The Learning-Transfer Evaluation Model (LTEM)

NOTICE OF UPDATE (17 May 2018):

The LTEM Model and accompanying Report were updated today and can be found below.

Two major changes were included:

  • The model has been inverted to put the better evaluation methods at the top instead of at the bottom.
  • The model now uses the word “Tier” to refer to the different levels within the model—to distinguish these from the levels of the Kirkpatrick-Katzell model.

This will be the last update to LTEM for the foreseeable future.

 

This blog post introduces a new learning-evaluation model, the Learning-Transfer Evaluation Model (LTEM).

 

Why We Need a New Evaluation Model

It is well past time for a new learning-evaluation model for the workplace learning field. The Kirkpatrick-Katzell Model is over 60 years old. It was born in a time before computers, before cognitive psychology revolutionized the learning field, before the training field was transformed from one that focused on the classroom learning experience to one focused on work performance.

The Kirkpatrick-Katzell model—created by Raymond Katzell and popularized by Donald Kirkpatrick—is the dominant standard in our field. It has also done a tremendous amount of harm, pushing us to rely on inadequate evaluation practices and poor learning designs.

I am not the only critic of the Kirkpatrick-Katzell model. There are legions of us. If you do a Google search starting with these letters, “Criticisms of the Ki,” Google anticipates the following: “Criticisms of the Kirkpatrick Model” as one of the most popular searches.

Here’s what a seminal research review said about the Kirkpatrick-Katzell model (before the model’s name change):

The Kirkpatrick framework has a number of theoretical and practical shortcomings. [It] is antithetical to nearly 40 years of research on human learning, leads to a checklist approach to evaluation (e.g., ‘we are measuring Levels 1 and 2, so we need to measure Level 3’), and, by ignoring the actual purpose for evaluation, risks providing no information of value to stakeholders…

The New Model

For the past year or so I’ve been working to develop a new learning-evaluation model. The current version is the eleventh iteration, improved after reflection, after asking some of the smartest people in our industry to provide feedback, after sharing earlier versions with conference attendees at the 2017 ISPI innovation and design-thinking conference and the 2018 Learning Technologies conference in London.

Special thanks to the following people who provided significant feedback that improved the model and/or the accompanying article:

Julie Dirksen, Clark Quinn, Roy Pollock, Adam Neaman, Yvon Dalat, Emma Weber, Scott Weersing, Mark Jenkins, Ingrid Guerra-Lopez, Rob Brinkerhoff, Trudy Mandeville, Mike Rustici

The model, which I’ve named the Learning-Transfer Evaluation Model (LTEM, pronounced L-tem) is a one page, eight-level model, augmented with color coding and descriptive explanations. In addition to the model itself, I’ve prepared a 34-page report to describe the need for the model, the rationale for its design, and recommendations on how to use it.

You can access the model and the report by clicking on the following links:

 

 

Release Notes

The LTEM model and report were researched, conceived, and written by Dr. Will Thalheimer of Work-Learning Research, Inc., with significant and indispensable input from others. No one sponsored or funded this work. It was a labor of love and is provided as a valentine for the workplace learning field on February 14th, 2018 (Version 11). Version 12 was released on May 17th, 2018 based on feedback from its use. The model and report are copyrighted by Will Thalheimer, but you are free to share them as is, as long as you don’t sell them.

If you would like to contact me (Will Thalheimer), you can do that at this link: https://www.worklearning.com/contact/

If you would like to sign up for my list, you can do that here: https://www.worklearning.com/sign-up/