This week, the members of the Graduate Students and New Evaluators (GSNE) TIG share various tips, tricks, resources, and points of view that can be helpful for students and new evaluators. We hope both evaluators, new and old, will review this material and share the resources and stories with each other.
-Crystal Luce, GSNE Chair
Hello! We’re Randi Knox (Supervisor of Research Evaluation at Boys Town National Research Hospital) and Selena Lilly (Director of Data Management at TakeRoot Justice). We’re co-facilitators of a new GSNE-sponsored journal group, and we invite you to join us for some evaluation-centered quality time on a quarterly basis.
While reconnecting after our graduate program at Claremont Graduate University, we realized we were both looking for more opportunities to feel integrated into the field of evaluation. We both work as internal evaluators and are the only ones on our respective teams who identify as evaluators; this can be an isolating experience socially and intellectually – no one to make evaluation jokes with, no one asking, “Hey, have you read the latest issue of AJE?”
With the help of the GSNE TIG, we devised a plan to encourage our ongoing learning and make more friends and colleagues in the evaluation field. The result is, in our opinion, a rad resource.
Rad Resource
Peer Perspectives: An American Journal of Evaluation Discussion Group is an online gathering held quarterly and open to anyone looking to network and discuss evaluation literature. We start each meeting with “Cool Connections” (time to ‘break the ice’ and get to know each other), followed by a discussion of one article from the most recent edition of AJE, which is selected and shared ahead of time. The meeting concludes with an open discussion of “What Else” we’ve been reading or looking to learn more about. We strive to create a casual yet enriching environment for all.
To join, please (a) join the GSNE TIG and Facebook group or (b) contact Randi via email or LinkedIn to be added to our mailing list.
AEA is hosting GSNE Week with our colleagues in the Graduate Student and New Evaluators AEA Topical Interest Group. The contributions all this week to AEA365 come from our GSNE TIG members. 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.