A new strategic plan is in development.

Below are excerpts from the 2018–2023 Strategic Plan:

Strategic Goals, 2018–2023

  1. Enhance Member Benefits: Improve opportunities and resources for POD Network Members. Provide more useful and timely services—in person, online, and throughout the year—to advance member networks and efforts in the field of educational development.
  2. Elevate Educational Development: Raise the profile of the POD Network’s standing, authority, and leadership as a voice on educational development. Proactively contribute to the recognition and advancement of the field of educational development.
  3. Build Organizational Capacity: Update and expand the POD Network’s organizational capacity to better meet its goals to enhance member benefits and elevate the field, and to support enactment of diversity and inclusion initiatives and evidence-based practices.

Strategic Priorities, 2018–2023

The following cross-cutting strategic priorities are of special importance at this time, for both the POD Network and higher education more broadly, and will be enacted across our strategic goals. Below, we synthesize why we highlight these priorities and describe initial levels of focus, yet we recognize that advancing these priorities will necessitate continual, deep discussions in the POD Network about both areas.

Diversity and inclusion

One of the POD Network’s values is that of equity; diversity and inclusion are important building blocks in service of that value. This priority reflects member priorities, a strong focus at many post-secondary institutions, and the recognition that progress toward equity requires great intentionality in order to reverse marginalization of historically underserved and underrepresented populations at all levels articulated below. Although the POD Network Diversity Committee contributes substantially to this work, efforts must be distributed across many working structures. This priority addresses multiple levels of focus:

  • Diversity and inclusion within the POD Network, as displayed via the organization’s leadership, event themes and coverage, membership, and publications and other outputs.
  • Supporting members’ work on diversity and inclusion on their campuses—two- and four-year institutions, public and private, of varying size and specialization—through the provision of resources, exploration of evidence-based practices, and distribution of research.
  • Connections with other organizations, so that the POD Network may bring an educational development lens to issues related to diversity and inclusion in higher education more broadly.

Current Update

Evidence-Based Practice

The POD Network’s emphasis on evidence-based practice mirrors its increasing role in teaching and learning; recognizes increased demands for institutional accountability; and supports educational developers’ desire and need to demonstrate the impact of their work. This priority also addresses multiple levels of focus:

  • Evidence-based decision making for the POD Network’s plans and operations, including strategic planning as well as ongoing and new programs and services.
  • Evidence of the effectiveness of educational development for higher education broadly.
  • Measuring effectiveness of local/campus-based methods and approaches for educational development work.
  • Strengthening and promoting the scholarship of educational development.
  • Supporting members as they support higher education faculty and instructors in using evidence-based teaching practices.
Information on the POD Network’s prior strategic plan may be found below: