Teaching Empowerment Evaluation Online

Teaching Empowerment Evaluation at Pacifica Graduate Institute Online

Teaching Empowerment Evaluation Online with Zoom and Google Sheets at Pacifica Graduate Institute. COVID-19 has transformed many graduate programs across the nation from face-to-face to online communities. We used Zoom to establish and maintain a personal exchange. Google Sheets allowed us to enter data together as a group and then use the compiled data as a springboard for discussion and analysis. Desire to Learn (D2L) online classroom software and Dropbox were used to facilitate and record assignments. The class was engaging and productive (with minor technical glitches which are part of the state-of-the-art).

Graduate students are engaging in the third step of an empowerment evaluation - taking stock.  This involves rating how well they are doing concerning key activities associated with their program and the mission of the program.  The ratings form the basis for their dialogue and discussion and set the stage for planning for the future.

This is a Zoom screen snapshot of Pacifica Graduate Institute faculty discussing how well the online classes went, what innovations were made, and how we might improve teaching online in the future. One observation I shared was that the empowerment evaluation class appears to have gone well in large part because the class involved graduate students evaluating their own program. This made the classroom real, relevant, and cultivated a sense of ownership. It was a very honest session designed to help each other with innovation adaptations, student input, and our own insights into both the technical and physiological stresses and stains of learning online.