A common criticism of workplace training is that the attendance at a training course is seen as an end in itself rather than a way of acquiring specific skills and knowledge. Training is costly in terms of time and resources (but not as costly as not training).

It should therefore be evaluated. There are many evaluation tools available.

One of the most popular tools was developed by Donald Kirkpatrick.
The Kirkpatrick evaluation model measures:

• the reaction of learners to the learning experience. This is usually represented as immediate feedback or `happy sheets’.
• testing the skills or knowledge learned
• behaviour and the way that new skills/knowledge are translated into a workplace setting
• results or effects on the business or service

You can find out more about the various models along with many other theories that support the continuous improvement of workplace performance in the section of the Toolkit popular learning models.

Related Resources

•  
  Kirkpatrick model of evaluation in the Toolkit
  

  A summary of the four levels of the Kirkpatrick model of evaluation in the e-Learning Readiness Toolkit.

  page_82.html