How to Assess Real-World Skills in Online Training
Executive Video Summary
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Online training has become a popular way for individuals to learn new skills and gain knowledge on various topics for a good reason.
One challenge with online training is authentically assessing the skills and knowledge of your learners. Quizzes and exams are commonly used, but these may have limited ability to accurately determine whether learners can perform critical skills on the job.
Fortunately, there are several alternatives to quizzes and exams.
Idea 1: Create simulations or branching scenarios. Simulations and branching scenarios are one of the most effective types of assessments, as they allow learners to apply skills in real-world situations. Simulations allow you to introduce your employees to situations they will likely face on the job and allow them to make choices. They then see how those choices affect them, the customer, and your organization.
Idea 2: Assign projects learners complete as they move through the training. This is another way to prepare employees for what they'll do on the job. For example, if your employees create reports for their managers, set up a scenario in your training and have them create a report using your format and templates. Again, this allows learners to learn your processes faster while still getting valuable input from others without burdening them with hands-on training.
Idea 3: Use peer review and discussion to allow employees to learn from each other. In this approach, employees submit their work or share how they would handle a situation or problem and provide feedback on others' projects or tasks. This allows for a more thorough evaluation of the learners' skills and helps foster a sense of community and collaboration among the learners.
Conclusion: Why You Should Invest in Authentic Skill Assessment.
By incorporating these strategies into your online training program, you can more accurately evaluate your employees' skills and provide them with the support they need to succeed.
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Article Full Text
Online training has become a popular way for individuals to learn new skills and gain knowledge on various topics for a good reason. It's an affordable and scalable way to ensure employees have a baseline understanding of essential processes, procedures, and laws.
One challenge with online training is authentically assessing the skills and knowledge of your learners.
Quizzes and exams are commonly used, but these methods can be limited in their ability to accurately determine whether learners can perform critical skills on the job.
Fortunately, there are several alternatives to quizzes and exams. This article will explore three ways to assess skills online and how this information can be used to create a better online training experience for learners.
Create simulations or branching scenarios
Simulations and branching scenarios are one of the most effective types of assessments, as they allow learners to apply skills in real-world situations.
For example, imagine your employees must perform specific processes in a set order. Or you could have rules for how employees must interact with customers in challenging circumstances.
Simulations allow you to introduce your employees to situations they will likely face on the job and allow them to make choices. They then see how those choices affect them, the customer, and your organization. They also learn what you consider the be the correct course of action.
Simulations are a highly effective way of providing feedback on their performance. They are especially beneficial if you want your training to be completely self-paced and automatically evaluated.
Assign projects learners complete as they move through the training
Another way to prepare employees for what they'll do on the job is to have them work on projects or tasks as they go through the training.
For example, if your employees create reports for their managers, set up a scenario in your training and have them create a report using your format and templates. The online training course would guide them through this process step-by-step and give them helpful examples and pointers.
Once they're done, they can submit it to a co-worker or a manager for quick feedback. Again, this allows learners to learn your processes faster while still getting valuable input from others without burdening them with hands-on training.
Use peer review and discussion to allow employees to learn from each other
Another method for authentically assessing skills in online training is through peer review. In this approach, employees submit their work or share how they would handle a situation or problem and provide feedback on others' projects or tasks.
This allows for a more thorough evaluation of the learners' skills and helps foster a sense of community and collaboration among the learners. If you have personnel who can monitor the discussions and course-correct where necessary, this can be an incredibly effective strategy.
Conclusion: Why You Should Invest in Authentic Skill Assessment
Overall, there are many ways to authentically assess the skills and knowledge of learners in online training beyond automatically graded quizzes. By incorporating these strategies into your online training program, you can more accurately evaluate your employees' skills and provide them with the support they need to succeed.
Watch Me has extensive experience with these assessment strategies, and we'd love to help you create more effective training to meet your strategic goals.
