Making Logic Models Work for You and Your Team, Tuesday, March 16, 2010
Presenter: OMSI Evaluation and Visitor Studies Staff led by Marcie Benne
What's the big deal about logic models? Logic models are tools evaluators and other stakeholders use to support the creative process in research, development, and evaluation. Regardless of whether you've used a logic model before or not, this workshop can further your techniques for using them effectively with teams. Our objective is to help you use logic models creatively, collaboratively, and confidently.

Brown Bag Lunch, March 16, 2010
Presenter: Cathleen Gal
An informal discussion with Portland State University's (PSU) Institutional Review Board. PSU's IRB reviews research protocols external to PSU, including those from VSA members. They have experience reviewing social science and educational research protocols. Cathleen Gal, the IRB's Research Integrity Coordinator,  described PSU's IRB process and answer questions from attendees.

Measuring Attitudes, March 16, 2010
Presenter: Dr. Shawn Rowe
On the one hand, attitudes are apparently easy to document and measure. On the other hand, when we are dealing with attitudes, we are dealing with phenomena that may be difficult for the evaluator to operationalize and measure and difficult for participants to articulate. This situation is complicated by the perspective one takes on attitudes as something more or less stable that one has or as something one articulates as necessary in interaction. In this half-day workshop, we discussed a variety of approaches to operationalizing attitudes and tools for documenting them.

Evaluation 101, March 16, 2010
Presenter: Julie McNalley and Kris Morrissey
What do you know about your visitors? How do you find out? How should you be thinking about your audience as you develop new programs and activities or assess the impact of your existing programs and activities? This workshop provided an introduction to the types of evaluation approaches and strategies used in museums and consider how they work hand-in-hand with program and exhibit planning, implementation, and assessment. The workshop was designed for individuals who are interested in or new to the field of evaluation (also called visitor studies or audience research) or individuals who want to be informed consumers of evaluation studies.

Evaluation 101, November 14, 2008
Presenter: Saul Rockman
Introduction to the range of issues and approaches to formative and summative evaluation. The workshop was based on the content of an existing, freely-available and accessible website focused on evaluation in informal settings. Participants explored components of evaluation strategies and review labs on the site that are available for post-workshop reference.

Logic Model Workshop, November 14, 2008
Presenter: Joe E. Heimlich
This workshop introduced techniques useful in facilitating diverse stakeholder groups through the development of a logic model. Using a thought-provoking, practical, and fun format, the workshop leader facilitated participation in a Mock Logic Development Stakeholder Meeting. Interspersed “sidebar discussions” allow reflection on the group process. Workshop content includes introduction of relevant theory, research findings, and lessons learned from experience. Knowledge about facilitating stakeholder groups is enhanced by exploration of concepts like granulation, flow, linking, clustering, forks in the road, identifying audiences, and “hot spots.”

What Research Tells Us about Working with Teachers, July 15, 2008
Presenter: James Kisiel
For many museums and similar settings, teachers with school groups comprise a significant percentage of the institution’s overall visitorship. This workshop introduces a variety of research findings (old and new) that provide insights about how teachers perceive and navigate informal learning resources. Participants strategize ways to use what is already known about informal learning and ‘teacher culture’ to reconsider how to better serve this traditional audience.

Getting Published, July 15, 2008
Presenters: Jan Packer, Roy Ballantyne
The process of reporting and publishing research in a journal like VSA’s Visitor Studies can be a satisfying part of an author’s professional development, and sharing findings is a way to increase the impact of one’s work by contributing knowledge that can enhance visitor experiences. But the path toward getting published is not always transparent. This workshop explores the process of writing and submitting a research paper and provides information about how the review process works. Participants engage in small group exercises to develop and practice some of the skills involved in writing research papers and producing publishable articles.

Lenses, Filters and Frames: Calibrating and Cultivating Self As Responsive Instrument for Professional Excellence and Ethical Praxis, July 16, 2008
Presenter: Hazel Symonette
Excellence and ethical practice in evaluation are intertwined with orientations toward, responsiveness to, and capacities for engaging diversity. Breathing life into this expectation calls for critical ongoing personal homework for evaluators. Who are you as you walk in the world? Does your envisioned image of self radiate and would others agree? Which others? Engaging and using the self as responsive instrument summons one's capacities to move beyond unilateral self-awareness and personal declarations towards multilateral self-awareness and boundary-spanning communications as you work with colleagues, clients, and stakeholders. Multilateral self-awareness prepares you to engage the reality that evaluative judgments are inextricably bound up with culture and context. This workshop offers an opportunity to mindfully develop the Self-as-Instrument Portfolio as participants discover, calibrate and cultivate their lenses, filters and frames.