Canadian Evaluation Society - Ontario Chapter

September 2025 e-Essential Skills Series
2025-09-22 08:00 - 2025-11-29 17:00 UTC | Online
The Canadian Evaluation Society’s on-line ten-week course offers participants with a basic understanding of the main models and practices of evaluation. No prior knowledge of evaluation or social science research methods is required to participate. Participants will gain:

Basic knowledge and skills,
Appreciation for essential elements of evaluation,
Capacity to apply acquired knowledge and skills, and
Development as an evaluation professional.

The Essential Skills Series is ten self-paced learning modules that cover everything from basics like the objectives of evaluations, all the way through to practical skills such as budgeting and workplan development. The discussion forum encourages knowledge transfer/sharing among participants and instructor, instructor reviewed assignments to guide learners and real-time Zoom learning at the start and conclusion of the course.

Learning Objectives:

Describe the role of evaluation in the program lifecycle;
Explain common evaluation terms, functions, and approaches;
List the steps in planning and conducting an evaluation;
Describe how common social science data collection methods are used in evaluations;
Describe the value and use of project management concepts in evaluations;
Outline ways to support the use of evaluation findings and produce actionable evaluation reports; and
Recognize evaluation standards and ethical principles and identify their role in the professionalization of evaluation in Canada.

Learners will be expected to:

Complete one module per week independent of the facilitator;
Participate regularly in discussion forums with participants and the instructor;
Complete seven assignments to submit to facilitator for review/feedback

About the Facilitator
Dr. Keiko Kuji-Shikatani, Credentialed Evaluator, is a Canadian Evaluation Society Fellow (CESF), and a CES Credentialing Board member. Keiko has studied embedding monitoring and evaluation systems in organization for her doctoral work which she continues to expand through her evaluation practice for over 35 years. She is an international expert on principle-focused developmental evaluation for learning as we go for continuous quality improvement in the public sector, evaluative thinking, evaluation use, evaluation capacity building, evaluator competencies and professionalization of evaluators. Keiko was instrumental in the development and the operationalization of the Canadian Evaluation Society’s Credentialed Evaluator Designation and documented our Canadian experience for the use of other evaluations societies around the world in a special edition of the Canadian Journal of Program Evaluation.
