I've been working on clearing my desk today as I get ready to go on holidays for a couple of weeks. FYI, I'll be checking email sporadically next week (from August 3 to 6), but will not be checking at all the following week (from August 9-13). I'll be out in the ocean on a kayak searching for whales!
July has been an interesting month. It feels like it's been very productive busy. I haven't had as many meetings, so I've been able to tackle some bigger projects and spend some time thinking through and acting on a variety of things, including processes, workload assignments, meetings, and staffing. We're working towards making sure that everything is working in the best ways possible. Equally as important, though, I've had some time to think about and plan for next year. Thanks to those of you who have joined the conversations about many of these processes and changes. Your input is critical to the right changes happening!
Meetings, meetings, and more meetings! What meetings are necessary? Who needs to be at the table? How often should we meet? What is the purpose of the meeting? Who chairs / facilitates the meeting? These are the questions I've been asking about all the meetings we have in EET. There is a fine balance between too many meetings (inefficient use of time, frustrations . . .) and not enough meetings (possible decrease in communication and engagement . . .). We're planning to try some new things as we move into the fall, so watch for info on this as it evolves.
Orientations for New Staff: We're working on documenting information that will be helpful when new staff join EET. Pam has been working on materials specific to the Instructional designer and writer positions. I'm working on more general information to be included. This information will likely evolve / change forever, but we have to start somewhere.
EET Report for 2009/2010: I've been compiling a report on EET activities for the 09/10 academic year. Several of you submitted portions of this report, and this information has been very helpful. You will alll have access to the report in the next couple of weeks when it is complete.
Fire Evacuation Plans: We'll talk about this at our next EET staff meeting, but in the meantime, please take a moment to read the evacuation plans have been posted around the EET work spaces. I've heard there will be a practice fire drill sometime this fall, so everyone needs to be familiar with the process. I know that I've become almost immune to the noise around here this summer - will probably have a tendency to ignore the alarm when it goes off. Not a good thing!
Completed Projects: A variety of projects have been completed over the summer. Badlands wrapped up last week (with some kudos from Tracy Edwards!), the CUPP courses with a June completion have almost been cleared off the whiteboard in TE3213, and a variety of individual courses are nearing completion.
Juggling Workloads: Try to visualize this! You need to know how much I appreciate your willingness to help each other when deadlines are looming and workloads are heavy. We tried a different method last week with allocating a specific week to Tyler and Rebecca to work on the Wind Turbine project. This may have potential for other projects in the future, but it also has implications for how we manage our individual workloads on a daily basis. Something to think about.
Strengths Workshop: I wish we would have been able to have the planned strengths workshop earlier this summer, but too many people were away. We'll revisit this in September.
Renovations to our Building: Thanks for your patience in working through the noise and mess this summer. I know we are lucky in comparison to the first and second floors, but it's still been somewhat of an inconvenience. It'll be nice to have hot water again (kinda feels like we've been camping!) as well as better air quality. It's work the temporary inconvenience!
Tubing was lots of fun on Wednesday! Watch for other activities in August (hiking day in Waterton, lunch days . . .). This is getting quite long, so I'll add more updates as I think of them.
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