Evaluation in practice: identifying factors for improving transfer of training in technical domains

The main goal of training is to prepare trainees for the tasks they are going to perform on their jobs. In other words, training aims at transfer from the classroom to the work floor. Transfer of training can be defined as the extent to which trainees are able to use effectively in their work situations the knowledge, skills and attitudes acquired during training (Baldwin & Ford, 1988; Gielen, 1995). Transfer is important, but measuring transfer is not easy. Not only the results of a training course should be assessed, but one must also establish whether the trainees use the acquired knowledge and skills in their work during the weeks or months following the course. A literature review showed that there is a lack of practical research on how transfer can be improved (Bots & Veldhuis, 1997). Research has not yielded very encouraging results. Investigations show that in many corporate training courses, the transfer of knowledge, skills and attitudes to the work situation is very low. The amount of transfer reported in the literature varies from 10-20% (Baldwin & Ford, 1988; Broad & Newstrom, 1992; Dixon, 1990; Gielen, 1995; Kelley, 1982; Robinson & Robinson, 1989). Our research is focused on a specific kind of training courses: training in technical domains, such as maintenance of complex systems, for example: maintenance of vehicles, airplanes and industrial machinery. Maintenance engineers usually have a background of general, technical education, followed by some specialist courses, preparing them for the specific systems they are going to service. Training can usually not be done on the job; many machines are too expensive or too dangerous to be handled by novices. Organisations operating complex systems need to have well trained maintenance engineers, who are up to their job; mistakes may have very serious consequences in terms of safety and costs. The training for technical engineers must aim at acquiring the basic skills and knowledge from different scientific disciplines, preparing trainees for the complex jobs they have to perform. In our research, we aimed at developing a method for analysing and assessing transfer of training in technical domains. First, we will discuss the different forms transfer can take. Next, we will address the methods to assess transfer of training, and the related problems. W e will then describe the evaluation method developed and the model on which the method is based. The method was applied in an actual training situation. This evaluation of a maintenance course is described, and the findings from this evaluation are presented. Finally, we discuss the usefulness of the method.