Does completing a microlearning lesson mean it has been effective? Of course not. In reality, even after finishing a lesson, the learner sometimes still fails to apply it.
Your microlearning initiative needs to give you proof of behavioral changes and performance improvements. And Kirkpatrick’s evaluation model shows us how.
At Glance
- Kirkpatrick’s model helps trainers look beyond completion rates or enjoyment levels of a microlearning lesson. It asks the pertinent question: what changed, and to what extent?
- The four levels: Reaction, Learning, Behavior and Results, provide evidence of learning effectiveness.
- The most critical part of an evaluation plan is to define the performance change a trainer expects. More specifically, decide on the evidence of that change.
- Not every microlearning lesson requires evaluation at all the four levels. The level of evaluation depends on a lesson’s purpose, importance and expected performance impact.
- This makes evaluation embedded in the learning design process. It helps trainers measure if learning is being applied correctly to deliver meaningful results.
The Basics
First, think of the change you expect, and the evidence needed to make it happen.
To use Kirkpatrick’s evaluation model to measure your microlearning efforts, you first need to collect data by asking 6 simple questions:
- Who are we evaluating?
- What are we evaluating?
- Why are we evaluating?
- When are we evaluating?
- Where are we evaluating?
- How are we evaluating?
Kirkpatrick’s 4 Levels of Evaluation
Kirkpatrick’s model measures training effectiveness at 4 levels – Reaction, Learning, Behavior and Results.
| Evaluation level | What it involves (The details) | Indicative examples |
|---|---|---|
| Level 1: Reaction | How did learners react or respond to the training? Did the learners enjoy the training? The learner’s reaction to the training session immediately after its completion on: --- Quality of content --- Extent and ease of learning ---- Relevance to job | Surveys, ratings |
| Level 2: Learning | Did learning transfer occur? What was learned? What was not learned? To what extent did learners improve their knowledge, skills, or behaviour? Ideally, learners need to be evaluated before (pre-test) and after the training (post-test) to measure progress. | Quizzes or assessments before and immediately after training Observations by peers and instructors Assessments can be planned for: Each microlearning lesson The larger training initiative |
| Level 3: Behaviour | Did the training result in change in behaviour? Are learners applying learning to in workplace? This assessment can start weeks or months after training. | In-depth surveys and interviews Feedback from managers Job performance reviews |
| Level 4: Results | Did the training achieve the desired outcomes? Are the outcomes truly the result of the training? This level requires measuring the training objective both pre- and post-training. | Comparing baselining and post-training performance over time Performance measurements based on key performance indicators (KPIs), OR success-factors tied to learning objectives |
The Microlearning Perspective and Kirkpatrick’s 4 Levels
The questions a trainer needs to ask are:
Level 1: Reaction
Does a positive reaction alone prove that learning occurred?
Level 2: Learning
Does learning end when the lesson ends? If a learner answers all the questions correctly immediately after the lesson, but cannot recall the information later, what happens then?
Level 3: Behavior
While evidence of learning may exist, did behavior really change as a result of the learning?
Level 4: Results
Did we consider the evidence required before the learning initiative, or after it is completed?
These questions are the perfect ingredients of working backwards to create a good microlearning map for each of your lessons.
Start with the Performance Change You Want to See
As a trainer, you should not ask How do I evaluate this lesson?
Instead, build on Kirkpatrick’s model and ask:
What do I want my learner to know, remember, do or improve?
The sequence:
What result do we want? → What must people do differently? → What must they learn? → How will we map that learning? → How will we deliver and reinforce it? → How will we know it worked?
This thinking uses Kirkpatrick as a design process, not just an evaluation exercise post facto.
An example:
| Step | What the Trainer Defines |
|---|---|
| 1. Desired Result | Reduce errors while approving high-risk transactions. |
| 2. Expected Behavior | Managers accurately identify the relevant risk and quality parameters before approving a transaction. |
| 3. Required Learning | Managers need to know, recall and apply the Key Learning Points (KLPs). |
| 4. Create the Microlearning Map | Define how each KLP serves the 4 purposes of microlearning, viz., supplement, augment, remediate or reinforce. |
| 5. Design the Microlearning Lesson | Create lessons, scenarios around the mapped KLPs. |
| 6. Measure Effectiveness | Collect evidence at the appropriate Kirkpatrick levels to see if learning gave you the expected behavior/result. |
Kirkpatrick’s Evaluation and Microlearning Map
With the purpose of a microlearning lesson clarified (supplement, augment, remediate or reinforce performance), trainers can define the changes a lesson is expected to achieve.
Important: Key Learning Points (KLPs) in a microlearning map must connect with the knowledge, decisions, behaviors or performance outcomes you expect to improve for your learners.
How Ongoing Learning Data Can Support Kirkpatrick Evaluation
In microlearning, analytics gives you evidence of learning gaps/goals throughout the learner’s learning path.
For example:
| What Happens | What It Can Help Measure |
|---|---|
| The learner completes a lesson; Responds to it | Reaction: Was it relevant and useful? |
| The learner learns; Answers questions accurately | Learning: Were the KLPs understood? |
| The learner forgets; Struggles to retrieve/recall information | Learning gap: KLPs needing further reinforcement? |
| The platform identifies the gaps | Learning over time: Is reinforcement improving learner’s capabilities/skills? |
| The learner succeeds in retrieving the information later | Retention: Is the learning embedded in deep memory? |
| The learner accurately applies the knowledge at work | Behavior and Results: Has performance improved due to learning? |
Instead of measuring completion status or pass results, you get evidence of learning, forgetting, reinforcement, retention and, even application at workplace.
How to Turn Kirkpatrick’s 4 Levels into an Evaluation Plan
Now that you know how to use Kirkpatrick’s to guide your thinking, let’s move on to the evidence you need and how to collect it.
The evaluation approach depends on the ‘purpose’ of each microlearning lesson, esp., the change in performance and outcome expected.
Given below are the four purposes of microlearning:
It tells us how the ‘purpose’ of the lesson helps determine the kind of evidence we need.
- Supplement: What additional knowledge/capability can a lesson provide?
- Augment: Which existing capability is improved with the lesson?
- Remediate: Which learning/performance gap does the lesson aim to rectify?
- Reinforce: What’s important for a learner to remember, recall and apply without fail?
The purpose of your lesson is also the purpose of your microlearning map. The evaluation approach can then be easily embedded in the microlearning map too.
A Simple Kirkpatrick Evaluation Planning Format
| Kirkpatrick Level | What You Need to Know | What Evidence Will You Use? | When Can You Measure It? |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1. Reaction | If the learners find the lesson relevant and useful | Ratings, surveys, feedback | Immediately post a learning event/session |
| 2. Learning | If learners can understand, recall and retain the KLPs | Questions, retrieval practice, quizzes and analytics | During learning, after learning, and continuously thereafter |
| 3. Behavior | Whether or not learners can apply what’s learned at work | Manager feedback, observation, workplace assessments or performance data | Days, weeks or months later |
| 4. Results | If the expected outcome has improved. | KPIs, error rates, quality scores, productivity or other business measures | Over time to check for consistency |
Not Every Microlearning Lesson Needs All 4 Levels
You must not force fit and evaluate every microlearning lesson based on Kirkpatrick’s four levels.
Why? Here’s a simple explanation: If simple reinforcement is needed, evidence at the Learning level is enough. Whereas, if a critical performance problem needs correction, then you need evidence at the Behavior or Results level too.
Simply put, the more important or critical the ‘impact’ of expected performance, the stronger is the need for ‘evidence’.
The Role of Microlearning Platforms
Completing a lesson does not mean that learning has occurred.
What’s more important is for learners to remember and apply what they’ve learned effectively at work.
A good microlearning platform makes the learning and performance journey better by continuously capturing learning and performance data. AI-enabled microlearning platforms such as MaxLearn have retrieval practice and spaced repetition embedded in them, besides a superior analytics suite to measure a learner’s performance.
The final measure of success truly is evidence of behavioral change and business impact. Learners’ actual workplace performance matters, and when you get that evidence, you know your microlearning initiative has succeeded.
To conclude, Kirkpatrick’s Evaluation Model gives a useful framework for thinking about what your microlearning interventions need to achieve. It helps bring learning, retention and behavior change together. With better workplace performance, you achieve a higher, more consistent and sustainable training ROI.
