2012-2015 Core Committee Self-Nomination Statements

Name: De Gallow
Title: Director, Teaching, Learning & Technology Center (TLTC)
Institution: University of California, Irvine

I have been involved in faculty and TA development since 1980, first as a graduate student mentor teacher, then in various roles during my professional career. I have been the director of the TLTC since 1996.

For the last three years, I have served on the Professional and Graduate & Professional Student Development Committees. In 2008, I stepped in as a CORE member when a member had to step down. My tenure was therefore short, and I would like another opportunity to serve. I would work to develop more POD member resources and to promote more opportunities for sustained professional development, without necessarily increasing the cost to participants.

Last year, I was charged with creating a searchable database of graduate student-related POD sessions. When looking through the draft of this year's conference workshops, I noted that the session descriptions often indicated sub-topics not necessarily reflected by the title or by the main theme by which the author identified the session. For example, a session that might have been principally identified as a STEM session, but the actual description also revealed that it was focused primarily on TAs teaching STEM courses. If participants wanted to attend sessions relating to adjuncts, they wouldn't know about this session without reading the entire description. I decided to create a more granular searchable database of all of the conference workshops by sub-themes to be posted to WikiPODia. The database allowed for cross-listing of workshops, as well. I am currently working with next year's various conference committees to add more links so that members can click on the title to see the full description without having to hunt for it.

The POD webpage needs to be re-vamped to serve as a one-stop site for many resources. For example, many centers currently offer online training modules on given topics that could have links on the POD webpage. Links to proprietary sites could also be included. There could be a list of topic experts, as well; while POD would not necessarily endorse anyone, members could self-nominate, include their CV, and contacts to references. The site could include sample course evaluations, center assessment tools, and knowledge-based survey forms.

Additionally, the site could include the kind of information that many of us are asked to gather when we are making cases for funding, promotions, or are considering changing a current organizational structure - specifically, more specific information about other centers. Each listing could include the type and size of the institution, number of staff, reporting relationships, organizational structure, etc. Each profile could be part of a database that can be updated by its designated author. Much of this information is currently available in the results of the membership survey; however, a call could go out to center directors to complete an online form with specific information about their centers, including a brief description.

The above tool is useful for finding a loosely-related set of topics, but those topics don't necessarily provide a coherent or comprehensive overview of a subject. For that, you can pay to attend a POD pre-conference workshop and/or attend other organizations' workshops or institutes. These alternatives, however, require the cost of the session, funds for travel, accommodations and food. To provide more resources at lower cost, POD could possibly change the conference format to include "mini-institutes." These would be more than a pre-conference workshop, and be offered during the main conference, but without incurring an additional cost. For example, a call might go out for proposals relating to a specific topic (i.e., transitioning from being an instructional development-focused center to becoming an institutional change agent and leader), along with suggested sub-topics (i.e., reasons to make the transition; how to make the transition; programming; and creating collaborations with other campus units, other). Participants could then take as many or as few sessions as they choose. POD might also suggest a curriculum that could lead to a achieving a certificate.

As a CORE member, I would be able to refine and develop these and other ideas with the help of a dedicated group of colleagues with whom I could meet on a regular basis; the ideas would benefit from being nurtured by those who have a thorough knowledge of what is currently happening and what is about to happen vis-à-vis POD and its members.