Sheila B. Robinson on a Utilization-Focused Approach to Evaluation Learning and Last Minute Opportunity

Hi! I’m Sheila B. Robinson, aea365 Lead Curator and sometimes Saturday contributor.

We all know (I hope!) the four basic Program Evaluation Standards – utility feasibility, propriety, and accuracy. Not familiar? You may want to start by reading this. These standards sound simple enough, right? Wrong! Turns out, there is a lot to know in order to be able to conduct high-quality, effective, professional evaluation that adheres to these four principles.

Lesson Learned: Fortunately, AEA offers a utilization-focused approach to professional learning in eStudy courses. No travel required for these courses that feature cost-effective, live, in-depth professional learning with high quality instructors broken down into manageable time chunks of 90-minutes each. There’s time to apply new concepts learned between sessions, and to complete a brief homework assignment that will help you process your learning.

Even more fortunately, we have in our midst an accomplished and award-winning author, evaluator, presenter, and teacher who is at the ready to share wisdoms of practice and current trends related to Utilization-Focused Evaluation in an upcoming estudy course.

Michael Quinn Patton is best known for his work in three key evaluation areas: Utilization-Focused Evaluation, Qualitative Evaluation, and Developmental Evaluation and has written no less than six books on these subjects. A past AEA president, Patton is a veteran conference presenter and workshop facilitator, and one of the “Dynamic Dozen” – top scoring AEA presenters selected and interviewed to inform AEA’s Potent Presentations (p2i) initiative.

Hot Tip: Michael Quinn Patton will be your instructor extraordinaire for an AEA estudy starting on Monday. Essentials of Utilization-Focused Evaluation will be presented in four 90-minute sessions on December 9, 11, 13, and 16.

Not familiar with AEA’s live, in-depth virtual professional development courses? Read about them here.

Cool trick: Click here to register. But hurry! Registration closes at midnight, Sunday December 8.

Hot Tip: eStudy courses are recorded and made available for 14 days to all paid registrants.

Rad Resource: AEA eStudy courses are run year-round. Check here often to see what else is coming up!

Do you have questions, concerns, kudos, or content to extend this aea365 contribution? Please add them in the comments section for this post on the aea365 webpage so that we may enrich our community of practice. Would you like to submit an aea365 Tip? Please send a note of interest to aea365@eval.org . aea365 is sponsored by the American Evaluation Association and provides a Tip-a-Day by and for evaluators.

Leave a Comment

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.