ABSTRACT
This chapter is concerned with evaluating the effectiveness and efficiency of training. It presents an overview of training as a means of enhancing human performance and discusses the design of training systems using the instructional systems development (ISD) model. Training systems are generally designed using the ISD process. A typical ISD metric used to provide summative evaluation consists of specifying the tasks, conditions, and standards for the variables of interest. To conduct an effective evaluation, the training evaluators must understand the phases of the ISD process and what each phase accomplishes. The chapter describes the fundamentals of the evaluation processes, provides examples of training evaluation tools and procedures, and discusses some of the issues involved in training system evaluation. Operational evaluations seek to ascertain whether graduates are meeting or exceeding their job requirements, whether specific training components are facilitating job performance, whether job standards require modifications relative to training objectives, and whether training can be accomplished less expensively or better.
