Professional and Organizational Development (POD)Network in Higher Education2002 National ConferenceHold Fast the DreamOctober 9-13, 2002 |
Call for Proposals DirectoryOverview of the POD Network and POD Conference Conference Theme and Suggested Topics and Issues Desired Qualities of the POD Conference Format and Media Options for Conference Sessions Criteria for Proposal Review and Selection Instructions for Submitting Proposals
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POD supports a network of nearly 1,200 members - faculty and teaching assistant developers, faculty, administrators, consultants, and others who perform roles that value teaching and learning in higher education. While POD members come primarily from the U.S. and Canada, the membership also represents 13 other countries. The POD Network and its members lead and support change for the improvement of higher education through faculty, instructional, and organizational development activities.
The POD Network's annual conference attracts both experienced and novice practitioners in the fields of faculty, instructional, and organizational development. The conference also appeals to administrators, faculty, teaching assistant developers, graduate students, publishers for the above audiences, and members of many higher education organizations. The "spirit of POD" is an integral part of conference planning with particular attention paid to creating a collegial and welcoming environment, respecting diversity in all its forms throughout the conference, and offering sessions and informal opportunities for dialogue that address the needs and concerns of the broad range of post-secondary institutions that POD serves.
All conference presenters are members of the POD Network. Should a proposal be accepted, all presenters and co-presenters must agree to become members of POD as a condition of acceptance.
This Call for Proposals is an invitation to share your ideas, experiences, research, and practice with colleagues who are interested in the improvement of higher education. We want to thank you in advance for contributing to the POD Network tradition of excellent conferences.
The Professional and Organizational Development Network in Higher Education fosters human development in higher education through faculty, instructional, and organizational development. POD believes that people have value, as individuals and as members of groups. POD considers the development of students a fundamental purpose of higher education that requires for its success effective advising, teaching, leadership, and management. Central to POD's philosophy is lifelong, holistic, personal, and professional learning, growth, and change for the higher education community.
There are many dreams in
higher education: the dreams of
individuals who look to higher education for a better life; the dreams of
institutions that see themselves making the future better for their students, their
faculty and staff, and the world; the dreams of nations that look to higher
education to provide the leaders and solutions for the future. We have dreams, too, as individuals, as
professionals, as a profession.
All
these dreams and how we can achieve them are the focus of the POD 2002 annual
conference. We invite you to bring
your dreams to Atlanta and share them with the rest of us. In the conference we would like to look
at the dreams of higher education, past, present, and future. Have they been achieved? Will they come true? What has contributed to their success
or failure? What should be our
dreams as a profession? What can
we do to make them come true, for ourselves, for our students, for our
institutions, for our nations, for the world? Presentations that address some aspect of the promise of
higher education to make a better life are encouraged, especially those that
offer a path for holding fast to those dreams and making them a reality.
In addition to addressing the theme and the general categories of faculty, instructional, and organizational development, this conference, as with other meetings in the past (whether by accident or design), will have several tracks that could be addressed. Efforts will be made in program scheduling (tempered by the number of proposals accepted, space availability, and audiovisual requests) to minimize competition between track sessions and to create threads of concurrent sessions that participants can follow. The following three tracks will be built into the conference and participants can submit proposals for pre-conference workshops, roundtables, posters, and concurrent sessions that address one or more of these.
Today’s graduate students will be the ones charged with carrying out the dreams and promises of the future. Are they ready? How are we helping them get ready? This POD conference will provide (contingent on the number and quality of the proposals submitted in this category) a selection of pre-conference, concurrent, and roundtable sessions for TA developers and those affiliated with national initiatives such as "Preparing Future Faculty" (PFF) or "Re-envisioning the Ph.D." TA developers, TA supervisors, ESL/TESOL instructors, PFFers, and Re-envisioning the PhDers are encouraged to develop proposals that focus on the preparation of graduate teaching assistants and future faculty, so they can take over the dreams of higher education when their time comes.
Possible topics are – What are the dreams and fears of the next generation of faculty? How does the TA experience help graduate students envision alternative futures beyond the research university environment? Can the changing vision of graduate education offer new dreams and possibilities for the future of higher education?
Could there be a more
important topic for holding fast the dream than managing organizational change?
This track is designed for faculty
developers with 8, 10 or more years of experience.
Possible topics are - leadership and organizational change; ways that faculty developers can initiate organizational change; becoming an integral part of the change process; promoting change with department chairs; cooperating with administrative units to effect systemic change; ways to effect systemic institutional impact on our individual campuses; the role of faculty development in institutional strategic planning.
Will instructional technology
help the dreams of higher education come true or be the nightmare that causes us
to lose sleep? It is obvious that
technology is leading the way for innovative instruction, but is it really ready
to hold fast to the dreams it promises?
Possible questions to address are: How will faculty roles and responsibilities be affected through distance learning and virtual universities? How might it alter the nature of faculty work? How will it change faculty development? Will it affect the programs we offer and the way we offer them? Will it change the dreams we have for the future of the profession?
While pre-conference,
roundtable, and concurrent sessions specifically addressing diversity issues are
welcomed and highly encouraged, and while a thread of diversity-related
sessions may emerge as a separate track in the conference, it is hoped and
strongly advised that the issue of diversity in whatever forms it may be
conceived be woven throughout conference sessions whether they address
instructional technology, organizational change, TA development, or any other
POD topic.
Possible topics might include: Issues such as how technology differentially affect diverse populations, how faculty developers can impact campus culture with regard to diversity, how diversity is addressed in our TA development programs, and a host of other issues could be made a part of presentations throughout the conference. The question of whether diversity is addressed in a proposal is one of the possible criteria used in proposal review.
For faculty development to grow as a profession, we need to concern ourselves with the quality and grounding of the advice we give. This means that we need to encourage research-based proposals in addition to proposals that are more descriptive in nature. Providing a theoretical construct, offering quantitative and/or qualitative evidence, and citing relevant literature are several of the criteria that reviewers can use in considering submissions. For those proposals that do have a research basis, we will again be presenting the "Robert J. Menges Honored Presentation Award." This recognition was established and first awarded at the 2000 POD conference in Vancouver. The award was established in recognition of Bob Menges, an honored scholar, whose long years of work and contributions to teaching and learning and faculty development in higher education can be characterized by his spirit of caring consultation, active participation, and rigorous research. Bob was a consummate mentor - challenging, guiding, and deeply involved. It was in his nature to share what he knew and to help others find their own wisdom. The award criteria are: 1) a session based upon sound and rigorous research in an area appropriate to the POD mission and 2) the substance of the session and the research upon which it is based need to reflect a spirit of nurturing and caring for others, the promotion of professional and personal development, and a spirit of serious scholarship in the deepest and most humane sense.
POD members who return to the national conference year after year attend to become re-energized for another year of work on their home campuses. This audience is particularly interested in "cutting-edge" development sessions, the new and different. At least one-third of the conference-goers are newcomers to faculty development and its related activities, whether through a new assignment or an addition to a present assignment. This audience is particularly interested in obtaining an overall "feel" for the field. By the end of the Call for Proposal process, POD planners should have a "snapshot" ready to share of the current state of faculty, instructional, and organizational development in the United States, Canada, and other countries around the globe.
Proposal submitters are reminded to:
Media support is expensive so, while we will certainly make every attempt to supply what you need (except for computers and live internet connections), we ask for your cooperation in being prudent in your requests. An overhead projector, screen, flip chart, easel, and pens will be present at all pre-conference and concurrent sessions (but not roundtable sessions) and need not be requested.
We cannot supply computers or live internet connections. Presenters are required to bring computers for their personal use if so needed with any electronic conference material pre-downloaded.
For roundtable sessions, we ask that you minimize your media requests given the nature of the format and the extra expense of supplying media support outside of the concurrent session rooms. The intent of roundtable sessions is dialogue versus presentation plus the proximity of tables makes projected presentations distracting. We recommend that you prepare handouts for distribution upon which you can base your discussion. We will be contacting roundtable presenters later in the conference planning process to check on whether an overhead, screen, or flip chart is required for your roundtable session.
The major session formats are listed below, with complete descriptions following. Presenters submitting a session in small groups of two, three, and four are highly encouraged (particularly across campuses or countries).
This format emphasizes learning-by-doing, although brief presentations can provide useful background and contextual information. Reflective discussions can help to apply the knowledge, skills, and/or values that are objectives for the workshop. Workshop proposals might focus on one or more of the following:
Workshop session proposals should include
Whereas demonstrations tied to technology are encouraged, the POD conference cannot accommodate any requests for computers for participants.
This year, pre-conference workshops will occur on Thursday morning and/or afternoon before the conference. (POD Core members are not to commit to these sessions as they are in work sessions during that time.)
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This format is the mainstay of the conference. A typical session format combines presentation and discussion.
This session format is not the reading of papers or the delivery of lectures, followed by a question or two. Exemplary teaching is modeled throughout these interactive sessions.
A variation of this format, which will appeal to some, allows for a demonstration session. This format is especially useful to offer some "hands-on" time for participants to try out some "innovation." The description of each proposed demonstration session should include
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This format is especially useful for topics that are newsworthy, controversial, or particularly applicable to the year's theme. The session is designed as an in-depth discussion with active engagement of colleagues who have read a book prior to the conference. The prior reading of the book is considered to be a ticket of admission to the session. The session chair, not necessarily the author, will engage all participants in the discussion. A recorder might be designated for the session to identify and summarize the main points emerging from the discussion. Chosen titles will subsequently be announced in the conference registration materials so attendees will have ample time to read the text(s). This session format is available in a 90-minute time block.
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This format is designed to engage a small group, limited to no more than 12 participants gathered around a circular table, in the discussion of a project, practice, approach, or brainstorming session on a new concept.
Presenters do not make a formal presentation, but rather can offer participants a brief (one or two-page) written summary of a project, practice, approach, or new concept. Participants are expected to exchange comments and questions about the topic selected as the focus for the roundtable. Individual presenters are assigned a numbered table in a meeting room where interested persons select a table for small-group discussion. Sometimes breakfast is available while participants are having the roundtable sessions.
An expansion of this format, which will appeal to some, allows for a consultation session. This format is especially useful to offer (and receive) advice and concrete help on a particular problem, project, or approach that is currently being faced or is probable for the future. A consultation session can be designed as (a) assistance to participants, where an "expert" offers consultation in a particular area of practice or (b) assistance to presenters, where participants (the audience) provide advice for the definition and/or solution of a particular concern that is identified in advance of the session. The description of a proposed consultation session should identify the specific topic or problem for consultation, who will be offering assistance (the presenters or the audience), and the intended outcomes of the session. The roundtable format is available in a 60-minute time block only.
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This format combines a graphic display of materials with the opportunity for individualized, informal discussion. Part of the poster display should include a brief abstract of a project, practice, or approach for discussion. Individual presenters are assigned a numbered space in a meeting room where conference participants circulate to explore topics of interest to them. The description of each proposed poster session should include the topic and target audience(s). Poster sessions are held at the same time as the Materials and Resource Fair so presenters are encouraged not to attempt to do both. This format is available in a 90-minute time block only.
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Conference participants are offered the opportunity to request space at the Materials and Resource Fair where they can display and distribute information about their institutions, programs, projects, publications, and services. Presenters can also sell publications, videos, or computer programs at their stations. Sign up for this event is not done now, but during the conference registration process by placing a check-mark on the registration form. This format is available in a 90-minute time block.
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The program committee takes seriously its charge from the Core Committee (POD's board of directors) to select the most important, relevant, and outstanding proposals to feature at the annual conference.
The following are the five primary evaluation criteria used in the review of proposals:
Proposals will be enhanced if the following additional considerations are addressed:
Please read this section carefully. It contains directions pertaining to how to prepare and submit proposals (including helpful hints); limits on the lengths of the title (10 words), abstract (100 words), and session description (500 words); and conditions that you must agree to when submitting proposals.
We invite you to submit proposals for the 27th annual conference of the Professional and Organizational Development (POD) Network in Higher Education to be held at the Crowne Plaza Ravinia Hotel in Atlanta, Georgia, from October 9 - 13, 2002. The deadline for proposal submissions is April 1, 2002.
Program submission and review will be done online. There is a link below to an online submission form. There is also a link to a word-processed version of the submission form that can be downloaded and saved, opened in a word-processing application, and/or printed out. We highly encourage you to submit your proposals online, but the word-processed document is there as a backup for those who, for some reason, must submit standard typed copies of their proposal.
We are going online for reasons of efficiency, ease, and economy. Sally Kuhlenschmidt, this year's program chair for the POD conference, has done an excellent job of creating an online form which is not only easy to use, but automatically transfers your proposal information directly into a database for the conference planners to use. Plus, we save the cost of printing and mailing the books and you save the time and money involved in making multiple copies of your proposals and mailing them. Submission of information is instantaneous with no lag time for snail mail.
Having said all that we need to recognize that this is only our second year to use the system, and there will be some glitches. Please contact Sally Kuhlenschmidt (sally.kuhlenschmidt@fsmail.wku.edu) for assistance with online submission or for assistance with paper submissions.
The conditions for POD conference submissions are as follows and must be agreed to on the submission form in order for the form to be accepted.
To submit your proposal online, please read the following instructions carefully. online submissions are due by noon your local time on April 1, 2002.
We have made every effort to make this process as simple and seamless as possible. However, it is impossible to predict all potential problems given technological and user diversity to include variables such as computer platform (e.g., Mac or Windows), type of browser (e.g., Netscape or Internet Explorer), version of browser, browser settings set by the individual user, nature and settings of printers, type of internet connection, user computer literacy, etc.
Links to two different forms are provided below. Please do not click on these links until you have read the instructions and tips that follow.
Link #1 takes you to the online proposal submission form which will open in a separate window. This is the form to use when you're ready to submit your proposal. This is not the form to use to create a draft of your proposal.
Link #2 gives you access to a word-processed submission form which you can use, if you choose, to create drafts of your proposal or, if absolutely necessary, to create a hard copy to mail in should it not be possible to submit online. This is not the form to use to submit online.
Here are our recommendations --
1) Open the online submission form for examination by clicking on the link below. Please note that it opens in a separate window from the one you're in now so you will have at least two windows open in your browser -- one for the call for proposals (this one) and one for the submission form.
2) Please, do not play with the form online and try to submit dummy proposals to test the system. The system has been tested by a core of people under different conditions and it works well.
3) You can print a hard copy of the online submission form if you like to use it as a reference.
4) You may want to close or minimize this window until you're ready to actually submit your proposal.
5) A word-processed version of the submission form is also available by clicking on the link below. (That document was created using Microsoft Word and saved as a Rich Text File [proposal.rtf] to maximize its use across platforms and applications.) Depending on how your browser is configured, clicking on the link below might --
You can print this form, use it as a reference, and write proposal notes on it. After you have downloaded it and saved it to your hard drive or to a disk, you can also use it as you would any other word-processed document on your computer and add text to it. You could type the draft of your proposal here, proof it, save it, and then simply copy and paste the text into the online form for submission. (See recommendation #6 below)
6) We do not recommend typing your entire proposal directly into the online submission form. One reason for not doing this is that you may lose your internet connection for some reason (e.g., the server crashes or your Internet Service Provider times you out as you sit there and ponder your next paragraph). There are ways to work off-line while you type in the form and then go back online for submission (e.g., in Netscape and Internet Explorer you can go to the File menu and choose to work either off-line or online).
We recommend that in preparation for online submission, simply type at least your proposal title (maximum of 10 words), abstract (maximum of 100 words), and description (maximum of 500 words) in a word-processed document (using the proposal.rtf document we provide below if you wish) and then copy and paste the text into the appropriate online form text boxes. You could type things like names and addresses directly into the online form and, of course, you would still have to click on the appropriate boxes for things like format and media choices. Note: If you choose to copy and paste from a word-processed document, we recommend saving the document as "Text Only" or Rich Text Format" first. We think this will create a cleaner copy when the text is pasted into the online form.
7) Open the online submission form if it's not already open. Type or paste text into the text boxes and mark your choices in the other parts of the form as appropriate. Make sure that all the parts of the form are completed especially those marked with an asterisk. Attempting to submit the form having left out required information will result in a notice that you left something out and you'll have to go back to the form, find the missing required information, and complete it.
8) Click on "submit" when you're done. You will receive a notice that your submission was successfully added to the database. You will be given a password number. Write it down. Then, click on "My Proposal." You will be asked for your last name and password number. Type these, click on "next", and you'll get a copy of what you submitted. Print this out for your records. (Note: Sometimes, some of the focus area and media needs choices don't print depending on your printer situation, but the choices are in the database. For your records, check them off manually on your printed form.)
Note: You and your co-presenters can access the proposal at any time after it has been submitted in order to to print it out or check for accuracy. Go to the My Proposal site (http://atech2.wku.edu/skuhlens/podsubmit/myproposal.asp) and enter the last name of the primary presenter and the password number that was assigned to you.
9) You're done. Congratulations.
Links to forms --
Link #1: Online Proposal Submission Form (http://atech2.wku.edu/skuhlens/podsubmit) [will open a separate window]
Link #2: Word-Processed Proposal Submission Form
If you encounter difficulties, feel free to contact the program chair (sally.kuhlenschmidt@fsmail.wku.edu or 270-745-6508) for advice.
If, for some reason, you cannot submit online, a mail submission option is available below.
Mailed submissions must be received by April 5, 2002.
Follow the directions above (#4) for accessing and saving the word-processed submission form. Type your proposal information in that form and then save it to a virus-scanned diskette as a Rich Text Format (xxxx.rtf) or text only ascii file (xxxx.txt). Provide your contact information on the label of the floppy and mark it "POD Submission." (We will not return the floppy.) Mail this diskette to:
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Sally Kuhlenschmidt
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As a last resort, if you cannot submit an electronic copy of your proposal on a diskette, print out your proposal as a hard copy and mail to the address above.
We hope you can meet us in Atlanta for the 27th POD Conference.
The Conference Planning Committee
Karron
G. Lewis, The University of Texas at Austin
Nancy
Simpson, Texas A&M University
Roslyn
Smith, Texas Tech University
Marilla
Svinicki, The University of Texas at Austin
Dorothy Zinzmeister, University of Georgia System
POD Network Home Page (a separate window will open)
Comments or questions about this site should be directed to sally.kuhlenschmidt@fsmail.wku.edu
All contents © since 1996 by the Professional and Organizational Development Network in Higher Education (POD Network)
Last modified: February, 2002.