Hello, AEA365 community! Liz DiLuzio here, Lead Curator of the blog. This week is Individuals Week, which means we take a break from our themed weeks and spotlight the Hot Tips, Cool Tricks, Rad Resources and Lessons Learned from any evaluator interested in sharing. Would you like to contribute to future individuals weeks? Email me at AEA365@eval.org with an idea or a draft and we will make it happen.
Every AEA member knows about our annual conference in the fall, but are you aware that there’s an annual workshop series each summer? It’s called the Summer Evaluation Institute and it offers professional development workshops for anyone interested in learning more about evaluation concepts, trends, and best practices. After two long years, the Institute will be hosted in person this year from June 6th to the 8th in Atlanta and is offering nearly 40 different workshops from which to choose. Not only will this be my first year attending, it will also be my first year facilitating! I’m not sure which I’m looking forward to more.
Rad Resource:
In addition to the half-day workshops, the Institute offers two full-day pre-event workshops:
1. Introduction to Evaluation with Daniel Kidder and Linda Vo
This workshop will provide an overview of program evaluation for Summer Evaluation Institute participants with some, but not extensive, prior background in program evaluation. The foundations of this workshop will be organized around the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s (CDC) six-step Framework for Program Evaluation in Public Health as well as the four sets of evaluation standards from the Joint Commission on Evaluation Standards. The six steps constitute a comprehensive approach to evaluation. While its origins are in the public health sector, the Framework approach can guide any evaluation. The workshop will place particular emphasis on the early steps, including identification and engagement of stakeholders, creation of logic models, and selecting/focusing evaluation questions. Through case studies, participants will have the opportunity to apply the content and work through some of the trade-offs and challenges inherent in program evaluation in public health and human services.
2. Evaluation Foundations and Careers with Stewart Donaldson
This workshop will provide an overview of program evaluation for Institute participants with some, but Every time we try something new, we ask ourselves, “Is it better than before? What makes it good? What is its value?” This process of valuing may be applied to anything from purchasing a computer, to judging the quality of a school curriculum, or an organization’s training program. The art and science of valuing is called Evaluation. All human beings evaluate, albeit informally, but the ability to evaluate systematically and accurately is important to our society and has the power to help improve individual lives and society as a whole. This course aims to introduce you to some of the most important concepts and methods that underpin the thriving profession of evaluation and introduce you to a wide variety of ways to use professional evaluation knowledge in your career. You will learn about fundamental evaluation topics and concepts in four areas: evaluation theory, evaluation methods, evaluation practice and research on evaluation practice.
Hot Tip:
Check out the nearly 40 other half-day workshops available. You can choose up to 5 courses during the Institute!
See you in Atlanta!
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