Nominees2009

Nominees for 2009-2010 - at close of nominations, 16 October 2009

For the position of Chair 2009-2010 (Past Chair in 2010-2011)
Trevor Holmes Senior Instructional Developer Centre for Teaching Excellence University of Waterloo

Currently I am Senior Instructional Developer, Programming at the Centre for Teaching Excellence, University of Waterloo. I also teach Cultural Studies 101 at Wilfrid Laurier University each Winter Term. Most recently, I have been very involved in curriculum processes within academic departments. On some level, my career in educational development has been a happy accident. Nearly ten years ago, I found myself running a teaching centre at Trent University. I was also in charge of advising part-time and Oshawa campus students, and teaching in Cultural Studies. It was overwhelming. I drew on experiences as a TA developer at York, where I completed the University Teaching Practicum; however, what helped me most was the mentoring I had through the IDO Ontario and the Eastern EdTech groups. Since then, I've relied annually on our November "IDO" meetings to recharge my batteries and to gain new wisdom in my roles first at Guelph, then at Waterloo Universities. My service to the COED community is meant, in part, to start giving back to the people and the organisation that got me on my feet. As well, I find this to be a really fascinating time to be involved in higher education locally and globally. Two things I would like to focus on if elected Chair are:
 * 1) the landscape of assessment as it plays out in our daily work (through UDLEs, iterative curriculum and course design, and evaluating our own centres)
 * 2) collaboration within our group (through a working group model with Vice-Chairs) and with other groups, such as OUCEL, OCUL, OCULL, OCAV, EDC, STLHE, ICED: what framework makes most sense to leverage the great talents of our colleagues within COED and around the country, or the world?

For the position of Chair-Elect 2009-2010 (Chair in 2010-2011)
Michael Potter Educational Consultant Centre for Teaching and Learning University of Windsor

I'm an educational consultant at the Centre for Teaching and Learning at the University of Windsor, where much of my time is spent supporting early career faculty and teaching assistants, coordinating our University Teaching Certificate program, and helping people work on outcome-based curricula. I see myself as a slowly-constructed bridge between the worlds of educational development and philosophy, still just a few pillars poking out of the water. But if there's a new brick every year, well, that's progress.

I’ve not been in educational development for very long. Before coming to the University of Windsor I spent four years working part-time for the Centre for Leadership in Learning at McMaster University, where I created and coordinated the Teaching Assistants Network. Splitting my life between sessional teaching and educational development, I began to feel myself torn between worlds. The EDC conference in Guelph (February 2007) toppled me off my fence. The sessions I attended were gratifying, but more to the point I realized, finally, that there was a stark contrast between the worlds of educational development and traditional academia. Educational developers are, by and large, genuinely passionate about their work, friendly, devoted to practical projects that could make a difference, informal and unpretentious. And theirs is a culture that truly values resource-sharing and collaboration for the greater good.

Now I'd like to become more involved in the educational development world through COED. I support Trevor’s plans to focus on assessment and collaboration, which can, together, help us move forward while recognizing and safeguarding our present strengths. As the complexity of the educational development and academic landscapes increases, our challenge will be to adapt to meet those challenges with integrity, mindful of what we already do well, that the culture of educational development has strengths of its own.