Performance criteria

Before you let the participants evaluate the course you should ask yourself an important question: What should be evaluated and what makes a learning unit good or bad?

It’s like buying a sofa with your friends when not telling them what you want prior to going to the shops. One friend might suggest the canary yellow couch in leather, your best friend might tell you to get that chaise longue in the Louis XV style etc. The only problem is that you prefer beigey-creamy colours and that chaise longue is definitely not comfortable.

You can avoid such misunderstandings by giving your friends certain criteria that are important to you when buying a sofa, like “The colour of the sofa should go with the living room”, “No flamboyant colours” or “It should be comfortable”.

Same goes for criteria when you want to get your learning unit evaluated. Over time the number of criteria will increase, and they will get more detailed.

Below are some aspects that should be looked at when performing quality control:

• Content: Are these learning materials what the participants expected? Are all topics covered?
• User suitability and technical aspects: Are the participants able to use the provided technology? Is everything working? Is there support when there are technical problems? Is the technology up to date and fitting?
• Didactics: Are the participants supported in learning and motivated? Are the contents illustrated through the use of various media? Are interaction and communication between the participants supported? (A forum can be helpful)
• Learning success: Is there an individual learning success through the learning unit? Are the learning targets completed? Is the knowledge helpful for day-to-day life?
• Sustainability: Is this knowledge useful for a long period of time?