Hello, my name is Jennifer Borland. I am the Director of Research Programs at Rockman et al Cooperative, a research and evaluation firm that specializes in the evaluation of educational programs and media in formal and informal settings. I’ve been working as an evaluator for more than 25 years and I am also proud to say that I was born, raised, and currently work in the great state of Indiana!
I grew up in Indianapolis, lived in Indianapolis, and worked in Indianapolis for many years. I probably drove past the Walker Theater 1,000 times. I kind of knew it meant something important about history, Black history in particular, but I never stopped to learn. In my defense, the Internet wasn’t a thing yet.
I’m Kyle Hannon from Filibuster Press—a community development and book publishing consultancy based in Bloomington, Indiana.
Greetings from Indianapolis! I am Karen Breece, an internal evaluator for Conner Prairie Museum in Fishers, Indiana. You may be like me in that every time you go to a new city you want to see a local museum (or maybe that’s a me thing). While you’re visiting our wonderful Indy attractions like The Children’s Museum of Indianapolis, Newfields, or Conner Prairie, you may wonder how these places measure their impact. Museums are for learning, but are people actually LEARNING when they go to these places? One fun fact is that all of the attractions I named have full-time internal evaluators. It’s up to us to show that museums make a difference, and we have a few unique tools up our sleeves to do so.
Hi! I’m Susan Foutz, Director of Research and Evaluation at Indiana’s most visited cultural organization, The Children’s Museum of Indianapolis. Founded in 1925, we are proud to as our role as a community anchor and tourist attraction. I’m sure you know that Indianapolis is home sports teams and world-class sporting events, from the Colts, Pacers, and Fever, to Big Ten conference events, and the Indy 500. As a mid-sized city and state capital, Indianapolis also has a lot to offer in terms of arts and culture. Here’s a round-up of fall exhibits at local museums, organized by their distance from the conference location at the JW Marriott.
I am Robert Hoke, an Indianapolis- based independent consultant, an AEA Conference attendee since 2001, and a member of this year’s Local Arrangement Working Group. The LAWG and the Indiana Evaluation Association look forward to welcoming all of you to Indianapolis in October. To kick off this week of posts, we acknowledge that the conference’s location is the ancestral territory of the Miami, Potawatomi, and Shawnee people.
This week’s posts will provide information about things to do in Indianapolis, a little history, and some insights into evaluation work in Indiana.
Hello, my name is Jennifer Borland. I have been actively working in the field of evaluation for more than 25 years. Aside from the internet itself, I’m hard pressed to think of another technology that will have as great an impact on the field of evaluation as generative AI is likely to have.
Hello! My name is Mindy Hightower King. I am the founder of Limelight Analytics LLC, a measurement and evaluation firm located in Bloomington, Indiana, that conducts research and evaluation on behalf of non-profit organizations, government agencies, and foundations.
Many of our clients are readily embracing opportunities to return to in-person meetings and conferences (we embrace this, too!). We also find there are still some very compelling reasons to engage, learn, and share ideas in online forums. If you find yourself sharing data in online meetings or convenings, and you are interested in creative ways to engage your audience, then this blog post is for you!
When I attend a community impact meeting, sometimes, I remember to sign in.
I’m Kyle Hannon with Filibuster Press, a community development and book publishing consultancy. When I’m involved with a community meeting, we have a sign-in sheet to keep a record of who is there. From across the room, I will see people who walk into the meeting, usually after the meeting has started, and walk right past the sign-in sheet. How could they do that? Don’t they know it is important for record keeping (grant reporting) that we know how many people were at the meeting?
Hello, my name is Jennifer Borland. I am the Director of Research Programs at Rockman et al Cooperative, a research and evaluation firm that specializes in the evaluation of educational programs and media in formal and informal settings. I’ve been working in the field of evaluation for more than 25 years but a constant over that entire period has been my continued interest in finding creative new strategies and inspirations.
Hello, I’m Jacqueline Singh, MPP, PhD (she/her), an evaluator and program design advisor based in Indianapolis, Indiana. Throughout my career, I’ve held roles as an internal and external evaluator, and higher education researcher. I’ve taken on program design responsibilities within non-profit organizations, government agencies, and higher education institutions. Regardless of the setting, I’ve held a strong interest in policy and focused on the context and design of programs that align with specific policies to facilitate the fidelity of their implementation.
