| Session Title: Facilitating Fast-paced Learning: Developmental Evaluation for Complex Emergent Innovations |
| Demonstration Session 120 to be held in Calvert Ballroom Salon C on Wednesday, November 7, 4:30 PM to 6:00 PM |
| Sponsored by the Presidential Strand |
| Presenter(s): |
| Michael Quinn Patton, Utilization-Focused Evaluation, mqpatton@prodigy.net |
| Abstract: Innovations being implemented in complex environments under emergent and uncertain conditions present special challenges for evaluation. To be effective in responding to rapidly changing conditions, innovators need to be able to learn quickly. That means evaluators have to be able to gather relevant data rapidly and provide real time feedback if the findings are to be useful. At the same time, the evaluator is inculcating evaluative thinking into the innovative process, which is its own challenge, because creative innovators are often more intuition-driven than data-driven. Using understandings from systems thinking and complexity science, this session will describe and give examples of an approach to evaluation " Developmental Evaluation (DE) " that makes rapid feedback for learning and adaptation the centerpiece of the evaluative process. Learning in DE includes both substantive learning (findings use) and learning to think evaluatively (process use.) |