E-learning courses need to be well-structured and designed so that relevant reports can be generated through learning management systems to evaluate training.
You have developed an eLearning course and have assigned users to take the same, once it has been uploaded on to the LMS. You expect users to complete the course within the assigned period. At the end of the defined period, you need to evaluate the effectiveness of your eLearning course. How do you do it?
The solution is two-fold:
1. First, you need to design effective courses with pre and post testing of learning objectives.
2. Secondly, you need to have a robust learning management system that tracks and generates reports, which will be useful in monitoring learner behavior.
Therefore, ensure that your eLearning courses have the following:
Pre-test questions:
These evaluate the existing knowledge of learners. The responses can be compared with the final assessment to evaluate learning.
Course evaluation by learners:
E-learning course evaluation falls into the category of Kirkpatrick’s Level 1 evaluation. These are generally “happy sheets” to determine learner reaction to training. However, they can supply interesting insights into learners’ perceptions of the courses.
Review or self-check questions:
Responses to the review or self-check questions, will be useful to measure the extent to which learners have comprehended the subject. Of course, questions will need to be framed in such a way that they are directly or in-directly linked to the learning objectives of the course. Learner responses to individual questions may be analyzed to determine if specific questions are valid. For example, if an individual question is hardly ever answered correctly by learners, then it may be a poorly designed question, or content to support the objective it reinforces or tests may not be sufficient.
Final assessment questions:
The final assessment is useful to analyze and measure the effectiveness of the course in increasing the learning value.
Use LMS also for evaluation:
The information that the learning management system captures is very useful for the purpose of evaluation. You can generate innumerable reports that provide valuable data on the courses, which in turn helps to plan or change your future training strategy. For this, you need to ensure that your eLearning courses are structured and designed well and learner behavior patterns are monitored.
E-learning courses need to be well-structured and designed, so that relevant reports can be generated through learning management systems to evaluate training.
