After attending Chris Brady's talk yesterday and watching/listening to some of the reactions I was reminded of the ETS mission and how it fits into some of the things he was talking about. First and foremost, I have a great deal of respect for Chris -- he is by far the most student-centered Dean I have ever been around. I'm not saying others are less interested in student activities, but Chris' position as Dean of the Honors College provides him with affordances other Deans do not have. I am thinking about the fact that his College is structured in a radically different way than the other Colleges ... this fact allows him to spend more time thinking about and working with his students.
What struck me was how passionate he was about the total educational experience. I love to see people who share a passion for impacting teaching and learning -- it is what drives most of us to come to work at a place like PSU (at least I hope). I was also struck by how much he downplays the amount of innovation he and his colleagues explore and implement. He said he is measured in his use of technology and focuses on things that have the greatest long-term success. It is one of the reasons I was instantly drawn to work with him even before he got to campus. We've done several things with SHC since he arrived ... we built their first blog space, got him started with podcasting, helped with technology integration issues, and most recently started the SHC Scholar portfolio project. These are things that have played a role in the evolving nature of his perspective on how to engage with his students. The latest effort is one that many on campus feel could be transformative for the long haul.
It is always fun to work with him as he spins through ideas. He isn't afraid to try stuff and he is looks very critically at projects to make sure they are paying dividends.
Again, his talk made me reflect a bit on what our mission and paths are ... essentially trying to think about how we fit into the University. Are we, on a day to day basis, impacting the University? Are we following our own paths to reach the goals of our unit, the University, and serving our key audiences? I have a tendency to say we are, but one thing that might be good to do when one has doubts is to reflect on their work while using the mission and paths below as a measuring stick. How does it add up for you?
Mission and Paths
Education Technology Services is a unit of Teaching and Learning with Technology within Information Technology Services at the Pennsylvania State University. Our primary mission is to provide leadership and support in the appropriate use of technology for teaching, learning, and research. We work to achieve our mission by:
- Creating opportunities to engage faculty to further their use of technology for teaching and learning
- Supporting technology innovation and adoption to support to teaching and learning
- Participating in research opportunities to better educate faculty, staff, and students in the use of emerging technologies as they relate to teaching and learning
- Enhancing curricula through the use of instructional design
- Managing University-wide technology implementations that are designed to support teaching, learning, and research
- Hosting both physical and virtual events that are designed to bring members of the teaching and learning community together to engage in meaningful activities
