Making the Learn Evaluation Assessment Portal: Developing a reciprocal tool for learning and research
| Published date | 01 December 2024 |
| DOI | http://doi.org/10.1177/1035719X241293805 |
| Author | Lauren Wildschut,Amy M Gullickson,Sarah Mason |
| Date | 01 December 2024 |
| Subject Matter | Academic Articles |
Academic Article
Evaluation Journal of Australasia
2024, Vol. 24(4) 243–271
© The Author(s) 2024
Article reuse guidelines:
sagepub.com/journals-permissions
DOI: 10.1177/1035719X241293805
journals.sagepub.com/home/evj
Making the Learn Evaluation
Assessment Portal:
Developing a reciprocal tool
for learning and research
Lauren Wildschut
Stellenbosch University, South Africa
Amy M Gullickson
The University of Melbourne, Australia
Sarah Mason
University of Mississippi, USA
Abstract
Evaluation is a practice with increasing global demand. However, an understanding of
who wants to learn evaluation and their learning needs related to evaluator com-
petencies is relatively unexplored. This article describes a research effort designed to
address those needs using an evaluator competency self-assessment. Despite their
validity challenges, self-assessments can yield valuable information for a variety of
audiences. Respondents and their organisations can use this method to understand
evaluation capacity strengths and needs and create professional development plans. For
those conducting evaluation capacity building in or for organisations, and those de-
veloping formal evaluation education programs, self-assessment results can provide a
road map for planning, development and delivery. This article describes the process of
developing and piloting the Learn Evaluation Assessment Portal, an evaluator com-
petency self-assessment tool, with the Australian Evaluation Society. The article re-
flects on the lessons learnt from the development and testing of the tool and will be
valuable for a range of stakeholders from practitioners to commissioners and in
Corresponding author:
Lauren Wildschut, CREST, Stellenbosch University, 52 van Rijneveld Street, Stellenbosch 7600, South
Africa.
Email: lauren@sun.ac.za
particular Voluntary Organisations of Professional Evaluators which are committed to
developing evaluation capacity and are working towards professionalisation of the field.
Keywords
evaluation capacity building, evaluator competencies, evaluator professional
associations, evaluator self-assessment, research on evaluation
What we already know
·Evaluators are on a continuous path of professional development.
·Information about strengths and development areas can enable focussed
professional development.
·Publicly available, free instruments for evaluators to assess their
competency are rare.
The original contribution the article makes to theory and/
or practice
·Documents the value and challenges of self-assessment in the field of
evaluation.
·Consolidates and presents an updated set of principles for good self-
assessment instruments for evaluators.
·Details the process of developing a publicly available online self-
assessment tool for evaluators that can be adapted to any Voluntary
Organisation of Professional Evaluators.
Introduction
Evaluation is a practise that is increasingly in demand in Australia and globally. The
Australian Centre for Evaluation, for example, has been established to ‘put evaluation
evidence at the heart of policy design and decision making’(Department of the
Treasury, 2023). How to educate evaluators is an increasingly hot topic; the subject of
multiple recent special issues and peer-reviewed articles across the evaluation literature
(e.g., Chouinard & LaVelle, 2021;Kallemeyn et al., 2022;LaVelle et al., 2023).
However, an understanding of who wants to learn evaluation and their learning needs
related to evaluator competencies is relatively unexplored. This article explores a
research effort designed to address those needs.
244 Evaluation Journal of Australasia 24(4)
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