Date: Thursday, September 10, 2026
Hello! We are Nadine Alamy, Lisa Burton, Katie Cornelius, and Alfred Vitale from four different areas in Mayo Clinic: Office of Applied Scholarship and Education Science, Cancer Center, Graduate School of Biomedical Science, and Center for Clinical and Translational Science. Though our work serves different audiences, we share a common interest in strengthening evaluation capacity across the Mayo ecosystem. In this post, we reflect on what we have learned from developing and implementing a virtual Evaluation Community of Practice (CoP) for individuals across the institution who may not have “evaluator” in their job title but regularly use evaluation skills in their work.
We began discussing our desire to launch the CoP in the Summer of 2025. We spent about four months reading articles, learning from existing Mayo Clinic CoPs, and discussing an implementation plan. Prior to the launch in November 2025, we adopted a systematic approach to planning our sessions, which included developing a Microsoft Team site, a web page to post recordings and presentations, and a sign-up link that included an interest survey. We also decided to start slow with bi-monthly meetings to ensure we had adequate time to organize speakers and advertise.
In a large, complex organization, evaluation work may be distributed across programs, departments, locations and roles, and many people who use evaluation skills may have had little formal evaluation training or may not even see evaluation as part of their professional identity. We learned that practical topics created the best entry point, such as building a logic model, writing stronger survey questions, and planning interviews or focus groups.
As generative AI rapidly reshapes professional practice, our first session focused on using AI responsibly in evaluation. It quickly became clear that AI is not a “one and done” topic but one that must be woven throughout conversations about evaluation design, data collection, analysis, reporting, ethics, and transparency. Participants are eager to discuss not only what AI can do, but also when, why, and under what conditions it should be used.
Rather than beginning with theory or technical language, we used these everyday questions to create low-barrier sessions with clear takeaways. Theory still matters, but practical application helped participants see evaluation as something they were already doing and could continue to strengthen.
Be ok with small steps! Our goal is to create a space where people can bring questions, share examples, and have discussions about evaluation concepts. However, we recognize this will take time to develop. For now, our sessions tend to follow a presentation and Q&A format, but over time we hope to strengthen the community through ongoing dialogue and by generating a variety of accessible approaches to evaluation learning and professional development, regardless of experience or skill level.
Check out “Generative AI education: Building a community of practice at Mayo Clinic” in Innovations in Education and Teaching International. (Shout out to our Mayo colleagues who published this article!)
The University of Wisconsin—Madison has a helpful Community of Practice Guide that we wish we had found sooner. We highly recommend using it!
An Evaluation CoP does not need to have all the answers. Yet it serves the important dual purpose of helping a complex organizational community learn more about evaluation approaches and practical strategies while helping them recognize themselves as evaluators. Its value is in connecting people, creating shared language, and helping participants see themselves as part of a broader evaluation field. We would love to hear from you on how you create an evaluation community within your workplace!
The American Evaluation Association is hosting Organizational Learning and Evaluation Capacity Building (OL-ECB) Topical Interest Group Week. The contributions all this week to AEA365 come from our OL-ECB TIG members. Do you have questions, concerns, kudos, or content to extend this AEA365 contribution? Please add them in the comments section for this post on the AEA365 webpage so that we may enrich our community of practice. Would you like to submit an AEA365 Tip? Please do so using the form on our website. AEA365 is sponsored by the American Evaluation Association and provides a Tip-a-Day by and for evaluators. The views and opinions expressed on the AEA365 blog are solely those of the original authors and other contributors. These views and opinions do not necessarily represent those of the American Evaluation Association, and/or any/all contributors to this site.