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Acquiring Knowledge

Objective Tests. Participants answer a set of standardized or instructor-developed test items. The test may consist of multiple-choice, true/false, matching, or sentence-completion items.

Essays. Participants respond in writing to one or more questions or problem situations. They may be asked to compare, discuss, analyze, criticize, evaluate, apply, or the like.

Oral Tests. Learners react to a set of questions orally individually or in groups.

Oral Presentations. Participants give a formal presentation to a selected group on a specific topic area.

Self-Report Evaluation Forms. Learners respond to structured or open-ended questions or matrixes and describe what they have learned.

Enhancing Cognitive Skills

Case Studies. Participants analyze and give alternative solutions to an event, incident, or situation that is problematic. This process may be done in written or oral form and can be either a group or individual exercise.

Concept Maps. Learners make diagrams and drawings that represent the mental connections between and among major concepts and ideas.

Interviews. Participants conduct individual and/or group interviews. The focus of the exercise is to demonstrate the ability to analyze, criticize, or evaluate a specific problem or situation.

Analytic Memos. Learners write a memo responding to a real-life problem or issue that demonstrates their analytical abilities (for example, work-related issues, and community problems).

Developing Psychomotor Skills

Performance Reviews and Tests. Participants perform a skill, operation, or practical application. Specified equipment or materials are often used. A clear statement of the required standards is used, and all parties have to understand those standards prior to initiating the testing procedure.

On-the-Job Observations. Participants, under the eye of the evaluator, carry out a set of performance behaviors. Again, clear standards for performance are set.

Interviews. Participants or instructors interview work supervisors, and others in settings where they are using what their have learned (e.g., learners in a nursing program interview preceptors on whether they are correctly performing specific skills).

Ratings of Performance. Instructors or outside experts rate how well participants are able to do particular tasks or movements (e.g., technical skills as a dancer, carpentry ability in building a desk).

Strengthening Problem-Finding and Problem-Solving Capabilities

Documented Problem Solutions. Participants document specifically how they have solved a problem in their own or a simulated context.

Audio and Video Tape Protocols. Learners are audio- or videotaped while engaged in a problem-finding or problem-solving situation.

Reflective Journals. Participants are required to keep written reflective entries on how they solved specific problems, or the processes they used in problem identification.

Computer Simulations. Learners solve problems through computer simulations that allow them a range of responses to the various problem-based situations they encounter.

Observations. Learners are observed by instructors or other interested parties to ascertain whether useful and appropriate new ways are being used to strengthen their problem-finding and problem-solving capabilities.

Product Reviews. Participants develop a product for examination by instructors, outside experts or panels of experts (e.g., case studies focused on problems they had solved, video clips that demonstrate their ability in leading a group through a problem solving process).

Changing Attitudes Beliefs Values, or Feelings

Role Playing. Learners role-play a situation, focusing on attitudes, beliefs, values, and feelings.

Tests. Participants answer questions that focus on specific attitudes, beliefs, values, or feelings. Although these tests are difficult to construct, they can provide a very useful measure, providing they are both reliable and valid.

Reflective Journals. Learners record in their journals two types of entries: one that describes an event or situation, and a second that focuses on their feelings and attitudes about that event.

Free-Form Writing. Participants are asked to respond to a stem sentence or just write about a specific topic, responding primarily to how they feel about a topic, situation, or proposition.

Anecdotal Data. Observations of observable behavior that are done by instructors, work supervisors, or others with whom learners come into regular contact are recorded in a number of different forms from rating scales to open-ended questions.

Planning Programs for Adult Learners: A Practical Guide by Rosemary S. Caffarella and Sandra Ratcliff Daffron. Copyright 2013 John Wiley & Sons, Inc. All rights reserved.