Washington, DC
October 21-23, 2015

PRECONFERENCE WORKSHOPS
Mid-Life Project Evaluation: Setting the Stage for Continued Funding
Wednesday, October 21, 2015 | 1:00 – 4:00 p.m.

If you intend to seek funding to continue your ATE project or center in the next one to two years, this session is for you. Anyone with prior NSF funding seeking a subsequent grant needs to be able to demonstrate their results with regard to both intellectual merit and broader impact. This means going beyond describing what a project did, to what difference it made. Participants will learn how to (1) Identify gaps in evaluation data that need to be addressed in order to make a strong case for continued support; (2) Fill those gaps with low-cost, high-impact evidence; and (3) Craft a persuasive Results of Prior NSF Support section for renewal proposals. This session is designed for both ATE PIs and evaluators.

Resources:
Slides
Worksheet
Checklist: Results of Prior Support

Getting Started
Wednesday, October 21, 2015 | 1:00 – 5:00 p.m.

This workshop is recommended for all principal investigators, co-principal investigators, and other team members involved in newly awarded projects and centers in FY15. Others who may find the workshop useful include new awardees in FY14 and other project personnel from prior years who have recently become involved in ATE projects and centers. The workshop will be divided into three parts: (1) ATE Program Issues. Topics to be covered include reporting requirements such as annual and final reports, working with NSF program officers, changes in project personnel or scope, data collection, FastLane and other reporting systems, use of Advisory Boards and National Visiting Committees, preparing project highlights for NSF and others, Institutional Review Boards (IRBs), and many other relevant topics. (2) Financial Management and Grant Management Issues. This section will focus on financial accounting issues and discuss in detail problems often seen in monitoring visits such as participant support, time and effort accounting, subawardees, record keeping, changes in scope, overload, and use of consultants. (3) Evaluation. This segment will address building in evaluation from the start of your project or center. The ATE program has an annual survey of all projects and centers that have been active for more than one year. Additional evaluation topics to be addressed include, but are not limited to, evaluation design, methods and instrumentation, resources for learning about productive evaluation, the roles of internal and external evaluators, and evaluation challenges.

Resources:
Checklist: Getting Started
Checklist: Mentor Connect Evaluation 101

PANEL SESSION
Mid-Life Project Evaluation: Setting the Stage for Continued Funding
Thursday, October 22, 2015 | 4:00 – 5:15 p.m.

A panel session should involve two, but no more than three presenters and a facilitator. (Though we are allowing four presenters for this session). Preference will be given to sessions that involve presenters that represent different projects and centers. Session proposals that focus solely on a general report out of a project’s or center’s activities will not be accepted. Panels should include an experienced facilitator who will post 2-3 thought-provoking questions to the panelists. The session proposal should address how the panelists will coordinate their presentations and the general topic of the panel. The submitter is responsible for coordinating the presentations in advance. The session must allow for audience participation and interaction through questions and discussion, and share promising strategies and lessons learned in accordance with the session criteria.

BREAKFAST ROUNDTABLE
Advanced Evaluation Professional Development | Table 11
Thursday, October 22, 2015 | 7:45 – 8:45 a.m.

Breakfast roundtables provide a forum for informal discussion of a topic among a small group. Attendance is first-come, first-served and limited to a maximum of 10 people including the moderator seated around one round table.

SHOWCASE SESSIONS
Booth 3
Wednesday, October 21, 2015 | 7:30 – 9:45 p.m.
Thursday, October 22, 2015 | 12:00 – 2:15 p.m.
Friday, October 23, 2015 | 10:00 a.m. – 12:15 p.m.

To learn more or register: bit.ly/conf-atepi.