Instructor: Michael Quinn Patton, PhD Developmental Evaluation (DE) supports those involved in social change innovation by guiding adaptation to emergent and dynamic realities in complex environments. Innovations can take the form of new projects, programs, products, organizational changes, policy reforms, and system interventions. A complex system is characterized by a large number of interacting and interdependent elements in which there is no central control. Patterns of change emerge from rapid, real time interactions that generate learning, evolution, and development – if one is paying attention and knows how to observe and capture the important and emergent patterns. Complex environments for social interventions and innovations are those in which what to do to solve problems are uncertain and key stakeholders are in conflict about how to proceed. The COVID Pandemic significantly increased use of DE as programs around the world had to pivot and adapt to the turbulence of responding to efforts to control the pandemic. This led to innovations and new directions in DE as it served to guide adaptations to the challenges of the pandemic. This course includes those new applications and directions. The field of evaluation already has a rich variety of contrasting models, competing purposes, alternatives methods, and divergent techniques that can be applied to projects and organizational innovations that vary in scope, comprehensiveness, and complexity. The challenge, then, is to match evaluation to the nature of the initiative being evaluated. This means that we need to have options beyond the traditional approaches when faced with systems change dynamics and complex change initiatives. Participants will learn the unique niche of developmental evaluation, different kinds of DE, and what perspectives such as Systems Thinking and Complex Nonlinear Dynamics can offer in applying DE. Recommended Text: Patton, M. (2010). Developmental evaluation: Applying complexity concepts to enhance innovation and Use. Guilford Press. Recommended Audience: This course is suitable for new and experienced evaluators who work with innovative initiatives of all kinds at any level anywhere in the world. TEI Certificate: This course fulfills the following requirements: - Design & Analysis elective for the Certificate in Evaluation Practice (CEP) - Design course for the Certificate in Advanced Evaluation Practices (CAEP)