ETUG 2014-15 Year in Review
This post contributed by kele fleming (UBC CTLT, SCETUG Chair) and Emily Schudel (Camosun, SCETUG Vice Chair)
We say it every year…But, what a year for our ETUG community! The biggest and best highlight this past year was the ETUG Top 5 community survey sent out to the ETUG community in Dec 2014. SCETUG wanted to hear more from our community, so one of our working groups that formed at the annual SCETUG Planning Day put together a community survey asking members to share their top 5 key educational issues and trends. The survey was pivotal this past year as it set the course ahead for ETUG activities and gave SCETUG a good sense of the top-of-mind concerns for membership.
And, in keeping with the spirit of the High 5 Survey, here are our top 5 ETUG happenings of the past year:
2014 SCETUG Planning Day
Your Steering Committee (SCETUG) meets annually in the Fall to set ETUG’s direction for the year. This past year SCETUG re-emphasized these key goals:
- increase community engagement;
- reach out to new members;
- build on the number and reach of professional development opportunities for members outside of the two annual workshops.
On November 12th, your SCETUG members put their heads together for a day and came up with the structure and process for our first UnConference Workshop, drafted the Top 5 Survey, and planned a series of activities and engagements for the next year (ETUG News, T.E.L.L. sessions, member profiles and institutional reports).
ETUG Workshops
Our Fall 2014 Workshop was held at BCIT (downtown Vancouver) and featured our first UnConference Workshop. A “Call for Pitches” instead of a call for proposals was put out to the community. It was a great day that featured a pitchfest in the morning session and break-out sessions in the afternoon. Our first foray into unconferencing was so successful that we’ll be returning to this format for our Fall 2015 Workshop.
Our Spring 2015 Workshop was held June 4th and 5th at SFU’s Burnaby Campus. The workshop, titled ETUG High 5: Survey Says!, featured two keynotes (http://etug-archive.bccampus.ca//2015/05/19/spring-workshop-2015-keynote-and-facilitators/).
Dr. Simon Bates from the University of British Columbia’s Center for Teaching, Learning, and Technology, kicked off the workshop with “The Anatomy of a 21st Century Educator”. Dr. Bates asked us to consider what it means to be a 21st century educator and touched on many of the top 5 issues identified by the community in his talk.
Paul Hibbits of Hibbits Design and Simon Fraser University closed out the workshop with an exploration of learning ecologies and utilized a development process where learning and technology are complementary partners. ETUG’s membership provided a rich and engaging program that honoured our edtech roots and welcomed innovative futures. And, of course, what’s an ETUG Workshop without a game! Some of our creative SCETUG members led a Family Feud survey game at the banquet and tons of fun was had by all! You can see resources and a summary post of our Spring workshop here.
T.E.L.L. Sessions
We continued with our monthly roster of T.E.L.L sessions focusing on a diversity of topics and 
facilitated by a number of ETUG members: agile design with Tony Bates, a look at a modern flat-file LMS, cost effective web conferencing with Microsoft Lync, accessibility and open textbooks, flexing undergraduate education. Some SCETUGgers also played the role of reporter and provided blog summaries to share out our learning from the lunch and learn sessions. The T.E.L.L. sessions are a great way to find out what edtech experiments are taking place at your sister institutions in the province.
ETUG News
The ETUG News captured stories of innovation from our members all year long! The news is delivered to members’ email inboxes monthly using an online newsletter tool. It features a monthly ETUG member profile, a listing of upcoming professional development opportunities and newsy items such as workshop updates, Call for Proposal announcements, and job postings. We currently have close to 500 subscribers to The ETUG News!
Membership
Of special note this year at both workshops, was the significant number of new members, including faculty, which is a clear indication of the continuing vibrancy and healthy growth of the ETUG community.
This month SCETUG also said farewell to a few committee members and welcomed many new faces.
SCETUG member, Gina Bennett, CoTR, a long time leader and contributor to the ETUG was honoured at the Spring Workshop for outstanding work for our community for over a decade! She was inducted as a SCETUG Member Emeritus for her vision and dedication to ETUG.
We also thanked SCETUGgers Sarah Bowers, Langara, John Born, SFU, David Try, NWCC, and Brent McIntosh, NIC, who are all taking on very exciting work at their respective institutions, but stepping down from the committee. We wish them the best of luck and look forward to catching up with them at future ETUG events.
With space for more on SCETUG this year, we are delighted to have these great ETUGgers join us: Hope Miller, Douglas College, Michael Brandt, NWCC, Byron Crossley, UVic, and Dale Davies, KPU. Last but not least, Bryan Fair, BCIT, is returning to the committee; He brings a wealth of experience and knowledge of the ed tech community and boundless creativity. Looks like we are well positioned for another wonderful year of ETUG.
So, stand up and take a bow ETUG community for yet another engaging and dynamic year. And, SCETUG, please take a virtual bow for all of your hard work and creative thinking!
Upcoming: ETUG Fall Workshop 2015
Please join us for ETUG’s Fall Workshop 2015 on Thursday November 6th at VCC’s Downtown campus. You can find out more by going to our Fall 2015 Workshop Registration page (the Fall Call For Proposals will be available soon). We also welcome feedback and ideas for ETUG directions for the coming year in advance of our next SCETUG Planning Day (scheduled for Wednesday November 5th – the day prior to the Fall Workshop). Please get in touch with your local ETUG Rep or send ideas directly to leva.lee@bccampus.ca.