My journey to a PhD

I started my PhD following more than 15 years in the public sector, where I facilitated, designed and lead the implementation and evaluation of social programs – some very small and community-based, and others global in scale and scope. A common aspect of my work as an Evaluator often included leading workshops that would build capacity (ie train) my clients and colleagues on all things related to evaluation: what is it, why do we do it, how is it practiced, what questions are we answering and importantly, how do we know whether our actions will give us the results we want?

Some memorable aspects have included; introducing logic models and theories of change to colleagues of divergent views, facilitating discussions on levels of results and outcome definitions. I’ve also led the creation of multi-level measurement frameworks that, if we were lucky, could be embedded within measurement mechanisms that were already established (and if not, we get creative and think of ways that we could!), and naturally completed mid-cycle and final evaluations. The more I collaborated, facilitated and led evaluation tasks, the more I wanted to improve my training. in the midst of a global pandemic, however, my work moved to online mediums and I began exploring pedagogy and e-learning.

I am pursuing a PhD in Educational Studies at the University of Victoria on a part-time basis, while also working as a Senior Evaluator for the federal government. My views and opinions are my own and in no way reflect the positions of my employer.

My research interests focuses on examining the teaching and learning of evaluation and how educational technology can facilitate and promote its application. It is my hope that my research will contribute to a wider understanding of the evaluation practice and encourage its application in decision making, navigating change and ultimately enabling goals to be achieved in the longer term.