KIRKPATRICK EXPRESS EVALUATION TOOLKIT

Understanding Learning Outcomes: Evaluation Basics for Trainers

Training professionals don’t always see immediate results from their work, but solid evaluation techniques can yield valuable information for you (and your boss) about how well your trainees are learning, whether they’re applying that knowledge in the workplace, and how your training affects the company’s people, products, processes and profits. You don’t need a degree in statistics to evaluate, understand and learn from the outcomes of your training sessions. Designed by evaluation expert Donald Kirkpatrick, the Kirkpatrick Express Evaluation Toolkit gives you the resources you need to start evaluating training outcomes, be able to analyze and communicate your results, and make those results work for you.

Learning Outcomes:

How to evaluate

You’ll start with a comprehensive overview of Kirkpatrick’s four levels of evaluation, the result of years of academic research: 

Reaction: How individual trainees react to the learning immediately after completing it. Did they enjoy your training session? Did they find it useful?

Learning: How much did trainees learn? Have they retained the key points addressed in the material?

Behaviour: How did your trainees change their behaviour to implement what they learned? What challenges did they face? Was what they learned useful to them back in the real world? And finally,

Results: What were the results for your organization? What was the cost-benefit ratio? This level addresses five areas: people, products, processes, profits and overall impact.

All four of the levels are interconnected, and understanding each provides a better picture of the full value of the training. 

Analyzing the results

You’ll also gain valuable information on what’s working and what isn’t. The Kirkpatrick Toolkit will help you to pinpoint both strengths and opportunities for improvement in your training sessions, with tips on how to customize and refine your evaluation questions, get the best response and analyze your results. 

Communicating the results

The Toolkit will help you to target specific stakeholders in your organization with the information they need to know; from individual participants to their supervisors to your CEO, you’ll learn how to make the case for your department using the right channels and the right messages. 

You’ll also find plenty of useful information on overcoming obstacles and excuses, fitting other evaluation tools into the Kirkpatrick framework, and additional resources to help you build your training program and fine-tune your message. 

Uses for the Product

Includes fully customizable reports and a professional PowerPoint presentation you can use to communicate the results of your training.

Product Type
Toolkit

Time Required
Independent study