Data Visualization and Reporting
Jennifer Billman, Ph.D.
Assessment Coordinator & Associate Professor of Biology
HACC, Central Pennsylvania's Community College, United States
Location: Grand Ballroom 2
Abstract Information: AEA's 2023 theme highlights the role of storytelling in evaluation practice and encourages reflection on how evaluation findings are communicated. Traditionally, this communication occurs through a text-laden evaluation report Ideally, the evaluation report is designed to inspire others to read, understand, remember, and act in response to evaluation findings. Yet, despite hours of time invested in writing reports, many evaluators bemoan the lack of engagement with their reports and seek more creative reporting strategies. This skill building workshop introduces participants to Canva, a free online design tool, which greatly expands the options available for creating engaging evaluation reports that better showcase the story behind the data. Participants will set up a Canva account and step through the guided redesign of a sample report using Canva’s design features. All are invited to bring their own device and a sample report they seek to transform from Blah to Bling.
Relevance Statement: Currently, much attention in reporting is focused on data visualization and the ways graphs, charts, animations, infographics etc. support engagement with data (Evergreen, 2020; Knaflic, 2015). In this way evaluation professionals are data translators tasked with translating the complexities within the data into easily grasped pictorial or graphical narratives which inspire action in others. To inspire this action, the data visualizations themselves must be presented in ways that invite engagement with both the data visualization and the story. Recognizing that the most engaging data visualizations placed within a bland report may fail to engage and inspire action in others, this skill development session elevates the conversation to include the structure, format, and style of the full evaluation report itself, inclusive of the data visualizations. This session addresses the challenge of how to create evaluation reports that inspire people to read, understand, remember, and take action in response to the evaluation findings. Through sharing my own journey in transforming traditional, academic, bland assessment reports to more visually engaging and informative reports, I plan to show how anyone – with the right tools – can make the switch to creating reports that others want to read.
This is a hands-on active skill building workshop. Participants will be active on their devices throughout the session as they are guided through the use each of Canva's design tools. Participants without devices will be paired with those with devices to ensure inclusion of all. I will move throughout the room to engage participants directly to ensure they gain the skills needed to build a report within Canva on their own after the session. Specific Canva skills covered during this workshop include how to, 1. Add, edit, combine templates, 2. Add, remove, and edit elements, 3. Upload videos and images, 4. Create QR codes, 5. Create basic charts, 6. Insert and edit photos, 7. Import media (e.g., YouTube) into designs, and Share the resport.