Appreciative Inquiry: The road to positive change

Reading through the prologue and the first chapter of Preskill and Catsambas’ book “Reframing Evaluation Through Appreciative Inquiry” made me think about the way change is made. With the Presidential Election running at full speed it seems like life is all about change these days; two candidates screaming that they are the road to change. While I will use this topic to quickly show my endorsement for Barack Obama, that is not the point of the blog. Yes, Barack Obama is clearly the candidate of change, but how does that figure into Appreciative Inquiry? I believe change, even the most basic change in a small program, and change that happens because of a new President, happens through listening to people, understanding, really comprehending, what will make people happy, and then doing just that.

Appreciative Inquiry is just that. Listening to people in an evaluation and asking one simple question, “When were you most happy?” In the brief example in the prologue, the book shows an evaluator asking this question to employees, ” In would like you to think about a time when, as a staff member in this department, you had an exceptional experience- when you were most proud of being here doing this work.” What the evaluator is looking for the employee to find the time when they were the most happy at work, what the evaluator is really searching for are those moments that lead to the happiness. Because of the evaluator can replicate those moments, happiness will surely follow.

In the text, they discuss positive images and positive thoughts as the link to finding what is needed in an evaluation.  The text refers to it as a heliotropic principle, “the underlying assumption of positive images is that organizations operate like plants; they move toward what gives them life and energy, similar to how sunflowers grow toward the sun (Elliott, 1999). I love this idea of focusing people’s minds on what makes them happy, replacing “positive images” of work rather than those elements that are not working. Focusing on the positive, just like forcing a smile, will have a responsive effect, just as the sunflower that leans towards the sun, the employee will move towards what they know makes them feel “positive”.

When it comes to an evaluation we obviously must still start with the aspects of the program that need to be improved. This is the center of the reason behind the evaluation.  And like any evaluation, bettering the company is the end result. However, with Appreciative Inquiry, the values of both the company and those who are being evaluated, the customers’ happiness or the students’ success, it is important to bridge the values of the company and those involved.  That will lead to positive change, that will lead to innovation, and and that will lead to inquiry on what else then can be improved. This is an ongoing circle, as expressed in the EnCompass Model of Appreciative Inquiry on page 15 of the text. I really understood that diagram for being the root of change… change comes from determining what needs to be done and imagining what could be, being innovative in making change, and then moving towards that change.

 

The Program Evaluation Standards and Me

Over the last two weeks I have become intimately involved with a gripping set of rules and standards designed to manage and account for effective program evaluations. The Program Evaluation Standards (2nd Edition) and the Bureau of Educational Research at the University of Illinois (along with a more readable and digestible PowerPoint regarding IRB) has set my mind to “evaluator”. I now have just the slightest idea what it means to be an evaluator, though I am barely scratching the surface.

I should start at the beginning though. The meta cognitive notion of evaluating and evaluation, using a set of standards to evaluate an evaluation, and all of this in light of a program that was developed and now being evaluated, took some time. Though the title of the book is The Program Evaluation Standards (as literal as a book title can be) I was not quite getting the “evaluation of a program” side of this, and it wasn’t until delving into the book did I really start to comprehend the nature of the evaluation. I guess I’m just used to inferring more from a book title than I was with this book. Long story short, after a couple read-throughs, heavy annotation, and some checking of facts from my fellow classmates and their thoughts on the subject, I think I’m fairly certain of what it means to be an evaluator of a program and the standards that exist to ensure the evaluation is developed and conducted with all rights, regulations, goals, and outcome in mind.

While there is much to discuss when it comes to what makes a program evaluation run smoothly, I will spare the reader too much of a good thing (my musings) and simply focuse on what spoke to me the most in the book. The book, broken up into four sections, each section representing a characteristic of a good program evaluation, really comes down to a giant checklist of reminders and tips that, if upheld, will make for a successsful evaluation. That being said, at the beginning of the book there exists said checklist, and it really helped me make sense of how an evaluator should conduct an evaluation, the purpose of an evaluation in light of both the evaluator and the client, and finally, everything that the evaluation encompassed. In a nutshell, the checklist reminds the evaluator that the client and stakeholder are important, that the evaluation should be planned to a “t” ahead of time, with hypotheses and predictions on how it will be run and what could go wrong. The evaluator should have more than just a knowledge of the program, but rather an understanding of the environment for which the program exists, the environment for which the subjects participate, and the means by which the stakeholder plans to use the outcome of the evaluation. The checklist reminds the evaluator to cover all bases when discussing the evaluation with the client, including rights of subjects, costs of the evaluation, time frame, and legalities of conducting such research. Finally, the checklist surmises with a reminder to share all information (again, pretty obvious once I thought about it) with the stakeholder, double check the data compiled, and make sure the client is aware and happy with the evaluation conducted. While the evaluation might lend itself to many bumps along the way because of the program being evaluated, and while the client may get back an evaluation they don’t want to see because it spells out that the program is not effective, an evaluator can have a “successful” evaluation if all points in the checklist are tended to.

I have to admit, while it’s not the most thrilling reading I’ve done, I can see how running an evaluation can be an exciting process, not unlike a good mystery. It’s a cognitive excitement, knowing you are helping make change, or maybe affirming what a client already believed, but with data, or simply helping promote cognative awareness of the way learning is happening in schools. I think that would be an exciting thing to be a part of.

 

I’m Tenure! Get me my umbrella straw!

I’m kidding about that umbrella straw. Though it is my tenure year, and with the start of the CTER program this summer, I’ve never felt more confident about my teaching ability. That’s probably because I’ve never reflected so intently and honestly on how I feel about education, nor have I ever realized how much I enjoy analyzing the ways in which technology fits into, and can mold, education. I find the start of this school year to be unlike my previous four starts. It could be because I’m going with the Miami Vice beard and feel older and confident, but I think it’s because I’m prepared to authenticate my teaching because of the analysis and hands-on practices from the summer’s CTER programs.

I look forward to the following year. I’m definitely feeling overwhelmed as I take on not one, but two CTER class, EPSY556 and EPSY474, on account of a financial aid discrepency. I had my first Elluminate session with the 556 class, and because this is a different cohort than the one I was working with over the summer, I felt a little out of place, like the new kid. And while I haven’t had any real “face to face” time with anyone from the CTER cohort 11 group, I actually missed them, which I wasn’t expecting. I’m impressed at how well the Moodle class template allows people to interact and get to know each other.

I expect great things to come from my work in EPSY474, particularly a knowledge on Evaluating. After reading the first three sections of the Joint Committee’s Evaluation Standards book I realize how valuable a resourse extensive and analytical evaluators are and how the science of a good evaluation is as detailed and precise as any other science. With the implementation of new technologies into the ever-changing school climate, analytical evaluators are going to be a commodoty, I might have to get me some of that.

I’m looking forward to the next four months. I hope my future posts are this optimistic. I worry that by November, my posts will be me screaming for help from under English essays to be graded and Grad School research to be read and articulated on. I’m keeping my fingers crossed for my orginizational skills to keep me afloat.

Take care!

Brendan

 

New Week, New Work

Today I started working at Harper College’s In Zone program. In Zone, as I know it, is a summer program offered to 8 to 14 years olds throughout the course of the summer, and they are to have a good time there. I may have missed the boat on that last point as I tried to teach them Photoshop today. Yes, these kids are taking Photoshop for summer camp and I’m treating it like they have lifelong careers riding on it. While they may have to learn the keys to Photoshop, I need to learn how to step away from the high school classroom and teach them to have fun first.

My girlfriend, who is a far better teacher than me, and a better reader of kids, says I should make the class competitive. I am competitive. I can’t even watch TV or eat dinner without making it into a contest, particularly me winning the choice of show and me eating the most. I like her idea. But how do I make Photoshop competitive when the students are still in the process, and will be for a long time, of learning the software?

Being a teacher is tough. I thought summer camp would be a relief, a break from the stress of the classroom, and while it’s a different and “lighter” environment than my English class, I still feel stressed about getting these kids to really grasp what Photoshop is all about. At least I know that, next week, after the students have had a time to work with Photoshop, I will create a series of competitions for the kids to take part in.

Well, just some quick thoughts. I’m pretty excited about summer starting today… I guess that’s why I’m able to sit here at 10:45 on a Monday night and watch Will and Grace, though that might not be as fortunate. Time for Family Guy.

 

CTER Blogs

I just wanted to post the blogs I usually check on a weekly basis here. They all have feeds which you can access too.

Enjoy!

www.chicagoist.com

www.postsecret.com

www.digg.com

www.birbigs.com

 

Welcome! I am busy…

Welcome to Brendan Chambers’ Weblog.

The one feeling I have had consistently over the last few weeks is feeling busy. I have a lot of “things” going on now and this seems to counter the way summer break should feel. As I finish my fourth year of teaching I embark on a summer filled with teaching summer camp at Harper Community College, beginning my graduate work through The University of Illinois CTER program and designing curriculum for the Broadcast Communications classes I’m teaching next year. On top of that, because I’m teaching Photoshop at summer camp and Adobe Premier (video editing) next year at York I need to become at least fairly proficient in these areas as well. So I feel busy. And I hope this blog helps me keep track of what I am doing, what I need to do, and how to better communicate all I’m learning with those around me (students, teachers, friends, etc.)

Essentially this blog is dedicated to keeping up with my life. I will be posting comments to my students at York at times and posting comments about what I am learning in grad school. I may even post something about summer camp, it’s been too long for some of us since we were last in summer camp.

Please subscribe to my feed if you want to be alerted about the posts, and know that not everything will pertain directly to you, but it all pertains to me, and that should be reason enough for you to care.

Enjoy!

 

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