Your employee training and development is only as good as the results it brings, so how do you know what these results are?
One of the most effective tools for assessing employee knowledge before, during and after training is through the use of quizzes. Quizzes can easily and quickly be included in e-Learning modules and you can then use your learning management system to gather the data you need to measure employee performance and the results of training, as well as to uncover knowledge or skills gaps that may exist.
Recognizing the importance of testing employee knowledge during training is important, but the next question becomes how do you best create and structure quizzes so they give you a true glimpse into the process and success or failure of training?
Tip One: Outline Your Objectives
Before you begin including quizzes in your employee e-Learning it’s important that you have a clear idea of what it is you want them to learn as well as why that information or skill is important. Begin the process of creating quizzes by defining your overall objectives, because this will allow you to tailor your quiz questions to those objectives and ensure what your employees are learning and then being quizzes on are relevant to one another as well as to your business and organizational needs. Don’t test for the sake of testing—quiz your employees on the most important and necessary skills that you need them to know.
Tip Two: Add Variation
Quiz variation comes in many forms in terms of employee training. One way to vary the quizzing is by creating differing types of question and answer formats, and you can also switch up the difficulty level. By adding variation to your quiz questions you’re going to keep your employees more engaged, hold their interest for longer and also be able to determine a more comprehensive picture of their knowledge.
Tip Three: Keep It Short
A great way to deliver quizzes is at the end of short modules. Rather than waiting until the end of several modules or forcing employees to go through large amounts of information, deliver byte-sized training and then shorter quizzes on each segment. This will actually help them retain knowledge and comprehend content more adequately.
Tip Four: Test Before and After
When we think quizzes we often think something that happens after the learning process, but for maximum effectiveness and measurement, include quizzes in your training both pre- and post-learning. This will let you gauge what employees know before being presented with training materials and give you a baseline measurement for how their knowledge level improves as a result of training.
Tip Five: Be Concise
You want to test what your employees know, not leave them feeling stumped or puzzled. Yes, questions need to be challenging, but that doesn’t mean they have to feel tricky or be written in a way that’s overly long or wordy. As with everything in your business training, be brief and to-the-point when wording questions.
Tip Six: Consider Free Response
Multiple choice and true-false questions may be the go-to in the world of corporate training, but free response is a good way to not only test employees but also evoke their critical thinking skills. One engaging way to utilize free response questions in e-Learning is by including a scenario or case study and then asking employees to address how they would handle or respond to a certain situation. This draws learners deeper into the training process and gets their mind working in a way that will improve their knowledge and understanding of training.
Tips Seven: Include Collaboration
Depending on the skills and knowledge you’re training employees on, collaboration may be an interesting component to add to your quizzes. This works especially well with soft skills like problem solving and communication. Employees can work together within the learning management system to come to a solution or to answer some questions.
Tip Eight: Provide Feedback
Quizzing should be part of a broader overall learning experience for employees, and if you quiz them without letting them know why an answer is incorrect it’s not going to be as enriching a learning experience as it will if you let them know they not only got an answer wrong, but also why it was incorrect.
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