Maureen Wilce on Program Evaluation Basics Webinar Series

My name is Maureen Wilce and I’m the team leader for the Program Evaluation and Community Interventions Team in the Air Pollution and Respiratory Health Branch in CDC’s National Center for Environmental Health. My team provides technical assistance to support the evaluation efforts of 36 state partners in the National Asthma Control Program.

Together with the Environmental Protection Agency, we have created a four-part Webinar series on program evaluation basics. In the series, nationally recognized experts

1)      present a general introduction to program evaluation,

2)      note challenges in conducting useful evaluations as well as methods for overcoming those challenges,

3)      introduce the six steps of the CDC Framework for Program Evaluation using examples that are relevant to our state partners working in asthma control, and

4)      emphasize the importance and utility of the evaluation standards.

The series is appropriate for novice evaluators, program staff, and others interested in learning about CDC’s approach to program evaluation. Presenters include Christina Christie, Leslie Fierro, Carlyn Orians, and Tom Chapel. Individual Webinars range in length from 25 to 65 minutes.

Rad Resource: Our webinar series is entitled “Using Evaluation to Reduce the Burden of Asthma: A Web-based Introduction to CDC’s Framework for Program Evaluation“, and you can find it here.  PowerPoint slides with accompanying transcripts are available for each Webinar.

Hot tip: If you’re working with stakeholders—board members, for example—and you want to help them see the merit in measurement in the middle of the logic model (rather than only at the far right end), the introductory Webinar is for you! It’s an engaging 25 minutes that uses examples from our asthma work, as well as from diabetes, cardiovascular health, soccer, and even furniture production in Poland. Serve it up with a bowl of popcorn and even the most evaluation-resistant stakeholders will jump on the band wagon… or at least stop running the other way when they see you approaching in the hall.

Lesson Learned: Engaging the services of an instructional designer to review your PowerPoint presentation before turning it into a Webinar can help ensure that your learning objectives are clear—and are clearly met.

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