Highlights from the Stewardship Committee Planning Day 2016
This year the Stewardship Committee for ETUG (SCETUG) gathered at BCIT Downtown Vancouver for our annual planning meeting just ahead of the Fall 2016 Workshop. It was a full and productive day with all 12 members in attendance representing 11 institutions across the province. We welcomed a few new members this year, as they bring fresh perspectives and brand-new experiences to the group. Our committee is very committed to bringing quality professional development and networking opportunities to our membership. So, our day was filled with thinking about setting our direction and programming our main activities for the upcoming year and brainstorming new ideas.
Here are a few highlights from our 2016 Planning Day…
Using a Spidergram activity this year, we reviewed and discussed which community orientations are important to us and our membership. How well are we addressing them? Do we need to add new activities? If so, what kinds of activities? What will be our priorities for this year?
Spidergram activity [Wenger, E., White, N., & Smith, J. D. (2009). Digital habitats: stewarding technology for communities. Portland, OR: CPsquare.]
The priorities that emerged were:
*access to expertise
*relationships and networking
*community cultivation
In particular, we will be working on our new partnership with BCTLC toward increasing awareness of ETUG in Centres for Teaching and Learning across the province. We will also be providing increased opportunities for our institutional representatives to be more active in their roles and provide them with resources to promote The EdTech Users Group in their institutions. If your institution does not have a rep or if you do not know who your rep. is, please contact us for information.
We will also focus on community cultivation including member outreach and engagement. This is reinforced by our membership who voted in our ‘Dotmocracy’ activity at the ETUG event on the day following our planning day.
Communications Channels
Our stewards continue to foster communications with the ETUG community via etug-archive.bccampus.ca/, the monthly newsletter, use of our Twitter account and email. This year, the Stewardship Committee began experimenting with SLACK for project communications. You can look forward to seeing and hearing much more from us in 2017!
T.E.L.L. Sessions (Tuesdays with ETUG Lunch and Learn)
Outside of the two annual workshops, we offer professional development opportunities via our T.E.L.L. Sessions. These online lunch and learns provide both professional development participation and presentation opportunities from across the province.
T.E.L.L. sessions will continue monthly into 2017, so be sure to check in to attend a session or if you have an idea for a session you would like to present, please drop us a note to [see etug.ca for contact info]/
Workshops
Planning is underway for our Spring workshop that will be held June 1 & 2 in partnership with the UBC Okanagan’s Centre for Teaching and Learning in the beautiful sunny Okanagan at UBC Okanagan campus. Be sure to watch for our Call for Proposals in January and registration information in the new year!