Hello! We are Isabelle Bourgeois, Lauren Wildshut, and Marla Steinberg, members of the Case Collaborative. I (Isabelle) am a Full Professor at the University of Ottawa. I (Lauren) am the Director of Evaluation Programme at the Centre for Research on Evaluation, Science and Technology (CREST) at Stellenbosch University. And I (Marla) am an Evaluation Consultant and Educator in Victoria, British Columbia. As evaluation instructors, we rely on cases to support the development of evaluation competencies. We conducted a survey of evaluation instructors in three countries to find out how others use cases as part of their teaching in either academic programs or professional development offerings.
Why Use Cases to Teach Evaluation Competencies?
Survey respondents highlighted several benefits of teaching with cases, including:
- Developing interpersonal skills through collaborative problem-solving.
- Practicing decision-making, risk taking and critical thinking in a safe and supported learning environment.
- Developing a better understanding of the contextual, ethical, and diversity and equity-related issues that influence evaluations.
- Supporting socialization into the evaluation profession by learning about real life practice.
Examples of Cases for Each Competency Domain
We learned that all evaluation competencies can be taught or enhanced using cases. Here are a few examples of the types of cases or scenarios that support the development of each competency domain:
- Contextual/Situational — use a case of planning an evaluation for a program for street involved youth, and think about how evaluators might reach different populations to actively participate in the evaluation.
- Methodological/Technical — use a case where the evaluation used a systems approach for determining the impact of a complex intervention.
- Management/Professional — read about how evaluators use project management tools to deal with a changing evaluation scope.
- Interpersonal — Read about a culturally responsive evaluation where the evaluators connected with community leaders to learn about protocols and were invited into the community.
Using Cases in Varied Instructional Contexts
- Cases can be adapted for use in various instructional contexts, including university-based in-person or online courses, self-paced online courses, and professional development workshops.
- Most of the time, evaluation instructors develop their own cases based on their professional practice; however, they are interested in cases developed by others that can be adapted to their instructional contexts.
- Most evaluation instructors are also interested in training and tools to improve their use of cases to teach evaluation competencies.
Rad Resources
Many Voluntary Organizations for Professional Evaluators (VOPEs) have developed evaluator competency profiles that are helpful to review when you are teaching others about evaluation. Here are a few links to evaluation competency descriptions:
- American Evaluation Association – Evaluator Competencies
- Canadian Evaluation Society – Evaluator Competencies
- Aotearoa New Zealand Evaluation Association – Evaluator Competencies
Survey respondents emphasized the need for shared resources to support case-centered teaching. The CASE Collaborative has developed a repository of cases that can be adapted to teach pretty much all aspects of evaluation practice.
Interested in learning more about how evaluation educators are using cases to support competency development? Read our article: How does teaching with cases support the development of evaluation competencies article? You get free access to this article if you are logged into your AEA account.
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.