Running Head: EVALUATION PLAN

Financial Education Evaluation Plan

Matthew S. Svendsen
Colorado State University

Running Head: EVALUATION PLAN

Philosophy of Evaluation
Young Adult Retirement Basics will be a one three-hour session course covering the
basics of retirement planning for 17-25 year olds to preparing for financial independence and
retirement savings. With the objectives of the course created on the Teaching Goals Inventory
(TGI) categories of Higher Order Thinking, Personal Development, and Discipline-Specific
Knowledge, it is my belief that an evaluation of this course should not simply consist of an
examination which would simply implore students to regurgitate information they learned in the
three hours immediately preceding its distribution. Evaluation of this course, rather, should
require a displayed use of the skills taught over the course.
While a strong knowledge of facts and figures is a necessary component for retirement
planning, the ability to apply those things to unique and individualized situations is equally
important. Because of this, displaying those acquired skills and application of knowledge
becomes the goal of the Young Adult Retirement Basics learner evaluation. Because retirement
planning is category of personal finance, it stands to reason that the evaluation of learners should
be based on their personal finances. In order to verify and validate that learners are able to apply
learned skills to their own life situations, evaluation should be based on their life situations.
Evaluating learners based on applicable real-world scenarios also creates a vested personal
interest beyond a pass/fail score for learners in the education and evaluation process.
Retirement Basics Evaluation
The Young Adult Retirement Basics course evaluation will consist of two stages. At the
end of instruction (roughly leaving a half hour), learners will be asked to write specific pieces of
relevant financial information down on a piece of paper. The information prompts will be

Running Head: EVALUATION PLAN

written out for learners so they know what information to include. The following pieces of
information will be solicited for the second stage of evaluation: Age, Current Assets, Current
Liabilities, Current Annual Income, Monthly Expenses, Risk Tolerance, Employment Status,
Employment Retirement Savings.
Once learners have completed writing this information down, they will approach the
facilitator and through a conversation-based evaluation, learners will be prompted to explain
their personal retirement planning strategies relative to the personal information they have
provided. Facilitators will question learners on their reasoning for use of certain account types,
why other account types may not be beneficial to their circumstances, and identify the possible
unforeseen shortcomings in their planning strategies. Facilitators will use the conversational
approach to giving feedback when they explain why learners are or are not on track in their
thought processes. While no pass or fail grades will be given, facilitators will evaluate
whether or not learners have a working knowledge of the course information. During the
feedback process, facilitators will offer additional help to those learners who are not on track
with their retirement planning. An in-person, email or phone conversation can be established for
facilitators and learners to shore up any learning issues or gaps in participant learning.
Evaluation Impact of Future Instruction
Throughout this evaluation process, the facilitator should make note of any repetition in
learning issues or areas of struggle for learners. These patterns will serve as a guide for
modifications to instruction. If there are areas that learners consistently struggle with, the
facilitator should work with instructional designers to clear up instruction and make the lesson
more clear for learners. Using direct and leading questions in the evaluation will allow the

Running Head: EVALUATION PLAN

facilitator to evaluate if learners have reached the course objectives. Noting how well objectives
have been reached will also allow the facilitator and design team to make decisions regarding
changes that can be made to instruction to ensure that objectives will be met or exceeded in the
future.
Conclusion
Through a conversational approach to evaluation of learners ability to apply learned
information to real world situations, facilitators will be able to tell if objectives are being met for
the Young Adult Retirement Basics course. Because of the relaxed approach, the evaluation can
take place without pressure on learners while, at the same time, they are able see if they have
gained an insight to the course information. The learners will also be able to use the evaluation
for application in their real lives by taking their own information to create the basis for their
individual evaluations. Because this evaluation can be used to create a retirement plan for
learners and can be used to identify necessary changes in instructional design, it will help plan
for both the learners and the courses future.