Seven Ways to use LTEM by Matt Richter

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For those of you who don’t know Matt Richter, President of the Thiagi Group, he’s one of the most innovative thinkers when it comes to creating training that both sizzles and supports work performance. Recently, Matt and I began partnering in a new podcast, Truth In Learning, which I’ll have more to say about later once I figure out where the escape hatch is.

NOW, I want to share with you a brilliant new article, that Matt surprised me with, on his efforts to brainstorm innovative ways to use LTEM (The Learning-Transfer Evaluation Model).

You should read his article, but just to give you the list of seven uses for LTEM:

  1. Learning Evaluation—The primary intent of the LTEM framework.
  2. Instructional Design—To negotiate with stakeholders the outcomes desired.
  3. Training Game Design—To ensure games/activities have an instructional purpose.
  4. Coaching—Helping to build a development plan for those who are coached.
  5. Performance Consulting—To focus on performances that matter along the journey.
  6. Keynoting/Presenting—To ensure a focus on meaningful outcomes, not just infotainment.
  7. Sales/Business Development—To keep sales conversations focused on meaningful outcomes.

We are All in this Together

One of the great benefits of publishing LTEM is that since its publication last year I’m regularly being contacted by people whose organizations are finding new and innovative ways to utilize LTEM—and not just for learning evaluation but as a central element of their learning strategy and practice.

I’m especially pleased with those who have taken LTEM really deep, and I’d like to give a shout out to Elham Arabi who is doing her doctoral dissertation using LTEM as a spur to supporting a hospital’s effort to maximize the benefits or their learning interventions. Congrats to her for being accepted as a speaker at the upcoming eLearning Guild Learning Solutions Conference, March 31 to April 2 (2020) in Orlando. The title of her talk is: Using Evaluation Data to Enhance Your Training Programs.

Share Your Examples and Innovations

Please share your innovations and ideas about using LTEM in your workplace, on social media, or by contacting me at https://www.worklearning.com/contact/. I would really love to hear how it’s going, including any obstacles you’ve faced, your success stories, etc.

And, of course, if you’d like me to help your organization utilize LTEM, or just be the face of LTEM to your organization, please contact me so we can set up a time to talk, and consider my LTEM workshop to introduce LTEM to your team.

 

 

Learner Survey Results are NOT Correlated with Learning Results

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People keep asking me for references to the claim that learner surveys are not correlated—or are virtually uncorrelated—with learning results. In this post, I include them, with commentary.

 

 

Major Meta-Analyses

Here are the major meta-analyses (studies that compile the results of many other scientific studies using statistical means to ensure fair and valid comparisons):

For Workplace Training

Alliger, Tannenbaum, Bennett, Traver, & Shotland (1997). A meta-analysis of the relations among training criteria. Personnel Psychology, 50, 341-357.

Hughes, A. M., Gregory, M. E., Joseph, D. L., Sonesh, S. C., Marlow, S. L., Lacerenza, C. N., Benishek, L. E., King, H. B., Salas, E. (2016). Saving lives: A meta-analysis of team training in healthcare. Journal of Applied Psychology, 101(9), 1266-1304.

Sitzmann, T., Brown, K. G., Casper, W. J., Ely, K., & Zimmerman, R. D. (2008). A review and meta-analysis of the nomological network of trainee reactions. Journal of Applied Psychology, 93, 280-295.

For University Teaching

Uttl, B., White, C. A., Gonzalez (2017). Meta-analysis of faculty’s teaching effectiveness: Student evaluation of teaching ratings and student learning are not related. Studies in Educational Evaluation, 54, 22-42.

What these Results Say

These four meta-analyses, covering over 200 scientific studies, find correlations between smile-sheet ratings and learning to average about 10%, which is virtually no correlation at all. Statisticians consider correlations below 30% to be weak correlations, and 10% then is very weak.

What these Results Mean

These results suggest that typical learner surveys are not correlated with learning results.

From a practical standpoint:

 

If you get HIGH MARKS on your smile sheets:

You are almost equally likely to have

(1) An Effective Course

(2) An Ineffective Course

 

If you get LOW MARKS on your smile sheets:

You are almost equally likely to have

(1) A Poorly-Designed Course

(2) A Well-Designed Course

 

Caveats

It is very likely that the traditional smile sheets that have been used in these scientific studies, while capturing data on learner satisfaction, have been inadequately designed to capture data on learning effectiveness.

I have developed a new approach to learner surveys to capture data on learning effectiveness. This approach is the Performance-Focused Smile Sheet approach as originally conveyed in my 2016 award-winning book. As of yet, no scientific studies have been conducted to correlate the new smile sheets with measures of learning. However, many many organizations are reporting substantial benefits. Researchers or learning professionals who want my updated list of recommended questions can access them here.

Reflections

  1. Although I have written a book on learner surveys, in the new learning evaluation model, LTEM (Learning-Transfer Evaluation Model), I place these smile sheets at Tier 3, out of eight tiers, less valuable than measures of knowledge, decision-making, task performance, transfer, and transfer effects. Yes, learner surveys are worth doing, if done right, but they should not be the only tool we use when we evaluate learning.
  2. The earlier belief—and one notably advocated by Donald, Jim, and Wendy Kirkpatrick—that there was a causal chain from learner reactions to learning, behavior, and results has been shown to be false.
  3. There are three types of questions we can utilize on our smile sheets: (1) Questions that focus on learner satisfaction and the reputation of the learning, (2) Questions that support learning, and (3) Questions that capture information about learning effectiveness.
  4. It is my belief that we focus too much on learner satisfaction, which has been shown to be uncorrelated with learning results—and we also focus too little on questions that gauge learning effectiveness (the main impetus for the creation of Performance-Focused Smile Sheets).
  5. I do believe that learner satisfaction is important, but it is not most important.

Learning Opportunities regarding Learner Surveys

Performance-Focused Smile Sheet Questions for 2019

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Every year or so, based on work with clients and new analysis, I like to provide to the public an updated recommended set of smile-sheet questions (free).

 

You can access the New Questions by clicking here.

 

Related Resources

Ulrich Boser Book Now Updated in Paperback Edition

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Today, Ulrich Boser released an updated paperback version of his book, Learn Better: Mastering the Skills for Success in Life, Business, and School… It is available on Amazon (make sure you get the paperback version).

Ulrich does good work and his book has been hailed by Walter Isaacson as “Alternately humorous, surprising, and profound,” and by Amazon Editors as one of the Best Science Books of the Year.

You can learn more about Ulrich’s work at his website.

 

Will Thalheimer Debunks the Notion that Debunking is Bad

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