2024 – Reading for this week https www youtube com watch v rrNgBy4qDDo Read the article on After Action Review After Action Review AAR is a formative and

Available through the ISU online library via EBSCO Business source Complete database:  Darling, M., Parry, C., & Moore, J. (2005). Learning in the thick of it. Harvard Business Review, 83(7/8), p. 84-92. 

In week 3 we read chapter 3 in your textbook which described the importance of creating an evaluation plan at the “beginning.”  The beginning might be when you are create a course or training, when you revise a new course or training, or when you create a new product or process that you want to evaluate.  The purpose of the evaluation plan is to plan out your evaluation strategy before you jump in and start creating your various evaluation tools. Your plan will identify which of the four/five levels of evaluation you want to use for evaluating the course/training (or product, process, etc.) and how you plan to evaluate at each level before you get to far into the project. Your evaluation plan is also a great communication tool to make sure that you, your manager/department chair, and any other stakeholders are all in agreement before you create your various evaluation tools.  

From a sequencing standpoint we would have normally done the evaluation plan week 3 (i.e. at the beginning, before we developed our various evaluation tools).  However in week 3, you had just barely begun to learn about the four/five levels of evaluation!  So we will be doing the evaluation plan now. I encourage you to go back to your book at re-read chapter 3 before you begin this assignment.

Forum Discussions

Discuss the following questions:

• What are your reactions and thoughts after reading the AAR articles?
• Have you ever used an AAR?  If so, describe the situation, process, and outcome.
• How do you think you might use an AAR in your work environment?  Why/why isn’t AAR an effective evaluation for your work environment?  
• Anything else you want to discuss!

First disscussion 

 I am not familiar with the concept of After- Action Reviews as presented in the reading assignment articles.  As outlined in the articles the framework of AAR offers an excellent process to evaluate and improve any business, organization or work environment.  I like the ideas presented along the lines of continuous reflective planning, learning throughout the project and evaluation before the project or event.  I think AAR is a great concept focusing on learning in real time throughout the performance rather than spending less beneficial time on learning what happened at the end of a project.  I believe AAR is a great means or summative evaluation method to improve any project not only in business but in education. Why wait to evaluate and assess at the end of a project when major problems and key issues can be discussed and anticipated at the beginning and throughout the project. 

     It’s really neat that an idea that is literally battle tested can be taken from the military and utilized in the private sector. Like the military utilizes in the analysis of its battles, an organization can break down many components of an action and analyze if intended results were accomplished.  The AAR offers a scenario that offers a teacher or an organization an opportunity to break down the major aspects of their objectives into smaller components. Breaking down each teaching or organizational activity into what needs to be implemented can establish strong feedback and overall effective continuous process improvement. Feedback and evaluation at the beginning, throughout the life and at the end of a project is a process that maximizes improvement and results. For example in any work environment it is best to learn about problems and benefits as soon as possible rather than in a past performance evaluation at the end of a project where the maximum potential benefits are lost.

Second disscusion 

 think after-action reviews are a simple yet powerful tool that allows individuals and teams to continuously learn from their experiences or training courses. The feedback you can gain from AAR’s are so useful. It’s a great way to find out your desired outcomes,  the actual outcomes, and f the outcomes were different to those planned? I used AAR when the drafting a web design for the company I used to work for. We had to plan accordingly to design the layout, shopping cart, and design. It took working in small groups one to find the software we were going to use and one team to design the layout. We had many trial and errors where we had to stop and evaluate during the process.