The paper examines the benefits claimed for action learning at individual, organisational and inter-organisational levels. It goes on to identify both generic difficulties in evaluating development programmes and action learning specifically. The distinction between formative and summative evaluation is considered and a summative evaluation…

This article provides a critical perspective on the increasing involvement of young people in participatory evaluation as well as identifies the factors to consider when designing a youth-led evaluation project. Through this avenue, young people will increase their participation in organizational development and community change. Youth-led…

This article presents an interview with Michael Patton whose professional evolution has contributed to the way evaluation in the United States is understood and practiced today. Patton is an evaluation and organizational development consultant who spent 18 years at the University of Minnesota (1973-1991), including 5 years as the director of the…

Analysis of the first cycle of academic program review at the College of St. Catherine (Minnesota) discusses recommendations resulting from reviews, insights about faculty and committee perceptions, and new directions for the second cycle. It is noted that the second cycle will focus more on program activities and output than on traditional input…

This is an introduction to a set of four papers in the field of evaluation research. A main theme in these papers is the recognition that evaluation research is not a pure objective scientific self-standing activity, but one that interacts within a context and is influenced by the interchanges. (LMO)

Field research was conducted to evaluate the workgroup meetings of an organization. The evaluation served to determine whether management's established objectives for the meetings were reached and to develop research strategies useful in examining individual communication activities. Two questionnaires (for supervisory/nonsupervisory personnel)…

The purpose of the study reported in this chapter was to determine if senior evaluation consultants experienced stages of growth in their practice similar to the small business development stages described by Bruce and Scott, to identify the stimuli that led to those changes, to determine what the consultants learned from these incidents, and to…

This study is designed in part to update a 1965 publication and to note changes in the pattern of State research and research related activities since that time. It is intended to provide State research directors with an exchange of State department practices in organization, staffing, funding, and contracting for research related activities; an…

This document contains three papers on evaluation in human resource development (HRD). "Utilization of Corporate University Training Program Evaluation" (Christopher F. Bober) reports on a study that examined how training program evaluation results are being utilized in corporate universities and determined that the following seven…

This article focuses on the research and scholarship dealing with the assessment of the experiential approach in both its computer-based and human-based forms. It covers two forms of assessment. First it covers explicit attempts to assess the validity of experiential learning, and second it focuses on measuring the effectiveness of the…

Forty-four papers are collected in this volume and categorized: invited papers on research and planning for higher education; organizational analysis; finance and resource allocation; program and outcomes analysis; modeling; evaluation; and studies of faculty and students. Abstracts of additional papers are included. (MSE)

In September 1998, the National Center for Education Statistics (NCES) established a 1-year task force to review the NCES's role concerning lifelong learning. The eight-member task force established a working definition of lifelong learning ("a process or system through which individuals are able and willing to learn at all stages of life,…

This document contains the eight appendixes from the National Center for Education Statistics's (NCES's) final report on lifelong learning in the United States. Appendix A discusses the considerations that entered into the formulation of the definition of lifelong learning adopted for the NCES study. Appendix B, "Literature Review on Lifelong…

This two-volume document contains the proceedings of the 2000 conference of the Academy of Human Resource Development (AHRD). Volume 1 contains the following materials: conference overview; text of a town forum on social responsibility and human resource development (HRD); papers from symposia 1-24; and papers from innovative sessions 1-4. The…