Evaluator Skills

Evaluation Rubrics with E. Jane Davidson

Have you joined the rubrics revolution?  In this podcast we chat with Jane Davidson of Real Evaluation about the use of rubrics in evaluation.   If this piques your interest, we have a slew of resources for you:slides from the AEA 2013 conference on rubrics:  Jane's Evaluation Rubrics: What, Why, and HowKate McKegg's The Value of Rubrics in Messy Non-Profit Evaluation ContextsBetter Evaluation and Judy Oakden have a new document on rubrics, Evaluation Rubrics: How to Ensure Clear and Transparent Assessment That Respects Diverse Lines of EvidenceYou can find a number of real-life rubrics from the New Zealand Ministry of Education hereJane's blog post on Evaluation specific methodologies: The methodologies that are specific to evaluation one of Kylie's favourite articles is Jane's Unlearning Some of Our Social Scientist HabitsJane also has a great little e-book, Actionable Evaluation Basics: 
Getting Succinct Answers to the Most Important Questions, check it out! (Actionable Evaluation is also available in print here.)Finally, if you've used rubrics in evaluation, please leave us a comment below and let us know how it worked for you.Until next time,James and Kylie

Presenting Data Effectively: An Interview with Stephanie Evergreen

Stephanie Evergreen's new book on data visualization came out yesterday, so we asked her to join us again on the podcast to give us some highlights plus her thoughts about the role and future of data visualization in evaluation.  You can purchase a copy of the book here.  See you at AEA!Kylie & James 

Game Changers for Evaluation: A Chat with Hallie Preskill

This week we're thrilled to have Hallie Preskill join us to give a shortened version of her keynote speech at CES2013 in Toronto.Here are links to some of her current work, plus the Developmental Evaluation graphic she mentioned:Evaluating Social InnovationBreakthroughs in Shared MeasurementBuiding Evaluation CapacityReframing Evaluation Through Appreciative InquiryDevelopmental Evaluation graphic (full article)And here is this link to the book she mentioned on Big Data.Don't forget to leave us your comments below.James & Kylie

The Changing Role of Evaluators: Reflections from the CES2103 Conference

Are you a technical specialist, or a social change agent?  Or as Dan Wilson at the Ontario Trillium Foundation says, "Are you part of the Rebel Alliance, or a Jedi Knight?" In this episode, we discuss the changing role of evaluators based on provocative keynotes from Hallie Preskill and John Gargani the CES2013 conference in Toronto. As promised, here are some of the links we discussed:Jane Davidson's ebook, Actionable Evaluation Basics: Getting succinct answers to the most important questionsStephanie Evergreen's webinars and bookSROI Canada John Gargani's Evaluator Doll                  John Gargani's slide on evaluators as social change agents.   Jane Davidson discovers Tim Horton's.    Anita Myers using data clicker at final plenary.Don't forget to tell us your likes and dislikes!James & Kylie

The Launch of the Evaluation Mentoring Canada Initiative

In this episode Kylie interviews James and Jane Whynot about their super cool initiative, Evaluation Mentoring Canada.  Check out the website, and sign up: http://evaluationmentoringcanada.ca/.
Cheers,
Kylie & James
Kylie and her first mentor, Dr. Anita Myers, at CES2013.

The CES Evaluator Competencies: A Chat With Heather Buchanan

In this episode we chat with Heather Buchanan, evaluation volunteer extraordinaire about the history, development, and use of the Canadian Evaluation Society's Competencies for Evaluation Practice.
Here are some related links:

Competencies for Evaluation Practice (detailed version)
CES Professional Designations Program
Establishing Essential Competencies for Program Evaluators

Cheers,
James & Kylie

'Soft' Skills for Evaluators: Facilitation and More

This week we talk about facilitation and it's role as an essential skill for evaluators. Here are some of the resources we mention:

book by Sam Kaner
International Association of Facilitators
Government of Canada's Centre for Intercultural Learning
If you have buckets of money and want a skilled instructor, check out this offering at Hollyhock here. This one is definitely on my To Do list one year.
plus....
we'll be discussing the ARECCI ethics tool in a future episode, but here is the link for now
a photo of Kylie's charging station for her 12 offline mobile data collection tablets.

All for now,
Kylie & James

10 Things You Didn't Learn in Evaluator School

Today we chat with evaluator Ann K. Emery about her recent AEA365 blog post for on "10 Things You Didn't Learn in School".
Apologies up front for the poor sound quality in this particular episode while Kylie Skypes-in from Africa, and for her rambling after a hard day at work and several glasses of wine later.
The management blog that Ann mentions is Ask a Manager.
And here is John Gargani's blog post on jargon.
Enjoy,
Kylie & James