The challenges of training assessment

Training Assessment: A Progress-Focused Approach

The primary goal of training assessment is to improve the quality of the training provided, in all its aspects: preparation, logistics, animation, pedagogy, materials and tools, activities, listening, anchoring of acquired knowledge, operational benefits , etc. The formula "there is no progress without measurement" is quite appropriate here: the evaluation of training provides a measurement of the quality of training, a multidimensional measurement from which the organization can target and materialize progress. Once a progress-focused training assessment has been implemented, the existence of precise and quantitative quality indicators will make it possible to monitor the effect of each of the actions, to immediately identify both improvements and setbacks. This will be the reward for everyone's efforts.

Selection Of Suppliers And Trainers

In the event that all or part of the training is entrusted to external contributors, either directly or via training organizations, the assessment of the training will obviously be the means of giving feedback to these suppliers, to push them to improve their services, and if necessary, to no longer involve those whose services are insufficient. Measuring the quality of suppliers and service providers is always one of the key elements of building a successful training program.

Qualiopi

In France, the assessment of training is one of the central requirements of the Qualiopi certification. It is therefore an essential obligation for most training organizations, or training departments within companies. In this regard, Qualiopi auditors will pay particular attention to the traceability of all processes, the actual use of feedback, and the implementation of corrective actions, in a progress-focused training assessment approach.

It is essential that the training provided meets several conditions to comply with the requirements of Qualiopi certification. These conditions can be summarized in seven criteria:

1. The conditions for informing the public about the services offered, the deadlines for accessing them, and the results obtained.
2. The precise identification of the objectives of the services offered, and the adaptation of these services to the public beneficiaries, during the design of the services.
3. Adaptation to the public beneficiaries of the services and the methods of reception, support, monitoring, and evaluation implemented.
4. The adequacy of the educational, technical, and supervisory resources for the services implemented.
5. The qualification and development of the knowledge and skills of the personnel responsible for implementing the services.
6. Registration and investment of the service provider in their professional environment.
7. Collecting and taking into account the assessments and complaints made by the parties involved in the services provided.

One of the most important criteria is the measurement of the achievement of objectives. The assessment of knowledge is essential here, in particular by confronting the situation before and after the training to clearly demonstrate the added value of each course, and to proceed to the certification in a rigorous way. Before the training, it is necessary to validate the adequacy in regards to the objectives, but also the mastery of the prerequisites by a multidimensional positioning.

Adaptive learning has a key role in several criteria relating to the adaptation of the service to learners. Satisfaction measurement is another component, and all the processes related to training assessment according to the Kirkpatrick model by the various training actors, including feedback from the manager.

Finally, the organization must monitor quality indicators of the training, but above all, the system must be the basis of a process of progress, that is to say, the organization must be able to report effective actions based on the assessment. We could also mention the provision of educational resources, as well as tools to help facilitate training. And more generally, the traceability of all actions and results.

Customer Relations And Training Assessment

The training assessment system is also involved in customer relations, whether they are internal customers (in the case of internal training), or real customers (in the case, for example, of a training organization). For the trainees, and whatever the operational consequences of their feedback, the very existence of an assessment system sends a message to them: "We are concerned about your satisfaction, we are at the listening to your feedback, we seek to improve." And so: "If you come back to train with us, we will have taken your feedback into account and our training will be even better."

Solicitation of the manager, the person who proposed or validated the training and who often finances it from their budget, also has a strong commercial dimension. To them too, we give the message that their opinion interests us, that we are not satisfied with providing the training sold, that we also want to ensure that this training has borne fruit, that it has achieved its objectives, that it was useful in the operational context, and that it was therefore a good investment for the client. But solicitation is also, in a more down-to-earth way, an opportunity to be remembered by the client, even a few months after the training. Perhaps the person could benefit from other training in continuity of this one? Perhaps there are other employees who could benefit from the same training?

First published on elearningindustry.com.