Assessments in elearning

Tony Karrer has posted an interesting look at assessment in elearning, citing Will Thalheimer's post on the subject. Sadly, this reflects my own take on the matter, and not just in respect of elearning, but I find that fewer and fewer instructor-led courses are using anything more than happy sheets.

In my last job, I introduced level 2 - level 1 was already in place, and it was seen as being pretty "out there" to take it to the next level. They patted themselves on the back for being so progressive.

I had a go at getting level 3 in place, but this required the cooperation of line managers so it was pretty patchy. Those who cared about learning and development bought into it, but they were in the minority.

As for level 4... Every time I raised the subject, I got shot down in flames. I was assured I didn't need to produce ROI - my job was secure. There was no way I could get them to drop the knowing smiles and understand the benefits of researching the ROI of the learning I was developing - especially since it was all totally new stuff.

Ironically, within months of my leaving, my replacement was made redundant and advised that it had been a mistake to have an in-house training programme. Without evidence of ROI, she had no evidence to the contrary. All we had was the large collection of emails the staff had sent me before I left, highlighting the difference the learning had made to them, which wasn't considered valid. Secure, huh?

Writing skills

• Tony
• Karrer
• Will
• Thalheimer
• Kirkpatrick
• assessment