Program Evaluation Network: A National Leader for Accountability

Introduction:

The Program Evaluation Network (PEN) is a relational database for the creation of semi-custom questionnaires. Questionnaires collect participants’ responses to provide an important tool for measuring the value of a given program. The online software is custom-built to be user-friendly and fully-automated. One-click produces summated reports across programs or locations to drive program improvement decisions or impact reporting.

The purpose of this tip sheet is to highlight 10 facts about this software that contribute to its position as a leading tool for Extension accountability.

1. Makes Survey Construction Easy

Users simply select the topics they would like to measure and type a name for their survey. PEN automatically formats the survey with the institutional logo for that specific user, Civil Rights statement, question numbering, scale, etc.

2. Fast and Easy Reports

PEN reports include individual, unit, state, and multi-state. PEN reports show number of responses, question means, scale means, number of participants surveyed, and number of participants served.

3. PEN in Tennessee

PEN is a tremendous success in Tennessee. Since 2008, Extension agents administered, collected and reported questionnaires from 237,354 individuals, a sample of the 900,586 individuals served in various Extension programs. This data has been used to improve programs, contribute to performance appraisal decisions and report program impacts to stakeholders.

4. PEN Subscribers

PEN was built to accommodate institutional subscriptions. The following institutions have subscribed to PEN: Alcorn State University, Virginia Tech, University of Maine, Michigan State University, and University of Florida.

5. Affordable

The current PEN commercial license is a one-time fee of $8,000 for land-grant institutions plus an annual subscription. For all other institutions, the PEN commercial license is a onetime fee of $10,000 plus an annual subscription.

The PEN annual subscription fees are:

$1,000 for up to 100 users
$2,000 for 101 – 200 users
$3,000 for 201 – 300 users
$4,000 for 301 – 400 users

Institutions only need a PEN license and an Internet connection; no hardware investments are needed.

6. Easy to Find

For UT and TSU users, PEN is a sub-menu of SUPER Delivery. Out-of-state users point their browsers to <pen.tennessee.edu>.

7. Helpful User’s Guide

The PEN User’s Guide (W241) shows how to use the software and use evaluative data for effective impact statements (Figure A). The user guide is available from the PEN main page and from https://utextension.tennessee.edu/Documents/W241.pdf

8. Friends with SUPER

PEN data moves into SUPER with the click of a button, specifically the Delivery module’s “Import from PEN” link (Figure B).

9. Accommodates Numeric Data (New for 2013!)

One new feature is the ability to capture numeric data in addition to scaled data.

Examples of numeric data questions may include:

1) If you renovated your pasture with clover, how many acres? _____ acres

2) If you lost weight as a result of this program, how many pounds? _____ lbs.

3) How much money did you save over the past month? $_____.__

PEN reports will provide both a sum and a mean of numeric responses.

10. Expanded Web Presence (New for 2013!)

PEN will soon debut a redesigned web presence. The new site will remain at http://pen.tennessee.edu. Content has been added to:

1) Highlight subscribers

2) Describe plans and pricing

3) Showcase “how it works”

4) Provide timely announcements