Free Online Course: Evaluating Social Programs
MITx (in partnership with the online education program EDx) is hosting a free online course called Evaluating Social Programs. Here‘s some information on the course:
“This four-week course on evaluating social programs will provide a thorough understanding of randomized evaluations and pragmatic step-by-step training for conducting one’s own evaluation. Through a combination of lectures and case studies from real randomized evaluations, the course will focus on the benefits and methods of randomization, choosing an appropriate sample size, and common threats and pitfalls to the validity of the experiment. While the course is centered around the why, how and when of Randomized Evaluations, it will also impart insights on the importance of a needs assessment, measuring outcomes effectively, quality control, and monitoring methods that are useful for all kinds of evaluations. JPAL101x is designed for people from a variety of backgrounds: managers and researchers from international development organizations, foundations, governments and non-governmental organizations from around the world, as well as trained economists looking to retool.”
You can sign up for the course (running from 1-30 April 2014) here.
If you are considering taking the course, please let me know (email bree.akesson@mail.mcgill.ca), and maybe a group of us can meet at some point for discussion.