Dream Awakener

I’m continuing to share some riches from  How Do They Know They Know: Evaluating Adult Learning by Jane Vella, Paula Berardinelli, and Jim Burrow. It’s a great book to help you assess any type of training program that you are leading or helping out with.

Thoughts to Keep in Mind

Evaluation strategies can be quite different from organization to organization and no one system is better than all others.  But it is important to examine characteristics of effective evaluation.  Almost all planning models used in education include some form of evaluation (10).

Characteristics of Effective Evaluation

• It must be objective. It’s not about making the program “look good”; it should provide clear evidence to indicate whether the training is leading to desired change.
• It should identify the important elements of an educational program. In other words, what learning experiences will lead to the desired results.
• Evaluation should match the organizational philosophy. Organizations determine their own purpose and use of evaluation; what is useful to one may have little meaning or value to another.
• Evaluation measures should be identifiable and accessible. Evaluations should be designed such that the people responsible for it can conduct them within the structure and resources of the training program.
• Evaluation should focus on both the outcomes and the process. Two critical questions guide evaluation: “Did we accomplish our objectives?” and “Did we accomplish them in the way we wanted to accomplish them?”  Evaluation can and should answer both questions (12).

Evaluation Axioms – philosophical foundation for evaluating

• Evaluation does not just happen.  It should be thoughtfully planned and carefully managed.
• Experts must do evaluation. While observations of learners are taken into account, experts in the field discern subject matter.
• Effective evaluation returns more than it costs.  Evaluation should have a clear focus and purpose.
• Evaluation can be accomplished in many ways.  Many tools available that fit the evaluation philosophy, time and resources of organization (13).