This semester's syllabi

This semester I'm teaching two sections of a course called EADM 368: Administration of Complex Educational Organizations. One class is "face to face" meets on the Stockton campus of University of the Pacific. The other section is a hybrid course (face to face and online) that meets monthly (3 times in Hanford, once in Stockton). I'm teaching it as an organizational theory class with a history of org theory by Scott & Davis and Reframining Organizations by Bolman & Deal. In the middle of the semester I'll add an article on Afrocentric organizational theory and some readings on feminist organizational theory. Then I want to think about the future: how will technology and social media impact organizational structure and design? Our immediate access to college presidents via email (or even Facebook) has, for example, allowed us to cross, skip, navigate traditional organizational boundaries and "go right to the top." In some sense, then, the structure has flattened out. Other times, we find ourselves copying more and more people, hitting "reply to all" and getting pulled into issues that may not actually be ours to address, thus creating some confusion in the organization. I'm looking forward to working with the two seminars to consider future organizational structures.

New Year's Resolution?

Perhaps this is my new year's resolution: work on my blog. I've started and stopped a few times (you can tell from prior entries). This year a few big things have happened that merit reflection -- even if no one ever reads this! LOL. So, the first big professional thing that happened is that I was appointed to a tenure track position. Yippee! After reading camperkev's blog, I realized the power of the blog to track important life events, learning, and so on ... As I move through the next few years of the tenure and promotion experience, this blog can help document my own learning and professional development. So, that's what I'll blog about without worrying about perfect language, interesting insights, or re-tweetable ideas. The next big event this year is having an article published in the Community College Review (January 2011) issue. Woohoo! I've started on the next article by submitted a proposal for the upcoming annual conference for the Council for the Study of Community Colleges. I feel like I'm starting to get the hang of being a faculty member. While there are challenges and I often doubt myself, I never doubt that I'm where I'm meant to be.

So much technology, so little time...

I'm re-reading for the third or fourth time Will Richardson's book, Blogs, Wikis, & Podcasts ... and I must say that every time I read it, I'm inspired to learn more about the power of technology in education. We're truly in a new world -- one where we access and create information in different ways. Richardson's focus on the potential of technology is what sparks my interest. I want to become part of a larger community of folks developing content on the web & I want to use the web to develop scholarship. I see possibilities in how students conduct their dissertation research even as I see how I might expand conversations about my research interests ... What I realize today is that even though the task may seem daunting, it's time to jump into the deep end of the pool and start paddling.

More good news...

This week I was also notified that a proposal I submitted to present at the NASPA national conference was accepted (yay!) and that a book review I wrote was published in the NASPA Journal. What a great week overall ... Looking forward to seeing students in class again tomorrow - lots of interesting presentations: one, an educational partnership called Careers through Culinary Arts and another Enough is Enough dedicated to ending violence on schools & campuses. Great stuff! In the other class, we're considering the use of technology in classrooms -- blogs, wikis, and podcasts, oh my!