Call for Proposals Used
for the 2001
POD National Conference
Overview
of the POD Network and POD Conference
Introduction to the
POD Network
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 Annual
Conference
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.
POD Mission
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.
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Conference
Theme and Suggested Topics and Issues
Theme -- Interfaces,
Intersections, and Gateways
As we so often do with
POD conferences, the conference theme plays off of the location and time
of the event. We have scaled the heights at a Colorado conference, followed
pathways through Pennsylvania fields, and mustered the courage to enter
a brave new millennium at our Vancouver meeting. For this conference, we'll
be in St. Louis, Missouri in 2001 -- the Gateway City in the "Show Me"
state where East meets West and the Missouri and Mississippi rivers converge.
It's the first year of a new millennium that many associate with exploration
and computer technology thanks to Arthur C. Clarke's novel. So what do
we get out of that?
We get a conference
that looks at "interfaces, intersections, and gateways" as an overriding
theme. We would like to explore what results when the following intersect,
interact, and share boundaries -- technology and pedagogy, teaching assistants
and professional development programs, the academy and the greater community,
faculty developers and institutional planning, scholarship and teaching,
and any of the other sets of interfaces we experience in academia and specifically
in our areas of faculty, instructional, and organizational development.
Are new gateways available and successful such as using instructional technology
to give students access to information and skill development or providing
Preparing Future Faculty (PFF) programs for graduate students to enhance
their entry into faculty positions? Presentations that examine new frontiers
and crossing boundaries are encouraged.
While proposals can
address any topic appropriate to the POD mission, exploring some aspect
of the conference theme is highly encouraged. Relevance to the conference
theme is one of the criteria used by reviewers for the blind review of
submissions.
Tracks for TA Developers,
Experienced Developers, and Technology
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 adressed.
Efforts will be made in program scheduling (tempered by the number of proposals
accepted, space availablity, 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, rountables, posters, and concurrent sessions that address one
or more of these.
TA Development
In the 25-year history
of POD conferences, the teaching assistant (TA) intersection could be conceptualized
as a small side street. Certainly, sessions have always been given by TA
developers and audiences have found their way into those sessions. However,
for the first time, 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 are in tune with the conference theme, devoted
to the preparation of graduate teaching assistants and future faculty,
and view intersections at the personal, professional, national, and political
levels.
Possible topics are
-- TA developers, TA supervisors, faculty, and the graduate school: who's
responsible?; inter- and intra-campus mentoring and preparation for scholarly
work; diversity, equity, and the preparation of future faculty; technology
and the preparation of future professionals; the preparation of international
graduate students for current and future roles; hiring, retaining and tenuring:
the intersection of the graduate and assistant professor experience; documenting
preparation, pedagogy, and professionalism; assessing and re-invigorating
TA development programs.
Experienced developers
- managing organizational change
This track is designed
for faculty developers with 8, 10 or more years of experience. The theme,
managing organizational change, was developed as a result of an informal
survey of POD's experienced faculty developers. You are invited to submit
proposals focusing on organizational development issues. Some possible
topics may include -- 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.
Instructional technology
What do we find at the
intersection of technology and pedagogy? Does the interaction of these
entities create a synergistic new environment for teaching and learning?
How do technological tools define, enhance, degrade, or otherwise alter
our teaching philosophies and strategies, means of assessments, and relationships
with our students? How will faculty roles and responsibilities be affected
through distance learning and virtual universities? How does information
technology interface with faculty development? How might it alter the nature
of our work, the type of programs we offer, the way we deliver information
and services, and the way our centers interact with other units on our
campuses? You are invited to submit conference proposals that explore these
and other technology-related issues.
Diversity
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. Addressing issues such as how technology differentially
opens or closes gateways to learning depending on diversity variables in
our student population, 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.
Research-Based Sessions
Given that we're in
the "Show Me" state, we want 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 literaure 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 contrbutions
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 - chalenging, 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.
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Desired
Qualities of the POD Conference
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:
-
Actively engage participants
in all sessions.
-
Include research, theoretical
framework, or scholarly basis where appropriate. Include empirical studies
and reports in conference sessions.
-
Collaborate with colleagues
around the world.
-
Include graduate students
and new faculty in proposal design and presentation (particularly graduate
students who are preparing to be faculty developers).
-
Build humor and laughter
into conference sessions.
-
Consider submitting
personal growth sessions in addition to the more traditional research-based
sessions.
-
Submit working partnerships.
A good proposal might be a co-presentation where somebody from the teaching
center and somebody from administration (or the technology group, or the
advising office) team up to show how they work together for better student
learning or better faculty programming.
-
Think "diversity" in
cultures, collaborations, and co-planning. Proposals are actively encouraged
from international colleagues, Native American tribal colleges, Historically
Black colleges and universities, community colleges, and small private
colleges.
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Format
and Media Options for Conference Sessions
Media
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 preconference 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.
Formats
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).
Preconference
workshop session
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:
-
new or experienced developers
-
TA development/preparing
future faculty
-
diversity, multicultural
issues, or teaching for social justice
-
innovative uses of technology
-
working with academic
administrators, faculty/university senate leaders, student services professionals,
library and technology professionals
Workshop session proposals
should include
-
the target audience,
-
maximum number of participants,
-
intended outcomes,
-
materials, and
-
a description of the
activities.
Whereas demonstrations
tied to technology are encouraged, the POD conference cannot accommodate
any requests for computers for participants.
This year, preconference
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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Discussion,
demonstration, or presentation session (Concurrent Sessions)
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.
-
Part of the session
time is used for the presentation of a focused topic.
-
The remaining session
time is used to actively engage participants in the exchange of ideas around
the topic.
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
-
identification of the
topic,
-
the objectives (intended
outcomes),
-
the target audience(s),
-
the activities that
will occur, and
-
whether a 60 or 90 minutes
time period is preferred.
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Advance
book session.
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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Roundtable
or consultation session.
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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Poster
session.
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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Materials
and Resource Fair.
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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Criteria
for Proposal Review and Selection
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:
-
clarity and coherence
of the session description and plan;
-
relevance to the interest
of POD conference participants;
-
likelihood that the
session will provide useful information, skills, and/or ideas;
-
contributions to new
or innovative practices for student, faculty, staff, and/or administrator
development; and
-
likelihood that the
session will stimulate active engagement of participants.
Proposals will be enhanced
if the following additional considerations are addressed:
-
a demonstrated commitment
to diversity;
-
the relevance to the
conference theme;
-
experience levels of
the presenter(s) with this topic, if applicable;
-
any applicable theoretical
construct or literature citation that is the foundation for the session;
and
-
the likelihood that
the session will model exemplary teaching practices.
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Instructions
for Submitting Proposals
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 26th annual conference of the Professional and
Organizational Development (POD) Network in Higher Education to be held
at the Millennium Hotel St. Louis in Missouri from October 10 - 14, 2001.
The deadline for proposal submissions is May 7, 2001.
This year we are
going online. Welcome to the 21st century. 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 the pilot stage of what will become normal
operating procedure. This year's conference chair, Bill Burke at the University
of Kentucky, will be available to help with any technical problems or procedural
questions. You can contact him at burke@pop.uky.edu or 859-257-1877.
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.
-
You
are the principal presenter on no more than one proposal
and a presenter in any capacity (principal presenter, second, third,
etc.) on no more than two proposals. That is, your name cannot appear
on more than two proposals.
-
You
have contacted all listed co-presenters prior to submitting this proposal
and have obtained their agreement to participate in the presentation.
-
You
agree that you and all your co-presenters who attend the conference will
be members of POD at the time of the conference.
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Online
Submission (Preferred Method)
To submit your proposal
online, please read the following instructions carefully.
online submissions are due by noon your local time on May 7, 2001.
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 --
-
automatically open it
in a word processing application (in which case you should save a copy
to your hard drive so you can access it later),
-
ask permission to download
it to your computer (in which case you should specify where to save it),
or
-
ask whether you want
to save or open the document (in which case you should choose to save it
and specify where).
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 (http://www.uky.edu/~burke/proposal.rtf)
If you encounter
difficulties, feel free to contact the conference chair (burke@pop.uky.edu
or 859-257-1877) for advice.
If, for some reason,
you cannot submit online, a mail submission option is available below.
Mailed
Submission (Only if online submission is not possible)
Mailed submissions must
be received by May 7, 2001.
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:
Sally Kuhlenschmidt
Attn: POD submission
1 Big Red Way
Center for Teaching
& Learning
Western Kentucky
University
Bowling Green, KY
42101 |
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 St. Louis for POD's 2001 conference.
Bill Burke
Conference Chair,
2001 POD Conference
Associate Director,
Teaching and Learning Center
University of Kentucky
106 Gillis Building
Lexington, KY 40506-0033
(859) 257-1877,
Fax: (859) 257-2987
burke@pop.uky.edu
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