Observations on Week 1 - Prep for the semester

Couple observations from last week as everyone was trying to both get their heads back into work and get a lot of work done in prep for classes starting yesterday. It looks like we had 19 courses to get ready, and an additional 5 were delayed to May. I'll post new registration stats the end of the add / drop period, so we'll see if numbers continue to increase.

What do you suppose is the most important aspect of the team based approach to the course development projects?

From what I saw last week, I think it is often / usually communication that will make or break a project. Not surprising, for sure. When things work well within a project, the communication among all stakeholders has been sufficient, relevant, inclusive, and timely. When things go off the rails, how much of it can be attributed to a lack of communication?

So I'll leave you with a couple questions to think about:

• How well did you communicate with your team on the projects you worked on? Could your communication have been more timely? Clearer?
  
• Were the necessary team members included in the communication (either digitally or f2f) at the appropriate times?
• Was the right mode of communication used (digital, f2f, Skype, phone . . .)
  
• Did you meet f2f often enough - but not too much?
• Did you have the information you needed?
  
• Perhaps most important of all, in what ways can you improve your communication as you continue to work on team -based projects?
• In what ways can you be proactive to ensure clear communication happens on your projects?

Overall, I saw teams working very well together - with a real sense of urgency to get quality materials ready for students. There were a few stressful moments leading up to the break, and they rose to the surface again last week, but for the most part things went quite smoothly.

Thanks to all of you for making this happen. It makes a significant difference to students and to instructors.

SME / Course Writer for ICP154: Assessment and Evaluation

We are also looking for a SME / Course writer to develop and possibly teach ICP154: Assessment and Evaluation for blended delivery in May. The ad is up on the LC Careers website: http://www.lethbridgecollege.ca/human-resource-services/career-opportunities

Please pass this on as well to people in your networks who are qualified and interested. Thank you!

Jason Fried on Why We Can't Get Work Done at Work

Jackie found this Ted Talk - worth listening to. One of the interesting ideas Jason Fried presents in the conclusion is to have "no talk Thursday afternoons" where noone can talk to each other - so they can get more work done. He has some other interesting ideas as well (such as using more passive (asynchronous) methods of communication as well. Not sure I agree with all his ideas, but they likely could work in some situations. Enjoy!

EET Updates - January 3, 2012

Welcome back everyone. Hopefully you all had a good break and are ready for another busy semester start-up. Here are a few updates

Staffing

• Candace Lewko joined us full-time today as a Curriculum Consultant. If you haven't met Candace yet, please stop by her work station in TE3215 and introduce yourself.
• We have extended the closing date for the Manager of Instructional Technology competition until a suitable candidate is found. Here's a link to the position description that is on the LC website. Please pass it on if you know of anyone who is both qualified and would be a good fit within EET.
• We are also in the process of hiring a part time Formatter. This position will be posted this week (AUPE requirement), but we have strong applications in for it already.
• The position description for the Course Development Assistant position will also be posted this week with an anticipated February 1 start date.

We will be short staffed for some time in January as we fill these positions. I'll be covering some of Chris's projects temporarily, while others may be either delegated to someone else in EET or delayed slightly. Watch for more info on this one.

Projects

We have a couple new projects starting this month and the push is on to complete others:

• The purpose of the Southern Alberta Rural Village project is to develop and enhance teacher expertise in Career and Technology Studies (CTS). It is a collaborative project with Kainai High School, Red Crow College, and the University of Lethbridge. We will be involved with several components, including the development an delivery of a blended training program for potential trades teachers. Asynchronous and synchronous digital course components; face-to-face teacher training and student workshops.
• We will be working with instructors in the Business Admin program to develop instructor resource guides for several accounting courses. This material is being prepared for another post-secondary institution. These will need to be finished in June so the start date will be soon.
• We have a final push to complete the English for Nursing courses. This includes four that we developed (Reading, Writing, Listening, and Speaking) along with two that NorQuest College developed (Intercultural Communication and Medical Terminology). This complete project (including all finances and reporting requirements) must be completed by February 28.
• We are continuing to work on the Orientation to Teaching at Lethbridge College. This project requires stakeholders from HR, the Faculty Association, EET staff, and instructors so it is taking some time to get this one off the ground.
• We'll be presenting an update to the Senior Academic Team (SAT) on the DL Strategy implementation sometime before the end of February, so we're busy gathering information and developing a presentation
• We'll be supporting a project in Trades (digital learning objects and instructor support), but this has been delayed until March (approx).
  

Curriculum

• Sue and the Curriculum Consultants are working on a variety of initiatives including the implementation of College Wide Outcomes, revisions to the new course outline template, and gathering feedback on Academic Council processes and forms. This is in addition to their regular work involving curriculum reviews, advisory committee meetings, PLA, etc.
  

Professional Development

• Each semester it seems more EET staff are becoming involved in a wider variety of PD activities. We're encouraging the Chairs to request PD specific to each of their areas, and we'll respond with the most appropriate format, time, location, and facilitators. We'll be planning activities for Reaching Week in the next couple of weeks as well.

That's all for now . . . more posts as I think of things this week.