While I'm a big believer in checking learner's understanding as we go (thank you Rise for making that so easy!) I'm not a fan of the 'final quiz' approach and prefer to have skill demonstrations or practical applications if at all possible.
But I'm struggling to find an appropriate assessment of learning for the more conceptual courses. Has anyone got any bright ideas?
Great question. I agree, end-of-course assessments are not an engaging (or particularly accurate) way of checking understanding. I've stopped creating 'tests' altogether. Instead I try to provide an environment where they have to apply the learning rather than prove they understand something.
Can you share the topic of one of your more 'conceptual courses' & let's see if we can design something together that's a bit more engaging?
I know this isn't far from a "quiz" that you speak of, but I am working on a course with a lot of heavy, complex regulations that I'd actually like the learner to be able to apply immediately.
After learning the regulations, a phone in the office rings and the user has answer questions from a person from the regulated community, as they would in their jobs.
I thought this added some interest and a deeper level of application. Plus it was a ton of fun to make the phone ring :)
My most recent example is in early new hire training. Imagine the learner has just started at new job in a complex industry that they have never worked in before. After the training, they need to have a broad understanding of the industry as a whole and how your organisation fits in to it, and an awareness of the products/services that you offer.
They don't use this knowledge in any practical sense, but do need to have it in order to put their targeted, role-specific training in perspective. Hopefully that makes some sort of sense!
It would be difficult it is to "check" a learner's understanding of those big-picture ideas. I would tend to go with storytelling that would leave an impactful impression on the learner.
For example, a famous clothing (or maybe show brand?... it may have been Zappos) had these "rumors" going around that a customer called in, asked the rep to help them order a pizza, and the employee actually helped them do it. This story circulated and exemplified how customer-service driven they were - a huge component of the culture and success of the business.
You could make a story (even an interactive one) where the new employee sees the company interact with the public, how the company's product impacted someone, etc. At the end of the story, you could even bring it back to that employee's new role and how it impacts/fits into the story.
I have similar interactions in my learning programme, and think it is a solid approach. But my big issue is that the powers that be want everybody 'certified' in each of the core curricula, of which this is one :(
It is the only one that doesn't have a specific skill that can be assessed, but that doesn't help me in the assessing of it!
5 Replies
Hey Roni
Great question. I agree, end-of-course assessments are not an engaging (or particularly accurate) way of checking understanding. I've stopped creating 'tests' altogether. Instead I try to provide an environment where they have to apply the learning rather than prove they understand something.
Can you share the topic of one of your more 'conceptual courses' & let's see if we can design something together that's a bit more engaging?
I know this isn't far from a "quiz" that you speak of, but I am working on a course with a lot of heavy, complex regulations that I'd actually like the learner to be able to apply immediately.
After learning the regulations, a phone in the office rings and the user has answer questions from a person from the regulated community, as they would in their jobs.
I thought this added some interest and a deeper level of application. Plus it was a ton of fun to make the phone ring :)
My most recent example is in early new hire training. Imagine the learner has just started at new job in a complex industry that they have never worked in before. After the training, they need to have a broad understanding of the industry as a whole and how your organisation fits in to it, and an awareness of the products/services that you offer.
They don't use this knowledge in any practical sense, but do need to have it in order to put their targeted, role-specific training in perspective. Hopefully that makes some sort of sense!
Hi Roni!
It would be difficult it is to "check" a learner's understanding of those big-picture ideas. I would tend to go with storytelling that would leave an impactful impression on the learner.
For example, a famous clothing (or maybe show brand?... it may have been Zappos) had these "rumors" going around that a customer called in, asked the rep to help them order a pizza, and the employee actually helped them do it. This story circulated and exemplified how customer-service driven they were - a huge component of the culture and success of the business.
You could make a story (even an interactive one) where the new employee sees the company interact with the public, how the company's product impacted someone, etc. At the end of the story, you could even bring it back to that employee's new role and how it impacts/fits into the story.
I have similar interactions in my learning programme, and think it is a solid approach. But my big issue is that the powers that be want everybody 'certified' in each of the core curricula, of which this is one :(
It is the only one that doesn't have a specific skill that can be assessed, but that doesn't help me in the assessing of it!
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