Observations Help Open Doors
How do you answer the ever present: How will you assess the impact of your initiative? In your next grant application?
In 2017, The Bubbler at Madison Public Library was applying for a grant to do pop-up making and learning programs in its 9 public libraries and 10 summer school outreach sites. They hoped to hire interns as LTE program facilitators and expand their fleet of “maker kits” - open ended materials and activities all in 1 box. They projected they would see over 2000 kids in high needs areas for fun and engaging maker opportunities that summer, but how were they to tell.
Lucky for the Bubbler, the pool of interns was amazing. When introduced to Madison Public Library’s budding observational assessment practices, interns Kai & Caide, took it and ran with it. Using an old school google form to report on the indicators of learning they saw, they amassed a huge data set by the end of the summer. But more than that, they showed clear and evidence based understanding of the strengths of all of our maker activities.
Do you need an activity that forces and promotes collaboration?
Give a group of children 700 brightly colored solo cups and step back. Watch them initial hoard, then negotiate, then work together to build massive collaborative structures.
Do you want to encourage DEEP engagement, creative storytelling, and self-expression? Make a paper puppet and watch in awe as each puppet takes on a personality, a vocation, a nemesis, you name it as kids engage in imaginative play with their creations.
Each of the maker kits was observed numerous times, giving a clear picture of what outcomes could be expected from each activity. All supported by photos, anecdotes, and quotes from patrons. The Bubbler team had a great view of the impact of our summer program, but what’s more, they had a great answer to that looming grant question for the foreseeable future.
They also had a long time partner in intern Kailea Saplan, who has continued this work of informal assessment into her doctoral research.
Having an observational framework, even without slick digital tools for data collection and reporting, set them apart in the grant ecosystem. The dedication to observational assessment opened doors to sustain the Bubbler’s Artist in Residence Program, Making Justice arts program in the juvenile detention center, and to carve our space in the city of Madison and Library structure as a foundational program.
The impact and success of these observational practices were the driving forces behind the creation of The Observation Deck. With each lesson learned incorporated into its strategic design.
Bubbler’s research history timeline: https://www.madisonbubbler.org/timeline-test