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Evaluating the NISE Network: Reflections from the Evaluation Workgroup

This NISE Net Evaluation Team document goes into specifics of how we set up our team, what impacts we decided to measure, and what methods we used to collect data on a national scale. It also talks about ethical considerations we took into account and how we shared our work with multiple audiences.

DESCRIPTION

At the end of the NISE Network’s 10th year, the Evaluation workgroup created a reflection document to describe how we managed the evaluation of the NISE Network, one of the largest informal education networks ever formed. This document goes into specifics of how we set up our team, what impacts we decided to measure, and what methods we used to collect data on a national scale. It also talks about ethical considerations we took into account and how we shared our work with multiple audiences. This reflection document is not meant to be a prescriptive "how-to" manual, but an example of one approach to the messy work of network-wide and multi-site evaluation. This document is specifically intended for colleagues who are involved in evaluating, or are planning to evaluate, informal education networks and multi-site projects. In addition, educators and other practitioners working on these kinds of projects may find this reflection document useful when engaging in conversations about evaluation with project evaluators or project leadership.

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  • Evaluating the NISE Network cover image of post-it notes on a white wall.
  • Evaluating the NISE Network cover image of post-it notes on a white wall.

DESCRIPTION

At the end of the NISE Network’s 10th year, the Evaluation workgroup created a reflection document to describe how we managed the evaluation of the NISE Network, one of the largest informal education networks ever formed. This document goes into specifics of how we set up our team, what impacts we decided to measure, and what methods we used to collect data on a national scale. It also talks about ethical considerations we took into account and how we shared our work with multiple audiences. This reflection document is not meant to be a prescriptive "how-to" manual, but an example of one approach to the messy work of network-wide and multi-site evaluation. This document is specifically intended for colleagues who are involved in evaluating, or are planning to evaluate, informal education networks and multi-site projects. In addition, educators and other practitioners working on these kinds of projects may find this reflection document useful when engaging in conversations about evaluation with project evaluators or project leadership.

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Credits

YEAR CREATED
2016
OWNING INSTITUTION

Science Museum of Minnesota

FUNDING

Developed for the NISE Network with funding from the National Science Foundation under Award Numbers 0532536 and 0940143. Any opinions, findings, and conclusions or recommendations expressed in this product are those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect the views of the Foundation.

PERMISSIONS

Creative Commons Attribution Non-Commercial Share Alike 3.0 United States (CC BY-NC-SA 3.0 US).
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DEVELOPMENT PROCESS

NISE Network products are developed through an iterative collaborative process that includes scientific review, peer review, and visitor evaluation in accordance with an inclusive audiences approach. Products are designed to be easily edited and adapted for different audiences under a Creative Commons Attribution Non-Commercial Share Alike license. To learn more, visit our Development Process page.