Our favourite training evaluation resources

 #2 in our training evaluation blog post series:

Just do a Google search for “training evaluation” and you’ll find over 11,000 websites and articles at your fingertips. But you probably don’t have the time to sort through all the information to find what you need. Here at Limestone we’ve run into the same challenges so over time, we’ve created a “favourite” list of evaluation resources that we’d like to share with you:

Evaluation websites/blogs/discussion groups

• www.kirkpatrickpartners.com  Registration is free. Includes access to a weekly newsletter, white papers and articles, free podcasts and webinars, a quick tips podcast series, certification training and other evaluation resources.
• www.greatleadershipbydan.com  An interesting blog post on training evaluation.
• www.roiinstitute.net  Good information on level 5 ROI created by respected author Dr. Jack Phillips.  Includes access to learning opportunities, webcasts and audio conferences, podcasts, articles and tools.
• www.bdld.blogspot.com  Thoughts on instructional design and performance including training evaluation.
• www.astd.org  We highly recommend becoming a member. There are extensive high-quality resources available for both evaluation and T&D in general, and great member discounts apply on courses and publications. Some of the offerings for evaluation include white papers and articles, best practice research and discussion groups.        
• Kirkpatrick Evaluation group on Linkedin.  Some thought-provoking discussion threads on evaluation.       
• www.evaluatetraining.com/blog  A lot of great evaluation blog posts.       

Books/reference material

• Evaluating Training Programs: The Four Levels, Donald Kirkpatrick (the original publication of Kirkpatrick’s 4 levels of evaluation – a “must” read)
• Kirkpatrick Then and Now, Jim and Wendy Kirkpatrick, Kirkpatrick Institute (the 4 levels updated with new strategies and tools)
• The Six Disciplines of Breakthrough Learning, Calhoun Wick, Roy Pollock, and Andrew Jefferson (excellent practical guidelines, ideas and examples on measuring learning from a business results perspective)
• ASTD Handbook of Measuring and Evaluating Training, Patricia Phillips (a great, practical book on learning evaluation)
• ASTD InfoLine issues on a variety of level 1 – 5 topics (an excellent choice of topics)
• ROI in Action casebook, Patricia Pulliam Phillips

Higher learning

• Kirkpatrick Partners - Four levels certification and Four levels certificate programs
• ROI Institute- ROI certification
• ASTD - Essentials of Learning Transfer on-line certificate and ROI Basics on-line certificate

 Be sure to check out our first evaluation blog post in this series:

• Measuring the value of learning