My Professional Development Plan
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I am aiming to complete the Professional Instructor Diploma Program (PIDP) at the end of this summer (August 2018). Once I finish PIDP3260 this spring, I will have the Capstone Project to do before graduation. I aim to focus all my attention on this major project during the summer months, so that I can receive my credential and be ready to seek employment beginning in the fall. I realize that I will most likely have to wait until spring, if I am hired - as the fall hires are now getting under way. This is not stopping me from applying for any jobs that are of great interest to me... but having the credential could easily put me in one pile vs the other when the shortlisting of applicants takes place.
In terms of continuous professional development after the Program, I will enrol in workshops or conferences that are geared towards higher education that I am able to attend. There are some great events that speak to the education system that are put on by organizations like the Higher Education Quality Council of Ontario (HEQCO). I will join associations where I can. I believe there was one from the PIDP that we can join - whereby they meet several times a year and discuss topics such as best teaching practices, etc. I subscribe to Today's Top Ten, which is an email subscription on current events in the higher education system in Canada. It is a great resource. Another great resource that I found during the Program was the TedTalks. I will continue to check out what current things are going on... not only in Canada - but the rest of the world, in terms of education. I am also planning to get myself a mentor to assist me in my professional growth (my former boss is now an instructor where I work and has offered to be my mentor) - who will coach me, as I continue on my professional development path. I have also expressed this interest with my current boss (the Dean) -so that my employer can also provide me with learning opportunities along the way (i.e. workshops on dealing with intercultural relations - which could apply to my current role, as well as my career aspiration).
Where I am at professionally in my career at the current moment is that I have strong mid-level administrative management experience - and I am now seeking to gain some classroom experience under my belt (now that I have learned the theory and had the opportunity to apply that theory in the courses taken). I have taught workshops and seminars, and presented at many conferences, but never formally taught a class. So now my current goal is to do this within the next 1-2 years. Within the next 5 years, I wish to come back into the administrative side, in the role of an Associate Dean. But, in order to do this - I really feel that I need to be able to have experienced what it is truly like to teach, so that I can fully understand the challenges and the rewards that instructors face on a daily basis, if I am to work with them in a collective collegial manner on things like curriculum development, student conduct policies, lesson planning, grading, support in the non-instructional duties and teaching workloads, etc. But, most of all - teaching truly is a passion of mine and that's why I want to continue to pursue it. I love to share knowledge, facilitate the learning, and watch people develop and grow - and this includes myself - being the life-long learner that I am.
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