FAQs
This page provides answers to the following FAQs (Frequently Asked Questions):
- Who can benefit from using the course?
- How does the course work?
- In what forms is the course being delivered?
Who can benefit from using the course?
Anyone who wants to learn about Outcomes-based Planning and Evaluation in library and museum services—including practitioners and students as well as other interested parties.
Not suitable for those looking for an in-depth introduction to research methods and evaluation. (However, the resources refer users to suitable sources for that information.)
How does the course work?
The course consists of online instructional material, which can be used on a self-study or group-study basis.
The Shaping Outcomes director can provide contacts for experienced instructors. An instructor can add assignments and review a logic model as each student works through a project.
In an instuctor-led format, course participants interact with the instructional material, communicate with the instructor, and work with fellow students online. This can also be used in an in-person workshop format, especially if students individually or in teams have particular projects in mind.
The online, interactive instructional material:
- Is web-delivered in five modules: Overview, Plan, Build, Evaluate, Report.
- Contains supplementary material, accessible from each screen, including Orientation (how to use the software), Resources (Bibliography, Acknowledgments, Credits, Advanced Glossary), Glossary (words in the course materials), Model (a graphic representation of a logic model for a program), and Cases (samples of real or fictionalized cases).
- Includes one track for Library participants, another for Museum participants, with suitable examples and exercises.
- Provides Coach segments for those needing more guidance and Dig Deeper segments for those wanting more information on selected screens.
- Self-Assessment: Each module contains a Check Your Understanding screen where users can try out their understanding with a suitable simulation (Information Commons at Whitney Library or MAPS exhibit at the Children’s Museum).
- Instructor feedback: For each module the instructor chooses appropriate "Apply Your Understanding" activities. The software comes provided with a simulated activity and work on a real-life project for the modules. Most of the simulations (except for the Overview module) require group work, which can be done at any time convenient for the student before the deadline.
- Participants taking a Shaping Outcomes class are expected to complete five online modules, develop a logic model with instructor's feedback on drafts. and voluntarily participate in the Shaping Outcomes evaluation study. Participants are considered to have successfully finished the course upon submission of a fully developed logic model, and will be mailed a certificate of completion.
In what forms is the course being delivered?
From 2006 to 2010, an instructor-led course was offered online supported by a grant from the Institue for Library and Museum Services.
The materials are currently available for any person to review, and there are additional materials helping experienced instructors learn how to deliver this content effectively.
If a group, organization or employer would like to arrange for an instructor, please contact the Shaping Outcomes director, Dr. Rachel Applegate: rapplega@iupui.edu. Costs for an online-only experience would be in the range of $100 ro $200 per participant or group.
