The Conference Team is excited to bring some reimagined approaches, a commitment to reconnecting, and the opportunity to restart the anticipation of coming together. We invite you to join us online or in Seattle for the 47th Annual POD Network Conference.

Tammy M. McCoy, Conference Co-Chair
Jerod Quinn, Conference Co-Chair
Heeyoung Kim, Program Co-Chair
Christopher Grabau, Program Co-Chair
Teresa Focarile, Online Co-Chair
Kristin English, Online Co-Chair
Hoag Holmgren, POD Network Executive Director

Please email the conference team with any questions you may have: [email protected]

We welcome proposals featuring effective practices, new resources, innovative approaches, discussions of critical issues, presentations of research, and works-in-progress. All proposals will be evaluated using an anonymous peer-review process. Detailed information about session types, topic areas, guidelines for submission, the submission process, review rubric, and the Robert J. Menges Honored Presentation Award are listed below.

Online or Seattle

The first decision you must make when submitting a proposal is whether you would like to present in Seattle or as part of the Online conference. There is no “both” option. The proposal submission form will ask you to select your chosen venue. The Conference Team will not assign venues, nor will we change the modality you select. The presenters themselves are in the best position to determine their own modality, and the Conference Team will both encourage and respect presenters’ autonomy.

Submission Dates

The submission portal will open by May 2 to accept proposals. Submissions must be received by Monday, May 16, 2022 by 11:00p.m. Pacific Standard Time.

Proposal Review Database (Oxford Abstracts)

We use Oxford Abstracts as the submission database for all proposals. Oxford Abstracts will require you to create an account and will assign you an ID when submitting your proposal. Please use an email address you check frequently to create your account. Remember to retain your assigned Proposal Submission ID number for your reference so you can access your submissions, if needed.

Acceptance Notifications

Notification about conference acceptances will be sent in early August to the email address you used to create your Oxford Abstracts account.

Accessibility Requests

The POD Network strives to make all sessions accessible to conference participants across each modality and will provide guidelines on effective practices in making your session accessible. If you have a particular accessibility-related request to enable your full inclusion in the conference, please inform the Conference Team as soon as possible. Here are some accessibility practices you can expect at the conference, but please reach out ([email protected]) if you have other requests:

• Automated live captions in Online Interactive sessions.
• Guidance for all presenters will be shared on expected and encouraged methods of making their sessions and materials accessible.
• Microphones for presenters’ on-site sessions.
• ASL interpreters are available upon request.
• The Hyatt Regency Seattle Hotel Accessibility Features can be found on the hotel and conference center’s website.

Eligibility

Anyone is welcome to submit a proposal, member or not. We encourage those newer to the scholarship of educational development and those whose voices are typically underrepresented in educational development to submit a proposal. If a session is accepted, each presenter and co-presenter(s) must be a paid registrant at the conference.

Number of Proposals Per Person

Each attendee may submit up to a total of two proposals for either the online conference or in-person conference. You may only be listed as the primary presenter for ONE of these two proposal submissions. The following session types must adhere to this proposal submission guideline: interactive sessions, roundtable discussions, poster presentations, research presentations, and workshop-in-a-box sessions.

Please do not list a colleague as a co-presenter without their approval.

Exceptions to the two-session limit include:

1. Each attendee may propose one pre-conference workshop as either the primary presenter or co-presenter. The attendee may ALSO propose two regular sessions.
2. Committee/SIG sessions (one per committee/SIG, automatically accepted).
3. Birds of a Feather sessions are not counted in this two-session limit.
4. POD Talks are not counted in the limit, but we want POD Talks to be an opportunity to hear from as many people as possible, so the first priority of accepted submissions will go to individuals who are not otherwise presenting at either conference.

Anonymous Review Process

All proposals must be anonymized. Replace names of people and institutions with Xs in the title, abstract, and session description. The only identifying information should be your contact information in the Presenter Information section. Proposals that identify people or institutions will be automatically rejected in the review process.

Proposals will be reviewed by peers according to specific review criteria (please see page 17). Reviewers will be assigned to proposals that are aligned with their self-selected areas of expertise. As such, we request that authors select one primary topic category for each proposal to better facilitate the reviewer-proposal matching process. If your proposal is accepted, you will have the opportunity to identify additional topics that will be tagged in the program.

Sale of Materials and the Solicitation of Consulting Work

The POD Network’s statement of “Ethical Guidelines for Educational Developers” (section 2.8) emphasizes the importance of allowing “no personal or private interests to conflict or appear to conflict with professional duties or clients’ needs.”

To avoid the possibility of a conflict of interest, the POD Network does not permit the sale of materials in any conference session before or during the conference nor the solicitation of presentation materials after the conference. Furthermore, the POD Network does not allow presenters to solicit consulting work during any session listed in the program. Sessions should not directly or indirectly solicit the purchase of materials or programs.

Session presenters are permitted to use materials they have created and to refer to consulting work that they do, but neither materials nor services may be offered for sale during the session. All materials used during the session should be made available for session participants. Proprietary materials should not be used as the primary presentation material but may be included in a list of resources or bibliography. Pre-conference workshop presenters may receive permission to charge an additional fee for materials (such as books), to be collected with the conference registration fee.

Questions about this conference practice should be addressed to the POD Network Executive Director.

Important Dates

The submission portal system will open by May 2 to accept proposals.

• April 19, 2022: Call For Proposals sent to POD Network members.
• May 11, 2022: Reviewer Training Opens.
• May 16, 2022: Proposals are due by 11 PM Pacific Standard Time.
• May 25, 2022: Reviewer Training Closes.
• June 15, 2022: Reviewers must Complete Proposal Reviews.
• Early August: Notifications of Acceptance are sent.

Conference Session Types

The POD Network in Higher Education welcomes proposals for a variety of session types. We have tried to match the session type for each modality, offering sessions where they will likely be the best fit. Some session types will only be offered online, some only in Seattle, but many will be offered in both venues.

Pre-conference Workshops—Seattle Only

Do you have a workshop to enhance the professional development of all members?

These sessions provide intense professional development opportunities that result in participants acquiring new skills. Pre-conference workshops may be half-day (3 hours) or full-day (6 hours) in length. Workshop proposals should identify specific learning goals or outcomes for attendees. (3 hours or 6 hours)

Birds of a Feather (BoF)—Online Only (Monday Nov. 14)

Do you want to create time and space for folks with similar interests to get together?

These sessions are designed to provide a place for informal, but guided, conversations about topics that are timely and important to the field. They are intended to promote meaningful interaction between educational developers at all levels of experience, and allow participants to build relationships and make connections. The BoF sessions are not workshops or meetings of POD Special Interest Groups (SIGs) or Committees; rather, they are a place for members to come together to share strategies and learn from each other. (45 Minutes)

Interactive Sessions

Do you have a practice you would like to demonstrate for colleagues?

These sessions combine brief presentations with methods that engage all participants, reflecting the POD Network’s long-standing tradition of interactive, collegial sessions—not lecturing or reading papers to passive audiences. (45 Minutes)

POD Talks

Do you have innovative ideas about your work, a project, questions of significance, and can hold everyone’s attention for 8 to 10 minutes?

These sessions bring together multiple 8- to 10-minute talks, modeled on the format of TED Talks. Each presentation should focus on ways that your work has been re:imagined, re:started, and/or allowed for re:connection with and between educators on your campus. (10 minutes)

Posters—Seattle Only

Do you want to present your work to get some experience in a friendly low-stakes environment?

These sessions showcase a research project, program, activity, and/or initiative. Posters may be projects that are completed, in progress, or in their beginning stages.

Original research presented at the POD Network annual conference is eligible for the Robert J. Menges Award for Outstanding Research in Educational Development. Presenters will have the opportunity to self-nominate for this award when submitting their proposal.

Research Sessions—Online Only

Do you have original scholarship on some aspect of educational development to share with the community of practice?

These sessions include a presentation and discussion of new or ongoing educational, professional, or organizational development research. Session leaders present their original research (i.e., systematically designed, generalizable studies employing sound methodologies and data analysis practices). (20 minutes)

Original research presented at the POD Network annual conference is eligible for the Robert J. Menges Award for Outstanding Research in Educational Development. Presenters will have the opportunity to self-nominate for this award when submitting their proposal.

Roundtable Discussions

Do you have a topic that you think lots of people would want to discuss?

These sessions provide a place for colleagues to discuss important topics in the field. Sessions can focus on approaches to programming, institutional challenges or initiatives, supporting specific groups of faculty, etc. For roundtables that take place in Seattle, no AV will be available for these sessions to encourage conversation and informal information sharing. (45 minutes)

Workshop-in-a-Box

Do you have a workshop that worked really well on your campus? Share it with your colleagues during a Workshop-in-a-Box session.

These sessions model successful workshops educational developers have done on their campuses. Session leaders are encouraged to incorporate meaningful activities as would be done in the actual workshop. (45 Minutes)

Affinity Groups

There will be a number of affinity group sessions offered during both formats of the conference. Attendees will be able to register for these groups prior to the conference. Affinity groups provide a forum for individuals who share a common identity as members of a marginalized group.
The goals of POD Affinity Groups are to:

• Provide an opportunity for colleagues with a shared identity to connect, support one another, and share wisdom about navigating institutions as members of systematically marginalized groups
• Create spaces where members of marginalized groups can be their authentic selves
• Lower barriers to organizing, power building, and advocating for change within the POD
  Network

Committee/SIG Sessions

These sessions provide space for Committee/SIGs to share their expertise and/or support POD Members development in specific areas. Each committee and SIG will be guaranteed one session. This will not count toward presenter limits. The proposals for these sessions must have committee/SIG approval before submitting. (45 Minutes).

This year, any committee/SIG proposal must be submitted through the regular proposal submission portal. Be sure to select Committee/SIG Session and to indicate in-person or online.

When submitting a proposal for a Committee/SIG session, facilitators will have the opportunity to indicate their interest in having the session being considered for designation as a “POD Network Professional Development Session” (PDS), formerly known as POD-Sponsored sessions. In response to several requests to simplify the process, there will not be a separate CFP for PDS sessions.

A PDS is dedicated to furthering the professional development of POD Network members, seeks to address a persistent professional development need focusing on educational development practice, and is geared toward a broad range of the membership. Sessions that request consideration for PDS (there will be a box to check) will be reviewed by POD Network’s Core Committee, who will then identify sessions that meet the criteria.

Review Criteria
In addition to providing the required information for all proposals, PDS applicants will be asked to respond to the following questions:

• How does the session further the professional development of the POD Network?
• How does the session meet a persistent professional development need of members?
• How does this session serve the general membership and the broader field of educational development?

Recent PDS Sessions

• Getting Started: Workshop for New Educational Developers (PDC)
• Peer Mentoring for Early to Mid-Career Educational Developers (PDC)
• Educational Developers as Change Agents for Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI Committee)
• Pathways to POD Leadership: Engaging with the POD Strategic Plan (Strategic Plan Committee)
• Career Moves: Preparing Yourself for Work That Matters (GPPD)
• Strategies for Reviewing Scholarly Publications as an Educational Developer (Scholarship Committee)
• What an Educational Developer Should Know About Learning Analytics (Learning Analytics SIG)

Committee/SIG Meetings

All committees and SIGs are invited to host their annual meeting online the week before the conference on Monday, November 7, 2022.

Proposal Topics

During proposal submission, select one primary topic to indicate the main area of focus/interest for the session from the list below. We recognize that sessions often address multiple topics, but ask that you indicate one primary topic to better facilitate the reviewer-to-proposal matching process and to aid in the distribution of sessions with a similar topical focus throughout the course of the conference. If your proposal is accepted, you will have the opportunity to add two additional topics (for a total of three) to be used to further describe your session in the conference program; these will be published in the conference program to assist participants in planning their conference experience.

• • Assessment: Sessions for the practices and methods for measuring the effectiveness of educational development programs and services, including processes for documenting and reporting the outcomes of these measurements.
  • Development of Educational Developers: Sessions where the focus is on improving or enhancing our own pedagogical practices (e.g. active learning, contemplative practices, inclusive teaching, etc.) and/or personal/professional growth for educational developers at all career stages.
  • Diversity, Equity, Inclusion & Justice: Sessions that focus on programs, policies, and/or strategies that advance social justice, equity, and inclusion (such as UDL, anti-racist pedagogy, decolonization of the curriculum, etc.). For example, creating, advancing, and sustaining equitable organizational structures; building capacity within centers and/or among members; and/or affirming the voices, identities, and experiences of those who are typically under-represented in educational development specifically or historically marginalized populations in higher education in general.
  • Online and/or Hybrid Teaching & Learning: Sessions about working with faculty teaching with technology, supporting online course design & development, and programs that support these efforts.
  • Organizational Development: Sessions that discuss the development of institutional initiatives and the role of educational development units in change management within institutions and organizations.
  • Research & Scholarship: Sessions focused on the systematic investigations of educational development, teaching, and learning, using rigorous data collection and analytic methods; including the Scholarship of Teaching and Learning (SoTL), Discipline-Based Educational Research (DBER), Scholarship of Educational Development (SoED), and Learning Analytics.
  • Running a CTL: Sessions that explore establishing and growing centers, programs, projects, organizations, and/or managing center operations. Programs and services offered by educational developers in centers and other units (e.g., workshops, institutes, learning communities, certificates, awards, and other types of recognition), as well as the strategic plans and curricula that provide guidance and structure to those programs.
  • Teaching & Learning in Practice: Sessions for discussions, models, and reflection on teaching and learning methods, processes, theories, and techniques, such as evidence-based teaching practices, cognitive learning science, mindfulness and contemplative pedagogy, assessment of student learning, and the like. Can be discipline specific (STEM, Healthcare, Humanities, Arts, etc.) or audience specific (adjunct faculty, graduate students, etc.).

Implications of Your Work

During the proposal submission you will be asked to provide a brief description of how your work impacts or influences at least two of the contexts from the list below. In other words, please consider the applicability and transferability of your work and its subsequent implications on each context. We will publish these contexts in the conference program to assist participants in planning their conference experience.

Professional Context

• • • New/Recent Educational Developers/Professional Staff (0–4 years)
    • Mid-Career Educational Developers/Professional Staff (5–9 years)
    • Experienced Educational Developers/Professional Staff (10+ years)
    • Center Directors
    • Graduate Students
    • Dual Appointments (Educational Developer and Faculty, etc.)

Institutional Context

• • • Community Colleges
    • Minority Serving Institution (Historically Black Colleges and Universities; Hispanic-Serving Institutions; Tribal Colleges and Universities or Asian American and Pacific Islander Serving Institutions)
    • Large Colleges and Universities
    • Multicampus Institutions or Systems
    • Small Colleges

As you prepare your proposal, please follow the guidelines below and ensure that your proposal activities align with the session type you propose.

Components of the Proposal

• □ Session Type (Please review and select the session type best suited for your proposal and session goals. Strive for a strong fit between what you intend to accomplish and the type of session you choose).
• □ Presenter Information. Include name, affiliation, and current email address for the main presenter and all co-presenters (no “Ph.D.”, Dr. or other degrees included with the name).
• □ Session Type.
• □ Present Online or Seattle (choose one, if applicable).
• □ Session Title (no more than 10 words).
• □ Session Abstract (no more than 100 words).
• □ Anonymous Session Title (identifying info replaced with XXX).
• □ Anonymous Session Abstract (identifying info replaced with XXX).
• □ Learning Outcomes & Goals (one or two outcomes).
• □ Anonymous Session Description (500 words—POD Talks and BoF 250 words).
  • □ 1–2 specific, actionable takeaways for participants.
  • □ Outline of the session activities, including a description of the types of guiding questions and interactions planned.
  • □ 1–3 sentences explaining how the session will support the POD Network values of Collaboration, Equity and Evidence.
• □ Topic (select and designate your primary topic to ensure alignment in the proposal-to-reviewer matching process).
• □ Implications of Your Work (no more than 150 words).
• □ Inclusive Strategies (between 100 to 250 words):
  • □ All presenters will be expected, at minimum, to include the following practices of accessibility and inclusion in their session (if applicable): a diversity of representation in images, readable and accessible slides, visual and vocal prompts for stimulating discussion and fostering critical engagement of the content, authentic and respectful engagement with each other, and inviting participants to share their pronouns.
  • □ In addition to these practices, please describe: a) the principles, approaches and strategies you will incorporate for accessibility and inclusion, and b) how the topic and/or activities of your session will support and model the POD Network value of Equity. For example:
    • □ establish your positionality (i.e., how you are approaching the topic with respect to your identities and privilege).
    • □ support neurodiversity (i.e., captioning, description of visuals).
  • □ A list of sample best practices for accessibility and inclusion will be shared by the conference team in an upcoming newsletter.
• □ References and Source Materials (3–5)

Proposal Review Rubric

Reviewers will use the following criteria to review proposals:

Rating for each criterion

• 4 (Excellent): There are no concerns or questions with the item.
• 3 (Good): There are a few minor concerns or questions with the item; however, they will not be an impediment.
• 2 (Fair): There are concerns or questions about the item that should be addressed if accepted for the conference.
• 1 (Poor): There are significant concerns or questions about the item and must be addressed if accepted for the conference.
• N/A*: (Please note that a score of N/A will NOT get factored into or diminish a proposal’s final score.