In a one-of-a-kind gathering July 30-31, local association presidents got together to help shape the future direction of IEA’s statewide conferences and training.
In March, delegates to the Representative Assembly authorized putting the Summer Leadership Academy and Winter Advocacy Conference on hiatus for one year and funding a study of IEA statewide conferences.
As part of the study, local presidents were invited to the Training Assessment and Development Summit to provide feedback about what members need and are interested in and to brainstorm ideas to help shape the future of statewide conferences.
Local presidents were able to observe and discuss a variety of conferencing ideas at the Training Delivery Fair.
“The theme of the fair was ‘Welcome to the Future of Training,’ and local leaders were eager for hands-on opportunities to try out technology that was new to them,” said Tim Crawford, IEA interim director of program development.
Some items featured at the fair included video calls with Skype, online learning opportunities and examples of how other states are doing their statewide conferences.
“The evaluations from participants indicated that they appreciated the discussions about the types and relevancy of training sessions and they highly valued the opportunity to network with other presidents,” Crawford noted.
The Committee to Review IEA Statewide Conferences is looking at the data collected at the summit, launching a follow-up survey to capture data from local presidents who were unable to attend the summit and continuing to pursue its charge to make recommendations to the IEA Board of Directors this fall.
Illinois Education Association is an association of more than 130,000 members composed of Illinois elementary and secondary teachers, higher education faculty and staff, educational support professionals, retired educators and college students preparing to become teachers.
Comments