| Session Title: Building Evaluation Capacity, Learning and Use Through Communities of Practice |
| Think Tank Session 635 to be held in Sebastian Section L3 on Friday, Nov 13, 4:30 PM to 6:00 PM |
| Sponsored by the Organizational Learning and Evaluation Capacity Building TIG |
| Presenter(s): |
| Beverly Parsons, InSites, bparsons@insites.org |
| Leslie Goodyear, National Science Foundation, lgoodyea@nsf.gov |
| Discussant(s): |
| Patricia Jessup, Independent Consultant, pjessup@insites.org |
| Mallary Tytel, Healthy Workplaces, mtytel@healthyworkplaces.com |
| Alyssa Na'im, Education Development Center Inc, anaim@edc.org |
| Abstract: The session explores ways of defining and using communities of practice (CoPs) to build evaluation capacity, learning, and use when carrying out evaluations of complex change initiatives in complex contexts. Examples of three types of CoPs will be provided to stimulate thinking about how to apply the concept of CoPs to one's own evaluation work: (1) CoPs within an organization (with a supporting internal infrastructure) designed to integrate inquiry with learning and practice; (2) Multi-organizational CoPs that engage in evaluative inquiry with a supporting external structure but no supporting structure within the individual organizations; (3) CoPs with varying degrees of emphasis on learning, inquiry and/or practice with both internal and external support structures. Through the presentations and facilitated dialogue, participants will explore the possibilities for using CoPs in their own evaluation work. |