Cassandra Riccard

Trevecca Nazarene University

3-Tiered Assessment Plan
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TIER ONE: FORMATIVE ASSESSMENT

Prior to designing a course, one of the things that must be determined is to whom the

instructions will be given. This group of people is known as the target audience. The target

audience will play an intricate role in how a course will be taught. In the last few weeks, the

topic of working in a multigenerational company has been discussed in detail. While some

companies may hire a specific age demographic, many companies have a wide variety of

generations employed. Companies with a diverse age group would be the target audience for this

training.

Determining Needs

To determine what to include in the training, one must understand the issues or needs of

the target audience. To understand the challenges these companies have faced, many researchers

have taken polls and collected data to show the differences between the generations. The data

helps determine the way social, economical, and political factors have affected people as they

began entering the workforce.

Shannon Ghausepohl is one such researcher who contributed to the information used to

design the multigenerational training. She identified four different challenges that exist when

multiple generations must work together. These four factors provided the framework for the

training course. Ghausepohl also provided several solutions which is discussed later in this

assessment.

Utilizing Formative Assessments

Formative assessments are like small “knowledge checks” throughout a course. These

assessments allow the learner to understand what areas he or she may need to study further.
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Several formative assessments were utilized in the assignments over the last two weeks. The first

formative assessment posed a question for the leaner to ponder the events that have happened in

their life that may have had an impact on their work ethic. This assessment allows the learner to

think introspectively without actively responding. The second formative assessment allowed the

learner to submit a small writing assignment at the end of the Tell ‘Em in 10 presentation. The

instructions have the learner submit a small paragraph on something they learned in the

presentation. In week four’s assignment, a quiz was placed at the end of each lesson. The first

quiz was only one question and the second quiz had two questions. In a real course, the quizzes

would ideally have at least 5 questions or parts to help demonstrate adequate understanding of

the subject.

Additional Training

Week 3’s Tell ‘Em in 10 assignment focused on the following learning objectives: recite

the major generations in the workforce and name/recall the challenges/solutions to working in a

multigenerational environment. If at the end of the course a learner cannot completely answer the

questions with accuracy, it is important that the designer provide further information. As

discussed in previous assignments, the work of the instructional designer does not end with

completion of a course. One way to help extend the learning process is through providing

additional resources. A designer could include things like blogs, videos, or podcasts that cover

additional information for a learner to use on his or her own time. For this topic, a designer may

want to consider different mediums of supplemental materials, since some generations prefer

physical verses digital formats.

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TIER TWO: SUMMATIVE ASSESSMENT

Determining Program Effectiveness

Designing a visually appealing program is wonderful, but if the material in the program is

not strategically taught, the program could lose effectiveness. The point of any training or

educational course is learning transfer. This means that concepts and facts taught in the course

should be able to be applied to real-world use. The seven steps below help to determine the

effectiveness of a program.

Specifying Program Objectives. The first step in determining effectiveness is to have

clearly defined objectives. These objectives are the major learning points upon which the whole

program is built. These are the things that the key stakeholders hope to help the learner

accomplish. In the case of the multigenerational training, the objectives have been identified as

naming the major workforce generations, reciting the four challenges of working in a

multigenerational business, and recalling the solutions to overcome those challenges.

Objective Evaluation Design. Once objectives have been established, the instructional

design team should determine how each objective will be evaluated. Throughout the course there

should be formative assessments, or short “knowledge checks” that account for the information

being taught. It would be wise to do a quick “check” after each lesson because the summative

assessment is based on these items. In the case of the Multigenerational Conflict Resolution

training, there were several formative assessments used to help meet the objectives.

In addition to designing the evaluation of the objectives, the instructional design team

will want to analyze the cost and delivery of each assessment. This subject will be discussed in
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detail further down, but these things should be taken into account in the early stages of

evaluation design.

Data Collection. As previously stated, the summative assessment is formed from the data

collected in the formative assessments. The instructional design team would take the data being

reported and use it to reinforce the learning objectives in the summative assessment. Design

teams need to be strategic in how the data is collected. There are several ways which one might

collect this information.

The Tell ‘Em in 10 presentation gave an open-ended writing assignment about something

the user learned at the end of the course. The Articulate Rise course asked specific questions

which address the objectives at the end of each lesson. Depending on the responses from these

two evaluations, an instructional designer or team may better understand what information stood

out during the course or presentation. For example, if several students missed the same question

on a quiz, the design team may want to reevaluate how that material was covered in the course.

They may find that it was not explained well or in a way to convey accurate meaning. Once

corrected and explained, the design team would want to address the same topic in the summative

assessment to see if the adjustments caused a performance improvement.

Implementation of the Evaluation. Among gathering the information for each

assessment, the design team should take into consideration the cost and method of the

assessment delivery. There are several ways to implement the assessments. Depending on what

the actual evaluation is, the design team should take into account if it needs to be completed in

person or online, what the final assessment should be (paper, test, presentation, etc.). If it is

decided to complete the assessment in person, the team would want to determine the cost of
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facility use, resources needed to oversee the final assessment, etc. All these things would need to

be addressed before administering the summative assessment.

While there was not a summative assessment designed for the multigenerational training,

an example of an assessment would be to have a final project or presentation summarizing what

was learned. This could be implemented in a couple different ways; a single participant choosing

to present the information learned in terms of a generation other than his or her own, or a group

presentation where each participant in the group is of a different generation. To save on cost, this

project could be presented as a slide show or video project.

Interpreting Data. Once assessments have been received and graded, it is up to the

design team to review the data collected. This data will ultimately determine how effective

program was in delivering and explaining the material.

Distributing Results. Upon gathering and interpreting the data of the summative

assessment, the design team would need to distribute the results. They should develop a final

report of their findings and meet with department heads in the event that further instruction may

be needed.

Conclusion

In summary, these seven steps will help an instructional design team implement and

determine program effectiveness. It is imperative each step is followed to reduce the number of

corrections needed in a program, as this can be come costly if the course needs constant revision.

Proper evaluation design can improve the time spent in a course and increase learner satisfaction.
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TIER THREE: CONFIRMATIVE ASSESSMENT

Confirmative Assessment

When the excitement of learning something new recedes, there is a need to reevaluate the

long-term effectiveness of the training. These evaluations are called confirmative assessments.

Confirmative assessments help determine the “learning transfer” of a training course and are

usually completed in two formats: learner-oriented and context-oriented approaches.

Learner-Oriented Approach

At its core, the learner-oriented approach focuses on evaluating how well learners have

retained the knowledge of a lesson over a longer period. These assessments can be easy to

implement such as taking a survey from the learners who participated in the program previously.

In the Tell ‘Em in 10 multigenerational presentation, the learners were offered several solutions

to help reduce generational conflict. To see how the solutions had been effective, the following

points would be addressed in the survey:

 How many non-work related functions (birthday celebrations, holiday parties, etc.) have

you attended

 Has communication between you and coworkers become easier

 Are negative stereotypes addressed by management

 How has your overall approach to working with different generations changed

These questions could be evaluated in several ways, such as a scale to indicate learner

satisfaction levels or a written response which provides more detailed feedback. In the

multigenerational training, a survey would be an effective method of gathering data because it

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reflects how an employee’s attitude has received the training, rather than skill or knowledge

transfer.

Context-Oriented Approach

A context-centered approach is a type of confirmative evaluation which reviews training

in accordance with ongoing or changing policies. Essentially, objectives which were once needed

at the time training was given could become irrelevant or outdated. Though objectives were

changed, training may still be required. Factors such as technology, budgets, and teacher ability

could all have an impact on the effectiveness, or lack thereof, in a training course.

The multigenerational training would not be immune to these factors either. Both the Tell

‘Em in 10 and Articulate Rise courses would have to be continually updated, especially as certain

generations leave and enter the workforce. This is the most obvious adjustment that the

instructional designer or team would need to address. Likewise, the person or team in charge of

updating the information would need to stay up to date on emerging technology and how it will

be used in the workplace. Every new generation will have an impact on how the course may be

taught or delivered.

At this moment in time, there are three major generations in the workforce which has

been discussed in the training sessions. While it is currently important for those generations to

understand each other, five years from now there will be another generation (Generation Z)

growing in the workforce. At that point in time, it would be a great moment for a company to

implement a confirmative evaluation to help identify the communication needs and

characteristics of this new group. Once that data is collected, it can be incorporated into the

existing training courses.

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Confirmative evaluations are important to ensure a course’s long-term or ongoing

effectiveness. These assessments allow design teams to see what areas need to be reinforced,

which areas may be removed altogether, and which areas need to be updated. These assessments

would be very useful for a training like the multigenerational course since there will always be a

steady influx of new generations in the workforce.