Hi I'm currently a trainee trainer and am trying to put together an evaluation sheet for staff to complete at the end of each training course. I have an idea of what I would like the form to consist of just wondered if anyone else has used this as a source of feedback and which if any techniques they have found useful.
Thanks
Emma
Emma Baxter
13 Responses
information
Hi Emma, I have a few feedback sheets and articles that may be of use, if you require these then drop me a mail and I will forward them on
Nigel
info
Hi Emma
As with Nigel, if you drop me an email I’ll send you a copy of the “Your Opinion Counts” sheets we use at the end of every session we hold!
Best Regards
Andrew
andrewo@calcomgroup.com
Feedback
Emma, As with the others I’ll be happy to email you a selection of forms. Another approach is to break the form into 3 sections. Keep doing, do less of, try next time. I find it is a simple way of capturing comments alongside the standard ratings.
think before you write!
I have recently come across a “Happy sheet” with the comment
“The Course met my expectations” and options of “strongly agree”, “Agree”, “disagree”, “strongly disagree”.
Sadly there wasn’t a section that asked what the expectation was; needless to say some delegates expected the course to be awful and some expected it to be good (it was a compulsory course).
The result is pretty meaningless.
Hayy Sheet
Hi Emma,
Please email me and I will happily send a copy over of a happy sheet I currently use.
many thanks
Buffy
Evaluation forms
Hi Emma,
I’d be happy to share our forms with you, just drop me an email.
Regards,
Gareth Roberts
Admiral Group PLC
Three questions that work
Dear Emma
I use a slightly eccentric approach that works for me.
I give people a piece of A4 paper and ask them to write down.
What was the most significant thing you learned on the course/event?
What was good about the course/event?
If we ever did this again, how could the next one be better?
This gives you the information you need about the immediate impact of the event. You also get the information in a form you can take in.
This simple approach is very powerful if you use it after meetings, even informal one to one meetings. You always learn something!
Best wishes
Give them time to think
If the purpose of the information you are trying to collect is to help improve the training solutions you provide then I would not seek an immediate response as the attendees are about to rush out of the door.
By all means provide them with a guidance document but suggest you follow up with them once they are back at their places of work and maybe have even had time to embed some of your content into their working practices.
Value of Happy Sheets
Hi Emma
For me the key with these sheets is what you will be doing with the information. Questions to ask yourself – Is it a feel good factor for the Trainer, to highlight potential amendments to course content or structure, delegate satisfaction ratings for your line manager etc……. For the most part they have very limited value if handed out for completion at the end of the session. I have had reasonable success sending these out electronically post course.
You possibly also need to make a distinction between validation and evaluation.
Let me know if you find a magic solution.
Tony Bulmer
Technical & Skills Devt Manager
Legal & General
Why use them?
Why use happy sheets? Did the trainees enjoy the experience, so what? If your purpose was to entertain them for the day, it’s worth asking if they enjoyed it, but if your purpose was for them to learn something, then the evaluation should check learning. Questions about the experience should then focus on its effectiveness in contributing to the learning.
Start from the course objectives, then link each activity to that, then ask how you could check the effectiveness of that activity in achieving its objective. And monitor it at its conclusion. That way you build up your evaluation in stages and may be able to revise the programme in the light of the feedback.
Feedback questionnaires at the end are the least effective tool because it’s too late to change it for that group. What’s more, the next group will be a different set of people who may respond differently, so the feedback from one may not be a good indicator.
If you must use questionnaires, avoid asking questions about things you can’t change – what’ the point?
My personal approach
Hi Emma,
Over the years I have also found that ‘happy sheets’ don’t always provide the feedback us trainers find valuable. Therefore I still use the classic approach of providing a happy sheet to all participants but rather than having everybody to complete it in 3 seconds I appoint 1 person who acts as a facilitator. The expectation is to provide feedback on ALL modules/topics in the format of 2 positives and 1 area for improvement. In order to get an open discussion going I do leave the room and let the group get on with it. In addition to getting good feedback from your participants they also get some extra ‘effective feedback’ training for free. This takes approx 20 minutes, it works best in groups of 12 participants maximum and has proven to be most valuable (for me) in training sessions of the supervisory/managerial nature.
It’s just another option, maybe you can make it work in your area of training;
Kind regards,
Peggy
Results are the best assessment
Emma
Whilst I definitely agree that comments are better than marks, each of the following pairs of comments were made about the same course on the same day:
1a. Pace generally too slow and notes did not add more detail to the lectures.
1b. Very detailed – lots to absorb in a day but good notes to take away.
2a. Good clear concise material.
2b. Could do with better presentation material.
3a. [The presenter] covered a tremendous volume of material quickly and lucidly.
3b. Disappointing – felt instructor’s knowledge was too limited.
To my mind, the only genuinely useful feedback on a course is how much it has benefitted the trainees 3, 6, 9 months on.
Be well
Andy B.
Help needed
I will be grateful if anyone can email me a course evaluation form they found useful. I have a course coming up and need find a form that I can use.
Thanks
mohammed.dulaimi[@]buid.ac.ae