Articulating Change: Musings About my First Dance with Evaluation in Applied Research
by Deidre Craig, Saskatchewan Polytechnic
When this project began two years ago, I could not have imagined the breadth and depth of learning that I would be claiming as my own. I knew I would learn more about applied research in outdoor pedagogy. I knew I would become a stronger advocate for outdoor pedagogy. I knew that I would engage my students in outdoor pedagogy. What I did not recognize was that amid all those parts of this project, I would also become a change agent for teaching and learning practices. An “instigator”, as noted in our Community of Practice, perhaps or more appropriately, an encourager, risk taker, and model in what could be. I did not, at that starting point, recognize that planning for outdoor experiences for and with my students meant that I would be articulating an experiential focus in teaching and learning and relishing in the practice of that naming. That articulation has become pivotal in conversations this fall within my college community and was a key part of discussions with the Lawson Foundation Evaluators when we gathered in New Brunswick in mid-November.
From Here to There
When I began teaching post-secondary Early Childhood Education courses eight and a half years ago, I followed what I knew. A teacher or instructor practices from a standing position at the front of a class. It took exactly one class for me to figure out that this was not my preferred way of being. I come to education from a background of therapeutic helping, using play, therapeutic experiences, and creative arts to help children cope, all in the context of relationship. This front of the class format seemed impersonal and one-way to me. I did not yet have ways in which to articulate why it did not feel right for me. For the second class I brought a rolling suitcase full of props. Inside were picture books, play dough, markers, a large roll of paper, construction paper, magazines, scissors, glue. I set up the room with We would create, collaborate, and discuss what we believed, and knew about children. This was co-creation. We were articulating our new learning together. After a couple of years of this practice, I started taking my students outside for short experiences, to find an element in nature that represented something important, to practice observation skills by watching a neighbour of the college mow his lawn in the evening, to experience team building activities and provocations. It felt radical, this leaving the four walls of the classroom. And yet, I knew it was good. I noticed a difference in the way the students engaged with one another, with me, and with the content. I noticed a depth in their storytelling. But it was still infrequent. I was however, beginning to articulate a change in my practice.
Flash forward to my involvement with this project. An invitation, an expectation to take my teaching and learning outdoors. An expectation to sit with the wonder and the curiosity that I had innately tried and had not yet claimed as fully my own in the naming because I was not yet fully practicing it. The ‘it’ I discussed was not just outdoor play, but outdoor pedagogy and part of the project would then hold an expectation to evaluate the change process. An expectation to make my learning, this change process, visible. An expectation to accept the invitation to engage with others who would ask deep questions. An opportunity to articulate.
Evaluation in Applied Research
Part of the typical process of applied research is an evaluative process. In larger projects this is often completed by an external evaluation team. For our project we have a couple of different kinds of evaluation processes. Internally we have a Self-Study evaluation process where external evaluators review our progress and engage in interviews as coaches or critical friends. Within the broader research, the Lawson Foundation have an external evaluation team who visit the projects, engage in interviews, share their findings which may form opportunities for clarity or further work as the projects continue. Through the course of listening to project participants articulate their experiences, they are building a story. They are looking for “whether, why, and how” (Levine, 2022, para 1) goals are achieved. Typically, evaluators work to determine what’s been happening, why it’s been happening, and why does it matter and what comes next? (Levine, 2022). This slowly building narrative is important in creating the story that will be written and shared beyond the experience of the individual participants. There is a goal toward advancement and moving forward, so the stories must be told and shared with a questioning lens.
Telling the Story
My experience in telling my project story in New Brunswick in November will be remembered as one of my most impactful professional experiences thus far. Last year during our internal evaluation periods, one of the ways in which I was encouraged to move forward was to claim storytelling as my own. The opportunity with the evaluators to share about how my involvement in the project has changed my practice and is beginning to shift the practices of those I share time and space with at the college was a delight. I appreciate conversations that ask me to think bigger than I imagine my telling to be, to delve deeper into some of those questions I very first ask of students- what do you believe to be true? When I was asked questions similar in flavour to “what do you think is helping the success of this”, I recognize that it was likely part of gathering the bigger narrative, to acknowledge “unintended consequences” (Levine, 2022, para 2), parts of the project’s communal story that were unexpected success, and to recognize where there is still room for growth as the project continues. I shared the joys and the challenges faced when planning for content heavy courses in the outdoors, in planning for outdoor experiences in winter weather, in coming alongside colleagues who are not yet sure about this different way of teaching and learning. I shared the delights of returning to the field and working directly with children who unabashedly share their desire to take risks, or not, to engage in interesting and new things, or not, and most certainly to share their sense of curiosity and wonderment. These are also the stories I take back to my students as they prepare to come alongside some of those same children in their wonder of the natural world in play. “Evaluation is research to inform decisions- an opportunity to push for adaptations and mid-course corrections that will maximize success.” (Levine, 2022, para 4). This is information that will support not just at the project level, but in any similar research going forward. There is much I am processing as I continue to think about our shared project story and the work that is yet to be done. I know that the questions I was asked and the responses I shared will form part of the way I move forward with the support of the team, and the surety I have that growth will continue.
Claiming the Story
One of my favourite parts of the story I am claiming, is that is it not just my story. My own articulated change to more experiential teaching and learning practices in all coursework, is also becoming a story claimed by some of my colleagues as we imagine together how our program philosophy may shift and grow to articulate outdoor pedagogy. This requires intention, vulnerability, collaboration, care, and compassion as we review what has been and instead look to a new what ‘is. It requires a continued willingness to make my learning visible as I try strategies and experiences that may not work as elements of outdoor pedagogy in practice and it requires continued collaboration and discussion to learn from critical friends who are doing similar work, with the intended outcome of better serving children, families, students, and communities as we advance outdoor pedagogy in early childhood education in Canada.
References
Levine, R. (2022). 5 Reasons Why Evaluation Matters to Your Project. NICHQ. Retrieved November 23, 2022, from https://www.nichq.org/insight/5-reasons-why-evaluation-matters-your-pro…
