Activity vs. Performance Measures in Training Evaluation

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Organizations are looking to invest in employee training and ongoing development. To make sure these learning and development investments are effective, it is important to evaluate and measure their impact. But which metrics should you be keeping track of? Which measures offer a clearer understanding of training impacts? 

Evaluating the impact of training initiatives can be done using activity measures and performance measures.

Activity measures focus on the "process of learning" and include different aspects of the learning journey. These measures help assess learner participation in various activities such as training completion time, attendance records, and allocated time for specific activities during training, etc. For example, when measuring the impact of software training, activity measures may include tracking how many users participated in the program, what percentage completed it successfully, and how much time was dedicated to working on the software during the training.

Performance measures focus on the "outcome of learning" and help assess how well learners can apply their knowledge to real-world tasks and situations. Job performance, customer satisfaction, and test scores are some examples of the types of measures that can be included in this category. For example, when measuring the impact of software training, performance measures can include the number of errors made by software users, the scores on a test of software proficiency, and customer satisfaction with the work produced by users of the software.

Activity measures are good for assessing initial engagement and training completion while performance measures provide a better picture of how well employees are applying their newly acquired skills.

However, there are challenges in using performance measures. For example, it is difficult to identify performance measures that are directly related to the training and that accurately reflect the desired outcomes. Collecting and analyzing performance data is also costly and time-consuming. Most importantly, it is challenging to isolate the impact of the training and identify if any changes to the performance were directly due to the learning or training initiative, as opposed to other factors such as changes in the work environment. While it is good to plan the evaluation of learning and training projects using performance measures, using performance measures may not be applicable or cost-effective for every kind of training.

The combination of activity measures and performance measures is usually the best option for gathering significant and valuable data. However, what makes up the appropriate combination of these measures may differ according to the particular training or learning approach and intended results.