Hi all,
This past Saturday’s inaugural CESBCY Meet-Up for new and emerging evaluators was a success! We had a great turn out and some really great ideas were generated from attendees. In one segment of the meeting, we broke up into small discussion groups to talk about the following questions: things you want to see done for N & E evaluators; things to share with other evaluators; questions you’d like answered.
Here are the ideas the groups came up with:
A. Things You Want to See Done for N & E Evaluators
I. Learning, Skills Development & Practice
- Panel with experienced evaluators
- One-off skills courses for unaffiliated students
- Lunch & learns
- Access to training: hands on, in person, for low/no cost
- Training/practice opportunities
- Panel with experienced evaluators
- Evaluation ‘hackathons’ (evaluation team competitions [for non-students])
- A location to practice evaluation skills with others with group feedback
II. Mentoring
- Mentoring to connect new and emerging evaluators with experienced evaluators
- Mentorship and professional development series
- On-going mentorship
III. Social & Networking (in-person)
- Meet-ups
- More networking opportunities for partnership/mentorship with established evaluators
- Social events
- Local networking group
IV. Online Social Networking
- Social media group (ie. Facebook)
- Hub connection for evaluators
B. Things to Share with Other Evaluators
- CES Program mentorship
- CES Essential Skills series
- Federal Government 5 year evaluation policy
- Listen to the groups you work with, hear their needs
- Book: Evaluation A to Z by Alkin
- Be a mentor to others, share your ideas
- Be aware of your area of interest and challenges of working outside that scope
- Know how to use FluidSurvey and any other software we should know
C. Questions You’d Like Answered
- What is an appropriate salary range? What should we be charging?
How to you get experience/foot in the door?
- Who has experience helping clients choose/design appropriate data storage solutions (database vs. spreadsheet)?
What do you think? Have any other ideas to contribute? If so, we’d love to hear from you. Please visit our online ‘Suggestion Box’ at https://docs.google.com/forms/d/1LzUAMF82ykze7cxCzylCNnrQlYAYyZEQC1s9PaesimU/viewform?c=0&w=1. and tell us your ideas on any or all of these questions!
