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To Facilitate Login and Registrations | |
Your AEA username and password may be used to login for members-only content as well as to register for AEA's coffee-break webinars.
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Daily: aea365 Tip-a-Day for Evaluators
Daily Emails | |
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Weekly: Headlines and Resources Compilation
Weekly Compilation |
Each week, we compile Headlines and Resources from across the field and send them out on Sunday to our H&R List su bscribers and post them on AEA's listserv EVALTALK.
Sign up to receive weekly H&R List each Sunday via email: http://bit.ly/SubscribeHeadlines |
Ongoing: Dive Into the Discussion on EVALTALK or LinkedIn
Ongoing Discussion Forums |
AEA's legacy listserv is the longest running public discussion forum focusing on Evaluation. This lively list is open to member and nonmember evaluators alike from around the world.
If you have a (free) profile on popular professional social networking site LinkedIn, join the AEA group for ongoing threaded discussion of questions raised by over 7000 subscribers.
Sign up for AEA's Listserv, EVALTALK: http://bama.ua.edu/archives/evaltalk.html Join AEA's LinkedIn Group: http://www.linkedin.com/groups?mostPopular=&gid=1021707 |
May 3: Activating Mental Velcro: Getting People Ready to Engage - Cassandra O'Neill
Coffee Break Webinar - Thursday, 2:00 - 2:20 PM ET |
Free for all AEA membersHelping people get ready to engage and learn can be simple and easy. If you are presenting at a meeting or during a workshop, or working with groups of stakeholders at any point in your evaluation process, you can help people engage by starting out with a couple of quick and simple activities. Learn how to set the stage for engaged learning by giving people a chance to focus, identify what they want to learn, and activate what they already know. The information shared is part of a new e-book from AEA member Cassandra O'Neill called The Six Secrets to High Impact Presenting. Register: Free to AEA members, but preregistration is required. Preregister at https://www1.gotomeeting.com/register/547195904
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Week of May 6-12: PreK-12 Education Evaluation Week on aea365
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Join our colleagues in the PreK-12 Education TIG for a week of contributions on our aea365 Tip-a-Day Alerts. Join us as contributors will be sharing tips, tricks, resources, and lessons learned to help us all better understand the issues and the intricacies.
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May 6-12: AEA Thoughts Leaders Forum Hosts J. Bradley Cousins
Thought Leaders Forum - Weeklong asynchronous online discussion |
Free for all AEA membersThe Thought Leader Discussion Series connects thought leaders in our field with AEA members, new and old alike. Most months, we host an asynchronous (not in real time) online exchange over the course of a week using AEA's discussion forums. We are pleased to welcome Brad Cousins in May.
J. Bradley Cousins is a professor at the University of Ottawa and Director of the Centre for Research on Educational and Community Services ( CRECS) whose main academic interests are in program evaluation including participatory and collaborative approaches, utilization issues and evaluation capacity building. Brad, who served as Editor of the Canadian Journal of Program Evaluation from January 2002-July 2010, is the recipient of several awards, including the American Educational Association Research on Evaluation Distinguished Scholar Award (2012); AEA's Paul F. Lazarsfeld Award for contributions to evaluation theory (2008); and two from the Canadian Evaluation Society (in 2007 and 1998). In addition to teaching about and practicing program evaluation, Brad is author of Participatory Evaluation Up Close: An integration of research-based knowledge (2012, in press, with Jill Chouinard), and The Sage International Handbook of Educational Evaluation (2009, co-edited with Katherine Ryan). If you aren't already subscribed to the forum: Go to the AEA Thought Leaders Forum Page to learn more and subscribe
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May 7, 9, 14 & 16: Beginner Developmental Evaluation: Applying Complexity Concepts to Enhance Innovation and Use - Michael Quinn Patton
eStudy webinar - Mondays and Wednesdays, 2:00 PM- 3:30 PM ET |
This eStudy is geared for an audience with beginner level expertise in developmental evaluation (DE). DE is especially appropriate for innovative initiatives or organizations in dynamic and complex environments where participants, conditions, interventions, and context are turbulent, pathways for achieving desired outcomes are uncertain, and conflicts about what to do are high. DE supports reality-testing, innovation, and adaptation in complex dynamic systems where relationships among critical elements are nonlinear and emergent. Evaluation use in such environments focuses on continuous and ongoing adaptation, intensive reflective practice, and rapid, real-time feedback. The purpose of DE is to help develop and adapt the intervention (different from improving a model).
This evaluation approach involves partnering relationships between social innovators and evaluators in which the evaluator's role focuses on helping innovators embed evaluative thinking into their decision-making processes as part of their ongoing design and implementation initiatives. DE can apply to any complex change effort anywhere in the world. Through lecture, discussion, and small-group practice exercises, this workshop will position DE as an important option for evaluation in contrast to formative and summative evaluations as well as other approaches to evaluation. This eStudy will occur in four 90-minute sessions and will include preparation materials sent before, between, and after the sessions. Day 1 - The specific niche for which developmental evaluation is appropriate and useful. Day 2 - Understanding and distinguishing five different types of DE and the implications of those types. Day 3 - Implications of complexity concepts for DE theory & practice. Day 4 - Practical frameworks and innovative methods for use in DE.
Presenter:Michael Quinn Patton is an independent consultant based in Minnesota and former president of the American Evaluation Association. An internationally known expert on Utilization-focused Evaluation, this workshop is based on his book, Developmental Evaluation: Applying Complexity Concepts to Enhance Innovation and Use (Guilford, 2010).
Register: https://www.eval.org/webinar_reg/Registrationtop.asp ($150 full members, $80 students, $200 nonmembers, $110 student nonmembers)
Last day to register Monday, April 30, 2012
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May 10: Google Refine: Data Now Works! - Juan Paulo Ramirez
Coffee Break Webinar - Thursday, 2:00 - 2:20 PM ET | |
Free for all AEA members
Tired of cleaning data from thousands of records, and/or running simple frequencies with sophisticated and expensive statistical software? If this is your case, try Google Refine! Google Refine is a free desktop application that you install in your computer allowing you to clean, cluster and multi-tabulate data from large datasets. Google Refine imports your "dirty" data from Excel or CSV (comma separated value) files, and it can work with text, numeric, or time values. This free application will save you literally days of hard work, and improve the accuracy of your data set!
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Week of May 13-19: Washington DC Evaluators (WE) Week on aea365
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Join our colleagues in the Washington (DC) Evaluators Affiliate (WE) for a week of contributions on our aea365 Tip-a-Day Alerts. Join us as contributors will be sharing tips, tricks, resources, and lessons learned.
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May 17 & 19: Using Theories and Frameworks of Evaluation Practice to Inform and Improve Our Work - Christina Christie
eStudy webinar - Thursday and Friday, 2:00 PM- 3:30 PM ET |
The majority of our evaluation theories are intended to offer principles, rationales, and organization for the procedural choices made by evaluators and to orient practitioners to the issues and problems with which they must deal (Chelimsky, 1998). These "theories" are qualitative models, points-of-view, and approaches to the process of evaluation. Discussions of evaluation theories often focus on a particular approach. In this eStudy webinar, however, participants will be offered an opportunity to examine a range of theories comparatively, while also examining the theories that fit best with each participant's current social, political, and methodological beliefs, values, and practice.
Through lecture and homework, the course will introduce you to different evaluation perspectives and how they can influence how we evaluate. We'll use the Evaluation Theory Tree categorization system to gain a fuller understanding of one's own framework preferences, then compare, contrast, and explore theories from different branches to identify their application at each step in designing and conducting an evaluation. This eStudy will occur in two 90-minute sessions and will include preparation materials sent before, between, and after the sessions. Day 1 - This session will discuss a system for categorizing and comparing evaluation frameworks and the key tenants of prevalent evaluation frameworks for practice included in the categorization schema. Day 2 - This session will cover the ways in which evaluation frameworks can inform, guide, and be used in practice. Presenter: Christina Christie has taught professional development workshops for many organizations, including the Claremont Graduate Professional Development Workshop Series, the AEA/CDC Summer Institute, the AEA annual conference, and the Canadian Evaluation Society (annual meeting workshops). She has published both peer-reviewed and invited papers on the topic of evaluation theory.
Register: https://www.eval.org/webinar_reg/Registrationtop.asp
($75 full members, $40 students, $100 nonmembers, $55 student nonmembers)
Last day to register is Thursday, May 10, 2012
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May 31: Evaluative Thinking: The 'Je Ne Sais Quoi' of Evaluation Capacity Building & Practice - Tom Archibald & Jane Buckley
Coffee Break Webinar - Thursday, 2:00 - 2:20 PM ET | |
Free for all AEA members
In her 2007 presidential address to AEA, Hallie Preskill asked, "How do we build the capacity of individuals, teams, and organizations to think evaluatively and engage in evaluation practice?" Her question indexes another question: What does it mean to "think evaluatively?" In this webinar, we first discuss the importance of evaluative thinking as a component of evaluation capacity building practice and as an object of inquiry within research on evaluation. Second, we draw on cognitive and education research to help develop and clarify the construct. Finally, we present some initial work done at the Cornell Office for Research on Evaluation on operationalizing and measuring this important, yet elusive, construct. We will share three data collection tools that are currently being developed - an evaluative thinking scale, an interview protocol, and an observational protocol - and discuss ways these tools might be of use in a variety of contexts.
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June 3-6: AEA/CDC Summer Evaluation Institute
Training Institute & Pre-Institute Workshops, June 3-6, in Atlanta, GA |
Who should attend? Evaluators, applied researchers, grantmakers, foundation program officers, nonprofit administrators, social science students, you! Sessions are filled based on the date of registration, so register early.
What is the format? Three keynote addresses, five rotations of three-hour training sessions, plus two group lunches to allow for networking among conference attendees. And, a pair of great pre-Institute workshops.
What will I learn? You choose! Topics range from Qualitative and Quantitative Analyses, to Project Management, Logic Modeling, Reporting, Theory to Practice, Cultural Competence, and more...
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June 7: Pro bono Evaluation: The Benefits to You, Your Client, and the Community - Leah Goldstein Moses
Coffee Break Webinar - Thursday, 2:00 - 2:20 PM ET | |
Free for all AEA members
Pro bono evaluation is a triple-bottom-line proposition. Your client gets the professional help they need to learn and grow. The people they serve benefit from participating in programs that have been evaluated and improved. And you might just be the greatest beneficiary - you get to try something new, build strong relationships, expand your professional practice, and do something good. Embarking on a pro bono project can have risks, however. Learn how to solicit and select projects, manage a pro bono relationship, and ensure that everyone wins. You will gain simple tips for building a pro bono practice that complements your other evaluation work. In addition, examples of rating sheets, application forms, and recruiting messages will be shared.
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June 8: Deadline for AEA Awards Nominations
Deadline |
Nominations are now being accepted for the seven American Evaluation Association Awards. Do you know someone who's doing an exceptional job? Please take this opportunity to acknowledge outstanding colleagues and outstanding work. Through identifying those who exemplify the very best in the field, we honor the practitioner and advance the discipline. Go to the AEA Awards Nominations Page
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June 11, 13, 18 & 20: Intermediate Developmental Evaluation: Applying Complexity Concepts to Enhance Innovation and Use - Michael Quinn Patton
eStudy webinar - Mondays and Wednesdays, 2:00 PM- 3:30 PM ET |
This eStudy is geared for an audience with intermediate level expertise in developmental evaluation (DE). DE is especially appropriate for innovative initiatives or organizations in dynamic and complex environments where participants, conditions, interventions, and context are turbulent, pathways for achieving desired outcomes are uncertain, and conflicts about what to do are high. DE supports reality-testing, innovation, and adaptation in complex dynamic systems where relationships among critical elements are nonlinear and emergent. Evaluation use in such environments focuses on continuous and ongoing adaptation, intensive reflective practice, and rapid, real-time feedback. The purpose of DE is to help develop and adapt the intervention (different from improving a model).
This evaluation approach involves partnering relationships between social innovators and evaluators in which the evaluator's role focuses on helping innovators embed evaluative thinking into their decision-making processes as part of their ongoing design and implementation initiatives. DE can apply to any complex change effort anywhere in the world. Through lecture, discussion, and small-group practice exercises, this workshop will position DE as an important option for evaluation in contrast to formative and summative evaluations as well as other approaches to evaluation. This eStudy will occur in four 90-minute sessions and will include preparation materials sent before, between, and after the sessions. Day 1 - Emergent methods in practice: The challenges of designing & budgeting developmental evaluation studies Day 2 - Co-evolution and interdependence: The challenges of the relationship between the developmental evaluator and social innovators (primary intended evaluation users) Day 3 - Making "real time" feedback meaningful and valid: The challenges of evaluation in a fast-paced, real-time world Day 4 - Issues raised by participants: Interactions around DE in theory & practice
Presenter: Michael Quinn Patton is an independent consultant based in Minnesota and former president of the American Evaluation Association. An internationally known expert on Utilization-focused Evaluation, this workshop is based on his book, Developmental Evaluation: Applying Complexity Concepts to Enhance Innovation and Use (Guilford, 2010).
Register: https://www.eval.org/webinar_reg/Registrationtop.asp ($150 full members, $80 students, $200 nonmembers, $110 student nonmembers)
Last day to register Monday, June 4, 2012
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June 12 & 19: Beginner Getting Started: Introductory Consulting Skills for Evaluators - Gail Barrington
eStudy webinar - Tuesdays, 11AM - 12:30 PM ET |
Are you a program evaluator contemplating venturing out on your own? For many, this may be both an exciting but intimidating prospect. Taught by an independent consultant, this practical eStudy course will reveal the simple but important skills needed to be successful. The course helps participants apply management consulting, entrepreneurial and small business skills to the evaluation and applied research setting. Valuable samples, worksheets, insider tips and trade secrets are provided. Through lecture, anecdote, at-home exercises, and independent reflection, participants are encouraged to identify and address the unique issues they face and to prepare an action plan.
This eStudy will occur in two 90-minute sessions. A pre-course worksheet will be circulated for completion prior to Day 1 and an at-home investigative assignment will precede Day 2. Each session will cover three inter-related topics.
Day 1 - Determining your competitive edge, Pricing methods and fees, Setting up shop
Day 2 - Developing and using your business plan, Managing and tracking time, Marketing secrets and finding work
Presenter: Gail Barrington has more than 25 years of practical experience. She founded Barrington Research Group, Inc. in 1985 and has conducted more than 100 program evaluation studies. In 2008, she won the Canadian Evaluation Society award for her Contribution to Evaluation in Canada. A frequent AEA presenter, she is the author of a new book entitled Consulting Start-up & Management: A Guide for Evaluators and Applied Researchers, released by SAGE in 2012.
Last day to register is Friday, June 8
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June 21: Making Evaluation Findings "Actionable" to Improve Practice - Natalie Wilkins & Sally Thigpen
Coffee Break Webinar - Thursday, 2:00 - 2:20 PM ET | |
Free for all AEA members
Making sure evaluation findings and lessons learned are used to improve practice is a challenge many evaluators face. This webinar will describe a four-step framework that the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention's Division of Violence Prevention has begun to use for making important (but sometimes inaccessible) research and evaluation findings "actionable" to improve practice. A brief case study example from a suicide prevention evaluation will also be presented to illustrate how the framework can be used to turn evaluation findings into concrete, actionable tools to support practice.
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July 18 & 19: Environmental Evaluators Network Forum
Unconference - Wednesday & Thursday, 9:00 AM - 5:00 PM ET in Washington, DC | |
Registration is only $25!
What are the responsibilities and opportunities for environmental evaluation to serve the public good? What facilitates and what impedes the discipline of evaluation and its practitioners in achieving environmental 'public goodness'? How should 'public good' even be defined? These are some of the questions we hope you will help us wrestle with at the 7th annual US Environmental Evaluators Network Forum.
The US EEN and the American Evaluation Association (AEA) are hosting the event as an 'unconference.' This format is participant driven, lively, and creative. Participants in the unconference determine its content during the event!
Are you working with or in an agency or organization that implements environmental programs and policies? Do you evaluate environmental programs and/or policies? Are you concerned about evaluation being used for the public good? This event is for you.
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August 8 & 15: An Executive Summary is Not Enough: Effective Reporting Techniques for Evaluators - Kylie Hutchinson
eStudy webinar - Wednesdays, 2:00 PM- 3:30 PM ET |
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 engage participants in a discussion of its role in effective evaluation. You will leave the webinar with an expanded repertoire of innovative reporting techniques.
This eStudy course will be presented in 2 90-minute sessions:
Day 1 - Principles of Effective Evaluation Reporting
Day 2 - Innovative Reporting Techniques At the end of this course attendees will be able to describe the role of communication and reporting in good evaluation practice, state 3 principles for effectively communicating evaluation results, and list 3 alternatives to writing a final report. Presenter: Kylie Hutchinson is a credentialed evaluation consultant, trainer, and instructional designer. She presents regularly for the AEA, CES, and Summer Evaluation Institute as well as her own private webinars. Her interest in dissemination and communications stems from twenty years of experience in the field of evaluation.
Register: https://www.eval.org/webinar_reg/Registrationtop.asp
($150 full members, $80 students, $200 nonmembers, $110 student nonmembers)
Last day to register is Wednesday August 1
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September 5 & 12: Social Network Analysis for Beginners - Kimberly Fredericks
eStudy webinar - Wednesdays, 1:00 PM- 2:30 PM ET | |
This eStudy is geared for an audience that is at the novice level of experience and expertise in social network analysis. Interest in the field of social network analysis has grown considerably over the last decade. Social network analysis takes seriously the proposition that the relationships between individual units or actors are non-random and that their patterns have meaning and significance. It seeks to operationalize concepts such as position, role, or social distance that are sometimes used casually or metaphorically in social, political, and/or organizational studies. This eStudy course seeks to provide an introduction to social network analysis theories, concepts, and applications within the context of evaluation. Participants will be come to a basic understanding of network concepts, methods, and the software that provides for analysis of network properties. Participants will be exposed to real world examples and discussion to facilitate a better understanding of network structure, function and data collection.
This eStudy will occur in two 90-minute sessions and will include preparation materials sent before, between, and after the sessions.
Day 1 - This session seeks to provide an introduction to social network analysis theories and concepts.
Day 2 - This session will focus on analyzing networks.
Presenter: Kimberly Fredericks frequently conducts social network analysis in her role as associate professor at The Sage Colleges, where she is also Associate Dean of the School of Management and the Chair of Graduate Programs. Kim is a regular author and speaker on this subject, including co-editing an issue of New Directions for Evaluation on Social Network Analysis in Program Evaluation.
Register: https://www.eval.org/webinar_reg/Registrationtop.asp
($150 full members, $80 students, $200 nonmembers, $110 student nonmembers)
Last day to register is Wednesday August 29 |
October 3 & 10: Social Network Analysis for Intermediates - Kimberly Fredericks
eStudy webinar - Wednesdays, 1:00 PM- 2:30 PM ET |
Interest in the field of social network analysis has grown considerably over the last decade. Social network analysis takes seriously the proposition that the relationships between individual units or actors are non-random and that their patterns have meaning and significance. It seeks to operationalize concepts such as position, role, or social distance that are sometimes used casually or metaphorically in social, political, and/or organizational studies. This eStudy course seeks to provide a briefintroduction to social network analysis theories, concepts, and applications within the context of evaluation and then provides for application of these tools. Participants will come to a more thorough understanding of network concepts, methods, and the software that provides for analysis of network properties. Participants will be exposed to real world examples and discussion to facilitate a better understanding of network structure, function and data collection.
This eStudy will occur in two 90-minute sessions and will include preparation materials sent before, between, and after the sessions.
Day 1 - This session will cover data collection methodologies and tools and an introduction to UCINET, Netdraw, and Network Genie.
Day 2 - This session will also provide for a discussion of applications of social network analysis to evaluation and emerging trends in the field.
Presenter: Kimberly Fredericks frequently conducts social network analysis in her role as associate professor at The Sage Colleges, where she is also Associate Dean of the School of Management and the Chair of Graduate Programs. Kim is a regular author and speaker on this subject, including co-editing an issue of New Directions in Evaluation on Social Network Analysis in Program Evaluation.
Register: https://www.eval.org/webinar_reg/Registrationtop.asp
($150 full members, $80 students, $200 nonmembers, $110 student nonmembers)
Last day to register is Wednesday September 26 |
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