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AHE TIG Week: Bridging the Gap: From Grad School to Becoming an Evaluator by Fanni Farago

Hello. My name is Fanni Farago (she/her) and I am serving as the 2021-2022 Program Chair for the Assessment in Higher Education TIG. Additionally, I am a new & emerging evaluator and a Sociology Doctoral Student at George Mason University. Currently, I work as a Research Assistant at Mason and investigate the impacts of inequality in higher ed for historically underrepresented students.

AHE TIG Week: Saving Time through Data Dashboards by Matt Feldmann and Tom Withee

Hello, we are Matt Feldmann and Tom Withee with Goshen Education Consulting. Matt Feldmann is the principal researcher and firm director at Goshen Education Consulting and manages the information technology for the AHE TIG. Tom Withee is a senior researcher at Goshen Education Consulting and is the chair elect for the STEM TIG. It is our belief that creating interactive data dashboards are not only an effective means for communicating with your clients, but they create huge time savings. For our discussion, we will reference a University Climate Survey data dashboard from our client Southern Illinois University Edwardsville (which can be retrieved from this link). 

AHE TIG Week: Harnessing Big Data in Higher Education: Evaluators as Data Scientists by Stephanie Fuentes

I’m Stephanie Fuentes, an institutional researcher for a small, for-profit college and I’m totally fascinated by the hype around data scientists and predictive analytics. Tom Davenport and D.J. Patil call it the sexiest job of the 21st century (according to an often-cited Harvard Business Review article). Who knew evaluators were in such demand?

AHE TIG Week: Using Competency-based Assessment in Faculty Evaluations of Teaching in Higher Education to Support Experts in Teaching Roles by Amy Bowser

Hi, I’m Amy Bowser. Today there is a nursing shortage crisis across the United States. There are not enough qualified nurses to care for patients. Solving this problem is complicated because there is also a nursing faculty shortage. As a result, learners wanting to attend schools of nursing are being turned away. Nurses must be recruited to teach in higher education. However, nurses are experts in patient care, not trained educators. This situation is likely similar to most schools in higher education. Experts who become faculty are not typically trained to teach. Nurses and other experts are expected to develop teaching skills within the time constraint of the faculty role. How can we add additional support to the current mechanisms in place for new faculty development? Perhaps faculty evaluations of teaching can support the development of faculty teaching and learning practice.

Artificial Intelligence (AI): Using AI to Build Evaluation Capacity by David Fetterman

Hi. I am David Fetterman. I am the president of Fetterman & Associates, an international evaluation firm. I am also the past-president of the American Evaluation Association and a co-chair of the Collaborative, Participatory, and Empowerment Evaluation TIG (with Liliana Rodríguez). I am the recipient of the Myrdal Award for Practice, the Lazarsfeld Award for Theory, and the Evaluation Advocacy and Use Award. I am also the founder of empowerment evaluation.

Thinking about Thinking: Exploring Faculty Transformation Narratives to Fuel Best Practices for Critical Thinking Workshops by Gideon Eduah

Hi! I am Gideon Eduah, a doctoral student from Tennessee Tech University, and I work with a group of interdisciplinary collaborators affiliated with the Center for Assessment & Improvement of Learning at Tennessee Tech and the Office of Institutional Effectiveness at Tallahassee Community College (TCC).

Together, we have facilitated ten professional development critical thinking workshops with three two-year and two four-year universities centered on assessment practices in higher education. Leveraging either the Critical thinking Assessment Test (CAT) or the American Association for Colleges and Universities (AAC&U) Critical Thinking VALUE rubric, these workshops intended to help guide and support faculty as they navigate instructional pivots relating to student assessment and evaluation. These workshops have been in face-to-face, virtual, and hybrid settings, with faculty from multiple disciplines.

How do we measure infrastructure support? An example from the 988 Suicide and Crisis Lifeline by Kristen Quinlan

Hi there! My name is Kristen Quinlan. I’m a Senior Research Scientist at the Education Development Center (EDC). As part of this role, I support the National Action Alliance for Suicide Prevention (Action Alliance), which is a public-private partnership charged with supporting the National Strategy for Suicide Prevention and the Surgeon General’s Call to Action on Suicide Prevention.

Evaluation of Global Health Security in Militancy-Hit Areas of Pakistan Bordering Afghanistan – Lessons Learned by Saeed Ahmed

Hello learned readers and evaluation enthusiasts, a warm welcome to my blog post for AEA conference. Let me introduce myself. I am Dr Saeed Ahmad from Pakistan. I am public health specialist with focus on monitoring and evaluation on public health projects. My area of work revolves around US led Global Health Security Agenda (GHSA) implementation in Pakistan for better health for all. This blog post is related to my monitoring and evaluation of GHSA in militancy hit areas of Pakistan bordering Afghanistan. In the realm of global health security, few regions pose as significant challenges as the militancy-hit areas along the Pakistan-Afghanistan border. These areas are not only afflicted by violence and conflict but also face unique socio-cultural and religious barriers that affect public health interventions. As a dedicated Health Emergency Management Consultant with extensive experience in public health, disease surveillance, and capacity building, I embarked on a groundbreaking project to evaluate US-CDC led Global Health Security indicators and polio programs in these troubled territories. In this blog, we will delve into the innovative approach employed, the invaluable lessons learned, and the implications of this work for policy makers, stakeholders, and similar conflict-affected regions around the world.

Blue Marble Evaluation Questions by Charmagne Campbell-Patton, Hannah McMillan, Mike Moore, Michael Quinn Patton, and Rees Warne

Greetings, fellow evaluators! We are members of the Blue Marble Evaluation Network, a global group engaged in asking questions about the future of our Earth and evaluation’s role in supporting a future that is just and regenerative. The Blue Marble refers to the view of Earth from space, an image of our shared planetary home without borders, boundaries, or divisions.
At the 2019 annual conference of the American Evaluation Association, ARCevaluation of Menomonie, Wisconsin (now Catalyst), sponsored a poetry contest. The winning entry, shown below, was submitted by Evgenia Valuy.

Captivate Your Crowd with Audience Engagement Principles by Sheila B. Robinson

Hi! I’m Sheila B. Robinson, Ed.D. of Custom Professional Learning, LLC. I’m a speaker, educator, consultant, and yes, a program evaluator too!

In my first career as an educator, I dedicated years to co-teaching and coaching/mentoring teachers. I was intrigued by teachers who possessed a talent for engaging students. Was it their lively personalities, raw charisma, carefully crafted lesson plans, or the particular activities the students were doing that made the difference? I began observing closely and taking notes. As I transitioned from the classroom to the conference room creating and facilitating professional development courses for teachers and school leaders, the answer became clear: it’s all of the above!