Red Deer College is visiting on Monday!

Two staff members from Red Deer College are visiting us on Monday for the morning and into the afternoon.   They are interested in finding out more about how we have implemented our DL Strategy and about the the processes we have in place for supporting online learning (including development, delivery, PD, etc.)   They are also interested in our organizational structure in EET.

So we'll be touring around and introducing everyone.

And so . .  this is a good opportunity for some spring cleaning in all work spaces.  Please take a few minutes before the end of the day on Friday to make sure your work spaces are tidy.   

EET Meeting next Wednesday, June 6

It's been a while since we've had an EET meeting, so we're planning one for next Wednesday, June 6 from 9 to 11 in AN 1744.    Here are a couple things we'll be doing (and I'll send a more specific agenda next week).

• Spend some time planning for our annual performance reviews;  these need to be completed by the end of June (or early in July), so we'll talk about plans for making this happen in June.   This is mostly around reflecting on what our personal successes and challenges have been over the past year, and then using them to inform our goal setting for next year.   We'll look at the some examples of specific goals.

• We're going to spend at least an hour working on your "unit" plans (past, present, and future).   You'll be working in your specific teams (i.e AV, media, curriculum, ID, etc.) to discuss and document highlights from the past year, challenges / issues, and then set department goals for 12/13.    I'll compile this information to share with all of your and with Karen O'Dwyer.

To prep for this time, it would be good if all of you would think about this past year on both a personal professional level and a unit and department level. These questions may provide some guidance . . .

• Where do we see EET in one year, two years, five years?

• How can your unit contribute to reaching this vision? 

• How can you and your unit contribute to the broader team?

We've been guided by the DL Strategy implementation for the last two years, and we have one more year left in this implementation.  So it's timely that we start looking a little further into the future again.    Lots to think about for sure . . .

Staffing Update for May 15

Lots going on these days, for sure. Couple more weeks and then hopefully we'll have some time to breathe and catch up. In the meantime, here are a couple staffing updates for you:

1. Jamie has accepted a media position with Alberta Health Services, so his last day is this Friday, May 18. Jamie has contributed a lot to the media team, to EET, and to a variety of instructors and projects over the time he has been here. Most recently it was working with the Refresh Video team to produce another outstanding video. Everyone - watch for more info about a send off for Jamie on Thursday afternoon! FYI, we will not be filling this position at this time.

2. Diana will also be transitioning out of EET over the summer. Stacey has come back to help out with the Practical Nursing courses, so they will be working together to ensure this is a smooth transition. Diana will be finishing off the CJ and COR courses through the summer so she'll be around for a while and then she will continue to grow her very own consulting business. Diana has also contributed a lot in the time she's been with us. Recently she's been very busy juggling projects for the School of Justice Studies with work on Practical Nursing.

3. Debbie in in the process of transitioning back to teaching full-time in the Centre for Health, Justice, and Human Services, so we'll plan a send-off for Debbie as well a little later this spring. It will be a challenge to find someone to replace Debbie because of her broad knowledge of College programs and processes along with her experience doing curriculum reviews and PD related initiatives.

4. We've been piloting an "Innovative Media Project Lead" position since January within the media specialist team. Tyler will continue in this position into 12/13, and we are currently making the final changes to the position description. I'll be sending it off to HR this week, and when it's final Ill send it out to all of you. This position will be working closely with Andy, our Ed Tech manager to ensure we are keeping up with innovations in teaching and learning.

5. We'll be posting within the next week or two for several replacement / new positions within EET. This includes a curriculum consultant, a PD consultant, a Flexible Learning Coordinator, and one additional instructional designer ( to fill in for Diana as she transitions out). I'll send more info on these positions as they become available.

6. And Andy's official start date in June 25. It was great to have Andy on campus for a few days in May, and it will be even better to have him here full time :)

That's all for now. I'll let you know when the positions are posted. If you have any questions, please let me know.

Lightbulb goes to Donna . . . .

Lorne has passed the light bulb award to Donna for all the stuff she has done recently.  This includes plenty of behind the scenes work for the Refresh conference and many little things which add up to a lot. 

For Lorne recently, she has booked rooms, set up schedules, hunted down serial numbers, purchased gift certificates (last minute), purchased hard drives, loaned ruler, got me new business cards, helped me find things, answered many questions, and probably a few things I don't even remember.

Take a minute to think about the impact your work has

It would be good for all of you in EET to take a few minutes to think about the impact that the work you do has on the instructors at the College. I was thinking about this today when I realized that again this year everyone in EET had contributed to the Refresh conference in some way. It's a great thing to contribute to this day, but think about the broader impact. I'll see if I can explain:

• The video was amazing again. Think a little broader about the impact that producing the video has on the people who "starred" in it. You are reaching out to the College community and acknowledging their skills (including acting skills :) along with showcasing the work the instructors do. They also learn a lot about the amazing staff we have and the work we do.
  

• Every presentation was on a topic relevant to teaching and learning at LC. You shared your passion and your expertise in a variety of ways with many instructors. I wonder how many ideas will be incorporated into classes in the spring or fall semester.

• Many of you supported the presentations in a variety of ways: helping build the presentations, filming the keynote, organizing food and prizes . . .
  

• The organizing committee made it happen - and did it very well. This conference brings people together into a learning community that enables discussing and sharing. This impact is very difficult to measure. That said, however, I think we all overheard instructors sharing practices and ideas. Maybe you planted a seed . . .

• Who knew we would become such good tweeters? I wonder how many instructors may use Twitter in their classes, or will engage in the Twitter conversations at the next conference they go to.

I hope you get where I'm going with this. You should all feel very proud of the work you put into today - and the ongoing work you do to support instructors. It's making a difference in ways that you quite likely will never know. So take a minute . . . . .