Hello, AEA365 readers! We’re David Ensminger and Tiffany Tovey, members of the Case Collaborative. I (Dave) am an Associate professor at Loyola University Chicago where I teach evaluation, research methods, and instructional design courses, and I have been practicing evaluation for 18 years. And I (Tiffany) am the director of the Office of Assessment, Evaluation, and Research Services at the University of North Carolina at Greensboro and I teach research methods and program evaluation courses in the Information, Library, and Research Sciences Department. To close this week’s discussion of using and developing cases to teach and learn evaluation, we wanted to highlight the importance of reflective practice for both practitioners and learners!
First: What is reflection? Bolton and Delderfield (2018) note that reflective practice is “a state of mind, an ongoing attitude of life and work, the pearl grit in the oyster of practice and education…” (pp. 1-2). Reflective practice is a process of understanding what happened, what went well, what didn’t go so well, and how we can change our practice to act more wisely on the basis of our reflection.
For learners, digesting cases either in the classroom or as a part of evaluation capacity-building work, this reflective process means inserting themselves into a real-world context to gain practical insight into what it means to be an evaluator. What do cases provide learners in the realm of reflective practice? Well, cases provide…
… contextual elements that learners must reflectively interpret as they gain an understanding of and apply evaluation knowledge and skills.
… an opportunity to reflect on the decisions and actions of case actors to the contextual elements presented in a case and consider how and why the case actors made their choices.
… an opportunity to reflect on the decisions and actions they might make in response to the contextual elements in the case.
… an opportunity to solve problems based on case elements in a low-stakes environment and reflect on their solutions.
Practitioners have a wealth of practical experience that we (the Case Collaborative) believe is important to share with the broader evaluation community. Even more, creating a case from one’s own experience is beneficial to practitioners, as it provides a space for critically reviewing, and in a sense, metaevaluating our work for the purpose of learning and improvement. So, how do you engage in reflective practice to develop a case from your own experience? Here are some reflection questions to get you started:
- What experiences from your own practice would feel good to further unpack? What needs your attention and further space for processing?
- What story from your own experience is bubbling up that stands out as a pivotal learning experience in your own practice?
- What story from your experience might be useful for new evaluators to better understand an evaluation concept or practice?
- What story from your own experience might be useful for new evaluators to practice evaluation skills and thinking?
- What story from your own experience might be useful for new evaluators to reflect on your decisions and actions as an evaluator?
Rad Resources
- Interested in further honing your reflective practice skills? Check out this AEA365 post and its associated resources!
- Check out the case repository, and consider submitting your own case to the database!
- Check out this article on writing a case from your professional story! It’s available for free if you are logged into your AEA account.
- Use these questions to guide the analysis and development of your own case!
- Use the writing checklist to ensure your case provides the best resources for teachers and learners of evaluation!
The American Evaluation Association is hosting Case Collaborative week. The contributions all this week to AEA365 come from members of the Case Collaborative, a global group of evaluators focused on the use of evaluation cases. 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. The views and opinions expressed on the AEA365 blog are solely those of the original authors and other contributors. These views and opinions do not necessarily represent those of the American Evaluation Association, and/or any/all contributors to this site.