Wendy Liscow, Program Officer
Imagine we are in a classroom together. I am the teacher and I ask you to please raise your hand if you can explain what I mean by the following statement: “The notes were sour because the seams were split.”
Silence reigns. No hands wave in the air. Not even a timid hand halfway in the air. You start to feel sweat on your brow.
Now, what if I ask you to picture a man in a red plaid kilt clutching a bag pipe? Ahh. Now your hand shoots up! With this new context you suddenly know what I mean by “the notes were sour because the seams were split.”
This exercise, which introduces Dodge President and CEO David Grant’s signature Assessment workshop “Thinking Differently about Assessment: Measuring What Matters,” (which we offer through our Technical Assistance Initiative) demonstrates the transformation our workshop attendees experience when given a new context for what assessment can mean to their work. The workshop helps people understand that the primary purpose of assessment is to improve performance, not audit it.
Now you can follow a step by step online version of the workshop in the comfort of your home. If you have already taken an Assessment workshop you can use this tool as a quick refresher course or share the course with a colleague or board member. If you are totally new to thinking about Assessment , we think you will find this approach illuminating.
We have a favor to ask as part of our own assessment efforts. After you have taken a look, would you please let us know how the online course worked for you? Was it helpful? Are there places where you need more explanation?
We would appreciate your advice if you think there is more we can do to promote the effective (and happy) use of our assessment material in your work.
Leave us your comments here, or you can send an email to assessment@grdodge.org (there is also a link to this email at the end of the workshop).