Assessment: A Powerful Learning Tool
In a world that is changing more and more rapidly, we are obliged to acquire new knowledge and skills throughout our professional lives. But how can we make this learning more effective and more motivating? Increasing the skills of employees is a major challenge for all companies that have identified that this talent pool is their main competitive asset. In this context, evaluation is much more than just measurement and control; it is the most powerful educational tool as well! But assessment is often not used to its full potential.
Assessment Before Training
Evaluation takes place upstream of all training processes, making it possible to map skills and identify the training needs of the organization as a whole, and of each employee. Before each training course, it serves both to validate that the learner has the necessary prerequisites and also to allow them to plan their learning.
During Training, Maximize The Anchoring Of Knowledge
Throughout the training course, whether it is entirely eLearning or blended learning, assessments (whether simple multiple-choice questions or more elaborate questions) can take several forms to support learning and anchor knowledge. Integrated regularly after each stage of training, evaluation activates the newly acquired knowledge to enrich the trainees' thinking by confronting them with several answers that they would not necessarily have considered.
These tests are not intended for certification, they only have an educational goal. In this use case, it is essential that the correct answers are completed using additional lessons, and that the incorrect answers are corrected immediately, with explanations and lesson reminders. This immediate feedback validates or corrects, and therefore consolidates knowledge effectively for the learner.
To Guarantee The Success Of A Certification
Certification is the crucial moment of training, which therefore ends with an assessment under controlled conditions in order to formally validate that the knowledge has been acquired. Certification is proof of acquired knowledge: it is sometimes also an objective in itself, and a motivation for training.
To help learners prepare for this exam, it is possible to use assessments! Simply by offering the possibility of taking mock exams, which can be taken freely and repeatedly, employees can have an overview of the state of their knowledge in relation to the required level. They will be able to address any shortcomings, and then face the real certification with more serenity, thus increasing the success rate of the exam.
Extend Training Using Microlearning
Finally, it is possible to extend the training over time, in order to help trainees make the knowledge acquired more durable and assimilate it better. Microlearning is an educational process which involves short but regular prompts that rework the concepts seen during the training. The objective: to consolidate the achievements and strengthen the anchoring.
Microlearning takes the form of mini quizzes which are sent to trainees. For example: two to three questions every day for two to three weeks after the end of training. To maximize the effectiveness of microlearning, it is wise to associate it with adaptive learning so that the different requests reveal the weak points of each learner.
Continuous Improvement Of Training Through Training Evaluation
Training evaluation is a dimension of assessment that should not be neglected; it will help improve the quality and effectiveness of training. First, it allows to collect the opinions and feedback of trainees on the training course they received. The survey is the most effective way of knowing how learners feel about the effectiveness of the training and whether, from their point of view, it met their expectations.
Secondly, Kirkpatrick level 2 will objectively measure the training's effectiveness, making it possible to determine whether the knowledge and skills have been assimilated by learners. A complete training evaluation system can go so far as to request feedback from the trainer, but also from the manager of the different learners in order to get a complete overview of the efficiency of the training.
Training represents a significant investment and must have added value for both the employee and the company. Training courses must therefore take advantage of new educational and digital learning tools to maximize the effect of training, particularly the different forms of assessment. The challenge, however, is to find the tool that meets the ambitions of the organization in terms of training performance!
First published on elearningindustry.com.