In the software industry, one of the biggest challenges facing learning and development professionals is demonstrating value.
How do you determine whether your training succeeded or failed? More importantly, how can you measure the impact of a training initiative on your company?
By combining a virtual training assessment with the right metrics and KPIs, you can develop a system for effectively measuring the success of your training programs.
But first, you need to consider the best approaches and tools for turning your training programs into engines of growth and scalability.
A virtual training assessment is a software-based, online method of evaluating the effectiveness and impact of a training program. It measures whether or not a training program has equipped participants with the necessary knowledge and skills.
This assessment can take many forms, including interactive simulations, quizzes, surveys, and scenario-based evaluations. The results are typically contextualized through a combination of data analytics and instructor observations.
The Benefits of an Effective Training Assessment
Training assessments serve two overarching goals. First, they help businesses optimize their training, identifying bottlenecks, weaknesses, and areas for improvement. Second, they allow training professionals to provide leadership with measurable results — data that demonstrates the impact their training has had.
Other potential benefits include:
More targeted and engaging training materials
Efficient budget and resource allocation
Improved training productivity
Reduced time to completion
Enhanced personalization
Increased trainee motivation
Virtual Training Assessment vs. Training Needs Assessment
While a virtual training assessment evaluates the outcomes of a training initiative, a training needs assessment is a form of skill assessment used to help an organization identify skill gaps to target with their training. The two types of assessment largely complement one another, and both should be performed regularly to enhance the long-term effectiveness of your training.
Training needs assessments can also empower your people to take greater ownership of their professional development, identifying their own personal skill gaps and setting achievable goals for themselves.
Best Practices for Training Assessments
For training assessments to be effective, they need to be handled strategically. You can’t just throw a few quizzes at your employees and call it a day. Instead, you need to apply the following best practices.
Align Your Assessments with Your Training Objectives
Your software training plan must be fully aligned with your business goals, and measuring the effectiveness of your training means tracking how it enables learners to progress toward those objectives, which may include:
Sales volume
Deal value
Productivity
Customer satisfaction
Customer retention
Revenue generation
Revenue growth
Use Multimodal Assessments
Ideally, your training assessment should cover three key areas: knowledge retention, practical application, and lateral thinking. That way, you’ll be evaluating what your trainees know, how well they know it, and how effectively they can apply it in the workplace.
You’ll want to use multiple assessment types for this, such as quizzes, hands-on practice scenarios, or simulations.
Choose the Right Training Assessment Tools
As with your training, your assessments are only as good as the software you use to deliver them. Make sure that the tools you’re using in your training offer the following functionalities:
Training analytics, including performance metrics and behavioral data
Integration with other tools such as learning management systems
Interactive, customizable assessments
Automated scoring and feedback
Real-time data collection
Mobile compatibility
Get the Timing Right
People tend to assume that training assessments are carried out only after training is complete. The problem with this approach is that it significantly limits their value. How do you know whether a trainee possessed the requisite knowledge and skills prior to training?
For this reason, you should evaluate participants not only after training but also both before and during it. Wherever relevant, you should also provide constructive, real-time feedback.
Embrace Continuous Improvement
If there’s one mantra every training professional should internalize, it’s this: there’s always something you could be doing better. Apply that mindset to your training. Even if everything seems flawless, there will be at least one opportunity for improvement. Training assessments provide you with the capacity to find those opportunities.
Next Steps: Enhance Your Virtual Training
Having covered the basics of virtual training assessments, it’s time to consider training technology itself. After all, even the best strategy won’t get you very far if you don’t have the right infrastructure to support it.
