Let’s say you’re creating training for managers on how to conduct coaching conversations. You drafted a set of traditional multi-choice questions as a quiz for the end of the course, but they’re all on a pretty low level.
It’s time to improve the quality of your assessment with some real life scenarios.
This is a question from your current quiz that measures the recall of a fact from the training. The rest of the assessment is similar.
Example: How do you introduce the specific aspect of performance you wish to address?
- Come out with a direct statement of what you want to talk about.
- Ask the employee why they think they are here for this conversation.
- Introduce the specific aspect of performance, relating back to what was agreed.
- Quote the performance standard you will be discussing.
Align to Objectives
What are your objectives?
Does your assessment align to them? If not, rewrite it.
In this example, the objective is “The learner will follow the procedure for conducting a coaching conversation”.
The objective is application level; you need to apply this procedure.
The question assesses recall; the objective requires application. Therefore, this question should be rewritten at a higher level.
When would managers use this?
The first step in shifting from traditional to scenario-based questions is asking when managers would use the information.
When would managers need to know about holding coaching conversations? Probably when an employee has behaved in a way that is contrary to agreed standards or totally ignored a standard procedure.
For each multiple choice question, ask yourself how learners would use that information on the job. When would they need to differentiate between those options?
If you can’t come up with any situation in which people would need this information on the job, why are you asking that question?
Introducing a Scenario
One method to revise the question is to add a scenario to introduce the choices. This provides context. It shifts the question from just recalling information to using that information to make a decision.
Let’s see how that works with our example. The scenario introduces the question. The choices are essentially the same as before, but it’s now a decision about how to work with an employee you manage. Instead of measuring recall, this question measures if learners can apply this part of the coaching conversation.
Example revised: Simon is a customer service person who you have just observed handling a customer complaint badly. He did not show attentive listening when the customer was explaining his position.
How would you introduce this behaviour deviation to the conversation?
- We’ve had exercises in attentive listening in our workshops. You didn’t use the technique with that last customer.
- What did we decide was the most effective way to deal with an angry customer wanting a refund?
- Did you use your attentive listening skills as we agreed was necessary to show concern?
- That last customer contact was a mess. What went wrong?
Notice, how this question has much more relevance to the learner’s work place.
You can use mini-scenarios at any place in your modlette to check on understanding and also introduce something realistic to the learner.