A Case Study for the 10-Step Approach to Program Evaluation

Well-designed instructional programs seamlessly promote human performance. Students are often unaware of countless iterations of formative evaluation completed to improve effectiveness, efficiency, motivation, and flow of that instructional design. This paper examines one research-based, comprehensive, systematic evaluation approach as applied by students through two case studies where they evaluated instructional design at a macro level of real-world training programs. The 10-Step Evaluation for Training and Performance Improvement (Chyung 2019) was piloted in a graduate-level instructional design and technology class. Lessons learned include evaluators recognizing the importance of honing in on the questions to ask to determine the dimensions to evaluate while remaining unbiased with their assumptions. For example, results from the first case initially focused on a summative evaluation that hypothesized that the program should be discontinued. Conversely, that case actually uncovered unanticipated findings that resulted in recommendations for the program to be revamped in an effort to continue improvement of human performance.