Short and Rapid Assessment Techniques: Quick and Easy Ways to Assess Educational Programs

Evaluator's Corner

Short and Rapid Assessment Techniques: Quick and Easy Ways to Assess Educational Programs
by Emily Gertz, MPH

Evaluating individual educational programs or training events is an essential step in understanding if programs are effective. Evaluation allows educators to identify the strengths of their programs and it highlights areas that can be targeted for improvement. Although most of us agree that evaluation is important, we often find it difficult to implement. Often, the difficulty resides in lack of time. When educators have a brief window with the audience, it can be challenging to determine how to incorporate evaluation without taking too much time away from the context and key information that we want to get across to our program participants.

Luckily, there are some assessment methods that are quick and easy to implement. These short and rapid assessment techniques cannot provide extensive information about the program implementation or participant outcomes, but they can provide a nice snapshot of the educational session. Below are three examples of such assessment techniques. Of course, collecting the information is never enough! Be sure to take time to think about the participants' reactions and how you can adjust your activities and programs in the future.

Fist of Five
This activity solicits participants' feedback regarding specific program activities or the overall educational event. Use Fist of Five either right after an activity or at the end of the program depending on which you want to assess.

Time and Materials Required:

• 5-10 minutes
• No materials or preparation.

Procedure:

• Explain to the participants that you'd like them to indicate how much they thought the activity or program would be helpful to them by showing the number of fingers between one and five that best reflects what they think.
• Indicate that showing five fingers means that they think the activity or program will be very helpful and that one finger means they think it won't be helpful at all.
• Ask the participants to make a fist and hold it up in the air. Explain that on the count of three, everyone should show the number of fingers (from one finger to all five) that represents how much they think the activity or program will be helpful.
• After the learners have revealed their finger assessment, scan the room to get a sense of how the group feels.
• Ask individual participants for feedback about why they rated the activity or program the way they did. Probe especially those participants whose finger assessment varies from the majority of the group.

Pluses and Wishes
Pluses and Wishes uses brainstorming to gather participants' feedback about an activity or the overall educational program. Use Pluses and Wishes either right after an activity or at the end of the program depending on which you want to assess.

Time and Materials Required:

• 5-10 minutes
• Flip chart paper with a vertical line drawn down the middle

Procedure:

• Label one column on the paper "Pluses" and the other column "Wishes."
• Ask the participants to call out things they liked about the activity or program and
• Next ask the participants to call out the things that they wish would have been different about the activity or program. Record these comments exactly as the participants say them in the column labeled "Wishes."
• Refrain from engaging in discussion during the brainstorm, however seek clarification, if needed, when the brainstorm is complete.

Speedometer
This activity gives participants the opportunity to report back on the pace of the program. In situations where you may be implementing a multiple day training or a series of program, this technique may help you adjust your presentation style so as to better suit the participants' needs. Speedometer may be used during the middle of a program or at the end of the program. Speedometer may be less useful after specific activities. (Adapted from Rae, Leslie. 1999. Using evaluation in training and development. London, UK, Kogan Page Limited.)

Time and Materials Required:

• 5-10 minutes
• Prepared flipchart with the picture of a speedometer (Circle with the categories: way too fast, a little fast, just right, a little slow, way to slow written around the circle).
• Stickers

Procedure:

• Explain to the participants that you are interested in their feedback regarding the pace of the training.
  Distribute a sticker to each participant.
• Ask the participants to place their sticker on the part of the speedometer that best represents their feelings.
  Review the speedometer for the general trend.
• If there are many different responses, ask the participants to explain why they placed their sticker in the category that they placed it and consider ways to adjust the pace.
• For low literacy groups, substitute the written categories with colors such as red, yellow, and green.

Emily Gertz is the Multicultural Program Coordinator at Planned Parenthood of Nassau County and can be reached at 516.750.2676 or emily.gertz@ppnc.org.

If you have questions about evaluation, would like assistance, or would like to request an Evaluator's Corner edition on a particular topic, please contact Lisa Malley, Planned Parenthood Federation of America, 434 W. 33rd St., New York, NY 10001. Phone: 212-261-4628. Fax: 212-247-6269. Email: lisa.malley@ppfa.org.