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In a 90 minute Roundtable session, the first rotation uses the first 45 minutes and the second rotation uses the last 45 minutes.
Roundtable Rotation I: Can Using Communities of Practice Explicate Informal Knowledge in Evaluation Practice?
Roundtable Presentation 785 to be held in Jefferson Room on Saturday, November 10, 12:10 PM to 1:40 PM
Presenter(s):
Shannon Coulter,  University of Tennessee, Knoxville,  scoulte1@utk.edu
Abstract: This paper raises the issue of the evaluation community's ability to regulate the informal knowledge of the field. With the increasing proliferation of evaluation manuals, texts, and information, the gap has widened between what one knows and understands conceptually and one's tacit, everyday knowing. Moreover, informal knowledge consists of information embedded in norms that are not easily identifiable, which makes the knowledge difficult to communicate to others; however, the evaluation community's ability to innovate depends on its level of informal knowledge, and its ability to make informal knowledge explicit. Specifically, this paper questions whether a community of practice organized around dialogue could balance the field's reliance on both formal and informal knowledge, and whether the field of evaluation would support a community approach to explicating informal knowledge.
Roundtable Rotation II: Empowering the Individual: Considerations for Evaluation in a Flat World
Roundtable Presentation 785 to be held in Jefferson Room on Saturday, November 10, 12:10 PM to 1:40 PM
Presenter(s):
Stacey Hoopes,  Brigham Young University,  staceylea@gmail.com
David Williams,  Brigham Young University,  david_williams@byu.edu
Abstract: This roundtable session will focus on some of the ideas discovered in readings of Friedman's The World is Flat and Evaluation Practice Reconsidered, written by Schwandt. Topics discussed will relate to empowerment evaluation as it relates to individuals. Specifically, attention will be given to how individuals might be empowered in a technologically advanced, ever-changing world. This session will also consider the practical role of the evaluator in such a world, including how that might need to be changed as the flattening of the world continues and quickens over time.
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