About

Who we are
 After many years meeting annually as "Instructional Development Officers" our group of teaching centre directors, staff, and independent consultants from the tertiary education sector in Ontario had grown to a steady number that was no longer small enough to chat informally.

 We formed as a Working Group in November 2007 at the request of several parties during our Ontario ID meeting at Ryerson University. Initially we were charged with finding better ways to share resources amongst ourselves than the now-unwieldy roundtable at Ryerson each Fall. At the same time, we were tasked with coming up with an answer to the question of "Affiliate status" with the Ontario Council of Academic Vice-Presidents, or OCAV. Carole Dence and Trevor Holmes began some of the work in December 2007 with the drafting of a constitution, but launched this wiki in February 2008 to house archives and work collaboratively toward multiple goals. Since the wiki's inception, Trevor Holmes has agreed to lead the exploration of Affiliate Status, which culminated in a survey in March 2008, some answers from OCAV in April 2008, and a meeting at STLHE in Windsor in June 2008.

 Initially, the Working Group (independent of the COU/ OCAV question but agreeing to work on communications more generally for IDO-Ontario) was comprised of: ...  Working on the COU/OCAV question more specifically have been ... As of October 2009, the leadership of COED comprises:
 * Annique Boelryk, Georgian College
 * Paola Borin, McMaster University
 * Maureen Connolly, Brock University
 * Carole Dence, University of Ottawa
 * Trevor Holmes, University of Waterloo (Chair of the Working Group)
 * Trevor Holmes, University of Waterloo
 * Andrew McAllister, OCAD (representing the e-Learning group)
 * Richard Pinet, University of Ottawa (representing the e-Learning group)

Chair: Trevor Holmes, University of Waterloo Chair-Elect: Michael K. Potter, University of Windsor

Working Group Vice-Chairs: See Working Groups

Our terms of reference
We had been asked by the OCAV committee to work towards having the IDO-Ontario group become an Affiliate of COU, perhaps as a more formal group, as well as to explore the role of STLHE's Regional Representatives in convening annual or biennial meetings. We were to have a firm answer to OCAV by late February/ early March 2008. Instead, we had survey results to share and a mandate to carry on the discussion in person, which meeting turned out to be at STLHE 2008 at the University of Windsor. By November 2008 we passed a Constitution and By-Laws and by March 2009 had feedback from COU and OCAV that we passed in October 2009 electronically. Our Constitution states that:

// The aim of the COED shall be to act as a forum and space of collaborative activity for university, college, and independent consulting personnel charged with the design, delivery, and assessment of educational development programming in higher education in Ontario. //

// The COED shall: //

// 1. Promote educational development, that is, the training of postsecondary educators in principles and best practices of course design, delivery, and assessment, the pedagogically sound use of learning technologies, and the theorizing of this growing field of practice and inquiry, as a basic function in tertiary education in Ontario // // 2. Represent and advocate for educational development and developers in Ontario postsecondary education // // 3. Concern itself with the quality of educational development programming in Ontario // // 4. Facilitate communication among members for purposes of professional development and common understanding // // 5. Coordinate the dissemination and archiving of resources useful to the work of educational development as prioritized by individual institutions as well as, where appropriate, by the Council of Ontario Universities and its affiliate, the Ontario Council of Academic Vice Presidents (OCAV) // // 6. Collaborate with other COU affiliates and counterparts in the College system as necessary and appropriate // // 7. Collaborate with the Educational Developers Caucus (EDC) of the Society for Teaching and Learning in Higher Education (STLHE) // // 8. Build partnerships with external groups and institutions for the betterment of our provincial tertiary education system and where possible, that of other provinces and nations. // // 9. Support the work of the Council of Ontario Universities and of the Ministry of Training, Colleges, and Universities where such work coincides with the aims and objectives of COED. In accordance with COU requirements, COED will not make representations to the Ministry on matters related to university governance, finance or enrolment without first reporting to OCAV and seeking, through OCAV, COU’s agreement. //

<span style="font-family: Tahoma,Geneva,sans-serif;">Why now?
<span style="font-family: Tahoma,Geneva,sans-serif;">With the arrival of the "University Undergraduate Degree Level Expectations" or UUDLEs as part of every Undergraduate Program Review in Ontario (by June 2008), the Ontario Council of Academic Vice-Presidents is seeking to cooperate with the Educational Developers from each University in Ontario. It is to our mutual benefit to formalize what has been for decades now an informal group. Where appropriate, we can support the work of COU and OCAV, and reciprocally, they will hear about our efforts as we will have a seat at the Provincial level as an Affiliate. The e-Learning group in Ontario has also expressed interest in being a distinct group within our Affiliate group. As the Colleges and Universities collaborate more often, a formal arrangement of those responsible for educational development at all tertiary institutions will facilitate sharing of resources and expertise at an unprecedented level.