ECHOES OF THE 1980s
Imagine my surprise when I recently read a long-established training vendor’s new press release. Omitting the organization’s name, I’m going to quote from the release:
What an empty claim! Ridiculous! And, in the 1980s, one made by most training vendors regarding the videotapes they then hawked — before the customers figured out the vacuousness of such claims.
Think about the meaninglessness of these results for a minute.
The only true measure of one’s training program depends upon an increase in the trainee’s on-the-job performance — which translates into learning retention and increased skills.
Short-term improvement, as measured by “immediate testing” (pre-and post-test score differential) means next to nothing.
Just remember your own experience in high school and college classrooms. You studied late at night to pass a test and then, within days or weeks, you forgot much of what you had temporarily learned. You had experienced short-term retention but your longer-term retention was impacted very little.
The truth is that every vendor of training programs can make the same claim as Company X. All of them can demonstrate a marked increase in test scores between the pre-test and the post-test. No vendor has an advantage with that measurement tool.
You should be looking at longer-term retention which can be measured if you re-administer the post-test six months, or more, after the initial training. Combined with the even-more-important evaluation given by the trainee’s supervisor are the better ways for you to measure the effectiveness of your training initiatives.
So, forget comparing pre- and post-test scores. They matter little. It’s finding a longer-term retention measurement that will prove the worthiness of your training.
More on Wednesday – – –
— Bill Walton, co-Founder, ITC Learning
November 6, 2017
www.itclearning.com/blog/ (Mondays & Wednesdays)
“OUR WORLD RELIES ON THE HANDS OF ITS MEN AND WOMEN”