CDLA · Module 3 — Outcomes and authentic assessment
SCORM completion and recall quizzes sit low on Thalheimer's LTEM. Executives need evidence of transfer, not a green bar.
About 18 min
Practice in the lesson player
Sorting, matching, quizzes, and the module gate stay behind a free account so scored answers are not public. The teaching notes below are the same cited curriculum.
01
The information security course reports 94% completion. The phishing simulation the following month catches 31% of staff, the same as last year. Nobody lied. Completion measured that people reached the last screen. The course was designed to change what people do with a suspicious email, and nothing measured that.
02
LTEM: ثمانية مستويات من الأدلة
Tier | Evidence | What it can tell you
1 Attendance | Enrolled, started, completed | They were there
2 Activity | Clicks, time, participation | They were busy
3 Learner perceptions | Ratings and comments | How they felt; useful if questions target known success factors
4 Knowledge | Recall or recognition of facts | They remember, for now
5 Decision-making competence | Realistic scenario decisions | They can choose the right move in a realistic case
6 Task competence | Performing the task (simulation, observed) | They can do it in a practice setting
7 Transfer | Performing on the job | They do it at work
8 Effects of transfer | Results on people, organisation, community | Work outcomes changed
03
LTEM is not a product feature or a badge to paste on a slide. It is a way to ask what evidence you would accept before claiming that learning worked, and to be honest about which tier you actually reached.
04
Two places where teams overclaim. Tier 3: satisfaction ratings correlate weakly with learning; Sitzmann and colleagues' meta-analysis of reactions found they predict self-efficacy and motivation better than learning. If you collect reactions, ask about things that predict transfer: whether the practice matched the job, whether the manager will support use. Tier 4: knowledge checks taken minutes after content measure short-term recall. If you need tier 4, delay the test by at least a day. Neither tier supports the sentence "the training improved performance".
05
Take the last learning report your team sent to a sponsor. Mark every number in it with its LTEM tier. Count how many are tier 4 or below. Keep this page for your assessment map.