Assessment Strategies for Success!

This week’s blog comes from TPHQ as we talk about assessment strategies for success. Investing in employee development has become more quantitative and metrics-driven than ever before, which puts assessment methodology at the forefront of workforce investment.

Statistics prove that companies across the globe invest heavily in employee training and development. According to Training Industry magazine, employee training and education spends, in the United States alone, are growing incrementally by 14% every year.

Types of Assessments

• Formative assessment – this happens in the flow of learning, which is more commonly known as flipped assessment and it’s similar to the flipped classroom concept. Flipped Assessment happens at regular intervals of a learner’s progress, it’s embedded within the lesson and in learning plans, in order to identify learning gaps. The importance of flipped assessment is the immediate feedback. It allows you and the learner to measure individual strengths and weaknesses and focus on their unique learning needs.

• The second type of assessment is Summative assessment, and this is the traditional assessment.  Users are given this type of assessment at the end of learning to test what is recalled from the training event and evaluate learning according to a benchmark that is set by the trainer. 

Each type of assessment has its own value because learning happens when we are required to recall what we know.  In addition, both have the benefit of encouraging employees to develop their real-world skills.

For companies to maintain their competitiveness, training is a must. Organizations that spend more time and money on employee training do see an increase in profits. HR & Training Managers can fine tune their training in a way that considers and builds upon strengths of their employees. Training focused on employee strengths takes into account the ways individual employees learn best.

Also, understanding employees challenge areas is also key. Training that is focused on employee strengths can create an environment that allows employees to understand themselves and how they do their tasks allowing for a stronger and more confident workforce. Assessments can provide the learner with the essential skills, knowledge and professional requirements needed to grow in their roles. Some employers include the learners in designing their Assessment growth plans and that can lead to good bonding instilling a sense of inclusion.

Don’t forget the other A word!

When considering assessment, the other ‘A’ word that can accompany it is….Anxiety! Over the years Team TutorPro have found two common types of user who fear the word Assessment. The first one feels things like: “I’m a good employee…so why should I take a test?” “If I fail, am I getting fired? I’ve worked here for many years and it comes down to this one test?” “I wasn’t trained to do this!” The second one may feel: “I will look stupid if I don’t pass!” “I don’t need to take a test!” “I don’t have time for this & I don’t need training!” Companies need to be sure to support this fear by promoting a learning culture.

What is the Value of a Comprehensive Assessment?

When planning training and development for your organization, it’s expected there will be a gain in terms of improved skills and productivity, greater retention rates, and an improved brand. Also, aligning business objectives and leveraging insights to increase firm profitability while closing knowledge gaps and increasing employee satisfaction.

Post-training quizzes, one-on-one discussions, employee surveys, participant case studies, and certification exams are other ways to measure assessment effectiveness.

We conducted a very comprehensive case study with one of our clients, Ice Miller, that we think offers an excellent example of the use of Assessments. The TutorPro team built the assessments using Live Content Studio whilst Ice Miller curated the training content to support the learning requirements of the workflow. This resulted in a significant increase of 264% tied to the use of the eLearning content!

This study reinforced the absolute necessity and value of Assessments. Reach out to us today to further discuss implementing this tool here at TutorPro.