme and fine-tune your message.
Includes fully customisable reports you can use to communicate the results of your training.
Use the Kirkpatrick Express Evaluation Toolkit to
• Determine if learning objectives were achieved
• Identify a programme’s strengths and opportunities for improvement
• Learn how to market the value of training
• Ascertain the cost-benefit ratio associated with any training programme.
Grounded in academic research and theory, the toolkit was developed by evaluation expert, Dr. Donald Kirkpatrick, validated by real learning professionals, and tested with thousands of individuals from diverse organisations.
