The global COVID-19 pandemic triggered a seismic shift in businesses’ operations, forcing many employees into a virtual environment almost overnight. In this new reality, Learning and Development (L&D) teams grappled with challenges not seen before. Traditional classroom-based training sessions became impractical, and the familiar methods of gauging progress through face-to-face interaction vanished.
As a result, organisations quickly realised that technology alone would not be enough to ensure effective corporate learning. Understanding how employees learn and how to measure their development through well-structured assessments became crucial. In the corporate setting, it is not just about delivering content—it is about fostering real-world skills, enabling continuous improvement, encouraging employee engagement, and ultimately aligning staff capability with organisational goals.
This blog will explore how assessment can be reframed and strengthened to improve learning outcomes, using a balanced approach that blends assessment of learning, assessment for learning, and assessment as learning. We delve into why this conceptual understanding matters more now than ever, especially in a remote and increasingly globalised work environment.
Adapting to the New Landscape of Corporate Learning
Before the pandemic, many businesses relied on traditional workshops and seminars that provided ample opportunities for face-to-face interaction. The sudden shift to remote work revealed that old methods often struggle to translate seamlessly to a virtual environment.
While online meeting platforms and eLearning modules helped deliver content, they did not guarantee that employees were truly absorbing knowledge or developing new skills. Organisations soon found that the problem was not just one of technology—but of how to ensure learning experiences that genuinely foster growth, engagement, and practical skills application. This is where assessment plays a crucial role.
Challenges of L&D in a Virtual Context
In the remote setting, L&D professionals face significant hurdles:
- Lack of Non-Verbal Cues: Trainers and facilitators can no longer rely on visual and auditory cues that signal confusion or disengagement. Without the subtle feedback from in-person sessions, gauging whether learning outcomes are being met is harder.
- Maintaining Engagement: The virtual environment can breed distraction. Fatigue, competing responsibilities at home, and isolation can dampen employee engagement. Without the right assessment strategies, keeping learners motivated and active participants in their development is challenging.
- Ensuring Transfer of Learning: Knowledge alone does not guarantee performance improvement. Assessments must be structured to demonstrate the application and transfer of learned skills into the workplace context.
Understanding these challenges highlights why we need a more nuanced approach to assessment that goes beyond end-of-course quizzes and ensures a richer, more meaningful measurement of learning.
More Than Technology: Why Understanding the Learning Process and Assessment Matters
Implementing a new Learning Management System or offering a range of webinars is insufficient. L&D professionals must ensure that learning is being internalised and that employees can reflect, apply, and build upon the knowledge they receive. This involves recognising that assessment should serve multiple purposes.
Proper assessment strategies enable organisations to:
- Identify skill gaps: By understanding what employees have learned and what remains unclear, businesses can tailor subsequent training to meet identified needs. This is a form of differentiated instruction, ensuring that each learner receives support suited to their particular stage of development.
- Promote continuous improvement: When ongoing assessments are integral to the learning cycle, they help employees steadily improve their skills.
- Drive organisational decisions: Reliable assessment data supports decisions regarding placement or promotion, guiding talent management and succession planning.
Understanding Assessment of Learning in a Corporate Context
Assessment of learning is what most organisations are familiar with. It takes place at the end of a learning cycle—such as after a training module or program—and measures whether employees have achieved the desired outcomes.
For example, a final test or a practical demonstration of a skill after a workshop provides tangible evidence of what the learner has retained.
In the corporate environment, assessment of learning:
- Provides evidence of achievement related to stated learning objectives or curricular outcomes.
- It occurs at the end of a learning cycle, using various assessment tools—online tests, presentations, practical simulations, or portfolio reviews.
- Informs placement or promotion decisions, as results are often used to determine whether an employee is ready to advance or assume new responsibilities.
This assessment form is essential to ensure accountability and measure return on investment in L&D initiatives.
Emphasising Assessment for Learning: A Continuous Improvement Mindset
Assessment for learning is more formative and supports ongoing development. It is a mentor-driven approach, but in the corporate world, we might think of it as facilitator or trainer-driven, where the goal is to inform both the instructor and the learner about progress and challenges while learning is still occurring.
Key aspects of assessment for learning in corporate L&D include:
- Occurs throughout the teaching and learning process, not just at the end.
- It uses various tools—mini-quizzes, feedback surveys, breakout discussions, and reflective journals—to gauge understanding and engagement.
- Promotes differentiated instruction by allowing trainers to adjust their approach based on the learner’s performance. If a particular skill is elusive to a cohort, trainers can provide targeted support, offer additional resources, or modify their teaching methods.
- It enhances learning through feedback, as employees receive timely guidance that helps them understand where they stand and how to improve before reaching the final assessment stage.
This formative approach encourages continuous improvement and immediate course correction, building employee confidence and competence.
Empowering Learners Through Assessment as Learning
Assessment as learning goes a step further, placing the responsibility for monitoring progress directly on the learners. In a corporate setting, employees become more autonomous and reflective, taking an active role in shaping their development journey. While facilitated and guided by the trainer, this approach is student-driven (or learner-driven, in corporate parlance).
Assessment as learning in corporate contexts:
- Supports employees in critically analysing their learning about the intended outcomes, encouraging deep reflection on their strengths, weaknesses, and areas needing development.
- It is learner-driven with facilitator guidance, ensuring employees are not passive recipients but active participants in their growth.
- It occurs throughout the learning process, enabling continuous self-assessment and the development of metacognitive skills, such as self-regulation and self-evaluation.
By taking ownership of their learning journey, employees are more likely to feel engaged, motivated, and invested in their professional growth.
Striking the Right Balance
No single assessment approach is universally superior. Instead, corporate L&D strategies should incorporate all three forms—assessment of learning, assessment for learning, and assessment as learning—in a balanced manner. The key is to blend these approaches so that they reinforce each other:
- Begin with assessment for learning: Use early and ongoing formative checks to guide the instructional process and provide timely feedback.
- Incorporate assessment as learning: Encourage employees to reflect on their progress, understand their gaps, and take charge of their development.
- Conclude with assessment of learning: Evaluate final competencies and achievements, informing decisions about progression, promotion, or additional training.
Through this balanced approach, assessments transform from mere tests into powerful tools that support employee growth, organisational agility, and robust skill development.
Conclusion
The COVID-19 pandemic taught us that corporate learning must be more flexible, responsive, and employee-centric than ever before. As technology enabled a shift to a virtual environment, organisations discovered that well-designed assessment strategies are integral to effective L&D. Understanding the nuances of assessment of learning, assessment for learning, and assessment as learning is essential to creating a learning culture that values continuous improvement, differentiated instruction, and genuine skill acquisition.
By embracing these three forms of assessment and adjusting the balance as needed, corporate leaders can ensure that their workforce is gaining knowledge and developing the critical thinking, adaptability, and problem-solving capabilities necessary to thrive in an ever-changing business landscape. Ultimately, the proper assessment approach helps turn learning from a static event into a dynamic, ongoing journey that benefits both the individual and the organisation.
