IMPLEMENTING TRAINING EVALUATION SERIES: ELEMENTS IN AN EVALUATION PLAN
In addition to the evaluation questions , other elements of the evaluation plan arise from stakeholder interviews and your research into the course. Each element that you should consider as part of the plan is shown below.
Course to be evaluated. List the title and purpose for the course. Provide a history evaluated (business reason) for the course and what it is intended to achieve. For new courses (ones yet to be developed), these data can be found in the needs analysis and/or instructional design documents. For existing courses,use the current training materials.
Purpose of the evaluation. Documents why the evaluation is being undertaken and how the information will be used (comes from stakeholder requirements). Example: Our approach is based on moving away from the typical measurement of activity or level-based measures in favor of focusing on value-driven continuous improvement efforts.This ensures that the training investment creates value and produces the behaviors and results that lead to the desired business outcomes.
Questions the evaluation will answer. These are the basic building blocks for the training evaluation. They are the questions that key stakeholders would like to see answered. Examples: Are participant intentions and beliefs upon program completion aligned with desired values? Are participants using (adopting) the skills on the job? Is the training program contributing to achievement of the business outcomes? If yes, to what degree? If no, why not?
Key Stakeholders. These are the individuals who have a vested interest in the evaluation information.
Once this is completed, it’s time to move on and look at the evaluation deliverables (next week’s post).
Previous posts in this series:
Questions Evaluation will Answer
Coming up in this series of posts:
- Evaluation deliverables
- Evaluation schedule
- Performing the evaluation
- Training evaluation and continuous improvement
- Training evaluation organizational readiness
As always, I would enjoy hearing your thoughts on this topic.
