“Study after study shows that student evaluations seem to be completely uncorrelated with actual learning.” Louis Deslauriers
Fact. A Harvard study confirms what many other studies have shown: students’ perceptions of their learning do not match how well or how much they are actually learning.
I’ve seen this over and over again. Students give an excellent storytelling lecturer glowing evaluations because they’ve been highly entertained and engaged. They end up leaving the class wishing they knew what the lecturer knew. However, they do not leave the class sure of their own new knowledge and abilities.
This is not to say that student evaluations shouldn’t be handed out and reviewed. They do serve several purposes:
- to provide feedback about the instructor, and
- to provide feedback about the training environment.
Clearly, if the students are happy with the instructor and the training environment, at least the program provided a comfortable learning experience.
And that’s what we want, isn’t it?
We just can’t hang our hats on the ratings regarding whether individual learning objectives were met.
If your trainers would like to know how to demonstrate if true learning has occurred, please book a call to discuss a tailored train-the-trainer program. https://laurelandassociates.com/contact/
May your learning be sweet.
Deborah
