Measuring Impact and Telling Climate Change Education Stories through Evaluation: A PLACCE (Plants and Climate Change Education) Conversation

Measuring Impact and Telling Climate Change Education Stories through Evaluation: A PLACCE (Plants and Climate Change Education) Conversation

Guest presenter: Kathryn Stevenson, Associate Professor in Department of Parks, Recreation & Tourism Management at NC State University

About this session: As educators--and particularly climate change educators--we are in the business of creating change in big and small ways. We work to build programs that make a real difference in learners' lives, with the ultimate goal of creating real solutions to incredibly complex and daunting challenges. How do we know we are making a difference? This session will look at how evaluation can go beyond grant reporting to help you think deeply and critically about your program design. Drawing heavily on culturally responsive and equitable evaluation frameworks, we will revisit the basics of evaluative thinking and apply them to common climate change education contexts. You will walk away with tools to examine your own program, clearly articulate your program goals and objectives, measure your impact, and link arms with your participants to help tell the story of what you are achieving together.

About PLACCE Conversations: PLACCE (Plants and Climate Change Education) is a peer learning group exploring how botanic gardens and arboreta can maximize the impact of a plant-centered climate change education niche. We are dedicated to learning together; creating and testing plant-centered climate change education models; and sharing new understandings, resources, and best practices across the public gardens community. PLACCE Conversations are online professional development opportunities open to education professionals from botanic gardens and arboreta interested in plant-centered climate change education. For more information about PLACCE, visit: https://usbg.gov/PlantsAndClimateChangeEducation