“Measuring programming progress by lines of code is like measuring aircraft building progress by weight.”
- Bill GatesWhat is the real measuring stick in learning? Of course, it is a change in behavior that improves a learner's work life. So why do we insist on collecting "smile sheets" - those evaluation forms - at the end of each class?
I'm going to say something controversial - don't do it. They are useless for measuring learning performance.
In fact, in my opinion they are harmful. They hurt our effort to be better learning designers because they give us a false sense of success. If you look at results and comments, almost everyone rates a course excellent or good. And in most cases they are grading on their subjective entertainment experience in class. They aren't telling you if they actually learned and applied new skills - they're telling you how they liked the cookies and coffee.
So I say ditch the forms and put in place some sort of survey at least a week after the session but no longer than three weeks. Ask people important questions, like:
- Did you use your skills?
- What skills did you find most helpful?
- What skills did you just not get?
Now that's a real measure.