Learning Outcome 8
Behave professionally and ethically in dietetic service and practice and demonstrate an ability to participate in and conduct program evaluation.
Artifacts:
Artifact 1 – Evaluations: After-School All-Stars Poster Presentation at The Georgia Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics Annual Conference and Expo (ACE):
Evaluation 1
Evaluation 2
Evaluation 3
Reflection:
For the first three semesters of the Coordinated Program (CP), I was a Graduate Teaching Assistant (GTA) for After-School All-Stars (ASAS). ASAS is a national grant-funded program that provides free after-school enrichment programming to low-income, inner city middle school children. The program consists of activities, which expose adolescents to exciting new opportunities in a fun and interesting way. ASAS helps keep kids off the streets and prepares them for a successful adulthood.
Twice a week, I traveled to Sandy Springs Charter Middle School to teach adolescents about nutrition and cooking. Each week, the first lesson consisted of an interactive lecture and the second day included hands-on cooking, which reinforced the key points from the week. All of my students came from low-income families. I enjoyed exposing them to new information and foods and opening their minds to trying something new they may have never tried before. While some days I found it difficult to motivate the students, the overall experience was rewarding.
One of the required competencies in the CP program is to present an oral presentation or poster presentation at a professional meeting. To fulfill this competency, I worked with another CP student, who also was an ASAS GTA, to create a descriptive poster on the effectiveness of the ASAS program nutrition component.
To ensure that we were behaving in a professional and ethical manner, and to assure that the information on our poster was as accurate as possible, we scheduled a meeting with the ASAS Associate Executive Director and Program Coordinator. Prior to our meeting, we developed a list of questions that would best provide the information we needed for our poster. We discussed how the program began and where they hope the program will go in the future. However, we were disappointed to learn that ASAS did not have data that illustrated the effectiveness of the nutrition component. Luckily, we had some of our own data to analyze, even though it was only a small sample set. After the meeting, we worked together to analyze the data we had, and design and write the text for the poster.
On the poster, we described the objectives of the ASAS program nutrition component, the lesson methodology, and success measures. In order to determine how effective the ASAS program was at teaching healthy eating habits and nutrition to middle school students, we compiled the results of the pre- and post- nutrition test that is given to the students on the first and last day of each 9-week program cycle. For ethical reasons, we used aggregate data and made sure not to identify the individual children by name. Our data showed a 20-21% improvement in test score from pre to post-tests. This demonstrated that the ASAS nutrition component is an effective learning tool that is proven to increase nutrition-related knowledge in a low-income adolescent population. For visual appeal and to align our poster with the ASAS brand, we used the program colors, orange and blue, and included a picture of some of our students donning milk mustaches. Once our poster was complete, we sent it to the two CP Program Directors for review and approval.
The finished poster was printed and presented to the dietetics community at The Georgia Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics Annual Conference and Expo (ACE). We had at least 20 people stop by to view our poster. Many of them were surprised that ASAS does not have a method in place to measure the effectiveness of the program. However, everyone agreed that the ASAS nutrition component was a step in the right direction to help end the obesity epidemic and educate the low-income adolescent population.
Our Program Director gave poster evaluation sheets to three of the Registered Dietitians attending the conference. The evaluators ranked us in several categories using scores from 1 (marginally adequate) to 5 (excellent). Some of the categories included the following: legibility, visual appeal, introduction, methods, results and conclusions. There was also a section at the bottom of each evaluation form for comments.
When we received our evaluations back the following week, I was a little disappointed with the mixed results. Two of the evaluations were very positive. Giving us all 5’s and one 4 in the methods section. However, the third evaluation was more critical. We received two 3’s in the results category and in the conclusion. I appreciated that the evaluator elaborated on these scores in the comments section, stating that our data should have mentioned whether the percent increase was statistically significant and that we should have completed a deeper analysis related to the level of knowledge on each specific pre-/post-test question. The evaluator also indicated that our conclusion should have done a better job to address activities and information that could positively impact the knowledge areas that the children were lacking. While I understand this feedback, I believe the evaluator did not recognize that our poster was descriptive in nature. It was an initial evaluation that found further analysis would be beneficial to the ASAS program. As a presenter, I could have done a better job explaining this, which may have led to a better score and a more informed evaluator.
Due to our small data sample and the lack of data that the ASAS program has, we were unable to obtain a substantial amount of meaningful data from which to extrapolate. With more time and financial backing, perhaps we could have accomplished more. I believe that we made the best use of the resources available to us.
Evaluation acts as the cornerstone in any program. Without keeping track of data, it is difficult to monitor program success. This makes program optimization difficult. Every program necessitates informed decisions based off of solid data points in order to help the program succeed and make sure it continues to grow over time.
I enjoyed presenting the poster to participants at ACE. I believe ASAS is a valuable program for adolescents, and I was happy to support the program and speak about its importance. I look forward to seeing if our poster motivates ASAS to monitor program success and keep track of knowledge improvement during the program to see what areas should be emphasized in the future. From my experience working with ASAS I know the vast importance of community programs. However, I do not see myself working in a community setting when I become a dietitian because my interests are more geared toward the clinical world.
Artifacts:
Artifact 1 – Evaluations: After-School All-Stars Poster Presentation at The Georgia Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics Annual Conference and Expo (ACE):
Evaluation 1
Evaluation 2
Evaluation 3
Reflection:
For the first three semesters of the Coordinated Program (CP), I was a Graduate Teaching Assistant (GTA) for After-School All-Stars (ASAS). ASAS is a national grant-funded program that provides free after-school enrichment programming to low-income, inner city middle school children. The program consists of activities, which expose adolescents to exciting new opportunities in a fun and interesting way. ASAS helps keep kids off the streets and prepares them for a successful adulthood.
Twice a week, I traveled to Sandy Springs Charter Middle School to teach adolescents about nutrition and cooking. Each week, the first lesson consisted of an interactive lecture and the second day included hands-on cooking, which reinforced the key points from the week. All of my students came from low-income families. I enjoyed exposing them to new information and foods and opening their minds to trying something new they may have never tried before. While some days I found it difficult to motivate the students, the overall experience was rewarding.
One of the required competencies in the CP program is to present an oral presentation or poster presentation at a professional meeting. To fulfill this competency, I worked with another CP student, who also was an ASAS GTA, to create a descriptive poster on the effectiveness of the ASAS program nutrition component.
To ensure that we were behaving in a professional and ethical manner, and to assure that the information on our poster was as accurate as possible, we scheduled a meeting with the ASAS Associate Executive Director and Program Coordinator. Prior to our meeting, we developed a list of questions that would best provide the information we needed for our poster. We discussed how the program began and where they hope the program will go in the future. However, we were disappointed to learn that ASAS did not have data that illustrated the effectiveness of the nutrition component. Luckily, we had some of our own data to analyze, even though it was only a small sample set. After the meeting, we worked together to analyze the data we had, and design and write the text for the poster.
On the poster, we described the objectives of the ASAS program nutrition component, the lesson methodology, and success measures. In order to determine how effective the ASAS program was at teaching healthy eating habits and nutrition to middle school students, we compiled the results of the pre- and post- nutrition test that is given to the students on the first and last day of each 9-week program cycle. For ethical reasons, we used aggregate data and made sure not to identify the individual children by name. Our data showed a 20-21% improvement in test score from pre to post-tests. This demonstrated that the ASAS nutrition component is an effective learning tool that is proven to increase nutrition-related knowledge in a low-income adolescent population. For visual appeal and to align our poster with the ASAS brand, we used the program colors, orange and blue, and included a picture of some of our students donning milk mustaches. Once our poster was complete, we sent it to the two CP Program Directors for review and approval.
The finished poster was printed and presented to the dietetics community at The Georgia Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics Annual Conference and Expo (ACE). We had at least 20 people stop by to view our poster. Many of them were surprised that ASAS does not have a method in place to measure the effectiveness of the program. However, everyone agreed that the ASAS nutrition component was a step in the right direction to help end the obesity epidemic and educate the low-income adolescent population.
Our Program Director gave poster evaluation sheets to three of the Registered Dietitians attending the conference. The evaluators ranked us in several categories using scores from 1 (marginally adequate) to 5 (excellent). Some of the categories included the following: legibility, visual appeal, introduction, methods, results and conclusions. There was also a section at the bottom of each evaluation form for comments.
When we received our evaluations back the following week, I was a little disappointed with the mixed results. Two of the evaluations were very positive. Giving us all 5’s and one 4 in the methods section. However, the third evaluation was more critical. We received two 3’s in the results category and in the conclusion. I appreciated that the evaluator elaborated on these scores in the comments section, stating that our data should have mentioned whether the percent increase was statistically significant and that we should have completed a deeper analysis related to the level of knowledge on each specific pre-/post-test question. The evaluator also indicated that our conclusion should have done a better job to address activities and information that could positively impact the knowledge areas that the children were lacking. While I understand this feedback, I believe the evaluator did not recognize that our poster was descriptive in nature. It was an initial evaluation that found further analysis would be beneficial to the ASAS program. As a presenter, I could have done a better job explaining this, which may have led to a better score and a more informed evaluator.
Due to our small data sample and the lack of data that the ASAS program has, we were unable to obtain a substantial amount of meaningful data from which to extrapolate. With more time and financial backing, perhaps we could have accomplished more. I believe that we made the best use of the resources available to us.
Evaluation acts as the cornerstone in any program. Without keeping track of data, it is difficult to monitor program success. This makes program optimization difficult. Every program necessitates informed decisions based off of solid data points in order to help the program succeed and make sure it continues to grow over time.
I enjoyed presenting the poster to participants at ACE. I believe ASAS is a valuable program for adolescents, and I was happy to support the program and speak about its importance. I look forward to seeing if our poster motivates ASAS to monitor program success and keep track of knowledge improvement during the program to see what areas should be emphasized in the future. From my experience working with ASAS I know the vast importance of community programs. However, I do not see myself working in a community setting when I become a dietitian because my interests are more geared toward the clinical world.