Hello, fellow evaluators! We’re Natasha J. G. Monteith, Stacy Huff, and Gabriel Keney, doctoral students at UNC Greensboro in the Educational Research Methodology program. As members of the student-led RoE Lab, we’ve gained invaluable insights into fostering research productivity and professional development among graduate students. As practitioners, it is critical to consider that many graduate students are not offered these opportunities. As faculty, we would encourage you to create a lab like this on your campus so that future practitioners hold these skills across the field. Our journey began when Dr. Sandra Ayoo expressed a desire to offer graduate students opportunities to engage in RoE. We’re eager to share the key elements of the lab’s journey and the lessons we’ve learned. A big thank you to Xinru Yan and Meghan Lemming who also served in the ROE Lab’s growth.
Origins of the RoE Lab and Evolution
In 2021, the lab began after recognizing an interest among students in learning about writing and publishing. The lab focused on creating a space where students learn, engage, and start building their publication portfolios. We organized meetings, shared writing resources, and planned group writing days. Fueled by increasing interest in collaboration, our writing group quickly expanded to eight members, leading us to formalize the lab as a registered student organization and enabling us to access funding from the university. This involved creating governing positions and drafting a constitution. Over three years, the lab has presented at multiple conferences, published a peer-reviewed article, and marked our presence in the evaluation field.
Guest Speakers and Skills Development
As we evolved, we recognized the need for diverse perspectives in our meetings. This led us to invite prominent figures in evaluation to share their expertise and guidance on the research process, including Dr. John LaVelle who brainstormed research topics that aligned personal interests with evaluation topics.
Our lab’s approach to networking with guest speakers and immersive writing sessions, coupled with group discussions and peer feedback, has significantly enhanced our members’ skills. These experiences have not only honed our research productivity, but expanded our perspectives and professional network, which allows us to make a more meaningful contribution to the evaluation literature.
Hot Tips
- Engage with a Mentor: An academic mentor’s insights help navigate the complexities of the academic world. As practitioners and faculty, we encourage you to seek out a role like this to help grow our field!
- Foster a Collaborative Environment: A shared digital space via Google Drive and OneDrive encourages collaboration and resource sharing, making it a vital component of our lab’s success.
- Keep It Broad: Supporting students across various interests, from academia to practice, is essential for a holistic approach to research on evaluation.
Lessons Learned
- Build A Solid Foundation: A clear mission and vision are the bedrock of the organization, guiding decisions and activities. When we are asking questions about our future, looking back at our foundation has helped make those decisions easier.
- Create a Conducive Environment: We create dedicated space and time by meeting monthly to foster engagement and productivity. Over the summer we host a weekly writing space for the entire department to join.
- Incentivizing Participation: Recognizing and sharing achievements (e.g. publications or research posters) motivates members and showcases the lab’s impact. It also helps students who are not involved realize the value that the lab can bring to their professional journey!
Rad Resources
- Strategies for mentoring and advising evaluation graduate students of colour
- Writing Your Journal Article in 12 Weeks
The American Evaluation Association is hosting Research on Evaluation (ROE) Topical Interest Group Week. The contributions all this week to AEA365 come from our ROE 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.