MSITE+Strategic+Planning

Chart inserted bottom of doc. Separate chart doc added that can be edited. See "Recent Changes" for uploaded files. CB When making changes to the document below, I recommend changing to a different font color. Sugar=green text CBrown=purple text Neal=gold text Taft= blue text Frank=orange text Kwaku=light green text Wirth=red MSI TE Strategic Planning
 * Feb 18, 2011 Doc submitted by Ganter **

** Development of Content and Organization for MSITE Retreat ** __ Spring 2011 __

1. How do we want to be known—at ECU, within the professional disciplines, and to the broader community? Begin with open discussion of what we want to be known as a dept...segway into first we need to know each other.... Begin retreat by establishing personal identity. We must know who we are as individuals before we can propose who we would like to be as a group. Each person should respond to the following: I. The most significant project [or contribution to my field] was.......... II. If I could begin any study or propose any project--given unlimited funding, I would explore, examine, [or implement]......

a. Promotion of MSITE faculty as outstanding facilitators of science/math/IT educators in eastern NC · To what extent, if any, do we want MSITE to cultivate a reputation (inside and outside of the university) built on and linked with serving the needs of practitioners in Eastern North Carolina, i.e, helping them establish productive, rewarding, engaging, and sustained careers as leaders in their profession? · What do practitioners in ENC need to build productive, rewarding, engaging, and sustained careers as leaders in their profession? · What can MSITE and its faculty do to help practitioners in ENC establish productive, rewarding, engaging and sustained careers as leaders in their profession? · To what extent, if any, should (can) traditional forms of faculty productivity (i.e., teacher, research/creative activity, and service) be leveraged to address the problems of practitioners in ENC? · What are examples of faculty productivity in MSITE that help practitioners in ENC build productive, rewarding, engaging, and sustained careers as leaders in their profession? · How can we maximize on our unique internship programs? b. Can we use branding and/or social media to promote our ideas? · I s it feasible to engage a professional marketing consultant to assist us- perhaps w/in the unversity community? c. What can we learn from other similar departments/programs across the country? d. How does CSMTE fit into our goals? How can faculty better utilize and promote this resource? Share current vision of Center and Strategic Plan for Center in notebook, so faculty already have some idea of the current mission, in order to launch into maybe how and what they need, want, propose... · How can we maximize the opportunities for STEM educators to continue their professional development, especially in the first three years in the profession? What kinds, if any, of prof dev (long term specifically) do faculty wish to provide, promote for math/science teachers ? · How can we facilitate strong collaboratives—across colleges, across universities, and with regional school districts? · How can we help insure that the center will have the funding/resources it requires to continue operating in the future? What role can the center serve in this collaborative venture? Can the Center provide a "proving ground" to support collaborative MSITE research and implementation projects? For instance, can a MSITE faculty member(s) become a Research fellow to work on project with the Center for a particular period of time (e.g., semester)? Pre-service teachers...can the Center serve as a mentoring ground for clnincal interns and clinical teachers....TEACHnet e. What research and scholarly activities should intentionally be pursued/avoided by faculty? f. How does our vast experience with distance education “fit” with who we want to be? g. Considering the question, "how we want to be known in the our respective professional discipline", how is each program area currently perceived in North Carolina and nationally? How does each program want to be perceived within the next five years in North Carolina and and nationally? 2. What does it mean to be a "unified department?" What is the value added to having an effective, working academic department? a. How can we use our current struggles (e.g., fiscal, workloads, and other) as opportunities to improve? b. How can we build MSITE into a better department that is more productive and more efficient? Department policies? Committee structures? Student recruitment? Mentoring of junior faculty? Other related items? c. What are the commonalities across programs? Would this section be a better fit for 3A? d. What are the differences in programs that may not be brought together administratively?
 * Courses that could be taught by faculty across program areas?
 * Courses that could be shared across programs (eg. SCI 6500)
 * Advising that could be managed across programs, if any?
 * Service to the college and university that is a departmental effort?
 * Common areas of research/grant proposals?
 * Common interests in service to the community?
 * Student recruitment

Discussion group questions: In your designated group, brainstorm strengths of the current MSITE department structure and brainstorm “areas for improvement” for the current MSITE department structure. Discuss qualities of an ideal, effective working academic department. Share these ideas with the bigger group. In your designated group, consider solutions for the aforementioned “areas for improvement” for the current MSITE department. Share these ideas with the bigger group. Deliverable/Outcome: List of “areas for improvement” and potential actionable solutions. Team/committee assigned to each “area for improvement” and/or group of “areas for improvement” and potential solutions. c. What administrative structure will best serve our needs and work? Assoc Chair? Prog Coordinators? Student Advisors? Faculty Mentors? Utilization of support staff/students? Discussion group questions: Considering the MSITE Advising committee spreadsheet, identify potential issues associated with current MSITE department advising practices. What is the best role of the program coordinator for each program area? How should student advising occur within each program area? What is the role and responsibilities of a potential associate chair within the MSITE department? Deliverable/Outcome: A committee of MSITE faculty that further explores an overall administrative structure that includes the role of program coordinators, student advising and a potential associate chair.

d. What department policies are needed and how should they be developed? Not sure if we have enough information/discussion to really explore these policies…next MSITE retreat???

• Consider timeline and content analysis for program area Student Handbooks; [this could be merged into plans and revisions for the department website.

3. What are the strengths/contributions that each of the programs areas can make to our collective work? a. What collaborative projects can a program area or individual faculty work on in the future?

Discussion group questions: Who is interested in working collaboratively with other areas and in what capacities? (IT should not be seen as a servant of the other two areas.) Who has already done so? Do they wish to continue? How does this collaboration help each program area and the department as a whole? Are there natural realms of integration and collaboration which we should entertain? Are there less natural collaborations which can /should occur? What strengths does each program area, and/or faculty in such, possess which can lead to the facilitating to collaborative enterprises? How could these collaborations assist non-tenured faculty in gaining tenure? How can these collaborations enhance the reputation and recognition of the department from those outside of the university? How can the strengths of one program area, and/or faculty in such, be used to overcome weaknesses in other program areas? What about assessment...how are we currently assessing program areas..their effectiveness etc...I mean outside SOIS results....how do we know we are meeting our current program goals? Are graduate's ever interviewed or surveyed? We are able to evaluate faculty using COE rubric for annual evaluations, SOIS, and peer reviews. Evaluation of faculty fits into the category identified as "Personnel". Methods for evaluating programs would fit in the category "Academic". Methods might include any of the following: comparison with programs in peer institutions; analysis of enrollment growth and decline; survey data from school and professional administrators; student work samples in portfolios, and exit surveys disseminated to alumni. Not sure where this goes..... what about Alumni? What are we doing in the dept to create a teacher alumni group? Deliverable/outcome: A monthly meeting of the faculty, looking particularly at collaborative efforts. Discussion group questions: What are the strengths/contributions that each of the programs areas can make to our collective work in the area of service. What service focused activities are we as distinct program areas/individual faculty currently engaged in? Do we have any courses we could designate as Service Learning? Do we offer student tutoring services? For our own students in their course work...by GAs maybe, or by our own students in math and science with others or community groups for expereince in teaching. Student groups doing service learning.... What are the possibilities for collaborations in these activities? What kinds of service oriented activities can we collaborate on as a department. How can any such activity be stream lined to benefit not only the department and the different program areas but also individual faculty (tenure, annual report, etc..). How can we use such collaborative efforts for recruitment purposes? What will be the center’s role in this venture? **For example, Frank Crawley has suggested the need for ongoing assessment of hardware and software resources. One or more IT faculty could serve the department by making informed decisions in the purchase of licensed software and/or upgrades in hardware for faculty workstations. This would include innovations in software for distance education as well as instructional software appropriate for math and science classrooms.** b. Provide incentive and guidance for an individual faculty member to determine areas of expertise that will add to the greater good and vision for the department. I don't understand this question. The chair or perhaps a colleague could offer suggestions for how individiuals can support the goals and mission for the department.

How can the collaborative efforts of the program areas work to enhance recruitment and retention of students into our programs? Maybe information on what we are doing currently in recruitment in each of the areas will help us craft a more global approach for the dept... again this information could already be in the notebook to help us springboard conversation when we meet. Discussion group questions: What are the strengths/contributions that each of the programs areas can make to our collective work in the area of teaching. What are some of the collaborative teaching opportunities available in each program area?

How can we utilize the unique strengths of the different program areas to create “22nd century courses” that not only attracts students to our program but also helps us retain students and increase faculty productivity. What are we doing now to retain students particularly those of color? What will be the general format of these courses? Can our collaborative efforts in our respective teaching areas create new certificates/degree areas? Discussion group questions: what are the strengths/contribution that each of the programs areas can make to our collective work in the area of research. How can we learn about and build upon our strengths by working with MSITE colleagues? How can we identify areas in which individuals can/should contribute more? How can such an activity help new faculty? 4. What commitments, resources and support will be needed from and can be provided by the Chair (Dean, Provost, or external agencies) to enable MSITE to begin and sustain the work begun at the retreat to transform its operations and practices?
 * Where do we begin and sustain our work following the retreat?
 * What are our timelines?
 * What commitment, resources, support are needed?

__Some additional questions to consider__: 1. How will these ideas shape into an agenda for the retreat? 2. What groupings and input will we need to answer the questions? 3. Should we consider external speakers/participants, to get additional viewpoints? 4. What are the anticipated deliverable/outcomes/products from the retreat? 5. What types of follow-up activities and work should be planned in advance of the retreat?

I thought "mentoring" was under the Personnel category??? Move mentoring to Personnel window above. The CENTER appears to be missing in this structure. Will the center count as infrastructure? Personnel or academic? If the center is able to procure its own source of funding, will this departmental structure be able to monitor and effectively ensure its effectiveness?