CompTIA CTT+ TK0-201 – Evaluating the Training Event (Domain 5)

1. Overview – Domain 5

Domain five is our final domain of understanding for the CTT Plus course, and it really deals with evaluation. And there’s a number of different things we’re going to be evaluating at the conclusion of a course the students, what they’ve learned, their increase in knowledge, the instructor, how he or she performs, how effective were they at delivering class material, the course design itself. So all these things are going to be evaluated, and there’s also the documentation of that evaluation. So there’s the communication of lessons learned with the organization that’s delivering the training with the trainer so that they can make improvements.

So they’ve dedicated an entire domain to this, which shows the importance that we don’t just deliver a training and then forget about it and move on. But we really take the time to look back a little bit reflectively and determine where we can improve and what changes need to be made to create an excellent course. So look forward to that. In this section, we’ll talk about ways to assess learner education, ways to assess the course and its effectiveness, and how to communicate that with the organization. Let’s dive in to domain five.

2. Considerations for Assessing Achievement of Learning Objectives

Here we are in domain five, evaluate the training event. The first thing we’re going to evaluate is the achievement of learning on the part of the learners. So here are some things to keep in mind that will guide you as you attempt to determine whether or not the students have really absorbed the material and whether you’ve facilitated that change in behavior, behavior that you’re looking for in the student. So first of all is to evaluate the learner competence. So when you’re testing for learner competence, you’re looking to see whether they’ve retained new information.

Can they deliver back to you what they’ve learned? Does it seem like they’ve really created a new place for it in their minds and they’re going to retain it? When it comes to technical abilities, we also need to see that they can practically apply the skills of the training. So can they perform the motor skills associated with whatever technology that you’re teaching? And also you want to assess the learning goals that you established at the beginning of the course. So have the learners truly accomplished the objectives that you set out to accomplish for this course?

So you’re going to reflect their current state with their previous state and see whether you have really addressed the learning objectives. There are also performance based exams that you might create if you’re dealing with the technology, hardware perhaps or software. And you want to see whether the students can truly work with it. You want to create a realistic performance based exam and then you can score students based on the time it takes for them to accomplish it, perhaps their accuracy with the tool and how well they perform a certain task. All of these can be the criteria that you use to score them. And again, this is based on the learning goals, so you’re not going to throw any curveballs in there. And in your performance based exam, ask them to do things with the technology that are not specific to the learning outcomes. While you may play around a bit with the technology in class, you make sure that you only test on the requirements of the class itself.

And it’s important to remember that, particularly when you’re working inside an organization with employees, that this is all based on the change in the learner’s behavior. So can this employee now do something better, quicker, more efficiently, more accurately than they did before? So assess change in learner behavior and remember the organizational needs. So why did they bring you in as a trainer to begin with? What were they trying to affect? What change were they trying to affect among their staff? Have you accomplished that? And this is specific to their roles, right?

So you may be dealing with a certain technical staff and they have certain functions they perform every day. We want to make sure that they can perform the behaviors that you’re trying to teach within the parameters of their job. Role. And again, you want this to be reasonable. So you don’t need everybody to come out of the class being an expert at the software, but you need to hone it in on the specific motor skills and knowledge that the organization requires in their staff and that they hired for you to really teach their resources. So hone in on those specific learning objectives and make sure that when you are testing for success of achievement of learning that you incorporate these things in all your assessment methods.

3. Formative Assessments

Not all evaluation of the training event is done at the end of the course. There’s value to doing some assessment throughout the course so that you can make adjustments as necessary in the way that you deliver the material itself. So that brings us into formative assessments. They’re called formative because, as the name suggests, they help form the course itself as it’s going on. So these are presented at intervals throughout the class, so rather than all the way at the end. The end is sometimes too late to know whether or not your students have learned anything or whether or not your course is being effective. The training event is already over.

You want to gain some of this insight as you’re going along. So, formative assessments are periodically given throughout the course and that provides a lot of intelligence for the instructor so that they can identify where to make adjustments in their class to make sure that the learning objectives are completed by the end of the course. So, as is mentioned here, it guides the instructors based on the feedback from the students. So you may, in these sort of formative assessments, add some long answer questions, really assess for learning, don’t make them too easy because you want to get a pulse on how well the students are doing. And you also help the students identify target areas.

So if they’re getting tested on the main learning objective topics throughout the course, then a student starts to realize where to focus their attention. So you may be giving some extra information throughout the course, but they start to understand really what the key learning objectives are and it helps them with their attention and with their preparation for final exams, et cetera. And also it gives the trainer opportunity to provide follow through. When a student submits a test and they’ve done poorly, the trainer can identify areas of need.

They can perhaps do one on one tuition with the students to address some of these concerns. Or if the entire class is behind on some topic of understanding and they really haven’t grasped what you as the trainer, were trying to teach them, then you may need to dip back into that topic. Recognize that you need to address it again, that there was some miscommunication, some lack of connection there between you and your class. And address it so that you’re still on track. Track to reach those learning goals. And this allows the learner to gain clarification ongoing to assess how they’re doing and make adjustments as they continue to learn. So formative assessments are very useful to guide the delivery of the course and give you an idea of what’s going on in the learner’s minds as you’re teaching.

4. Summative Assessments

Next we have summative assessments. So this is quite different to formative assessments that happen throughout the course. Summative is like a cumulative exam at the end of a college course. It’s the final exam where you assess for understanding of the entire course material, all of the learning objectives all at once. This can be in the form of a written exam, for example, multiple choice, or perhaps some long answers, but something that is filled out either computer based or pen and paper at the end of the course. Or it can be a performance based exam.

So as we mentioned before, it could be a task that they have to complete in a certain amount of time. It could be some sort of project that they have to deliver to the instructor at a certain time in the course towards the end, of course. Or it could be some function that they have to perform with software or hardware and they have to give evidence that they can do it proficiently in order to pass the exam. So you have quite a bit of leeway in how you design that performance based exam. But if you are particularly training a technical skill, a motor skill, then it is good to have perhaps both of these, perhaps a written portion of the exam and a performance based portion of the exam, depending on the nature of the information that you’re teaching.

And don’t try and trick up the students, don’t try and make this exam hard or be a super strict teacher that has a high standard of learning. No, this isn’t the time for that. Again, you’re trying to focus on the needs of both the learner and the organization. So the learner needs to absorb this information so they can move on, maybe so they can attain a technical certification, maybe so they can get a new job.

They need to know just the basics, just the requirements, so that they can prove knowledge of that topic. And inside an organization, you’re not trying to make anybody feel like they failed, but you want to assess for changed behavior, make sure that each student is able to perform the new skill or has acquired the knowledge that they’re going to use in their day to day job function. So you’re not really trying to make it really difficult, but you do want to assess that the learner has grasped the main learning objections and reach the learning goal.

5. Post-course Support Methods

Just because you’ve reached the end of the training event doesn’t mean that your obligations to your students have been fulfilled. You may choose or you may be contractually obliged to offer some postcourse support. I worked for Technology Academy, and with each of their courses, whether it was CompTIA, A plus, net plus, security plus an AWS cloud certification, whatever was, they also offered academic advising and career development support.

That was kind of like a bonus that they offered with each course. So that meant that all of the trainers had to have office hours where students could approach them and ask questions. How do I put this new certification on my resume? Now that I’ve got this certification, which one should I pursue next? This is particularly important for career changers as they enter into a new industry to understand the business culture of the industry that they’re entering into. And it can be very valuable so that they get more support than just the information at hand. As a technical trainer, if you’re working by yourself in your own organization, you may choose to offer this. It certainly is a perk for many students, or you may be contractually obliged, as I mentioned, with a larger organization for X amount of weeks after a training event to be available via email or phone to students who need clarification or further support. So make sure you understand what those contractual obligations are and that you figure out some system that works for you to offer that kind of support.

So this might be by email, it might be available by phone, it might be giving certain times that you’re available for meeting invites to support the students. Make sure you’re clear with management on that and give the advice that really will be beneficial to the careers of the individuals that you’re teaching. If you’re working for a larger organization and you are also an employee of the organization in addition to a trainer, then that’s that can really facilitate some excellent communication for added support as you move forward.

6. End of Course Reports

An end of course report is exactly what its name implies. It is a report that you submit to the training organization at the end of a training event. This is usually used by mature, well established training organizations as a way to do a lessons learned review at the completion of a course. It may be provided to you in an actual formalized document template. They’ll probably give it to you at the beginning of the course and ask that you submit it at the conclusion of the course with some vital information that they can use to move forward.

You will probably be asked to include the class name, instructor name, the number of students, how well the students did so, evaluation metrics, what percentage of the students really met the learning objectives of the course. There’ll be some options for student commentary, so the things that they liked about the course, the things that didn’t go over well, the concepts that were extremely difficult and that perhaps need clarification in future curriculum developments, et cetera. And then you may have an opportunity to give some feedback to the organization about your experience too. So what was the training room like? The environment? Was it comfortable in terms of temperature and lighting? How was it working with the technology and the hardware? Was everything smooth? Or were there some difficulties? You might give some comments on the schedule and the breaks and all of the course logistics. This is your opportunity to improve the situation for the next trainer, or for you if you train at that organization again.

And it is good to give some strong recommendations, this can really establish you as a respected voice in the industry when you have the courage to stand up and tell the training organization or even perhaps your employer what needs to be improved so that this can be a better product moving forward. So you might want to hone it down to maybe two or three items, but then respectfully deliver those things because it does help an organization and they’ll value that feedback. It’ll get you invited back, particularly if you do it in a very professional manner. Now, if you’re working for a smaller organization that doesn’t have a formalized process for end of course reports, it might still be a good idea to develop your own. Give them some feedback.

Don’t just leave once the class is done, packet bags and go, but at the very least, send an email with some of this crucial data and particularly these strong recommendations for improvement. And it will increase your reputation as somebody valuable to work with, easy to work with and cooperative with the goals of the training organization.