In Their Own Words
Student Key Learning Experiences in an Introductory Evaluation Course
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.3138/cjpe.69601Keywords:
course design evaluation, reflection, student learning, teaching of evaluationAbstract
Reflections by students on their key learning experiences in evaluation courses can provide useful data for educators seeking to identify the most impactful aspects of their teaching practice. In this practice note we describe how an instructor has included active reflective practice as part of their teaching practice, and how both the instructor and a graduate student analyzed other student reflections on key learning experiences to help improve the course. We first analyze these reflections using grounded theory, then perform two additional analyses, one using Fink’s taxonomy of significant learning and the second using both the Canadian Evaluation Society’s Competencies for Canadian Evaluation Practice and the American Evaluation Association’s Competencies framework. We conclude by reflecting on how the frameworks provided helpful data to understand and improve the practice of teaching evaluation through the lens of the student learner.
References
American Evaluation Association (AEA). (2018). AEA evaluator competencies. https://www.eval.org/page/competencies
Barnes, M. E., & Caprino, K. (2016). Analysing service-learning reflections through Fink’s taxonomy. Teaching in Higher Education, 21(5), 557 – 575. https://doi.org/10.1080/13562517.2016.1160221
Boyd, E. M., & Fales, A. W. (1983). Reflective learning: Key to learning from experience. Journal of Humanistic Psychology, 23(2), 99 – 117. https://doi.org/10.1177/0022167883232011
Canadian Evaluation Society (CES). (2018). Competencies for Canadian evaluators. https://evaluationcanada.ca/competencies-canadian-evaluators
Chaplowe, S. G., & Cousins, J. B. (2016). Monitoring and evaluation training: A systematic approach. Sage.
Christie, C. A., Quiñones, P., & Fierro, L. (2014). Informing the discussion on evaluator training: A look at evaluators’ course taking and professional practice. American Journal of Evaluation, 35(2), 274 – 290. https://doi.org/10.1177/1098214013503697
Conway, P. F. (2001). Anticipatory reflection while learning to teach: From a temporally truncated to a temporally distributed model of reflection in teacher education. Teaching and Teacher Education, 17, 89 – 106. https://doi.org/10.1016/s0742-051x(00)00040-8
Dewey, J. (1933). How we think: A restatement of the relation of reflective thinking to the educative process. Houghton Mifflin.
Donaldson, S. I., Gooler, L. E., & Scriven, M. (2002). Strategies for managing evaluation anxiety: Toward a psychology of program evaluation. American Journal of Evaluation, 23(3), 261 – 273. https://doi.org/10.1177/109821400202300303
Fink, L. D. (2003) Creating significant learning outcomes: An integrated approach to designing college courses. Jossey-Bass.
Furco, A. (1996). Service-learning: a balanced approach to experiential education. In B. Taylor & Corporation for National Service (Eds.), Expanding boundaries: Serving and learning (pp. 2 – 6). Corporation for National Service.
Furco, A., & Billig, S. (2001). Service learning: Essence of the pedagogy. Information Age Publishing.
Gullickson, A. M., King, J. A., LaVelle, J. M., & Clinton, J. M. (2019). The current state of evaluator education: A situation analysis and call to action. Evaluation and Program Planning, 75, 20 – 30. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.evalprogplan.2019.02.012
Hutchinson, K. (2019). Evaluation failures: 22 tales of mistakes made and lessons learned. Sage.
King, J. A. , & Ayoo, S. ( 2020 ). What do we know about evaluator education? A review of peer-reviewed publications (1978–2018) . Evaluation and Program Planning, 79, 101785 . https://doi.org/10.1016/j.evalprogplan.2020.101785
King, J. A., & Stevahn, L. (2014). Interactive evaluation practice: Mastering the interpersonal dynamics of program evaluation. Sage.
LaVelle, J. M. (2019). Educating evaluators 1976–2017: An expanded analysis of university-based evaluation education programs. American Journal of Evaluation, 41(4), 494 – 509. https://doi.org/10.1177/1098214019860914
LaVelle, J. M. (2020). Using a program evaluation course to foster service and humanize students, faculty, and community partners. In E. Sengupta, P. Blessinger, & M. Makhanya (Eds.), International perspectives on integrating community service into the curriculum: Humanizing higher education. Innovations in Higher Education Teaching and Learning (vol. 25 , pp. 129 – 146). Emerald Group Publishing.
LaVelle, J. M., & Donaldson, S. I. (2010). University-based evaluation training programs 1980–2008: An empirical review. American Journal of Evaluation, 31(1), 9 – 23.
LaVelle, J. M., Lovato, C., & Stephenson, C. L. (2020). Towards a pedagogy for the teaching of evaluation. Evaluation and Program Planning, 79, 101786. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.evalprogplan.2020.101786
Miles, M. B., & Huberman, A. M. (1994). Qualitative data analysis: An expanded source-book. Sage.
Morris, M. (1994). The role of single evaluation courses in evaluation training. In J. W. Altschuld & M. Engle (Eds.), The preparation of professional evaluators: Issues, perspectives, and programs. New Directions for Program Evaluation, 62 (pp. 51 – 60). Jossey-Bass.
Preskill, H., & Russ-Eft, D. (2016). Building evaluation capacity: Activities for teaching and learning (2nd ed.). Sage.
Russ-Eft, D., & Preskill, H. (2009). Evaluation in organizations: A systematic approach to enhancing learning, performance, and change (2nd ed). Basic Books.
Shulman, J. H., & Colbert, J. A . (1989). Cases as catalysts for cases: Inducing reflection in teacher education. Action in Teacher Education, 11(1), 44 – 52. https://doi.org/10.1080/01626620.1989.10462714
Tashakkori, A., & Teddlie, C. (1998). Mixed methodology: Combining qualitative and quantitative approaches (vol. 46). Sage.
Timoštšuk, I., & Ugaste, A. (2012). The role of emotions in student teachers’ professional identity. European Journal of Teacher Education, 35(4), 421 – 433. https://doi.org/10.1080/02619768.2012.662637
Trevisan, M. S. (2004). Practical training in evaluation: A review of the literature. American Journal of Evaluation, 25(2), 255 – 272. https://doi.org/10.1177/109821400402500212
van Manen, M. (1995). On the epistemology of reflective practice. Teachers and Teaching: Theory and Practice, 1(1), 33 – 50. https://doi.org/10.1080/1354060950010104
Downloads
Published
How to Cite
Issue
Section
License
Copyright (c) 2021 John M. LaVelle, Zhou Yang
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License.
Authors contributing to The Canadian Journal of Program Evaluation agree to release their articles under the Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial 4.0 (CC-BY-NC) license. This licence allows this work to be copied, distributed, remixed, transformed, and built upon for any purpose provided that appropriate attribution is given, a link is provided to the license, and changes made were indicated.
Authors retain copyright of their work and grant the journal right of first publication.
Authors are able to enter into separate, additional contractual arrangements for the non-exclusive distribution of the journal's published version of the work (e.g., post it to an institutional repository or publish it in a book), with an acknowledgement of its initial publication in this journal.
