Traci Sitzmann

University of Colorado | UCD

In 1959, Donald Kirkpatrick addressed the American Society of Training and Development, where he proposed a four-level model for training evaluation—reactions, learning, behavior, and results. The levels offer a practical solution for evaluating training effectiveness, providing guidance on measuring multiple metrics and ensuring that evaluation ef...

As online graduate programs in psychology continue to proliferate, it is important to understand the research addressing the effectiveness of online graduate education so as to advise stakeholders in these programs: applicants, students, faculty, and institutions. In this article, we examine the effectiveness of online education in psychology at tw...

This study proposes a mediated process model that seeks to explain how occupational strength influences personality heterogeneity, ultimately affecting attitudes and behaviors. Specifically, it proposes that strong occupations restrict personality heterogeneity (defined as the extent to which there is variability in incumbents' personalities), whic...

MOOC stands for Massive Open Online Course and represents an instructional approach that permits hundreds of thousands of students to access online courses anywhere around the world and typically free of charge. There have been a number of stories in the popular press suggesting that MOOCs may revolutionize training and education, but evidence rega...

We propose a multilevel framework that addresses the criteria that can be used to assess training effectiveness at the within-person, between-person, and macro levels of analysis. Specifically, we propose four evaluation taxa—training utilization, affect, performance, and financial impact—as well as the specific evaluation metrics that can be captu...

We test two potential boundary conditions for the effects of subconscious goals—the nature of the goal that is activated (achievement vs. underachievement) and conscious goal striving. Subconscious achievement goals increase the amount of time devoted to skill acquisition, and this increase in resource allocation leads to higher performance when co...

Training engagement theory provides a multilevel depiction of the antecedents of training effectiveness. By multilevel, we are referring both to the hierarchical nature of constructs—such that employees are embedded in organizations and workgroups—and the temporal nature of processes—emphasizing that macro and within-person processes are not static...

We advance research on subconscious goals by testing the joint effects of subconscious and conscious goals on resource allocation, task performance, and goal abandonment for a cognitively demanding task—namely, skill acquisition. We also expand the subconscious goals domain to focus on underachievement as well as achievement goals and examine their...

The past 55 years of training research and practice has been stunted by Kirkpatrick’s memorable but atheoretical framework, which proposes that training evaluation should progressively advance through four levels. To elevate the science underlying evaluation efforts, we propose a multilevel framework that addresses the criteria that can be used to...

This research demonstrates a survey effect, such that the act of administering surveys alters training effectiveness. Two aspects of survey administration were manipulated: the number of survey questions per training module (ranged from 1 to 30 across experimental conditions) and the type of survey questions (self-regulation or trainee reactions) a...

Training engagement theory depicts the temporal sequence of events at multiple levels of analysis that contribute to training effectiveness. The temporal nature of the theory advocates for examining the processes that occur from before training is conceptualized until after the completion of training programs. As such, training engagement theory pr...

Instructors often rely on seductive details, such as jokes, stories, and video clips, to keep trainees entertained. However, this extraneous information may inadvertently detract from the course content, and the between-person nature of past research precludes understanding the dynamic process by which seductive details influence learning. Using a...

We conducted a meta-analysis to determine whether the within-person self-efficacy/performance relationship is positive, negative, or null and to compare the strength of the self-efficacy/performance and past performance/self-efficacy within-person relationships. The self-efficacy/performance within-person corrected correlation was .23 but was weak...

Planning plays an instrumental role in prominent self-regulation theories (e.g., action regulation, control, goal setting), yet as a scientific community we know little about how people carry out their learning plans. Using an experimental field study, we implemented a repeated-measures intervention requiring trainees to create a plan for when, whe...

A theoretical model is presented that examines self-regulatory processes and trainee characteristics as predictors of attrition from voluntary online training in order to determine who is at risk of dropping out and the processes that occur during training that determine when they are at risk of dropping out. Attrition increased following declines...

Two studies were conducted to examine the implications of inaccurate self-appraisals in online training. Self-assessment of knowledge moderated the effects of trainees’ performance on subsequent performance and attrition. Performance was highest after uniformly positive ratings (i.e., high self-assessment and high performance), followed by underest...

Interactive cognitive complexity theory suggests that simulation games are more effective than other instructional methods because they simultaneously engage trainees’ affective and cognitive processes (Tennyson & Jorczak, 2008). Meta-analytic techniques were used to examine the instructional effectiveness of computer-based simulation games relativ...

Researchers have been applying their knowledge of goal-oriented behavior to the self-regulated learning domain for more than 30 years. This review examines the current state of research on self-regulated learning and gaps in the field's understanding of how adults regulate their learning of work-related knowledge and skills. Self-regulation theory...

Although online instruction has many potential benefits, technical difficulties are one drawback to the increased use of this medium. A repeated measures design was used to examine the effect that technical difficulties have on learning and attrition from voluntary online training. Adult learners (N = 530) were recruited online and volunteered to p...

We conducted a meta-analysis to clarify the construct validity of self-assessments of knowledge in education and workplace training. Self-assessment's strongest correlations were with motivation and satisfaction, two affective evaluation outcomes. The relationship between self-assessment and cognitive learning was moderate. Even under conditions th...

This chapter presents results from a meta-analysis that compares the effectiveness of Web-based instruction (WBI) to classroom instruction (CI). The results suggest that when the same instructional methods are used, WBI and CI are equally effective for teaching declarative knowledge. However, the instructional methods and course design features inc...

Prompting self-regulation involves asking trainees reflective questions to stimulate self-regulatory engagement. Research has found positive effects for prompting self-regulation on learning, but a scarcity of evidence exists regarding whether self-regulatory processes mediate the effect of prompting self-regulation, whether the intervention reduce...

We used a within-subjects design and multilevel modeling in two studies to examine the effect of prompting self-regulation, an intervention designed to improve learning from technology-delivered instruction. The results of two studies indicate trainees who were prompted to self-regulate gradually improved their knowledge and performance over time,...

The current study investigates antecedents and outcomes of motivation to learn across nine Web-based courses. The results supported a cyclical model of motivational processes across courses in a training curriculum. Trainees' course expectations had a positive effect on motivation to learn, motivation to learn had a positive effect on trainee react...

This study examined the role of goal orientation dimensions in understanding differences in time spent in an online, occupational training program. In predicting time to train, there was a significant interaction between mastery and performance-avoid goal orientations (β=−.32), highlighting the value of considering goal orientation dimensions in co...

A review and meta-analysis of studies assessing trainee reactions are presented. Results suggest reactions primarily capture characteristics of the training course, but trainee characteristics (e.g., anxiety and pretraining motivation) and organizational support also have a moderate effect on reactions. Instructional style (rho = .66) followed by h...

Seductive details are highly interesting information tangential to course objectives. The inclusion of seductive details generally harms performance on recall tests, but few studies have used multimedia training or investigated effects on performance on recognition tests or transfer tasks. We conducted two studies using computer-based training, ins...

This chapter presents results from a meta-analysis that compares the effectiveness of Web-based instruction (WBI) to classroom instruction (CI). The results suggest that when the same instructional methods are used, WBI and CI are equally effective for teaching declarative knowledge. However, the instructional methods and course design features inc...

Meta-analytic techniques were used to examine the effectiveness of Web-based instruction (WBI) relative to classroom instruction (CI) and to examine moderators of the comparative effectiveness of the 2 delivery media. The overall results indicated WBI was 6% more effective than CI for teaching declarative knowledge, the 2 delivery media were equall...

Supervisors play an important role in determining whether employees use work-family programs. Yet little research has examined the factors that relate to supervisor perceptions of and behaviors surrounding work-family programs. This study builds on past research, the theory of reasoned action, and expectancy theory to explore factors that contribut...

Web-based instruction or e-learning is becoming an increasingly popular training option. According to the American Society for Training and Development report, in 2002 U.S. corporations were using technology to deliver 15% of training programs while companies in Japan (the biggest users of technology and instruction) were using technology to delive...

As training is increasingly integrated in the workplace and embedded in work technology, trainees are confronted by a variety of workplace and technological interruptions. This article presents a conceptual framework characterizing different types of interruptions and the extent to which they disrupt learning. A longitudinal design was then used to...