Question: Project Overview
Purpose: The purpose of this semester-long Project is to demonstrate that you possess the knowledge, skills, and other appropriate capabilities to design a detailed, comprehensive, and plausible plan to asses and evaluate training in a for-profit organization.
Being able to design a plan to assess and evaluate a training program strongly suggests that you would also be able to successfully implement such a program.
The Importance of Selecting the Appropriate Training Program to Evaluate
The centerpiece of our course is the semester-long Learning Assessment and Evaluation Project in which you develop a comprehensive plan to assess and evaluate a training program of your choice within a fictional but plausible mid-size, for-profit organization. You are not required to create a training program and actually evaluate it.You only need to select and adapt an already existing training program that's appropriate for your invented organizational context (e.g., a program that "exists" in an article, book, video, organizational archive, or previous course work), then develop a planto assess and evaluate it.
The evaluation model presented in this course (the Kirkpatrick-Phillips Five-Level Model) will also be the model you will use to develop your Project. It is important to remember that this model (at least for the purposes of this course) is not easily applicable to all types of learning/training programs.Though the model can and has been applied to a wide range of learning/training situations, it is bestapplied to training programs delivered within a for-profit organization for the purpose of improving employee performance.
Therefore, choose an "existing" training program you wish to base our Project carefully, as you may have difficulty applying the Kirkpatrick-Phillips model to, say, community service or public educational programs in which direct monetary benefits from the program are difficult (though certainly not impossible) to quantify. As with every part of this Project, please contact me, your instructor, if you feel you need any advice/assistance in selecting a training program for this Project.
Project Context Scenario
Though your training program should be of an "existing" nature, the organization context in which the program occurs is a fictional but plausible one-in other words, this organization doesn't currently exist, but it could exist.
Qualifications/limitations of your fictional but plausible organizational context
1. Must be a mid-sized (defined as 250-1000 employees) for-profit organization physically located on one campus in one city
2. Based on your interests, you get to define the primary industry for your fictional organization (e.g., manufacturing, business services, professional, retail, etc.)
3. According to SHRM survey data) mid-sized for-profit organization have an average of 1.2 Human Resources staff per 100 employees. For the purposes of this Project, assume that all employees of your fictional organization, including HR, are paid the medium national salary for organizations in your selected industry
4. You, the author, of this training evaluation plan, are the fictional lead trainer and sole HR employee directly responsible for training evaluation. Heretofore you have assessed training only at the "employee response/satisfaction level" (Phillips and Phillips "Level 1" evaluation). Your fictional organization's senior management is ambivalent about the importance of evaluating training: some members see value in it, others do not
5. Your selected training program should be a reasonably substantial combination of "standup" sessions (like a F2F workshop or course) and "homework." The level of effort/time-on-task should be equivalent to a one-credit higher education course, which, according to the New York State Education Department entails 15 hours of "classroom time" and twice that amount of time, or 30 hours, of outside-of-class time. All of which comes to 45 hours of total "learning time"
6. Lastly, the fictional but plausible audience for your Training Evaluation Project (besides me and your classmates) is your hypothetical boss, the Director of HR at your fictional but plausible organization. You need to arm this HR Director with a persuasive case for training evaluation to take to senior management
Project Components, Instructions, and Timeline
Schedule at a Glance
• Project Part 1: Training Program Overview (due Week 5)
• Project Part 2: Measuring Reaction and Learning (due Week 9)
• Project Part 3: Measuring Application and Business Impact of Training (due Week 12)
• Project Part 4: Calculating ROI and Gaining Management Support (due Weeks 15/16)
Project Part 1: Training Program Overview
• This Part is assigned in Week 1 and due at the end of Week 5
• Total points earned: 10 points
• Not including any appendices, your document should be between 750 and 900 words in length
Purpose: To select and describe a training program that will serve as the basis for your Training Evaluation Project.
Instructions: The main body of this Part should include the following subsections:
1. Your Project Scenario-describe the hypothetical scenario you have created for yourself and your organization for the purposes of this Project.
2. The Purpose and Objectives of the Training Program: adapt and/or develop 4-6 measurable learning objectives for your program. In the real HRD world, outcomes would derive from systematic needs assignment and therefore come before and drive the training program.
3. Purpose of the Assessment/Evaluation: describe what you want to determine through your assessment/evaluation processes and how you might determine them.
4. Program Content, Activities and Logistics: provide a high-level overview of the program content, learning activities, how and where it will be delivered, etc.
5. Preliminary Budget: sketch a very preliminary budget (use the information contained in Chapter 13 of our Phillips and Phillips textbook) that includes the estimated costs associated with the program. Provided estimated timeline with the budget that shows when the costs are expected to be incurred; this could be an appended chart.
Project Part 2: Measuring Reaction and Learning
• This Part is assigned in Week 5 and due at the end of Week 9
• Total points earned: 15 points
• Not including any appendixes, your document should be between 900 and 1200 words in length
Purpose: To demonstrate your ability to design the assessment/evaluation of participants' reaction to and learning from training.
Instructions: This Part is divided into two major sections.
Section 1: Measuring Reaction
1. Begin this section with a narrative explaining the procedures that you will use to assess the participants' reactions to the program and how they plan to apply the information learned.
2. Explain when the data will be collected and the methods/instruments that will be used to gather the data.
3. Describe the method in which the data will be analyzed. Include, as an appendix, any copies of instruments you have obtained and/or developed to gather this data.
In summary, to guide you in the development of Section 1 of this Part, below is a list of those topics that you should include and discuss:
• The evaluation design
• Data collection methods
• Procedures used to develop instruments
• Data analysis procedures
• Copies of instruments
Section 2: Measuring Learning
1. Begin this section with a narrative explaining the procedures that you will use to assess the participants' level of knowledgeduring and after participating in the program and how they plan to apply the information learned.
2. Explain when the data will be collected and the methods/instruments that will be used to gather the data.
3. Describe the method in which the data will be analyzed. Include, as an appendix, any copies of instruments you have obtained and/or developed to gather this data.
In summary, to guide you in the development of Section 2 of Part 2, below is a list of those topics that you should include and discuss:
• The evaluation design
• Procedures used to develop achievement tests
• Simple item analysis procedures
• Methods to establish validity and reliability
• Performance assessment procedures
• Data analysis procedures
• Copies of the instruments and/or process-product checklists
Project Part 3: Measuring Application and Business Impact of Training
• This Part is assigned in Week 9 and due at the end of Week 12
• Total points earned: 15 points
• Not including any appendices, your document should be between 900 and 1200 words in length
Purpose: To demonstrate your ability to design the assessment/evaluation of the application and business impact of training.
Instructions:Like Part 2, this Part is divided into two major sections.
Section 1: Evaluation of Application
1. Begin this section with a narrative explaining the procedures that you will use to assess the participants' ability to apply the knowledge gained after participating in the training program back on the job.
2. Explain when the data will be collected and the methods/instruments that will be used to gather the data.
3. Describe the method in which the data will be analyzed. Include, as an appendix, any copies of instruments you have obtained and/or developed to gather this data.
In summary, to guide you in the development of Section 1 of Part 3, below is a list of those topics that you should include and discuss:
• The evaluation design
• Data collection methods
• Data analysis procedures
• Copies of the instruments and/or process-product checklists
Section 2: Evaluation of Business Results
1. Begin this section with a narrative explaining the procedures that you will use to evaluate the impact that your training program could have on the functioning of the organization.
2. Explain when the data will be collected and the methods/instruments that will be used to gather the data.
3. Describe the method in which the data will be analyzed. Include, as an appendix, any copies of instruments or checklists you have obtained and/or developed to gather this data.
In summary, to guide you in the development of Section 2 of Part 3, below is a list of those topics that you should include and discuss:
• The evaluation design
• Data collection methods
• Data analysis procedures
• Copies of the instruments and/or process-product checklists
Project Part 4: Calculating ROI and Gaining Management Support
• This Part is assigned in Week12 and due in Weeks 15/16
• Total points earned:
• Including the cover letter for your Project report, your Part 4 document (bulleted items 1, 2, and 5 below) should be between 750 and 900 words in length
Purpose:To demonstrate your ability to calculate training ROI and to design strategies for gaining management support for training evaluation.
Instructions for completing Part 4:
1. Begin this Part by explain the general procedures that could be used to calculate the return on investment (ROI) of your proposed training program.
2. Explain what figures could be used in the calculation, how the figures could be derived, and how ROI could potentially be computed at all levels of the Kirkpatrick-Phillips evaluation model.
3. Post Part 4 to the corresponding Dropbox
Instructions for completing and posting your Project Final Report and Presentation:
1. Compile the four Parts of your Training Evaluation Project into a Final Report and Presentation document using Chapter 18 of our textbook for guidance.
2. To your completed Project Report/Presentation, write and attach a "cover letter" addressed to your hypothetical HR Director that offers persuasion strategies for gaining management support for your Project.
3. Post your Final Report and Presentation to the corresponding myCourses Dropbox and Discussion areas