This is an Eval Central archive copy, find the original at depictdatastudio.com. Hi there! My name is Courtney Sims and I have the privilege of being a monitoring and evaluation Associate for Sharp Insight, LLC based in the Washington, D.C. region. About Sharp Insight At Sharp Insight, we support our clients wherever they are on […]
Better Data Collection
This is an Eval Central archive copy, find the original at cense.ca. With so many people working from home and using their communication devices to do many of the tasks we once did in other ways or are now doing much more often or differently it’s tempting to think: it’s a perfect time to reach […]
The Virus Makes the Timeline
This is an Eval Central archive copy, find the original at rka-learnwithus.com. A few weeks ago, we heard from Dr. Anthony Fauci: “You’ve got to understand that you don’t make the timeline, the virus makes the timeline.” Fauci’s words ring ever-more true to me today than when he first spoke them. Today marks the one-month […]
Use change language in reports
This is an Eval Central archive copy, find the original at winderl.net. An engaging report uses ‘change language’ instead of action language. Hunh? Ok, it’s not as complicated as these big words suggest. Language matters. Let’s look at it closer: ACTION LANGUAGE Action language reflects the completion of a series of activities. An example of […]
entering the clearing
This is an Eval Central archive copy, find the original at camman-evaluation.com. Photo by Robert V. Ruggiero on Unsplash A friend asked me today how I was figuring out the current crisis, and we had a lovely clarifying conversation about our respective struggles and journeys. A few ideas surfaced for me that I want to […]
5 tips for good reporting
This is an Eval Central archive copy, find the original at winderl.net. Good reporting isn’t that hard. My five tips are: 1. start with what is important, 2. use simple language, 3. use change language, 4. back it up with evidence, and 5. visualize data. The post 5 tips for good reporting appeared first on […]
Evaluation Mindset: Imagining a Destination
This is an Eval Central archive copy, find the original at freshspectrum.com. There are all sorts of purposeful goal-driven people and organizations. Intent on following a path towards a destination that is clear in their minds. They might have even put the destination down on paper, charting the course and knowing the way forward. But […]
Evaluation’s Yoda
This is an Eval Central archive copy, find the original at evalacademy.com. The first evaluation book I read was Michael Quinn Patton’s (aka MQP) Utilization-Focused Evaluation. It was an intimidating introduction to evaluation. The book is 667 pages of subject matter that isn’t exactly light. However, it is full of anecdotes, case studies, stories, […]
How COVID-19 is Bringing Inequality to the Forefront
This is an Eval Central archive copy, find the original at engagewithdata.com. For the past few weeks, one image has been recurring in my mind. I keep picturing the living conditions of a student whose home I visited a few times when I was working as a community school coordinator in Baltimore. This student had […]
Finding Inspiration through Designers-in-Training
This is an Eval Central archive copy, find the original at rka-learnwithus.com. For the past few years, I’ve traveled to New York City every spring to do a guest lecture for a class of graduate students who are part of the Fashion Institute of Technology’s (FIT) Exhibition and Experience Design program. For obvious reasons, I […]