CALL FOR PROPOSALS
OHIO PROGRAM EVALUATORS’ GROUP SPRING EXCHANGE
Friday, May 18, 2012
Quest Conference Center (www.quest-centers.com)
8405 Pulsar Place, Columbus, Ohio
We are calling on all who work or study in the field of evaluation to propose to share your best work in evaluation theory or practice at OPEG's annual Spring Exchange.The submission deadline is 5 p.m., Friday, March 9, 2012.
The OPEG Spring Exchange provides professional development and networking opportunities for Ohio evaluators and those interested in evaluation in a number of ways: 1) presentation(s) by state or national experts that are tied to the conference theme; 2) presentations by Ohio evaluators focusing on the conference theme as well as issues related to evaluation practice; 3) breakfast and lunch on premises, providing you with time to catch up with colleagues and make new connections; and 4) the annual business meeting to update you on OPEG activities past, current, and future.
Conference Theme: Communicating Results Effectively: Making Our Findings Stick
The impact of evaluation often depends on how well the results are communicated and understood. We encourage presentations that explore this theme through presentation and discussion of strategies and methods that promote better understanding and use of evaluation results among organizational decision-makers. We will also accept proposals on more general issues related to evaluation theory, methodology, practice, and utility.
The keynote speaker will be John Nash, an associate professor in Educational Leadership Studies at the University of Kentucky, where he's Director of the Laboratory on Design Thinking in Education (dLab). John is also a strategic planning and program evaluation consultant specializing in the philanthropic, nonprofit and education sectors. He is the former associate director for evaluation at the Stanford Center for Innovations (SCIL), where he conducted applied research on improving program evaluation in grant-funded initiatives. He's a current board member of the Evaluation Network for the Missouri River Basin, the charter program chair for the American Evaluation Association's (AEA) newest topical interest group, Data Visualization and Reporting, and the former program chair for AEA's Nonprofit and Foundation Evaluation group.
Proposal Topics
There are two tracks for proposals for breakout sessions at the Spring Exchange. Track 1 is related to the conference theme, and Track 2 is for evaluators who want to share other aspects of their work with each other. Regardless of track type, proposals may be made individually (or by a pair of people who are sharing the time to talk about a particular evaluation or subject) or by a larger group, in which each member shares his/her insights on a topic.
Track 1: Communicating Results Effectively: Making Our Findings Stick
impact and use of evaluation findings often depends on how well our findings are communicated and understood. We are encouraging submissions that explore this theme through presentation and discussion of strategies and methods that promote better understanding and use of evaluation results among organizational decision makers.
Track 2: Evaluation practice
Participants will learn, share, and discuss critical aspects of their evaluation practice, including but not limited to designing evaluations, collecting and analyzing data (qualitative and quantitative), communicating and reporting, and content-specific findings or challenges.
Please click "Next" for more information about presentation options and selection criteria.