4 Responses

1. Cutting Edge?
   Hi Connie

   Probably best to stay away from “cutting edge” as cutting edge usually means long words nobody understands and analysing things that don’t need to be analysed.

   Ask yourself what you want to achieve, what you want the delegates to achieve and base your end of course assessment questions on this.

   If you e mail me I will send you and example from my last course. It’s in no way “cutting edge” but did everything I wanted it to do which is the best we can hope for!

   Regards

   Steve

2. Before & After Questionnaire

   You could ask people to complete a simple questionnaire around knowledge/skills/confidence at the start of the day, then ask them to complete a duplicate at the end of the programme.  When I do this, I use simple "I" statements e.g. "I am confident that I can get a job that I want", "I am a good interviewee" …  and then I use a five point scale from strongly disagree through to strongly agree.  Just link the statements to the key topics/aims of your training, then you can see how people feel that they have shifted by the end.  Not cutting edge, but it helps with early engagement of participants and also can give you some great data for PR e.g. "participants report a 50% improvement in their ability to develop an impressive CV."

3. Please Mind The Gap

   I would suggest that one of the very best ways you might ‘evaluate’ this training, is to compare and contrast what happens to people who are made redundant who did and did not receive your training. Unemployment trends are published on government web sites, the data is everywhere.

   So, in the geographic location you are working:

   1. How long on average does a individual who is made redundant stay redundant?
   2. What type of work do they get?
   3. How does their salary compare with their previous job?

   If people with whom you have had no involvement do significantly worse, better or the same that’s real data.

   An individual’s view of how much better or worse off they are as a result of your training written at the end of the event is a reflection of their hopes. This does not necessarily correlate with the results that follow. They might feel better, more engaged, more enlightened, which is not insignificant but the real question is; does it result in better work placement outcomes for the individual? An analogy is; if you’re being treated for cancer, do you want to feel better because of some placebo effect or do you want to be cured?

   All course review sheets should be read by trainers with the following saying in mind:

   ‘Please Mind The Gap – between expectations and reality!’

4. eval sheets

   I’ve usually liked to give delegates questions like "What did I learn, and what difference will it make?" or "What will I do or think differently as a result of being on this course?" on evaluation forms, as I believe it helps connect or embed the learning. This way the evaluation can benefit the delegate as well as me.

    

   I agree too, that it’s useful to look at external outcomes such as "did they get a job?", although that wouldn’t be the only useful outcome I guess. Having a more relaxed attitude, being able to think or plan more creatively might also be outcomes, I guess.