Hi, this is Libby Smith, I’m an evaluator here at ARC Evaluation and the instructor for PSYC 721D: Cultural Competence in Evaluation & Institutional Research within the Evaluation Studies program here at UW-Stout.
PSYC-721D is a .2 credit online module that explores cultural competency for evaluators. One of the learning objectives for this module is to exercise ongoing self-awareness of how one’s own cultural perspective serves as assets or limitations in the practice of evaluation and research.
This learning objective aligns with competency 1.1 of the Professional Practice domain: Acts ethically as an evaluator through evaluation practice that demonstrates integrity and respects all people, cultural groups, and sovereign nations.
As evaluators, we need to engage in learning around cultural competency, but more importantly we need to embrace our cultural humility. Competence implies that we arrive at an end point, where we know everything we need to know. When we embrace our cultural humility, we are exhibiting an attitude, one that recognizes power imbalances and the importance of mutually beneficial relationships. We actively engage in intentional and ongoing critical self-reflection, exploring how our own internal biases impact our choices about methods, data collection, and reporting (and EVERYTHING!!!). We actively consider what it is like to walk in another person’s shoes.
Someone recently shared this amazing video that demonstrates privilege and cultural humility in such a simple and beautiful way.
How does cultural competency show up in your work? What KSA’s do you possess that help you embody cultural humility? We’re gathering data on EvalKSA’s, share your responses to these questions with us!
Do you need additional training or professional development around infusing cultural competence & humility in your work? Our online training modules are available to start any time. They are self-paced and typically take between 9 and 12 hours. Sign up today!
This blog post is part of a series that explores the relationship between the proposed American Evaluation Association competencies for evaluators and how they align with KSA’s needed to embody them in our work. We are doing this through the lens of the learning objectives within the Evaluation Studies Graduate certificate offered by the University of Wisconsin-Stout. The curriculum design was intended to align with the competencies first proposed by Stevahn, King, Ghere, & Minnema (2005).