At the AEA/CDC Summer Evaluation Institute, over 150 attendees went to a session on Low-cost/No-cost Tools for Evaluators. Here are some of the great ideas recommended from the audience, Day 2!
EasyBib: Create your bibliography in MLA Style, add APA style and other added functionality for $20 for the year. Search the database for existing citable items or add your own and it will prompt you through the process and produce style appropriate text ready for export. http://www.easybib.com/ Recommended by: Joseph Smith
PollEverywhere: Poll your audience (at a presentation, conference, in the classroom) and have responses sent via text message on mobile phones. Response graphs update in real time and may be embedded in a PowerPoint (with live updating) or webpage. Free for up to 30 respondents, inexpensive plans for more. Let’s try this at the next conference! http://www.polleverywhere.com/ Recommended by: Gita Upreti
R Studio.Org: For those of you who are R lovers (free statistical software with not so friendly user-interface), check out RStudio.Org. RStudio.Org is free and provides an intuitive interface and tools to help you maneuver through R and make the most of its powerful functionality. http://rstudio.org/ Recommended by: Walter Leite
Ning: Ning allows you to create a community-focused website packed with social networking functionality including discussion forums and video embedding. Great for clubs, collaborative working groups, and professional development learning circles. Plans start as low as $2.95/month for groups of 150 or fewer. http://www.ning.com/compareplans Recommended by: Cindy Vincent
Zoomerang: An old standby for online surveying, we were reminded today that it also can be used for more general online forms as well. The free version allows up to 12 questions and 100 responses per survey. Pro versions are $199/year and up with significantly expanded options and capacity. http://www.zoomerang.com/ Recommended by: Becky Lorah
Stay tuned for more!
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.