Athena Rayne Anderson

Below is an example of a recent consultation I did for a health training team. The name of the training body is denoted as “XXX” for confidentiality.

Learning Unit: Trauma-Informed Care

Overview

I reviewed the XXX’s Trauma-Informed Care training presentation and assessment from an instructional design perspective. This unit is reported as being delivered to all new employees, is typically 3 hours in length, and is assessed using a multiple choice (MC) and True/False (T/F) test. This consultation lists the top three strengths with explanations, as well as the three most important areas for improvement (in order of importance), along with explanations and recommendations.

Top 3 Strengths

1. Learning Objectives (LOs) are present and displayed early in the unit
2. Engagement is built into the unit
3. More than one content delivery method is used (lecture & media)

Strengths Explanation

Learning Objectives are a critical component of any learning unit because they show learners exactly what they should be able to do upon completion of the unit. Displaying the LOs early in the unit is considered a best practice to orient learners to these important points from the beginning.

The unit includes engagement in the form of questions on several slides. I was unsure how these questions would be dealt with during the session, which will impact the quality of the engagement. For instance, if the trainer poses a question, waits one second, then moves on, learners don’t have sufficient time to process the question and come up with an answer. A more engaging strategy would be to allow learners to discuss the question with a partner for 1-2 minutes, then ask pairs to share their answers with the entire group of trainees.

This session utilizes two content delivery methods: lecture and media. Having more than one content delivery method is another best practice, because it increases the chances of learners receiving the content in a format that works best for them. For instance, some people remember things better when they see them in writing, while others remember things they hear best. Use of videos increases the level of engagement of this learning unit, because visual aids automatically help people remember content better than lecture alone.

Top 3 Areas for Improvement (in order of importance)

1. Several LOs use unmeasurable verbs
2. Most LOs are not, or cannot be, assessed with the current test
3. Most content from LOs could not be located in the slides

Areas for Improvement Explanation

There are major problems with alignment among the LOs, assessment, and content for this learning unit. In the unit’s current state, the LOs lead the learner to believe that certain topics are most important, but those topics are neither included in the content, nor assessed with the MC & T/F test.

Choosing measurable verbs is critical for an effective and efficient learning unit. Understand is an example of a verb that’s difficult to measure. How do you know when someone understands something? Using avoid is also problematic for the sake of measurement. If someone does NOT perform a behavior, you can’t objectively assess whether it was because they knew to avoid it, or because they simply didn’t think about it.

A person’s ability to define something cannot be assessed with MC & T/F questions, because it requires that they supply a definition in their own words. The MC & T/F test can measure a learner’s ability to apply a concept or strategy, but none of the questions in the test for this unit actually do this.

I was unable to locate questions on the assessment that relate to any of the LOs except #3, and this only partially. Question #5 asks the learner to identify things that could be re-traumatizing or triggering, but no question relates to recognizing reactions to trauma.

Learners must be given the content needed to achieve the LOs during the learning unit, but I was unable to find answers to the following questions on the slides:

• What is the purpose of TIC?
• What is the definition of psychological trauma?
• What actions are re-traumatizing?

Recommendations

To improve this unit, I suggest the following (in the order listed):

1. Decide what is most important for learners to be able to do upon completion of this unit
2. Using your answer to question #1, write measurable LOs that align with (can be assessed by) a MC & T/F test
3. Be sure the content needed to achieve the LOs is written on the PPT slides
4. Include questions in the assessment that will tell you whether learners achieved the LOs

I recommend using Bloom’s Taxonomy (shown below) to choose measurable verbs that can be assessed by a MC & T/F test. Bloom’s Taxonomy categorizes verbs into 6 levels of learning. “Remember” is the lowest, and easiest, level, and “Create” is the highest, and most difficult, level. Example verbs from each level are shown in italics in the corresponding colored rectangles. With the exception of the verb understand, all the example verbs from the Taxonomy are measurable. It will be difficult to assess learning above the “Understand” level using a MC & T/F test, so I suggest focusing on verbs from this and the “Remember” levels.

For example, below is the original and a modified version of the same LO. Notice how the reworded version is measurable and can be assessed using a MC & T/F test:

• Original LO: Understand the purpose of Trauma-Informed Care
• Modified LO: Identify the purpose of Trauma-Informed Care

I hope this consultation is helpful, and I welcome your questions or feedback. You can contact me at (email address).

Best wishes,
Athena Rayne Anderson, PhD, MEd

Royalty-free Photo by Kristin Hardwick on StockSnap