Alumni Link

Alumni Publications- October 2015

Published Date: September 25, 2015

Studies on the Go: James, 1-2 Peter, 1-3 John by Dr. David Olshine

What do small group leaders need? Good Bible studies that engage their kids. The purpose of this book in the Studies On the Go series is to provide small group leaders with creative and engaging Bible study IMG_0201questions they won’t have to rewrite. Students will be pushed, encouraged, and challenged, but the real goal is that they would be changed.

David Olshine has designed James, 1-2 Peter, and 1-3 John for the busy youth worker who either lacks the time or the information to lead a quality Bible study. Without skimping on depth and substance, Olshine has constructed down to earth questions that get kids into the text and so they can hear God’s Word on a practical level. Each consecutive passage of Scripture sets a topic to help students think deeply, talk openly, and apply what they are learning to their lives.

This book was published by Zondervan publishing. 

Head Scratchers: When the Words of Jesus Don’t Make Sense by Talbot Davis

Let’s face it: Sometimes Jesus says things that make you scratch your head.  In HEAD SCRATCHERS, Talbot Davis leads you to understanding some of Jesus’ words that are confusing, perplexing, or even offensive.  Starting with a passage we struggle with, Davis opens it to reveal a challenging, hopeful word that will bringHead Scratchers- Talbot Davis the gospel’s transformative power into your life.  The book includes discussion questions, as well as free video trailers and audio recordings of the author’s sermons.

Talbot Davis has wisely, creatively, and boldly called us out in this: The teachings of Jesus are complicated and demanding, and yet they are the way that leads to life. – Ken Carter, resident bishop, Florida Area, United Methodist Church

In these studies of Jesus’ “head-scratching” teachings, Davis combines careful interpretations with compelling insights for contemporary appropriation.  These are engaging, reliable, enlightening, and thoroughly accessible studies.  Highly recommended.    -David R. Bauer, Ph.D., Dean of the School of Biblical Interpretation, Asbury Theological Seminary 

 

Call For Chapter Proposals

by: Frederick Carl Prasuhn, ATS alumni, 1990, M.A: Christian Education.

Proposal Submission Deadline: October 30, 2015

Case Studies in Workplace Training Evaluation

A book edited by Scott Frasard and Fred Prasuhn

To be published by IGI Global:

Introduction

Evaluating training is a key part of the training enterprise. Organizations invest significant time, money, and other resources into conducting training for their employees and want to know that these efforts provide benefits.  Properly designed and executed evaluations are able to identify training effects and connect changes in employee behaviors and business metrics, which can then be valuated for a return on investment directly associated with the training effort.  Unfortunately, most evaluation efforts fail to make a convincing cause and effect connection between training and results.  Evaluation is a technical field requiring a great deal of knowledge and skill to accurately isolate training effects from other unrelated influences within organizations.

Training evaluation is a systematic process of collecting data about training initiatives to answer questions regarding its impact, enhance knowledge about its contributions, and make decisions about its future. A large array of texts exists today explaining how training evaluations should take place, methods to design evaluations, and how to obtain convincing evidence about training’s impact.  Unfortunately, most of these books are primarily theory and use examples to illustrate key points.  While this is a tremendous help to some in the evaluation field, evaluation practitioners want to see what theory looks like in real-life applications.  Resources explaining in great detail the methods and approaches to training evaluation are a great start, but when one tries to bridge theory to practice, the challenges of practice begin to rear their ugly heads. Learning through experience and failing forward or trial and error are often the only ways evaluators, especially those new to the field, have to learn, but it doesn’t have to be that way.

This book will be a compilation of actual training evaluation case studies drawn from across a multitude of fields to provide the reader with a detailed view of how the authors used theory in the swamp of practice. This case study approach will allow the challenges, solutions, and successes to shine through while providing abundant ideas and lessons the learned reader can apply to their own evaluation work. Organized according to Jack Phillips’ (1997) five levels of evaluation, this book will focus on the higher-order levels: (a) level 3 – transfer of learning, (b) level 4 – impact on business metrics, and (c) level 5 – return on investment.  As opposed to the first two levels (level 1 – learner reaction/satisfaction and level 2 – learner achievement) these higher order evaluation levels, when conducted properly, demonstrate training’s impact on those things organizations care about most.  The results, when quantified, demonstrate how training initiatives contributed value to the organization in ways to which businesses can relate.

Objective of the Book

This book’s objective is to bring experiences to life to help evaluators and aspiring evaluators bring theory into their practice as a companion to books detailing evaluation theory and methods. Evaluators, especially those new to the field or with limited experience applying theory into practice, will be able to modify their practices by learning from the experience of others.  Reading these case studies and applying the lessons learned will improve training evaluation practice and help evaluators demonstrate training’s impact with tangible evidence to support effectiveness arguments.  Whether used as a standalone text or as a supplement to other evaluation texts, this collection of actual evaluation stories will help connect theory to practice, whether used by evaluators or evaluation educators.

Target Audience

The intended target audience includes anyone in the training, adult/workforce education, and evaluation fields as practitioners or educators.  Anyone who conducts workplace training evaluations will benefit greatly from this book.  Additionally, those who educate/train current/future evaluators as part of a training program, college course, or degree will benefit from these case studies as a means to teach about the realities of evaluation in practice.

Recommended topics include, but are not limited to the following:

Contributors are welcome to submit chapters on the following topics relating to actual training evaluation work conducted in practice:

– Planning and conducting an evaluation of transfer of learning

– Planning and conducting an evaluation of training impact on business metrics

– Planning and conducting an evaluation of training return on investment

– Challenges incorporating evaluation theory into practice

– Processes used to design appropriate evaluation strategies

– Connecting cognitive/psychomotor exams in training to on-the-job performance

– Test development in workplace training

– Applying theory in the swamp of practice

– Using training evaluation to improve practice

– Using evaluation to improve future training

Submission Procedure

Researchers and practitioners are invited to submit on or before October 30, 2015, a 2-3 page chapter proposal clearly explaining the mission and concerns of the proposed chapter via the IGI submission portal (http://www.igi-global.com/publish/call-for-papers/call-details/1952). Authors of accepted proposals will be notified by January 4, 2016 about the status of their proposals and sent chapter guidelines. Full chapters are expected to be submitted by March 30, 2016. All submitted chapters will be reviewed on a double-blind review basis. Contributors may also be requested to serve as reviewers for this project.

Publisher

This book is scheduled to be published by IGI Global (formerly Idea Group Inc.), publisher of the “Information Science Reference” (formerly Idea Group Reference), “Medical Information Science Reference,” “Business Science Reference,” and “Engineering Science Reference” imprints. For additional information regarding the publisher, please visit www.igi-global.com . This book is anticipated to be released in 2017.

Important Dates

October 30, 2015:                   Proposal Submission Deadline

January 4, 2016:                     Notification of Acceptance

March 30, 2016:                      Full Chapter Submission

May 30, 2016:                         Review Results Returned

July 30, 2016:                          Final Chapter Submission

Inquiries regarding this publication can be forwarded to:

Dr. Scott Frasard

Global Manager, Training Measurement & Evaluation

Tel.: (770) 490-0426

E-mail: pmdc3573@uga.edu 

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