Learning Analytics: Measurement Innovations to Support Employee Development

About the Book

Faced with organizations that are more dispersed, a workforce that is more diverse and the pressure to reduce costs, CEOs and CFOs are increasingly asking what the return on investment is from training and development programmes. Learning Analytics provides a framework for understanding how to work with learning analytics at an advanced level. It focuses on the questions that training evaluation is intended to answer: is training effective and how can it be improved? It discusses the field of learning analytics, outlining how and why analytics can be useful, and takes the reader through examples of approaches to answering these questions and looks at the valuable role that technology has to play. Even where technological solutions are employed, the HR or learning and development practitioner needs to understand what questions they should be asking of their data to ensure alignment between training and business needs. Learning Analytics enables both senior L&D and HR professionals as well as CEOs and CFOs to see the transformational power that effective analytics has for building a learning organization, and the impacts that this has on performance, talent management, and competitive advantage. It helps learning and development professionals to make the business case for their activities, demonstrating what is truly adding value and where budgets should be spent, and to deliver a credible service to their business by providing metrics based on which sound business decisions can be made.

Table of Contents:

• • Chapter - 01: Why now? The occasion for learning analytics;
  • Chapter - 02: What is learning analytics?;
  • Chapter - 03: Technology’s role in learning measurement;
  • Chapter - 04: Linking learning to business impact;
  • Chapter - 05: Scrap learning: the new leading indicator of success;
  • Chapter - 06: Aligning L&D to business goals through needs assessment;
  • Chapter - 07: Benchmarks;
  • Chapter - 08: Optimizing investments in learning;
  • Chapter - 09: Beyond learning analytics to talent management analytics;

About the Author :
John R. Mattox II is a senior measurement consultant with CEB, a best practice insight and technology company. Prior to this, John was director of research at KnowledgeAdvisors and led training evaluation teams at several Fortune 500 companies. Mark Van Buren is an HR Practice Leader at CEB. He has worked with hundreds of organizations to respond to a clear shift in employee preferences for learning and an increase in employee-driven, technology-enabled development. Jean Martin is CEB's talent solutions architect. She leads insight and product development in talent management and regularly presents to executive teams at top Fortune 500 companies. Her commentary has appeared in publications such as Harvard Business Review, The Economist, and Forbes.

Review :
"John, Jean and Mark start where others stop. The point is that analytics is more than just ROI calculations. Three key points are: first, the game belongs to prediction. You can't change the past, but you can learn how to apply it in predictive methods. Second, data integration generates leverage....Third, it's all about application. We can't just dump findings on management. We have to be partners in using the outcomes to run the organizations more effectively. John and company do a great job of leading the reader through these points." "If you need to evaluate your investments in talent, or use HR analytics to inform business decisions, then this book is a godsend. In today's talent economy, Learning Analytics is a small investment with a high return. Adopt these findings so that you can attract, develop and retain your desired employees. Or your own career." "You don't need to be a statistical guru to find value in this book. While there are statistical examples, this book really addresses the value that's realized by applying analytics to learning and development programmes. John, Jean and Mark have combined decades of research and experience to create a clear and compelling read about using learning data to speak the language of business leaders." "Learning Analytics takes a brave aspiration - everything you ever needed to know about how to measure organizational learning - and encapsulates the best industry guidance into nine compelling chapters. This book outlines how to stop operating on anecdotes and start functioning with evidence. This book also provides answers to objections that have stalled our field for years with its pragmatic models, how-tos, research and case studies. This is truly an exceptional read and a gift to the learning and talent field at large." "This book... is a must-have reference for anyone in the business of learning. The authors are trailblazers in the field of analytics, and provide practical steps that stakeholders can take to ensure their evaluation dollars are spent wisely. More importantly, they focus... on how to align future learning programs with the needs of the business, which directly impacts program funding and executive sponsorship."