What can outcomes based planning and evaluation do for you?

1. What can outcomes based planning and evaluation do for you?

2. Presenters • Liz Kryder-Reid, Director, Museum Studies Program, Indiana University Indianapolis (IUPUI) • Mary Fortney, Humanities Education Resource Developer, The Children’s Museum of Indianapolis • Bethany Fales, graduate student, IUPUI Museum Studies Program

3. What might OBPE do for you? • Share an idea for a project (that you’re working on or might develop) that is designed to meet audience needs. • HINT: Needs may be conditions, wants, or deficits, or other gaps between skills, knowledge, 1) that audiences have and those they want or 2) that program planners want for audiences and the current situation.

4. What is outcomes based planning and evaluation (OBPE)? “Not how many worms the bird feeds its young, but how well the fledgling flies” United Way of America, 2002

5. What is outcomes based planning and evaluation (OBPE)? • Outcome-based planninguses audience needs and hoped-for results as the foundation for designing programs. • Outcome-based evaluation is a systematic way to assess the extent to which a program has achieved its intended results. • OBPE focuses on the key questions: • “How has my program made a difference?” • “How are the lives of the program participants better as a result of my program?”

6. OBPE: Why do we care? • Changes focus from HOW to get it done to WHY we do it • Gets whole team to focus on what the audience will think, feel and do and what it will be the result – the audience needs drive the planning process • Makes us accountable to our audience and our stakeholders (funders, board, community) • Helps us document and demonstrate results

7. What is an outcome? • A target audience’s changed or improved • Skills • Attitudes • Knowledge, • Behaviors, • Status, or • Life condition • They are a result of the influence of your program

8. What do outcomes look like? • First the need – kids exhibiting lack of tolerance with different others from different backgrounds • The solution – a program that uses artifacts to teach historical stories of racial discrimination and to generate discussions about prejudice and to promote tolerance • Outcome statements (see handout) – • Kids completing the program demonstrate increased knowledge of other cultural traditions • Kids completing the program report increased positive attitudes about children from other cultural traditions

9. What might OBPE do for you? • Recalling your original project idea – what would it look like if the audience needs were met? • HINTS: • Start your outcome statement with the target audience itself as the subject of the sentence. • Check to be sure the outcome is stated as a change in skills, attitudes, knowledge, behaviors, status, or life condition. • Is the outcome stated in a way that is measurable?

10. Bringing it all together: logic models • One way to align needs, program activities, and outcomes along with the ways to know if you’ve achieved the results you wanted is to create a logic model. The best way to explain is to show you one: See: the Maps Exhibit logic model

12. Want to learn more about OBPE? There’s a new on-line course in OBPE:

13. What is ? • An on-line instructor mediated course in outcomes based planning and evaluation • Curriculum developed through a cooperative agreement between IUPUI and IMLS • A professional training resource for the museum and library fields • Now being tested nationally with its public launch planned for Spring 2008

15. A Student Perspective on OBPE and Shaping Outcomes

16. My experience with Shaping Outcomes • First, a little background • First year Museum Studies student, technophobe • Course was taught as part of my class “Museums and Audiences” • Students in the class came from all different work environments and backgrounds – most didn’t have museum experience

17. Our work in the class • We went through the five on-line modules (Overview, Plan, Build, Evaluate, Report) on our own (each took about an hour) • We turned in assignments applying the concepts to case studies provided • We created a logic model based on a project we were working on with the Indianapolis Museum of Art

18. Drawbacks of Shaping Outcomes • Technology problems, especially for dial-up users • Not a good fit with my learning style • I prefer hard copy vs. electronic • I prefer in-person instead of on-line

19. What I learned OBPE basic concepts, vocabulary, logic model development skills The value of OBPE for planning as a team What I liked about the course Instructor mediation was helpful Online feedback and discussions created a sense of community and confidence that you were on the right track and learning Working in teams Working on a real project Benefits of Shaping Outcomes course

20. What if I took ? You would…. • Sign up by contacting outcomes@iupui.edu • Go through five modules (Overview, Plan, Build, Evaluate, and Report) at your own pace (takes about 5-10 hours). www.shapingoutcomes.org/course • Develop a logic model for your own project with on-going feedback from the instructor. • Work individually or in a group • Participate in group forums and discussions, as well as do assignments, if the instructor chooses

21. What are the outcomes of ? • Those who complete the course will know basic vocabulary and concepts of OBPE. • Those who complete the course will have the skills and knowledge to write a logic model based on OBPE.

22. What are the outcomes of ? TCM outcomes: We learned…. • about our own exhibit development process • the importance of front-end evaluation • to be more realistic about audience expectations • the importance of using advisors and building real people into the exhibit • to document better the difference we are making in the lives of our audience • That we need to put a stronger emphasis on audience results

23. Q&A • What did I learn here? • What do I still want to know?

24. How can I learn more? • See public site: www.shapingoutcomes.org • Preview the course at www.shapingoutcomes.org/course • Contact us at: outcomes@iupui.edu (317) 274-1406