Where the Land Becomes the Classroom: Place-Based Learning in Alaska

This summer, one of our many site visits took us to Nome, Alaska, where we had the opportunity to see place-based instruction in action. We observed an “On the Land” workshop offered through the University of Alaska Fairbanks Northwest Campus’s High Latitude Range Management program. The workshop exemplified high-quality experiential,

place-based pedagogy. Over seven days, students sampled water quality, fished and examined their catch under microscopes, visited a reindeer corral, and contributed to tanning fish skins into leather, among other activities.

Instruction followed the sequence of real scientific practice. Students collected water-quality data and netted aquatic insects while navigating a pond on packrafts; back in the campus lab, they analyzed those same samples under microscopes — field collection first, followed by laboratory interpretation, which is the way biologists work in the field. Several insect specimens were still alive, so students identified them by both form and behavior, using identification guides on plankton and macroinvertebrates. Each task began with an expert demonstration; instructors rotated among individual students, ensuring that student learning was continuously supported.

Fishing was also part of the week’s curriculum. Students watched their instructor dissect their catch and learned to distinguish internal anatomy and read stomach contents. The work then extended directly into applied arts: students contributed to rendering the same fish skins into leather using bark tannins they gathered on-site, treating a traditional practice as another mode of hands-on inquiry. This holistic approach aligns with Indigenous pedagogy, in which scientific observation, subsistence use, and cultural practice are not distinct domains but interwoven expressions of a single relationship with the land.

The course embedded Indigenous knowledge and mentorship in the curriculum. At a reindeer corral on the Seward Peninsula, a fourth-generation Alaska Native herder walked students through the design of a working corral and the day-to-day realities of herd management, touching upon topics such as why fence height matters, why a separate mothering pen protects calves, and why the slaughter area must sit out of the waiting herd's sight and hearing. Because two students were working herders, the visit became an exchange among practitioners rather than a one-way lesson, turning toward shared problem-solving about labor, logistics, and cooperation across communities.

Taken together, the week showed what place-based education can accomplish when the land becomes the classroom and students are treated as active participants in the learning process. Scientific inquiry, subsistence practices, Indigenous knowledge, applied arts, and peer mentorship reinforced one another throughout the course, giving students opportunities to develop practical skills while drawing connections across disciplines and generations. The result was a learning experience firmly rooted in the environment, culture, and working realities of rural Alaska. 

A Fresh Start to the School Year

 It’s hard to believe another school year is already upon us. The weeks leading up to the first day of school are full of energy including new calendars, refreshed schedules, updated routines, and that makes this season an ideal time to think about how evaluation can be woven into the work you’re already doing. A little planning now can make data collection feel like a natural part of your processes rather than one more task competing for attention.

Build Data Collection into your Calendars

One of the simplest ways to set yourself up for success is to add key data‑collection dates directly into master calendars and staff schedules. Early in the year, when calendars are being shared and finalized, it’s easy to build in reminders for the data you know you’ll need. If implementation data is required before reporting deadlines, add those dates now or send calendar invites to staff a few weeks ahead of time. This buffer gives you space to follow up and ensure everything is in place well before submissions are due.

For ongoing data collection, such as implementation logs, resource checkout calendars, or feedback forms, schedule recurring reminders for yourself or your team so updates happen consistently. And if you rely on your institutional research or assessment office for annual data pulls, add that request to your calendar as well. Survey windows, site visits, and observation dates can all be planned in advance, reducing last‑minute scrambling later in the year.

Reorient Staff to Data Procedures and Expectations

The start of school is also a perfect time to reintroduce staff to data‑collection procedures and expectations. Many school‑day staff aren’t immersed in the day‑to‑day world of grants, so a quick refresher on what data are needed, how they should be documented or shared, and why they matter can go a long way. This is also an opportunity to close the feedback loop by sharing examples of reports or summaries that use the data they helped collect. When staff see how their efforts support reporting and storytelling, it strengthens buy‑in and builds shared purpose. Reintroducing resource locations, implementation expectations, and available supports at the beginning of the year helps everyone start from the same foundation.

The start of the school year is also a great time to connect with your evaluator to ensure your evaluation plan is aligned with your goals for the year. At Shaffer Evaluation Group, we can help you revisit your evaluation plan, make adjustments, and identify additional ways to analyze data that provide just‑in‑time insights to support implementation. This is also an ideal time to discuss strategies for increasing response rates, strengthening data quality, and streamlining data‑collection processes so they fit naturally into your school‑year rhythm. 

With a little intentional planning, and the right evaluation support, data collection becomes a seamless part of your work, strengthening reporting, improving implementation, and helping you start the year with confidence.

Beyond the Numbers: Storytelling's Place in Holistic Evaluation

When most people think about evaluation, they think about numbers. Evaluators track performance indicators, compare benchmarks, and analyze changes over time. We measure outcomes, calculate percentages of improvement, and assess whether programs are meeting their goals. These metrics are important, but they rarely tell the whole story.

Complex programs, especially those in education, the arts, community development, and other human-centered fields, require a broader lens. Program outcomes are rarely straightforward. They unfold across multiple levels and often extend far beyond what can be captured through assessments, surveys, or Likert-scale data alone. To understand the full scope of a program's impact, evaluators must engage in ongoing conversation with project teams, stakeholders, and participants. A holistic evaluation requires more than measuring change. It requires understanding the experiences, relationships, and contexts that shape that change.

This is where storytelling becomes an important part of the evaluation process.

Storytelling as Evidence

Every participant enters a program with a unique set of experiences, goals, perspectives, strengths, and challenges. Those differences shape how individuals engage with a program and how they experience its benefits. At the same time, implementation is influenced by changing circumstances, organizational priorities, community needs, and countless other factors that cannot always be reduced to a number.

As evaluators, our responsibility is not only to determine whether a program worked, but also to understand how it worked, for whom it worked, and under what conditions. Quantitative data can tell us that change occurred. Stories help us understand why.

Consider a student who persists through a difficult semester because a success coach helped them navigate financial aid, connect with campus resources, and build confidence in their academic abilities. The student's persistence may appear in retention data, but the pathway that led to that outcome remains largely invisible without qualitative inquiry. Interviews, observations, focus groups, and participant reflections provide critical context for understanding how and why outcomes occur.

Stories do not simply add color to evaluation findings. They provide evidence about participant experiences, implementation processes, and program impacts that may otherwise go unnoticed. They help evaluators understand both individual experiences and broader patterns across a project.

At Shaffer Evaluation Group, we have increasingly incorporated storytelling into our work as we evaluate complex and multifaceted initiatives. One current national arts program, for example, defines success in ways that are highly individualized and difficult to quantify through traditional measures alone. To capture the full scope of the program's impact, we are drawing upon observations, interviews, participant testimony, images, and narrative accounts alongside more traditional data sources. Together, these methods help create a richer picture of outcomes that range from personal growth and artistic exploration to community engagement and nationwide network-building.

Humanizing Data

Storytelling also plays an important role in how evaluation findings are shared and used.

Program leaders, funders, and community stakeholders often rely on evaluation results to make important decisions. While charts, dashboards, and summary statistics are valuable tools, stories can make findings more accessible and meaningful.

A participant quote can bring a trend to life. A narrative describing implementation challenges can provide context for unexpected outcomes. Stories help stakeholders connect data to lived experiences and understand the significance behind the numbers.

This does not mean replacing evidence with anecdotes. Rather, it means recognizing that meaningful evidence can take many forms. When quantitative and qualitative findings are considered together, they provide a more complete understanding of a program's effectiveness and impact.

Program success is, in many ways, deeply human. Behind every outcome is a collection of experiences, relationships, decisions, and circumstances that influence how change occurs. By integrating storytelling into evaluation practice, evaluators can illuminate pathways of change, elevate participant voices, and capture impacts that might otherwise remain unseen. The result is an evaluation that not only measures outcomes but also helps tell the full story behind them.

If your institution is preparing to implement a nuanced, human-centered project and are looking for an evaluation partner to understand and capture complex impacts, please reach out to us at seg@shafferevaluation.com.