Hi, any advice on how to formally assess new starters after their induction training. At present I just monitor how they get on when they are left to their own devices but would like to have some kind of formal assessment to see what they have taken in from the training, so I can pinpoint any weaknesses. Any ideas gratefully received!
Louise Dack
4 Responses
Assessment of New Starters
Hi Louise,
Could you be more specific please? Are you referring to some form of test at the end of the training, or post evaluation?
My view is that a post evaluation should always take place, to ensure that the training was appropriate and has met the needs of the company and individuals alike. Is this mechanism in place? If you are looking for ways to measure the new skills, please supply further details about the type of training delivered, i.e. new system or increased IT and/or soft skills, and also the job functions. Is this a new or updated course?
If you would prefer, drop me a mail and I will endeavour to assist you.
Kind regards,
Clive
Evaluation Obstacle Course
Sorry if this is too basic, but…
There are many ways to evaluate the impact of training, but one of my favourites is to set up an “obstacle course” where delegates have to prepare a document that includes a series of “advanced features”, such as a chart derived from Excel, or Access data. Depending on the application, you can choose which “obstacles” to put in their way.
As always with evaluation, the key is getting buy in from management to encourage delegates to give you their feedback in a constructive manner, without seeing it as an imposition on their precious time.
Induction evaluation
I’ll try to be brief! First, before the induction programme, ensure that you have a list of achievement objectives. After the event, refer to these objectives and test, question, observe, or whatever, as to whether they have a. learned what they had to learn and b. whether they are putting the learning into practice (use their line managers in this). The validation could be knowl;edge questionnaires, practical tests of skills they had to acquire, etc. Good luck, Leslie Rae
Assessment of IT Skills
We use a piece of software called Skillcheck to assess our staff before and after any kind of IT training. This allows us to see how they have progressed and if the training has been beneficial. We purchased this from a psychometric testing company ASE.