QEval Course Offering
An Introduction to Evaluation as Community-Engaged Scholarship
An Introduction to Evaluation as Community-Engaged Scholarship
The QEval Partnership
QEval is part of a widespread effort to consistently offer useful evaluation capacity building that benefits both learners and communities. Based on models offered by the University of Manitoba (Mignone et al) and the University of Alberta (Gokiert et al), QEval was first offered in Spring 2021 by Dr. Michelle Searle and represents one of Ontario’s first interdisciplinary co-learning opportunities to study evaluation.
QEval is a collaborative initiative made possible by the contributions of our many partners:
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Social Sciences and Humanities Research Partnership Grant (SSHRC)
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Evaluation Capacity Network (ECN)
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Queen’s University Education Leaders in Residence Program (ELiR)
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Queen’s University Faculty of Education and the Assessment and Evaluation Group (AEG)
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Queen’s University Experiential Learning Hub
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The University of Alberta Faculty of Public Health
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Various Community Partners in Ontario and Alberta
With all of our participants bearing unique expertise, QEval is an interdisciplinary experience that enables shared learning for all who are involved.
Course Dates
01 May 2024 - 28 June 2024
Week Intensive:
03 June - 07 June 2024
Course Meetings
This course is offered as a blended course which includes some dedicated synchronous and asynchronous learning occurring over three phases:
1. Foundations of Evaluation
2. Application of Evaluation
3. Reflections of Evaluation Learning
Course Assignments
1. CES Pre/Post Competency Assessments
2. Discussion Forum Posts
3. Group Presentations & Peer Assessment
4. Program Evaluation Design
This is a credit course reported using Queen's University letter grade policy.
LEARNER TESTIMONIALS
"THE PRACTICAL ORIENTATION OF THE COURSE FORCED ME TO CONNECT EVALUATION THEORY WITH REAL-WORLD PRACTICE IN WAYS I TRULY APPRECIATE. SINCE PARTICIPATING IN QEVAL LAST SUMMER, I HAVE DRAWN ON SKILLS I DEVELOPED IN THE COURSE TO COMPLETE TWO EVALUATION CONTRACTS WITH A COMMUNITY PARTNER."
QEVAL LEARNER
"QEVAL IS A COURSE I WOULD RECOMMEND TO ANYONE LOOKING TO LEARN MORE ABOUT NOT ONLY EVALUATION BUT ALSO COMMUNITY-BASED AND COLLABORATIVE RESEARCH."
QEVAL LEARNER
COURSE DESCRIPTION
This course provides a foundation for enacting program evaluation as a strategy for community-engaged scholarship with application across diverse disciplines (e.g. education, health, community development, policing, community-university partnerships) and forms of engagement.
The course, entitled QEval, is framed as a hybrid learning experience where students will develop a theoretical and conceptual foundation for undertaking community-engaged evaluation in response to community issues and priorities.
Program Evaluation
Community-Engaged Scholarship
Evaluation is a broad, practice-oriented discipline with applications across every sector of modern society. In a nutshell, evaluation refers to the systematic collection and analysis of data to learn and make evidence-informed decisions (CES, 2022). In other words, evaluation is a rigorous process we engage in to help us make better decisions about programs and initiatives
we manage.
When we do evaluation, we are trying to answer questions about our program. Some of the questions we tend to ask in an evaluation include:
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Is this program meeting its goals?
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What are the unanticipated outcomes of this program?
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How can we implement this program better?
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What next steps should we take to meet our current goals?
Evaluation is transdiscipline, meaning that evaluation stands as its own discipline, but is also embedded throughout other disciplines. This means that there are individuals who work exclusively in evaluation (perhaps they are theorists, researchers, or educators) as well as individuals who do evaluation work in the context of other fields. To help you understand how this is possible, think about statistics. Statistics is another transdiscipline – some individuals are statisticians and study statistics in its pure form. However, many individuals are highly trained in statistics but who apply their knowledge in other disciplines, i.e., bioinformatics, psychology, or government.
QEval is one of the few evaluation trainings in Ontario that engages both graduate students and community members in the learning process. All participants – both students and community partners – have the opportunity to learn fundamental pieces of evaluation theory and apply new knowledge and skills to an evaluation case provided by our community partners. At the end of QEval, community partners leave with an evaluation plan tailored to their program which they are free to implement on their own.
Note: EDUC 843 is intended to support the design of an evaluation plan, but we do not conduct the evaluation as part of the course. We provide the strategic thinking and framework for the implementation of evaluative thinking post-course.
The scholarship of engagement means creating a special climate in which the academic and civic cultures communicate more continuously and more creatively with each other … enriching the quality of life for all. (Boyer, 1996, p. 33)
Community-engaged scholarship is an approach to learning and research that leverages academic expertise to meet community needs. Inspired by the benefits and usefulness of community-engaged scholarship, the purpose of QEval is to support community organizations while providing hands-on learning to university students.
QEval takes an interdisciplinary, community-engaged approach to learning evaluation. Organizations with evaluation needs are invited to work with university students to develop relevant evaluation knowledge and useful tools to conduct evaluations. QEval is an impactful experience that facilitates a greater connection between the community and the university.
QEval has supported community programs in practical ways. Some evaluation questions previous community partners bring include:
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How can student recommendations inform or influence school, school board, and provincial policy?
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To what extent does the online learning model meet the needs of rural students in Ontario?
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Did youth participants develop practical anti-racism strategies and skills to support themselves and other youth?
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What specific interventions are most helpful in moving families toward a successful file closure?
If you think your organization may be a suitable partner for QEval, please tell us more about your program by clicking the button below.
Stories from the QEval Partnership
Methods of Registration
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Queen's University Graduate Students
Complete the Academic Change Form and email the document to the Faculty of Education (educgrad@queensu.ca) once you have signed approval from your advisor or supervisor.
Limited spots are available! Enrol today.
Do you need more information? Download the QEval Syllabus or Week-Intensive Overview. Please email qeval@queensu.ca if you have any questions or concerns.
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Other Students and Community Learners
Not a Queen's University student? No problem. This course welcomes all sorts of learners who are interested in improving programs and organizational learning through evaluation as community-engaged scholarship. Email qeval@queensu.ca to express interest in the course.