A Doerr Institute for New Leaders course titled Demystifying Measurement is equipping students with the skills to develop evaluation systems that explore the impact of leader development programs in higher education and beyond.
Ryan Brown, course instructor and managing director for measurement at the Doerr Institute, says that while it might be difficult to measure the impact of a leader development program, it is not impossible.
“It can be done, and it can be done well,” he said. “When it comes to leader development, a lot of schools say it is what they do. It is in a lot of our school mottos and on our websites and all of our TV commercials. Yet, when you ask people what they are doing to develop those leaders of tomorrow, you get a lot of head scratching.”
“The key is that you have to know if you are wasting your resources, your time and everybody else’s time. The only way to know that is if you actually take the time to measure what you are doing and measure its impact, not just how happy people are with it,” he said.
The five-week virtual course is designed like a graduate-level seminar, rather than an undergraduate-level lecture course, Brown said. Thus, participants are expected to engage at a high level. Participants who complete the course and receive a passing grade on the final project earn a digital badge.
A couple of years into the course, Brown says it’s been a popular one among adult learners and members of the U.S. service academies.
“This course provided an excellent opportunity for me to begin tackling the assessment of leadership development programs,” said Justin Stoddard, chief of innovation and prototyping for the Center for Character and Leadership Development. “By discussing how to break down broad ideals and concepts into smaller chunks to evaluate, I have been able to identify better ways to identify areas of improvement. I highly recommend this program to those interested in finding better ways to provide more accurate assessments of their programs.”
The application deadline for the fall course is Aug. 25. To learn more, click here.