Evaluative attitude in action: Using the Learn Evaluation Assessment Portal in graduate education

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Evaluation students need a sense of how the expertise they bring and the knowledge and skills they are learning relate to the tasks of evaluation and to their own ongoing professional development. Within the Master of Evaluation and the Graduate Certificate in Evaluation at The University of Melbourne’s Assessment and Evaluation Research Centre (formerly the Centre for Program Evaluation), students use an evaluator competencies self-assessment to inform their coursework and practice across three subjects. In this paper, the authors – the coordinator of the subjects and several students – share practices and examples of how the self-assessment added value for their learning. Discussion of the logistics, ethical requirements, and appropriate use given the limitations of self-assessments provide ideas for integrating self-assessment into the design and delivery evaluation capacity building or formal courses to increase ownership of learning for adults who want to expand their evaluation expertise.