Rethinking Reaction

In 1959, Donald Kirkpatrick wrote a series of articles for the Journal of the American Society of Training Directors. Fifty-four years later, Kirpatrick's levels of training evaluation remain a common benchmark among learning and development professionals. I wonder, however, if it might not be time to reconsider the first level: Reaction.

We've all seen Level 1 evaluation forms. They ask how we liked the event, how we liked the facilitator, how we found the room, how tasty the food was. No wonder trainers, and managers for that matter, often disparage these evaluations as "happy sheets" - the information seems barely related to learning. The funny thing is that Level 1 evaluations can provide useful learning-related information. If you ask the right questions.

The key is to focus on Relevance, not Reaction. Frankly, I am more interested in knowing if the learner finds the content relevant to their job and if they intend to apply what they learned than I am in finding out if lunch rocked and the room was the right temperature. Fifty-four years may seem like a long time, but it may just be worth our while to rethink how we use Level 1 evaluation tools.