On This Page
- What to Evaluate
- When to Evaluate
- Recommended Questions
- Tools and Resources
The goal of trainingis to help a learner improve their competence, capacity, and performance. Training helps learners gain new knowledge and skill. The most effective training also helps learners apply this information to their workplace, a process known as transfer of learning or simply learning transfer. Training effectiveness refers to how well your training supports learning and learning transfer. There are many ways to evaluate training effectiveness.
What to Evaluate
You should assess both learning and learning transfer, whenever possible.
Evaluate Learning
Design your evaluation to assess how successfully the learner met the training’s learning objectives. Look at the combined results for all learners to help you understand their learning and identify data trends that indicate challenging topics for your learners—which might show a need to improve course content or instruction.
Evaluate Learning Transfer
Design your evaluation to assess how successfully the learner can apply what they learned when they return to the workplace. Look at the combined results for all learners to help you understand if learning transfer is occurring and which topics are challenging for learners to apply—which might show a need for follow-up supportfor the learners.
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When to Evaluate Training Effectiveness
Your data collection methods and timing will depend on your evaluation questions. Determine what information you need while considering what is feasible. Your time, resources, and training scope should drive your evaluation approach.
Before and After Training
The best way to evaluate any change in learning is through assessment before and after the training. Conduct a pretest before and a posttest after your training and then compare the results.
Considerations:
- The test can include a demonstration to assess skill in addition to knowledge, if needed.
- Using only a posttest, without a pretest, can provide an assessment of skill or knowledge proficiency. This allows you to know if learners achieved a certain level of knowledge or skill by the end of the training, but you will not know if there was a change in learning. Learners might have already had the knowledge or skill at the start of the training.
- If you are unable to assess learning through a pretest and posttest, consider using a retrospective pre/post assessment that asks learners to self-assess their knowledge before and after the course as part of a postcourse evaluation. See questions 1 and 2 of the Recommended Training Effectiveness Questions for Postcourse Evaluations.
During Training
Build knowledge or skill assessment into the training, like knowledge checks, quizzes or observations. This can provide evaluation data and reinforce learning at the same time.
Considerations:
- In an e-learning, you might have knowledge checks throughout the course to help reinforce learning. Those same knowledge checks give you data on how learners progress during the course.
- For an in-person training, you might ask your learners questions to assess their comprehension or use an activity to gauge how they apply what they are learning. This provides real-time information for the instructor to reinforce content or adapt as needed.
Immediately After Training
In many situations, you might only be able to gather information from your learners immediately after the training ends. You can design your postcourse evaluation to assess learning and predict learning transfer immediately after the course ends, while learners are available to respond.
Considerations:
- Postcourse evaluations traditionally focus on learner satisfaction, but the research shows learner satisfaction does not determine a training’s effectiveness.
- Postcourse evaluations cannot objectively assess learning or learning transfer, but focusing on the areas with the strongest, most consistent relationships with learning and learning transfer can provide you with meaningful data about training effectiveness.
- Based on factors that predict learning transfer [PDF – 118 KB], Section 3 of the Recommended Training Effectiveness Questions for Postcourse Evaluations User Guide [PDF – 469 KB]can help you determine your training’s effectiveness.
Delayed Evaluation or Follow-up
Delayed evaluation, also called follow-up evaluation, is the best way to assess learning transfer. This helps training developers understand how much information learners retained, and if they have applied what they learned on the job. You can follow-up with learners to assess learning transfer after they have had time to go back to their workplace and apply what they have learned.
Considerations:
- For some trainings, it might also be appropriate to follow-up with learners’ supervisors.
- The timing of your delayed evaluation should be based on your program resources, the specific topic of the training, and learners’ capacity to apply what they learned in the workplace.
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