Learning effectiveness is primarily measured by assessing the change in knowledge or skills before and after a training intervention.
Pre- and Post-Training Assessments
The most effective way to evaluate learning is through a comparative assessment approach. This involves:
- Pre-Test: Administering an assessment before any training takes place. This establishes a baseline understanding of the learners' current knowledge and skills.
- Post-Test: Administering the same or a similar assessment after the training program has been completed.
- Comparison: Analyzing the results of both the pre-test and post-test to determine the degree of change. This change is the direct measure of learning effectiveness.
Types of Assessments
The type of assessment used should align with the learning objectives. These can include:
- Knowledge-Based Tests: These evaluate factual recall and understanding of concepts. This could include multiple-choice questions, short answer questions or true/false.
- Skill-Based Tests: These assess the application of skills and practical abilities. This may include demonstrations, simulations or practical exercises.
Practical Application and Examples
To effectively measure learning, consider these steps:
- Define Clear Learning Objectives: Establish specific, measurable, achievable, relevant, and time-bound (SMART) learning objectives.
- Design Relevant Assessments: Create pre- and post-test assessments that directly align with these objectives.
- Administer Assessments: Conduct the pre-test before training and the post-test after training, ensuring consistency in conditions.
- Analyze Results: Compare the performance between the pre-test and post-test to identify improvements.
- Evaluate Impact: Determine if the improvement is sufficient to meet the learning objectives.
- For example, if you're teaching software skills, the pre-test might include a basic task. The post-test would include more complex tasks that integrate the new knowledge.
- In a sales training, the pre-test may be a role-play to evaluate current techniques. The post-test evaluates whether the trained techniques are being successfully applied.
Key Considerations
When using pre- and post-test assessments, it's important to consider a few additional points:
- Control Groups: To strengthen the validity of results, include control groups when possible that do not receive the training.
- Assessment Validity & Reliability: Ensure the assessment tool measures what it’s supposed to and that it does so consistently.
- Contextual Factors: Consider environmental variables that may affect the assessment such as time limits and setting.
By using pre- and post-training assessments, the effectiveness of learning can be accurately measured, as stated in the reference, "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."
