No matter how experienced an Instructional and/or eLearning Designer you are, there will always be room for improvement. An eLearning course is still raw material until you fill that room.
How do you do that? Simply by asking the best people: the learners who have taken your course.
In this post, we will look at the 5 parameters you will need to take into consideration when you set up a post-course evaluation.
Learning Expectations
Anyone accessing an eLearning course has certain expectations with regards to its learning objectives and the topics covered. Getting an insight into those expectations can help you change or improve the way you advertise your course and include material that you, deliberately or not, omitted.
Examples: How close was the course to what you expected? How satisfied are you with the material covered?
Content
eLearning content has to be engaging and fun. But, most importantly, it needs to reflect in the clearest manner possible the learning objectives as set by the SME. We always take for granted that a good instructional and eLearning course design will inevitably lead to this result, but we can never be sure until our learners confirm it.
Examples: Did you find the content of the course sufficient? Was the material of the course clear and easy to understand?
Rate the content based on how engaged you felt throughout the course.
Timing
A good eLearning course does not need to be long. In a fast pacing environment, 20-30 minutes is enough time for someone to be adequately trained on a particular subject. Having said that, it is still possible to receive a good rating for a course that is longer than usual, provided it is captivating.
Examples: How long do you believe it took you to complete the course? Do you think the course should be shorter, the same or longer?
Interactivity
Α plain and flat presentation of the eLearning material is always a no-no. Instructional Designers do know that, but this doesn’t always mean that they never give in, especially when they have to deliver numerous courses in a short period of time.
On the other extreme, there’s always the risk of adding too much interactivity, making the course nothing but wearisome and repetitive.
Examples: Do you feel you had an active role in this eLearning experience? Did you remain concentrated throughout the course?
Overall experience
This is the section you are likely to check out first when you take the evaluations back. This parameter will measure the final impression the learner acquired. Even if they found the course longer than needed or less engaging than expected, they can still rate it high.
Do your quantitative and qualitative analysis and start working towards an update.
Examples: Rate your overall eLearning experience. List three reasons why you think that this course was helpful. Suggest three things you would like to see changed in this course.
Conclusion
The most interesting thing with post-course evaluations is that you receive feedback you might not have expected. It is insightful and positive to hear back from your target audience and this is why you should always implement a post-course evaluation.
Tip: for even better results, bring together an evaluation group during the beta stage of the eLearning course development, prior to rolling it out to the market.
