As you may have noticed in some of my recent emails and blog posts, I have been referring to IDT as IDT-TESOL. That's because, shortly before the start of the semester, some restructuring occurred at Emporia State University. The TESOL program (Teaching of English to Speakers of Other Languages) moved from the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences (Department of English, Modern Languages, and Journalism) to The Teachers College and into our Department of Instructional Design and Technology. Why, you may ask? Here's why:
- The Teachers College is a better match for the TESOL undergraduate/graduate licensure program and the MA in TESOL program.
- The TESOL programs are offered entirely online - and well, that's one of the things we do best in IDT, right?
- The TESOL wanted join ESU's most productive, most dedicated, most award-winning, smartest, coolest, most-talented and best-looking faculty, students, and alumni (o.k., maybe I exaggerated a bit on this one).
We are proud welcome the two outstanding (and I DO mean outstanding, just check-out their biographies) TESOL faculty members -
Dr. Salim Sehlaoui
Dr. Manjula Shinge
(Note that we haven't even had a chance to move their web pages from the EMLJ department, yet).
Is there a name change in the future for IDT? IDT-TESOL? That hasn't been determined, yet. So, stay tuned.
One thing's for sure, though. IDT just got even BETTER with the addition of TESOL!
Out with the old Ning!
Based upon the results and comments from last spring, we will be transitioning away from using our IDT Ning site to Ning, the social media manger (more on the second Ning, later). Although we have over 500 students and alumni in our ESU IDT Ning
community, we found that for the vast majority, Ning is not part of their social media routine. Also, over the years, Ning has moved to a subscription
(pay) service and we are now paying over $200 per year for our seldom-used Ning site.
In the coming weeks, I encourage you to LIKE our IDT Facebook page (if you are a Facebook user), or join our more exclusive LinkedIn group (if you are a LinkedIn user), or better yet, join both! And definitely begin following this IDT blog. We are also investigating the creation of an ESU IDT Google+ presence. We will certainly continue the use of our IDT Student email list (idtatesu@list.emporia.edu) and our IDT Alumni email list (idtalum@list.emporia.edu).
An overview of ways to stay in touch with ESU IDT:
In with the new Ning!
ESU IDT has a Social Media Manager this year; Ning Liu. Ms. Liu is a
graduate student in our ESU IDT master of science program. She will be
directing the management of our many IDT social media outlets and
marketing efforts. A short introduction from our new Ning:
Hi there, My name is Ning (Lenny)
Liu, a Chinese girl who has been in ESU for four years already. I have
got my MA in English this May, and this is my first semester in ESU IDT.
I will work as a Social Media Manager. It is really an honor to work
with IDT faculty, students, and alumni together. And it is a great opportunity to
learn new things and meet new people. I am ready to welcome the brand
new school year. Are you ready?
We will be trying some new things this year with our social media and blog, like guest bloggers! Contact Ning, if you would be interested in contributing to your IDT blog and other outlets!
nliu@g.emporia.edu
Emporia State University Instructional Design and Technology alumnus Ken Morrison (MS, 2008) received a global award from Apple Computer when he was inducted to the 2013 global class of Apple Distinguished Educators (ADEs). Morrison was one of 15 educators in Asia, Australia and New Zealand to be chosen by Apple for the ADE Showcase presentation at the 2013 Apple Education Summit in Bali, Indonesia.
Ken was also named as the official facilitator of Apple’s “@pple Meetup” Korea group for the 2013-2014 school year. The group of educators gathers monthly at Apple’s Korea headquarters in Seoul to discuss the newest trends and ideas of integrating technology effectively in the classroom.
Morrison is beginning his 8th semester as a professor at Hannam University’s Linton Global College in Daejeon, South Korea. He teaches New Media Technology and Internet Media Production.
Ken curates a popular web site - “An Eye on New Media” http://www.scoop.it/t/new-media-technology
An explanation of the ADE program -
http://www.apple.com/education/apple-distinguished-educator/
Are you looking for an opportunity to show-off your skills and knowledge at a conference full of library/media specialists….and a handful of education technology folks?
KAECT is accepting conference proposals for the annual KAECT, KSL, KASL Tri-Conference to be held October 9-11, 2013 in Topeka at the Convention Center.
DEADLINE - August 15th (extended from July)
Go to http://kaect.org/?page_id=142 for more information and for the link to the online submission system.
This would be a fun, non-threatening environment for graduate students (and brave undergraduate students). Don't fee like going solo? Ask your fellow students, alumni, co-workers, or faculty members/instructors to join in as co-presenters.
We just LOVE presenting WITH our students!!!
But hurry! The deadline is approaching quickly. Hey, what else worthwhile did you have planned to do this weekend? Yeah, that's what I thought! Get to work!
Strategic Design: Mission, Vision, and Thinking about Our Future
As
I mentioned in last month's AECT President's Blog, we had a productive
time at our leadership conference, working on a draft of our AECT
Strategic Plan. I have asked AECT leaders to gather feedback from
divisions, affiliates, and committees and I anticipate lots of input.
In addition, the planning committee wanted to give AECT members another
channel for feedback on the strategic plan. So that everyone's voice can
be heard, we have organized a series of Town Hall Meetings on strategic
planning and more specifically addressing each of the 3 outcomes
identified in the draft.
Town Hall Meeting
Dates/Times (all times Eastern):
Outcome 1: Wednesday, August 14, 3 p.m.
Outcome 1: Monday, August 19, 11 a.m.
Outcome 2: Wednesday, August 21, 3 p.m.
Outcome 2: Thursday, August 22, 4 p.m.
Outcome 3: Wednesday, August 28, 3 p.m.
Outcome 3: Friday, August 30, 11 a.m.
We will use AECT's conference call number for the town hall meetings (download dial-in instructions below).
Going
into our upcoming town hall meetings on strategic planning, we want you
to know some foundational information about our new mission, vision,
and the value of the strategic planning process. It will help prepare
you for those conversations.
Mission and Vision
Mission
statements and vision statements are the inspiring words your leaders
have chosen to clearly and concisely convey the direction of our
organization. By crafting a clear mission statement and vision
statement, we can powerfully communicate our intentions and motivate our
members to realize an attractive and inspiring common vision of the
future.
"Mission
Statements" and "Vision Statements" do two distinctly different jobs.
For a nonprofit organization, a mission statement is the most important
planning document a group could construct. A well-crafted mission
statement helps the organizers, patrons, donors, employees, and
volunteers know exactly what the nonprofit does, who it works to help,
why it exists, and how it goes about doing work. A mission statement
defines the organization's purpose and primary objectives. In essence it
is WHAT we do and HOW we do it.
The vision statement
communicates both the purpose and values of the organization. For board
and staff, it inspires them to give their best. Shared with others, it
shapes the community's understanding of why they should work with the
organization. The vision statement is a snapshot or summary of what the
organization's end goal or final product should be and should be a
clear, motivating message about what our organization wants the future
to look like. In essence it is WHY we do WHAT we do.
AECT Values Strategic Thinking
AECT
has embarked upon strategic planning because we value strategic
thinking. Group strategic thinking creates value by enabling a proactive
and creative dialogue, where individuals gain other people's
perspectives on critical and complex issues.
From a big picture point of view, we want you to be aware of a few of the value and benefits of strategic thinking:
The value of strategic thinking:
1. enables us to stay at the front or leading edge of change
2. optimizes the ability to shape and leverage change to our advantage
3. eliminates complacency
4. creates a sense of unity for our organization
5. facilitates proactive leadership
The benefits of strategic thinking:
1. improves guidance on actions to achieve our vision and mission
2. acts as an early detection system to warn of changes
3. identifies our allies
4. eliminates reactive decision-making
5. agility and capacity to respond positively to change
From a practical perspective,
your review of the strategic plan will help you see how it can bring us
more funding and financial security; put our staff to their highest and
best use; get our board, staff, and members both excited about the big
picture and committed to their role in making it happen; and, most
importantly, ensures we create change.
A strategic plan should
not be solely an incremental list of current activities, but it needs to
have new ideas. We want to do more than just maintain the status quo.
Thus, think new ideas, explore them, and align them with the purpose of
the organization.
Here are the questions you can think about to prepare.
1. What are the trends in our field?
2. Given the trends, what are some new ideas we should be addressing?
3.
Given the trends, what products or services should we change or
eliminate and what new products or services should we consider?
4. If
we take action on any specific idea, what will be the impact (both
positive and negative) for taking action? What if no action is taken?
Any impact?
5. What beliefs and assumptions underlie our ability to make our vision come true?
6. Are our mission and vision aligned with the answers to these questions?
Why Are We Involving You? A Successful Implementation…
When
key stakeholders are invited to a creative thinking step, it engages
and energizes all participants. This is where new ideas are generated,
where innovative possibilities are visualized, and where the stage is
set for implementation success. The more stakeholders are involved in
the thinking and exploration, the more emotional and intellectual energy
they have invested, the higher the probability that implementation will
occur successfully.
While many organizations let their strategic
plans gather dust on the shelves (and many of you have probably
experienced this), we want to ensure you that we have been thinking
about implementation. Here are some of our cursory plans for
implementation:
• Infuse organizational "working life” with the
strategic goals—incorporate into staff work plans, board committee, and
meeting agendas, etc.
• Align board structure (committees, task groups, etc.) with plan goals.
• Share plan highlights on web site.
•
Delegate action steps and accountability at smaller "unit” level—e.g.,
task groups from board, staff, and other volunteers.
• Use goals
as our "anchor” to ensure ongoing ownership, buy-in (When we get stuck,
ask "Is what we’re doing furthering our goals?”).
• Let strategies drive the resources rather than the other way around.
We
want to be a highly successful organization. Highly successful
organizations report that strategic planning has a high impact on
overall organizational success. We are asking you to join us at our
upcoming town hall meetings to provide you with the opportunity to offer
your perspective. Help us succeed by becoming involved in our strategic
planning!
*Download the Strategic Plan Draft
*Download Dial-in Instructions/Passcode
*Note
that you will need to log into our AECT portal with your AECT
credentials to download the strategic plan file and dial-in
instructions. (And while you are logged in, feel free to update your
profile!)
AECT Strategic Planning Committee
Committee Chair: Rob Branch
Committee Members: Marc Childress, Steve Harmon, Phil Harris, Trey Martindale, Kay Persichitte
Facilitator: Michael Shermis
