Final Reflection

Good News

Well, despite many changes that have impacted both of our schedules, Su and I have made it through to the final reflection.  Once I realized that we were going to need to be flexible in terms of when we met and what we talked about, I felt I was able to use my ID2ID time in an effective and helpful manner.  Many of our bi-weekly meetings started as chats  – how are you? What’s new at work?  And as we would talk, we would dig a bit deeper capitalizing on our individual resources and contacts to address the topics we ended up focusing on. Su was amazing by always keeping our shared notes updated to include our talking points and any resources that we had shared.

Opportunities

As in all of my previous ID2ID, I think I will have an on-going connection with Su.  I don’t anticipate meeting on any regular schedule moving forward, but I know I would never hesitate to reach out to her if I have something to share that she might find useful or if I’m looking for input on something that I know she focuses on.

In addition, we had several conversation about Quality Matters.  While I’m not ready to take on something new right now, I might consider future QM professional development opportunities.

Concerns

My only concern is that in order to make one’s involvement in a program like ID2ID as beneficial as possible for all is that there needs to be commitment of time and energy. And there needs to be patience in recognizing that life and work happen despite best intentions of commitment. This is not a concern directed at my experience as I believe we both were able to work around time challenges.

I recently began participating in EdSurge Loop weekly calls. I am very much enjoying the experience but it is quite different than ID2ID.  There is less structure thus less pressure to feel deadlines are the priority and not the actual interactions. And the scheduling is completely up to my availability.  The downside is that my weekly interactions are short and always with a different person so any attempt for longer or more meaningful connections would be above and beyond the program.  That said, each program brings something different and value.  I hope to continue my ID2ID work but I think I  might complement that with EdSurge moving forward.  

AHA Moments

I found it interesting to see where each of our institutions are going through change in one way or another.  At PSU, we have recently migrated completely to Canvas, have a relatively new student information system, and a new HR system.  In addition, we now have access to a great mix of programs through Adobe Creative Cloud and Office 365.  In some of these cases, Su was able to share experience based on UTK being further along with adoption of different platforms. This made me realize that all institutions are dealing with changes – new programs, upgrades, applications.  And it really doesn’t matter what the change is  only that as IDs we need to learn about and adapt to them quickly so as best to not only use in our roles but to be able to support others.