For the past three years, the CIE- and PDI-sponsored NMC October Conference has been a wonderful day of collaboration and engagement for all faculty and staff. However, due to the pandemic, we are not able to collaborate in the same way this year. And I think we all know that no one wants to spend that whole day on Zoom! So, rather than virtualize what we have always done, we will refocus professional development on a different type of collaboration and growth. This new day empowers all of us to make an impact on the College, our students and/or our community that cannot be achieved during the regular workday.
This re-imagined day is called a “FedEx Day.” A FedEx Day, one day focused on a targeted project to complete, provides you with the gift of time. It should be a project, however, that is beyond your normal day-to-day activities; it’s not a day to catch up on email or grading. Instead, this day will give you time to work on that one thing you’ve been excited about but have never had time to do.
Projects may be large or small. They may be collaborative in nature or individual. Projects may be started and completed on October 13 or that day may just be the first day that launches a larger project. Below are a few examples of project ideas:
- Faculty partnering to create a more experiential classroom with stronger engagement
- Investigating OER or alternative textbook options for a course
- Investigating alternative forms of assessment such as ePortfolios or collaborative assessment
- Creating a formalized mentoring program for new faculty, staff or students
- Creating experiential learning for students in service areas
- Reinventing student employment as an intentional development experience
- Creating, expanding, or re-engaging a learning community; jump-starting an initiative and getting the right employees on the team
- Creating the space to focus on an A-3 goal to accelerate the goal
- Researching an idea for the office or classroom to innovate
- Ideation toward a potential grant proposal
- Cultivating community partners for occupational programs
So what do you need to do?
- Begin brainstorming now on ideas and outcomes for your project. You will submit your idea to your Area Chair for approval in September. (Specifics will be shared soon on this.)
- Identify potential team members who may want to collaborate on the project with you.
- Each employee or team will record their accomplishments and what was learned at the end of the day on one slide to share with the College community.
More information will be coming out soon, but for now just start tossing some ideas around in your mind. And feel free to reach out to CIE or Kristen Salathiel specifically with any questions. Ifyou’d like more information, feel free to check out the links below.
10 Reasons Why You Should Organize a FedEx Day
The Puzzle of Motivation – Daniel Pink (begin at 12:00)