The Professional and Organizational Development (POD) Network in Higher Education invites members to indicate interest in submitting a proposal for their institution, or a group of institutions, to host the 2024 POD Institute for New Educational Developers Online (INED Online).
The POD Network has sponsored the INED for more than two decades to mentor new practitioners and facilitate excellence in practice among its members. For most of its history, the event has taken place in-person over a few days. The 2019 Institute added remote access options in response to state travel bans, and the 2020 Institute was postponed and then offered online in 2021. To make the INED experience available to a broader range of educational developers, we would like to offer the INED annually: in-person in odd years and fully online in even years. The 2024 Institute will be the first to be planned and offered online.
After reading the rest of this call, COMPLETE THE INTENT TO SUBMIT FORM by April 14, 2023 if you would like to be considered for a full proposal. If you have any questions, contact Emily Magruder, member of the POD Professional Development Committee (PDC).
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Purpose
The purpose of the INED is to provide foundational preparation for individuals new to the practice of educational development, an inclusive term with several subfields, as described here. Typically, the INED curriculum includes an introduction to basic practices and competencies of educational developers. The Institute also provides occasions to develop networks of colleagues.
Participants
The intended participants are people in the early years of their roles as educational developers at any type of higher education institution. While center directors who are new to educational development may attend, the INED curriculum does not include sessions specifically focused on leading or managing a center.
Format
Hosts choose how to deliver the INED Online, and they are encouraged to consider approaches that maximize the affordances of virtual professional learning. Review of the agenda for the 2021 INED Online may be useful.
Prospective hosts should consider:
- When to offer the INED Online, including whether it will be held on consecutive days, like in-person events, or spread out over a few weeks or longer
- The INED Online may be offered at any time of the year except just before and during the POD Annual Conference in late October through November
- Whether sessions will be synchronous, asynchronous, or a blend
- How other activities, like networking, affinity groups, or coaching, will be offered.
Learning Objectives
To maintain continuity, POD has established a guiding set of learning objectives for the INED. At the conclusion of the INED, participants should be able to:
- Describe how educational development has evolved as a profession with a body of research and well-defined best practices in response to changes and trends in higher education.
- Apply the theories and science of learning to educate people from diverse communities and cultures in all college and university contexts, including students in undergraduate and graduate programs as well as faculty, staff, and others participating in professional learning.
- Act as an inclusive and equity-minded educational developer in the design and delivery of programs.
- Effectively practice educational development skills and competencies to meet the needs of their home institution including, but not limited to:
- Coaching and consulting
- Designing and facilitating workshops and long-format programming
- Program promotion utilizing the web, email, social media, and print
- Needs assessment and program prioritization based on available resources
- Assessment of programming for effectiveness, equity, and improvement
- Fostering critically reflective teaching practice
- Integrating academic technology into learning activities
Faculty and Support Staff
Hosts are responsible for selecting and engaging educational developers to serve as INED faculty, most of whom should be POD Network members. Hosts are expected to utilize a transparent process for recruiting and identifying a diverse group of faculty. The PDC will consult and assist with the faculty selection process as needed.
The INED is a signature program for the POD Network and should reflect the organization’s mission and values of collaboration, equity, and evidence. The educational developers chosen to serve as INED faculty are expected to model these values, further articulated in the current strategic plan.
Faculty volunteer their time; they do not receive an honorarium. Staff from the sponsoring institution provide event coordination, scheduling, and marketing support.
Accessibility
All systems and resources provided to participants must be accessible. The PDC recommends following Universal Design for Learning Guidelines (https://udlguidelines.cast.org/). Prospective hosts may also refer to these Inclusivity and Accessibility Recommendations from the 2022 POD Conference for further guidance.
The Intent to Submit Form asks for the following information:
- Institute Chair & Host Institution. Name, title, center name, institution, email, phone, address, past involvement in POD.
- If relevant, Name, Contact and Other Relevant Information for Others on the Planning Team. Include information about other institution(s) if proposing a collaboration.
- Short Summary of Experience with Online Events. Include experience with multi-day event or conference planning, experience designing and delivering online programming, and institution’s ability to process online registration and payment.
- Brief Summary of How INED Online will be structured. Sketch dates, blend of synchronous and asynchronous participation, delivery and engagement technology tools, and activities.
Prospective hosts invited to submit a full proposal will be asked to provide the following additional information by June 2, 2023:
- Curriculum & Program. State how INED Learning Objectives will be met, indicate any additional learning objectives that will be incorporated into the curriculum, describe the methods (e.g., session types, activities, and resources) planned to engage participants, and list specific topics and skills to be addressed.
- Faculty Selection Process. Outline the process for recruiting and identifying a diverse group of INED faculty to implement the curriculum.
- Budget. The INED is expected to pay for itself. An advance of up to $6,000 may be requested from the POD Network, which must be repaid out of INED revenue within 60 days of conclusion of the INED. Any profit is split between the sponsoring institution (75%) and POD (25%). The budget should itemize projected revenues and expenses (see budget template below).
- Marketing. The POD Network expects the host institution to market the INED. This includes developing a logo and distributing professional-quality materials to POD members as well as potential participants from outside the POD Network. POD’s website, social media channels, and annual conference platform are used to reach POD members.
- Assessment Plan. Describe plans assessing the goals and outcomes outlined in the proposed curriculum. The proposal should model effective program evaluation and learning outcomes assessment strategies and gather input from participants, faculty, and staff.
- Timeline (optional). A planning timeline is included in the Sample Materials. A timeline that would vary significantly from sample should be explained.
Factors used to select the INED hosts include:
- Experience and capacity to run the event
- Experience and capacity to leverage affordances of virtual meetings
- Plans likely to meet the proposed outcomes
- Affordability
Other responsibilities to consider:
Hosting an INED Reunion Session at the POD Conference
The INED chair agrees to organize an online reunion around the time of the POD Annual Conference in 2024 to follow up with and continue building community among INED Online participants and faculty.
Submitting a Final Report
Hosts will submit a final report to the POD executive director and chair of the Professional Development Committee within 90 days of the conclusion of the INED. The report should include the following sections:
- Executive summary
- Goals of the Institute
- Program and links to electronic resources
- List of attendees (spreadsheet with name, email, title/role, year joined POD if member, institution, institution type)
- List of faculty and staff with details about how they were recruited and selected
- Itemized final accounting of revenues and expenses with analysis
- Program evaluation and learning assessment tools and results with analysis, including input from participants, faculty and staff
- Suggestions for the PDC and for future Institute hosts to consider in their planning
Sample Planning Timeline
| Months prior to INED | Task |
| 10-12 | Identify potential INED faculty (e.g., include POD president, consider current and recent Core members, seek effective, engaging facilitators from recent POD conferences) |
| Create curricular plan and draft of schedule (invite input from some potential INED faculty) | |
| Develop marketing materials | |
| Finalize INED faculty – align faculty expertise with program segments and secure commitment. Conduct regular, ongoing communication with faculty. | |
| 10-ongoing | Conduct marketing and publicity |
| Register participants | |
| 8 | Plan technology support |
| Confirm final program schedule | |
| 1 | Give publicity materials to media |
| Deadline for faculty material to be submitted for program | |
| Deadline for registration | |
| Months after INED | Task |
| 1 | Post event publicity for media. Distribute to POD executive director, INED participants and faculty |
| Conduct assessment by faculty, staff and participants (in addition to that which might be embedded in the Institute) | |
| 1-2 | Reimburse faculty for expenses, finalize budget, return $6000 advance to POD |
| 2 | Analyze program evaluation, learning assessment findings and budget. Write up. |
| Arrange INED reunion with POD conference organizers to get it in the program; announce to participants and faculty | |
| 3 | Submit complete report to POD executive director and Professional Development Committee chair |
Suggested Projected Budget Categories
Please include a brief description of how you calculated the projection for each category
| Revenue | |
| *Registration fees | $ x # registrants |
| Expenses | |
| Software | Synchronous and asynchronous tools including captioning for all live and recorded sessions. |
| Additional Staff | # staff x $ per hour x # total hours |
| Marketing | Logo design, web design and development, materials to distribute at POD conference, possible purchase of targeted mailing lists outside POD |
| Accessibility & accommodations | e.g., American sign language interpreter |
| Other | TBD |
| Profit | Projected revenue – expenses (25% to POD; 75% to host institution) |
| Break-even point | X number of attendees (recommend projecting break-even budget for 75-80 participants) |
* There must be different rates for members and nonmembers. The nonmember rate shall be $150 higher than the membership rate as an incentive to join POD. The current POD membership rates range from $70 (student) to $115 (individual). Rates are to be determined in consultation with the Executive Director of the POD Network.