| Session Title: Teaching About Evaluation: Methods With an Admixture of Epistemology and Ontology |
| Expert Lecture Session 701 to be held in International Ballroom A on Saturday, November 10, 9:35 AM to 10:20 AM |
| Sponsored by the Presidential Strand |
| Presenter(s): |
| Sandra Mathison, University of British Columbia, sandra.mathison@ubc.ca |
| Abstract: Teaching evaluation, in University programs or workshops, focuses largely on how to do evaluation: the methods used to define, conduct and report evaluation take center stage. The emphasis on methods is a reflection of evaluation as a professional practice that supports the development of craft knowledge for those who would call themselves evaluators. Implicitly though, in teaching how to do evaluation one hears refrains of foundational conceptions: what counts as appropriate and useful evidence, in what form, as well as the desirable end goal of evaluation and how evaluative knowledge can and should be used to serve that end goal. This approach to teaching evaluation results in differentiated and specialized cadres of evaluators, who share a tenuous sense of solidarity in their work. The implications of teaching about evaluation by focusing on valuing, with a secondary focus on methods will be considered. |