Technical Assistance
Introduction
| Providing
Technical Assistance Overview
Delivering Training Overview
Page: 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6Evaluate
Evaluation actually occurs at every point along the way:
analysis, design, development, during implementation and after implementation.
Evaluation is an ongoing process. It’s much more than a rating
sheet you fill out at the end of a training workshop.
So what is evaluation and how should you evaluate training? The work of evaluation is simply gathering information to provide useful feedback.
| Many trainers feel
intimidated by evaluation. Some never evaluate their training
because they don’t know how. Some never get around to
it because they don’t think they have enough time. However,
evaluation doesn’t have to take a lot of time or money.
And you are probably already doing some evaluation of your training
without realizing it.
Upon completion of the event, you can evaluate your training on several levels. Did the participants like the training? Did they learn anything from it? Can they actually apply the knowledge or skills gained back on the job? Is the organization better off because of it? Perhaps the best-known approach to describing levels of evaluating training after the event is Kirkpatrick’s Four Levels.1 You can evaluate your training on any or all of the following levels: |
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- Reaction
- Learning
- Behavior
- Results
As you move from level one to level four, collecting the data becomes more expensive and more time-consuming. Yet the information becomes more valuable the deeper you go. You don’t have to evaluate every workshop you do on all four levels. Choose the depth that is appropriate and will give you the information you want. (For more information on evaluating on the deepest level, see the Measuring Outcomes guidebook, part of the National Resource Center’s Intermediary Development Series.)
Introduction
| Providing
Technical Assistance Overview