Training Planning, Design and Assessment

1. GIVING TRAINING A PURPOSEGIVING TRAINING A PURPOSE
Author: Harsh Vardhan
Note: Although this presentation addresses AT&T /Bell South Training (Telecom)process,
this can be adapted to any training program, and is not any industry specific. The
presentation addresses the need for a training program to be purposeful and assessment to
be measured, against set objectives and goals.

2. GIVING TRAINING A PURPOSEGIVING TRAINING A PURPOSE
To train with a clear ‘Performance
Objective’, facilitates planning the course,
‘Assessment Tools’ as per standard and
deliver against a set time frame.

3. GIVING TRAINING A PURPOSEGIVING TRAINING A PURPOSE
3 COMPONENTS OF PERFORMANCE OBJECTIVE –
TASK, ASSESSMENT STANDARDS AND CONDITIONS.
1.The Performance Objectives have to be set as per module (Logical
Sections) in addition to the Terminal Performance Objectives (At the
end of the program).
2.This would clearly set up expectations as per the shorter time frames,
which is the usual industrial hazard one lives with.

4. GIVING TRAINING A PURPOSEGIVING TRAINING A PURPOSE
3 COMPONENTS OF PERFORMANCE OBJECTIVE
3.Before the course ware is designed (or is received frequently as in
case of AT&T /Bell South Product Training), a performance
Objective needs to be written for each ‘Performance Gap’, that has
been identified, for which training is seen as an answer.

5. GIVING TRAINING A PURPOSEGIVING TRAINING A PURPOSE
3 COMPONENTS OF PERFORMANCE OBJECTIVE
It is an exact description of what a Learner would demonstrate the
‘Targeted Competency’ in terms of required performance, under the
predefined set of conditions.

6. GIVING TRAINING A PURPOSEGIVING TRAINING A PURPOSE
WHY USE PERFORMANCE OBJECTIVES
• It describes specifically the destination of the Learner –
Skills/Knowledge/Attitude, she/he would have learned.
• With the Learner’s themselves participating in the course
development, they would see more purpose in the training and
contribute to their own learning.

7. GIVING TRAINING A PURPOSEGIVING TRAINING A PURPOSE
WHY USE PERFORMANCE OBJECTIVES
• Performance Objectives take vagueness out of the learning
process.
• Learners know what task they are going to perform, how well to
perform - before being judged competent and the assessment
parameters.

8. GIVING TRAINING A PURPOSEGIVING TRAINING A PURPOSE
WHY USE PERFORMANCE OBJECTIVES
• The trainer/ course designer is less likely to go off on a tangent. A
course map, the content and the appropriate learning tasks can be
assigned.
• Based on the minimum standard required, the trainer can determine
the assessment tool to assess competency.
• During the actual training, it ensures that all involved remain on
track.

9. GIVING TRAINING A PURPOSEGIVING TRAINING A PURPOSE
COMPONENTS OF PERFORMANCE OBJECTIVE
TASK
This is stated as an action verb, that describes easily what the learner
must be able to do; to demonstrate competency. It has to be written in
terms of measurability and observable behavior.

10. GIVING TRAINING A PURPOSEGIVING TRAINING A PURPOSE
COMPONENTS OF PERFORMANCE OBJECTIVE
ASSESSMENT STANDARDS
This addresses the need to judge the level/s of participants, at the thru
put. It also ascertains, how they will perform post; in order to
determine the desired competency level.
E.g. – “The Performance is satisfactory when…”

11. GIVING TRAINING A PURPOSEGIVING TRAINING A PURPOSE
COMPONENTS OF PERFORMANCE OBJECTIVE
ASSESSMENT STANDARDS
• It has to be written to match capabilities of beginners and not the
level of expert’s.
• It has to very specific. The learner should be clear on their assessed
and deemed competency. This alone will be the focus of the
teaching.

12. GIVING TRAINING A PURPOSEGIVING TRAINING A PURPOSE
COMPONENTS OF PERFORMANCE OBJECTIVE
CONDITIONS
This specifies the circumstances under which, the desired performance
will be demonstrated. The statement often begins with,” Given”.

13. GIVING TRAINING A PURPOSEGIVING TRAINING A PURPOSE
CONDITIONS
E.g. : 1. The Team Member will be able to achieve 5 SPD (Sales Per
Day)by the 10th day in Incubation (On the Job Training - OJT),
given that she/he has been allowed to shadow 10 SPD performer/s
for 10 hours in continuity.
2. That she has been coached by an Asst. Coach/Mentor for a total of
9 hours, post barging (listening to ‘live’ calls)
in the previous 9 days.

14. GIVING TRAINING A PURPOSEGIVING TRAINING A PURPOSE
CONDITIONS
E.g. :That the Lead Set has not been used (‘Virgin Lead Set’ is a rarity),
for more than 2 days prior to her going on the floor and suffices for a
group of 15 members for a period of 15 days.

15. GIVING TRAINING A PURPOSEGIVING TRAINING A PURPOSE
Conditions may include such factors, as whether the participants will be
assessed –
•Orally or in Writing;
•Whether the learner will be allowed to use references, such as
handouts, notes or any other tools;
•Whether the performance will be evaluated ,during the classroom
training, incubation (OJT).

16. GIVING TRAINING A PURPOSEGIVING TRAINING A PURPOSE
The important issue is that the assessment, should match the actual
job, as closely as possible. Therefore all the necessary tools and
resources should be made available.

17. CHECKING THE LEARNING – ASSESSMENTCHECKING THE LEARNING – ASSESSMENT
CHECKING THE LEARNING –CHECKING THE LEARNING –
ASSESSMENTASSESSMENT

18. CHECKING THE LEARNING – ASSESSMENTCHECKING THE LEARNING – ASSESSMENT
Assessment is about collecting evidence of a participant’s
performance, to ascertain whether a candidate has reached; a defined
performance standard.
Competence can be measured as norm-referred (in comparison with
other participants of an equal level) or definition-referred (measured
against clearly defined criteria).

19. CHECKING THE LEARNING – ASSESSMENTCHECKING THE LEARNING – ASSESSMENT
WHY ASSESS?

20. CHECKING THE LEARNING – ASSESSMENTCHECKING THE LEARNING – ASSESSMENT
Finding out about the Learner’s Performance
Writing the performance objective, is the starting of the designing the
learning process. While designing it is important to keep in mind,
that this has to result in a particular performance, and there has to
be a measurement process; at different stages of the learning.
Once the ‘Performance Objective’ has been
defined, if proper assessment is not in
place,then there is no way to ascertain,
if training has made a difference to skills,
knowledge and attitude.

21. CHECKING THE LEARNING – ASSESSMENTCHECKING THE LEARNING – ASSESSMENT
ORGANIZATIONAL BENEFITS
The organization has to assess on the ROTI (Return on Training
Investment). The future organizational Human Resources Development
can be planned on a similar basis.
Human resources development is cyclic
in nature - as we keep assessing the
performance gap and training to ever
increasing performance levels, and
addressing constantly shifting paradigms;
transparent and unbiased assessment is
non-negotiable.

22. CHECKING THE LEARNING – ASSESSMENTCHECKING THE LEARNING – ASSESSMENT
BENEFIT FOR THE INDIVIDUAL
It also addresses the human need to accomplish, and measure
success as result of the endeavor. The report card, balances the
achievements with opportunities.
Assessment can also be used in
the feedback loop, to ensure that
the design and delivery of training;
is effective.

23. CHECKING THE LEARNING – ASSESSMENTCHECKING THE LEARNING – ASSESSMENT
WHERE DO I BEGIN?

24. CHECKING THE LEARNING – ASSESSMENTCHECKING THE LEARNING – ASSESSMENT
WHAT DO WE WANT TO ASSESS? COMPETENCE!
COMPETENCE
The quality of being competent; adequacy; possession of required skill,
knowledge, qualification, or capacity, sufficiency;
COMPETENCE
A sufficient quantity, legal capacity or
qualification based on the meeting of
certain minimum requirements of age,
soundness of mind, citizenship, or the like.

25. CHECKING THE LEARNING – ASSESSMENTCHECKING THE LEARNING – ASSESSMENT
COMPETENCE
For the purpose of this training, we define competence as – the
possession of sufficient knowledge, skills and attitudes, to allow the
completion of a task, to a defined standard under specified
conditions.

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WHAT TYPES OF
ASSESSMENT’S
ARE THERE?

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NORM REFERENCED AND CRITERION REFERENCED
ASSESSMENT
Most school students are familiar with testing where the scores are
ranked on a list – often as a percentage or as a grade.
They use this to compare their performance with their peer’s. This is
called as ‘Norm Referenced Assessment’. We call it ‘Stack Racking’ in
Operational Performance Evaluation. This type of assessment is
particularly useful for –
•Classifying Learners
•Selecting learners for fixed quota requirements
•Comparing the learning achievement, between learners in a
group

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FORMATIVE AND SUMMATIVE ASSESSMENT
We often begin assessing trainees, without knowing them. When a
trainer asks a trainee to recall a recently covered point or asks to
summarize previous learning, assessment is taking place.
FORMATIVE ASSESSMENT
Sometimes a test can be conducted,
before continuing with the
instructions. Most assessments,
during training are informal.
This assessment methodology,
is called Formative Assessment .

29. CHECKING THE LEARNING – ASSESSMENTCHECKING THE LEARNING – ASSESSMENT
SUMMATIVE ASSESSMENT
This method, measures over all attainment. It is used to determine the
degree of mastery of a given task and to pinpoint the part of task,
not yet mastered.
Its purpose is to help the learner
focus, on the particular learning,
necessary to progress towards
the required standard of
performance.

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APPROPRIATE ASSESMENT
FOR THE THREE DOMAINS
OF LEARNING

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The three domains of learning –
Knowledge, Skills and Attitudes, may require different approaches,
when it comes to assessment. One form of assessment may be
insufficient to asses, the different domains.

32. CHECKING THE LEARNING – ASSESSMENTCHECKING THE LEARNING – ASSESSMENT
SKILLS
• Demonstration of a skill
• Observation – Using a checklist or rating scale
• Witness testimony – Confirmed by somebody, other than the
assessor
• Examination of the produce of the assessment – Using a
checklist or rating scale
• Event Record – A record of the observations of the trainee,
‘performing the learnt skill’ by the trainee or the trainer
• Project report – This is suitable for assessing applications of
learning, where a number of skills are combined .
E.g. – design, choice of resources, planning, practical application

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KNOWLEDGE
• Oral questions to the trainees
• Written answers which can be multiple choice, alternative choice,
short answers, sentence completion, matching the correct answer,
essay writing, calculations, statistical interpretation, recognition,
drawing diagrams, etc.

34. CHECKING THE LEARNING – ASSESSMENTCHECKING THE LEARNING – ASSESSMENT
ATTITUDES
It is very difficult to measure attitudes and values. Most assessors’
assess just Knowledge and Skills. However there are many
Psychometrics based test available. To get a fair assessment test
needs to be conducted - both Pre and Post training.

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RELIABILITY AND VALIDITY
Ensuring that the assessment is reliable and valid, is of vital
importance. Specifically, unreliable or invalid assessment may affect
the trainee’s chances of success. Similarly unqualified trainees, may
undertake work beyond their capabilities.

36. CHECKING THE LEARNING – ASSESSMENTCHECKING THE LEARNING – ASSESSMENT
RELIABILITY
Reliability means that the assessment can be relied upon to give an
accurate statement, about the competence of individuals in relation,
to the standards defined.
In the design stage it is important to test the assessment process, in
the same manner that the car manufacturer’s put their models,
through a string of rigorous road and lab tests.
They aim to ensure reliability, and assessment works in exactly the
same way. If we test thoroughly, then we have a much greater
chance of success.

37. CHECKING THE LEARNING – ASSESSMENTCHECKING THE LEARNING – ASSESSMENT
RELIABILITY
One of the key issues, that need to be addressed in determining
reliability, is the number of performances, which will be required to
demonstrate competency.
Will the learner be deemed capable, if she performs the task just once,
or if not, how many times will be required to prove competency?
There are number of statistical techniques which are used to test
reliability, once the trainees ‘go live’. However, it is often simpler to
undertake a review of assessment to check reliability.

38. CHECKING THE LEARNING – ASSESSMENTCHECKING THE LEARNING – ASSESSMENT
VALIDITY
Validity is the extent to which an assessment measures the specific
skills, knowledge and attitudes, it is supposed to measure.
There are 4 aspects of validity which must be considered:
• FACE
• CONTENT
• CONSTRUCT
• PREDICTIVE

39. CHECKING THE LEARNING – ASSESSMENTCHECKING THE LEARNING – ASSESSMENT
FACE VALIDITY
Trainees being assessed have a right to be assessed on the areas that
they have prepared, or been trained upon. They also have a right to
know, that they are being assessed.

40. CHECKING THE LEARNING – ASSESSMENTCHECKING THE LEARNING – ASSESSMENT
CONTENT VALIDITY
It is an act, which helps define, that the assessment actually tests the
content, which was defined in the performance objective.

41. CHECKING THE LEARNING – ASSESSMENTCHECKING THE LEARNING – ASSESSMENT
CONSTRUCT VALIDITY
An assessment will have construct validity, if those taking the test
respond in a way, in which the assessor intended. Sometimes,
those being tested complain, that they weren’t able to understand
the question or directions, which they were given.

42. CHECKING THE LEARNING – ASSESSMENTCHECKING THE LEARNING – ASSESSMENT
PREDICTIVE VALIDITY
In designing assessment, we want to predict whether a trainee, will be
able to demonstrate the competency at other times, than those during
the assessment. Not doing so, can lead to serious consequences.

43. CHECKING THE LEARNING – ASSESSMENTCHECKING THE LEARNING – ASSESSMENT
COMPLEX TASKS
Assessors need to be aware that if successful performance depends
on a combination of skills, knowledge and attitudes, then the
assessment process must take account .

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THINGS TO WATCH OUT FOR
IN ASSESSMENT

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THE HALO EFFECT
The Halo Effect occurs when an assessor rates a learner’s
achievement based on prior performance.
We have to be careful, that we
are not influenced by factors,
other than the performance of
the participant, at the time of the
assessment and the behavior
being assessed.

46. CHECKING THE LEARNING – ASSESSMENTCHECKING THE LEARNING – ASSESSMENT
HAWTHORNE EFFECT
The Hawthorne effect occurs, when people act differently under
assessment conditions, than they would normally. To avoid this effect,
assessment should be carried out under normal conditions

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Stereotyping
If we judge people, on the basis of our perception of the group, to
which they belong, we are stereotyping. Groups with which we
associate could range on basis of age, gender, culture, occupation,
language and others. It is difficult, but necessary, to remain objective in
our assessment.

48. CHECKING THE LEARNING – ASSESSMENTCHECKING THE LEARNING – ASSESSMENT
Error of Leniency
Assessors have their own standard, and tend to make appraisals
against these. An assessor may be positively lenient, that she rates
people higher than they have performed.
Alternatively, an assessor
could be negatively lenient,
giving people lower assessments
than they deserve.
Careful design of assessment
forms and training of assessors
can help to avoid this type of
assessment error.

49. CHECKING THE LEARNING – ASSESSMENTCHECKING THE LEARNING – ASSESSMENT
Plan well and get started. Thank you.