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Sponsored by the Data Visualization and Reporting TIG - free for all AEA members
Prezi presentations are a new alternative to Powerpoint or Keynote. Simple to use and engaging, Prezi is a free online tool that takes the work of data visualists like Tufte and Few and applies it to entire presentations. Using a large virtual whiteboard, users can literally map a presentation from big picture to details. Viewers never lose sight of the context. Lyn will present a piece of a Prezi presentation used in lectures about evaluation, and show how easy it is to add text, pdfs, jpgs, and even videos to a presentation.
Register: Pre-registration required online at https://www1.gotomeeting.com/register/155348472

The evaluation standards call for evaluations to be useful, practical, accurate, ethical, and accountable. Utilization-Focused Evaluation (UFE) is a process that meets these criteria by promoting evaluation use from beginning to end with a focus on intended uses by intended users, encouraging situational responsiveness and adaptability. In a series of four sessions, Michael Quinn Patton will present the basics, controversies, and cutting edge issues in conducting Utilization-Focused Evaluations. This eStudy workshop will be the first based on his new book, Essentials of Utilization-Focused Evaluation, to be published in August 2011.

Drawing on case examples, research, and Patton's extensive professional experience, the session will provide both an overall framework and a revised step-by-step checklist for designing and conducting evaluations that actually get used. You'll explore the UFE process as a complex adaptive system, incorporating cutting edge understandings about systems thinking and complexity concepts, with an ongoing focus on strategies usable in real-world evaluation practice.

• Session I: Laying the foundation for use: Situation analysis and setting the stage 
• Session II: Designing a practical and useful evaluation: Working with primary intended users 
• Session III: It's not over till it's over:  Follow-up to support and facilitate use
• Session IV: Special issues, advanced applications, and lingering questions

Michael Quinn Patton is the founder and director of Utilization-Focused Evaluation. His book, Utilization-Focused Evaluation, is now in its 4th edition and has produced a companion, Essentials of Utilization-Focused Evaluation, due out August 2011 and published by Sage.

Registration Fees: $150/members    $80/full-time students    $200/nonmembers
Register online at: https://www.eval.org/webinar_reg/Registrationtop.asp 

Last Day to Register: Thursday, September 1 

Prefer in person? This training will also be offered as a professional development pre-conference workshop at Evaluation 2011 - see http://www.eval.org/eval2011/11pdw.desc.htm

Sponsored by the Quantitative Methods: Theory and Design TIG - free for all AEA members
Although we know that statistical analyses and inferences can be quite inaccurate if there is a mismatch between data and statistical models, it is easy to rush into analyses before we have done a thorough job of data screening. To avoid costly errors and embarrassment, careful attention must be given to identify and deal with problematic data before we apply statistical tools for decision making. This webinar will address major issues in data screening using bivariate examples.
Register: Pre-registration required online at https://www1.gotomeeting.com/register/959022009

Free for all AEA members  Measuring institutional capacity for sustainability in developing countries is a relevant challenge that many international M&E professionals face for their development projects. There is no one tool or approach that works best for measuring institutional capacity/strengthening, but a number of approaches work well if customized to the project's objectives. During this Webinar, the presenter will demonstrate one  tool that has worked effectively-PONAT (Participatory Organizational Needs Assessment Tool), which Chemonics International developed with USAID for a project in the West Bank/Gaza. The Webinar will focus on the main features of the PONAT and also discuss its strengths and weaknesses for measuring institutional capacity.
Register: Pre-registration required online at https://www1.gotomeeting.com/register/474654760

Sponsored by the Graduate Student and New Evaluator TIG - free for all AEA members
The Graduate Student and New Evaluator TIG is sponsoring a webinar series. One per month, we'll offer a webinar reviewing graduate programs in evaluation from around the United States. Each webinar will feature a faculty member and a student who review strengths of the program's faculty, explain what the student experience is like, share examples of the type of projects in which students can expect to take part, and include time for questions from attendees. The series should be a good opportunity for prospective students and evaluators of all kinds to learn about evaluation training opportunities around the country.
Register: Pre-registration required online at https://www1.gotomeeting.com/register/681977921

Free for all AEA members
Logic models are useful in designing, describing and communicating about a program and its evaluation. Logic models are generally linear, bounded and static and their development and use is often limited to immediate stakeholders during the initial stages of the evaluation process. A fuzzy logic model embraces fluid and approximate reasoning, varied context and a program's evolution in order to better navigate non-linearity, feedback loops and other aspects of complexity common in the lives of some programs. Fuzzifying a traditional logic model with web 2.0, graphic design and data visualization creates new opportunities to account for complexity and expands access and use of the evaluation process to a greater diversity of stakeholders over a longer period of time. In this webinar, Chris and Matt will introduce the fuzzification process and an example of a fuzzy logic model.
Register: Pre-registration required online at https://www1.gotomeeting.com/register/853201681

An executive summary is not enough. As an evaluator you are conscientious about conducting the best evaluation possible, but how much thought do you give to communicating your results effectively? Do you consider your job complete after submitting a lengthy final report? Reporting is an important skill for evaluators who care about seeing their results disseminated widely and recommendations actually implemented.

This webinar will present an overview of three key principles of effective reporting and its role in effective evaluation. Participants will finish the webinar with an expanded repertoire of innovative reporting techniques.

 

Kylie Hutchinson taught the Canadian Evaluation Society's Essential Skills Series (ESS) for seven years in British Columbia. Her interest in dissemination and communications stems from twenty years of experience in the field of evaluation.

Registration: $75/members    $40/full-time students    $100/nonmembers
Register online at: https://www.eval.org/webinar_reg/Registrationtop.asp 

 

Prefer in person? This training will also be offered as a professional development pre-conference workshop at Evaluation 2011 - see http://www.eval.org/eval2011/11pdw.desc.htm

Free for all AEA members
There is a growing belief that the success or failure of a program depends, in large part, on how well the program is designed. Perhaps the most controversial manifestation of this trend is the current push for programs with evidence-based designs. This webinar explores three questions related to program design and evaluation evidence-Should evaluators be involved in program design? What should the process of program design look like?  How should program designs be evaluated?
Register: Pre-registration required online at https://www1.gotomeeting.com/register/620733305

Free for all AEA members
What is this latest craze that seems to be popping up everywhere?  This session will give participants a brief overview of what Social Network Analysis is and how it has been used in evaluation and in the broader social science field.  Learn about the basic theory and the analytic tools that are behind this methodology.
Register: Pre-registration required online at https://www1.gotomeeting.com/register/360303785

Sponsored by the Multiethnic Issues in Evaluation TIG - free for all AEA members
This webinar is the third in a three-part series sponsored by the Multiethnic Issues in Evaluation TIG. (Note: it was originally scheduled to be second but had to be rescheduled and is now the third in the series.) Once per month, we'll offer a webinar reviewing the most current topics around evaluation and multiethnic issues. The first webinar will describe Culturally Responsive Evaluation and discuss its practical applications. The second webinar in the series will discuss how research has traditionally (and perhaps mistakenly) handled the topic of race. And the third webinar will cover research methods and procedures to determine whether culture has been given appropriate attention in an evaluation study. Each webinar will also include time for questions from attendees. The series should be a good opportunity for evaluators to reflect on their practice. Sign up for any one in the series or all three.
Register: Pre-registration required online at https://www1.gotomeeting.com/register/684223193