Courses & Workshops

Below are graduate-level courses I teach and workshops, training, and presentations I offer by consultation.

 
 

Evaluation Practice & Methods

  • Introduces the process of conducting evaluations from beginning to end

  • Uses an interdisciplinary approach with a focus on social and ecological justice

  • Guides student teams through developing an evaluation plan for a real-world intervention

“In my opinion, the greatest strength of this course was Professor Gates's enthusiasm for teaching and generous support to all students. Since the atmosphere of the class was always warm and intellectually passionate, all the in–class activities, including group discussion, were successful and I was able to learn a great deal from both the professor and all my classmates throughout the course. Furthermore, working on a project as a team throughout the semester enabled me to deeply understand what a whole evaluation process looks like and to improve my communication skills.”
Student in Fall 2022

 

MESA 6466 | every fall

Evaluation Theory & Research

  • Explores key questions and debates in the evaluation field through different perspectives and possibilities 

  • Draws on evaluation scholarship, practice examples, guest speakers, and podcasts

  • Engages students, individually or in pairs, to develop a scholarly paper 

“For anyone interested in careers in school leadership, the nonprofit sector, or any field in which they will be even indirectly involved in the evaluation, I think this is an important course to take. Without a background in evaluation theory and research, one risks obediently following guidelines and procedures without understanding what they are doing, what influence they are having, what assumptions are underlying methodology, and whose values and perspectives are being privileged or ignored.”
Student in Spring 2020

 

MESA 6467 | every spring

Mixed Methods

  • Covers the theory and practice mixing inquiry methodologies in research and evaluation across the social sciences

  • ‘Mix’ includes the integration of qualitative and quantitative approaches, methods, and data in a single study and combining multiple ways of knowing 

  • Guides students through developing an original proposal for a mixed methods study

“Gates as a professor was able to provide clear definitions and applications of mixed methods. The readings provided created a practical guide to this method as distinct from quant or qual, which provided a clear access point for us as students. This gave us the knowledge to apply mixed methods in a proposal and potentially shifted many of us into MM as our preferred method/design.”
Student in Fall 2022

 

MESA 9852 | every other fall

Theory of Change

  • Introduces the basics of developing, visualizing, and presenting a theory of change - a visual and narrative depiction of how, why, and for whom change happens

  • Discusses examples in the learning sciences and educational change contexts and other areas, including public health and international development

  • Develops a versatile skillset useful in organizational leadership, project design and management, and evaluation 

“Course content is very applicable to authentic contexts. It was easy to see how I might use a theory of change in future work that I do in learning experience design, and it was really cool to have students from other programs in the class and see how they were interested in applying what we were learning to their specific contexts. The course was more like a 5–part workshop…it was actually a really refreshing course to take.”
Student Spring 2020

LREN 7401.01 | every spring

 

Workshops and Webinars

 
 

I lead workshops and presentations on evaluation, theory of change, systems approaches, and systemic change, among other topics. 

Participants include professionals working in the non-profit, government, philanthropic, and higher education sectors and at different stages of their careers.

 

Examples

 

  • Systems Evaluation: Exploring Purposes, Questions, and Methods, Virtual Webinar, U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, June 25, 2024

  • Critical Inquiry-based STEM Reform, American Association of Colleges & Universities, Grantwriting Exchange Institute, May 21-24, 2024

  • Systems- and Complexity-informed Evaluation, Speaker in Systems Thinking Master Class series by Global Early Childhood Development Initiative, April 23, 2024 (video link)

  • Five Ways for Evaluation to Develop Value Amidst Complexity, Keynote Speaker at the United Kingdom Evaluation Society, Oct. 2, 2023

  • Values in Evaluation, Evaluation Café Speaker at Western Michigan University, Nov. 15, 2023 (video link)

  • Helping to Create Value: New Roles for Evaluation and Evaluators: a panelist for the 2022 System Innovation Learning Festival based in Denmark, Dec. 1, 2022 (video link)

  • Redefining Evaluation in Support of System Change for the Centre for Evaluation of Complexity Across the Nexus at the University of Surrey, UK, Dec. 9, 2021 (video link)