I currently work in Army Community Services, so I have created a real world application of the information we have learned throughout the MATLT program at Ashford University.
The
organizational setting for this learning program is Army Community Services.
Organizational
Sector
This
agency is in the military or public sector.
Organizational
Mission & Purpose
The
organization’s mission and purpose is to aid military members and their
families with their transition into and their life in the military. Two strategic goals of this agency are to
increase military retention and to improve the lives of the family members of
military personnel.
Technology
Resources
Technology will serve a major function in this
training. This department needs
computers with storage capabilities and word processing software. Staff members need computers to access the
internet to search for support services in the community and to do research
about what those services have to offer clients. In addition, staff members need to be able to
create computer files on all clients in order to track what resources are
offered to each client and which resources are working. This will be most
easily done in word processing program. Staff members need an internet
connection to email other staff members for assistance and to get suggestions
for resources for clients.
Implementation
Objectives
Implementation objectives are included for each component
of a program logic model and are intended to focus attention on the activities
on the program that are required to produce program outputs (McDavid &
Hawthorne, 2006). Determining objectives for any learning experience will
enable the educators to fully maximize the learning experience. The learning session can be molded around the
objectives, and the final assessment can and should be based on the specific
objectives that were measured (Townes, 2010). The objectives of this training
will be to increase the knowledge of all staff members about local support
services. After training is complete,
staff members should have a more comprehensive knowledge about service and have
a better knowledge how to do research on the internet and share this knowledge
with other staff members.
Inputs
Program inputs are the resources that are required to
operate the program (McDavid & Hawthorne, 2006). Program inputs for this training program
include funding for the training itself and for the technology needed to
implement the program, the trainers and participants, training room, and the
knowledge of the training staff.
Outputs
The program outputs are ways of representing the amount
of work that is done as the program is implemented (McDavid & Hawthorne,
2006). The number of individual
participating in the training will twelve, and the number of clients served is
estimated at 150 per week. Each client
will be given support services based on their needs but the department
recommends that each family be offered a minimum of three services so that
clients have options.
Outcomes
Program outcomes are the intended results that are linked
to program objectives. The outcome for
this training should be a greater number of resources that staff can refer to
when handling clients.
Assessment
Measurements
It is vital that program implementers plan a method for
assessing whether or not the training program accomplished its objectives. In order to assess success, program
implementers need to develop a measurement tool that measures whether or not
the training program produced the outcomes it was meant to produce (Grodzicki
& Madigan, 2011). First and
foremost, this program will establish a rubric that will outline the desired
outcomes. The rubric will be given to
learners in advance of training so they will have a better understanding of
what they are supposed to accomplish.
The rubric will list each program outcome and levels of measurement for
each outcome that specify at what level the outcome was met. At the end of training, the rubric will be
completed, and any areas of weakness will be identified so the program can be
modified for later sessions.
This
measurement will be quantitative because it will involve the gathering of
numbers as measurements and then a mathematical analysis of those numbers. Each outcome will be given a measurement of 1
to 4 with 4 representing total success on that item and 1 representing little
success on that item. The rubric will be
filled out for each learner, so each learner will receive a score based on
their ratings on each outcome.
Instructors and learners will be able to determine what elements of the
training were not successful or determine that one or two students simply
struggled with some of the material and need extra review. It is possible that there are factors that
will impact the evaluation such as learner fatigue or learner frustration over
the training in general. Implementation
of the evaluation can also impact the results.
If evaluation results seem out of line, instructors need to examine
these other factors to see if they might be present and might have influenced
the evaluation.
Use
of Evaluation Results
After the results of the assessment rubric are gathered,
it will be time to evaluate the success of the training program. The information from this evaluation will be
used to modify the training for future sessions. The evaluation should show areas of weakness
where learners did not gain as much understanding or information from a topic
as they should have. This area of the
training can be revised for improved results.
The results can also be used to determine if there are employees who did
not perform well in certain or even all sections of the training when most
other employees did do well. These employees can be pulled out for continued
training. The evaluation results can
also be used by managers to encourage the staff and motivate them to use the
knowledge they have gained to better service the military members and their
families.
Timeline
for Evaluation Cycle
It seems reasonable that the rubrics could be filled out
at the end of the training, and this should take no longer than a few
hours. The information from the rubrics
has to be analyzed and evaluated, and the timeline for this will be two
weeks. The first week will be spent
gathering the numbers and identifying problems.
The second week will be spent further evaluating the problems and
establishing a plan of action for fixing them.
References
Grodzicki,
G.P. & Madigan, P.Q. (2011). Outcomes-based assessment in instrumentation
and measurement. International Journal of Electrical Engineering Education, 48(4),
451-462.
McDavid,
J.C., & Hawthorn, L.L. (2006). Program
evaluation & performance measurement: An introduction to practice.
Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage.
Towns,
M.H. (2010). Developing learning objectives and assessment
plans at a variety of institutions:
Examples and case studies. Journal of Chemical Education, 87(1),
91-96.
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