Who is Donald Kirkpatrick and why are there 4 levels?

Donald Kirkpatrick is known for creating the training evaluation model. This model consists of four levels of learning evaluation. Kirkpatrick's ideas were first published in 1959, in a series of articles in the US Training and Development Journal.

The four levels of Kirkpatrick's evaluation model essentially measure:

• reaction of student - what they thought and felt about the training
• learning - the resulting increase in knowledge or capability
• behaviour - extent of behaviour and capability improvement and implementation/application
• results - the effects on the business or environment resulting from the trainee's performance

For more on Kirkpatrick's Four Levels of Evaluation, see this wiki

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Donald_Kirkpatrick