Training is the teaching of vocational or practical and relates to specific useful skills. It forms the core of apprenticeships and provides the backbone of content at technical colleges or polytechnics. Today it is often referred to as professional development. Training is the means the planned and organized activity of a consultant to impart skills, techniques and methodologies to employers and their employees to assist them in establishing and maintaining employment and a place of employment which is safe and healthful. Training is the systematic process of developing knowledge, skills, and attitudes for current or future jobs. Training refers to seminars or workshops conducted for a private client, usually a corporation, specifically for a group of its employees. Most corporate training seminars are one or two days. Training is the systematic development of attitudes, knowledge and skills, behavioral pattern required by an individual in order to perform adequately a given task or job between actual and required human performance at work forms the basic of the need.
Process of training:
* Training needs identification and setting of objectives by the organization
* Planning, design and preparation of the training programmes against the objectives
* Pre-course identification of people with needs and completion of the preparation required by the training program
* Provision of the agreed training programmes
* Pre-course briefing meeting between learner and line manager
* Pre-course or start of program identification of learners' existing knowledge, skills and attitudes Interim validation as programme proceeds
* Assessment of terminal knowledge, skills, etc., and completion of perceptions/change assessment Completion of end-of-programme reactionnaire
* Completion of end-of-programme Learning Questionnaire or Key Objectives Learning Questionnaire
* Completion of Action Plan
* Post-course debriefing meeting between learner and line manager
* Line manager observation of implementation progress
* Review meetings to discuss progress of implementation
* Final implementation review meeting
What is training evaluation? Enumerate the process of evaluation of training effectiveness using “kirk Patrick” model.
Most training takes place in an organizational setting, typically in support of skill and knowledge requirements originating in the workplace.
we can identify five basic points at which we might take measurements, conduct assessments, or reach judgments.
o Before Training
o During Training
o After Training or Before Entry (Reentry)
o In The Workplace
o Upon Exiting The Workplace
The four elements of Kirkpatrick's framework are defined below using Kirkpatrick's original definitions.
In 1975, Donald Kirkpatrick first presented a four-level model of evaluation that has become a classic in the industry:
o Level One: Reaction
o Level Two: Learning
o Level Three: Behavior
o Level Four: Results
These levels can be applied to technology-based training as well as to more traditional forms of delivery. Modified labels and descriptions of these steps of summative evaluation follow.
Level One: Students' Reaction
In this first level or step, students are asked to evaluate the training after completing the program. These are sometimes called smile sheets or happy sheets because in their simplest form they measure how well students liked the training. However, this type of evaluation can reveal valuable data if the questions asked are more complex. For example, a survey similar to the one used in the formative evaluation also could be used with the full student population. This questionnaire moves beyond how well the students liked the training to questions about:
o The relevance of the objectives.
o The ability of the course to maintain interest.
o The amount and appropriateness of interactive exercises.
o The ease of navigation.
o The perceived value and transferability to the workplace. With technology-based training, the survey can be delivered and completed online, and then printed or e-mailed to a training manager. Because this type of evaluation is so easy and cheap to administer, it usually is conducted in most organizations.
Level Two: Learning Results
Level Two in the Kirkpatrick model measures learning results. In other words, did the students actually learn the knowledge, skills, and attitudes the program was supposed to teach? To show achievement, have students complete a pre-test and post-test, making sure that test items or questions are truly written to the learning objectives. By summarizing the scores of all students, trainers can accurately see the impact that the training intervention had. This type of evaluation is not as widely conducted as Level One, but is still very common.
Level Three: Behavior in the Workplace
Students typically score well on post-tests, but the real question is whether or not any of the new knowledge and skills are retained and transferred back on the job. Level Three evaluations attempt to answer whether or not students' behaviors actually change as a result of new learning. Ideally, this measurement is conducted three to six months after the training program. By allowing some time to pass, students have the opportunity to implement new skills and retention rates can be checked. Observation surveys are used, sometimes called behavioral scorecards. Surveys can be completed by the student, the student's supervisor, individuals who report directly to the student, and even the student's customers. For example, survey questions evaluating a sales training program might include:
* Did the representative open each customer dialogue with a product benefit statement, followed by a request to proceed?
* Was the representative able to analyze and describe to you the category of customers' objections as either valid, misinformation, or smokescreen?
* Did the representative use the appropriate model answer in response to each objection?
* Did the representative close each sales call with a request for purchase?
* If the prospect did not buy anything, did the representative end the call with specific future action steps?
* Did the representative complete call history records that include summaries of who, what, where, when, and why?
Level Four: Business Results
The fourth level in this model is to evaluate the business impact of the training program. The only scientific way to isolate training as a variable would be to isolate a representative control group within the larger student population, and then rollout the training program, complete the evaluation, and compare against a business evaluation of the non-trained group. Unfortunately, this is rarely done because of the difficulty of gathering the business data and the complexity of isolating the training intervention as a unique variable. However, even anecdotal data is worth capturing. Below are sample training programs and the type of business impact data that can be measured.
* Sales training. Measure change in sales volume, customer retention, length of sales cycle, profitability on each sale after the training program has been implemented.
* Technical training. Measure reduction in calls to the help desk; reduced time to complete reports, forms, or tasks; or improved use of software or systems.
* Quality training. Measure a reduction in number of defects.
* Safety training. Measure red uction in number or severity of accidents.
* Management training. Measure increase in engagement levels of direct-reports.
