5.3 Events 7-9: Assessment & Transfer
5.3 Events 7–9: Assessment and Transfer
Event 7: Provide Feedback
Video: Event 7 — Provide Feedback
Feedback tells learners whether they are on the right track. Types of feedback include:
- Confirmatory: Tells the learner they answered correctly.
- Evaluative: Tells the learner about the accuracy of their performance without providing guidance.
- Remedial: Directs students toward finding the correct answer without providing it directly.
- Descriptive/Analytic: Provides explanations, suggestions, and links back to relevant course content for review.
In self-paced courses, formative assessment feedback with explanations and links to source content serves as the primary feedback mechanism.
Event 8: Assess Performance
Video: Event 8 — Assess Performance
Formal assessment determines whether learners have mastered the learning outcomes. Strategies include pre-tests paired with post-tests (with specific feedback pointing to areas for improvement), embedding formative assessments at the end of each unit, using knowledge checks throughout content (“chunking” assessment), and providing rubrics and exemplars for self-evaluation.
Event 9: Enhance Retention and Transfer
Video: Event 9 — Enhance Retention and Transfer
The final event focuses on ensuring learners retain what they have learned and can transfer it to new contexts. Retention strategies include spiraling (revisiting earlier concepts in later assessments) and providing real-world application scenarios. Transfer is supported when courses explicitly connect concepts to other courses or professional contexts.
Gagné’s Nine Events at a Glance
| # | Event | Phase |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Gain Attention | Preparing the Learner |
| 2 | Inform Learners of Objectives | |
| 3 | Stimulate Recall of Prior Learning | |
| 4 | Present the Content | Delivering & Supporting Content |
| 5 | Provide Learning Guidance | |
| 6 | Elicit Performance (Practice) | |
| 7 | Provide Feedback | Assessment & Transfer |
| 8 | Assess Performance | |
| 9 | Enhance Retention and Transfer |
Self-Check: Unit 5
1. A course introduction begins with “Have you ever wondered why some teams succeed while others fail?” Which of Gagné’s events does this represent?
Reveal Answer
Event 1: Gain Attention — using a thought-provoking question to capture the learner’s curiosity before presenting content.
2. A unit ends with: “In this unit, we learned about supply and demand. In the next unit, we will build on these concepts to explore market equilibrium.” Which two events does this serve?
Reveal Answer
Event 9 (Enhance Retention) by reviewing what was learned, and Event 3 (Stimulate Recall of Prior Learning) by previewing how it connects to what comes next.
3. What is the difference between “remedial feedback” and “descriptive/analytic feedback”?
Reveal Answer
Remedial feedback directs learners toward finding the correct answer without providing it. Descriptive/analytic feedback gives explanations, suggestions, and information to help the learner improve, often including links back to course content.
