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Continuing Education and Development Committee (CEDC) |
Task Group to Re-Evaluate and Committee Charge
Task Group Participants:
Charge of the Task Group:
Re-evaluate the charge of the Continuing Education and Development Committee
Report:
At the July 2004 meeting of the Continuing Education and Development Committee (CE&D) in Austin, Texas, Chairman, Ron Pollack appointed Sandy River and Laura Kimberly to evaluate the charge of the committee. The task group has evaluated each charge and presents discussion and recommendations regarding them.
Continuing Education and Development Committee Charge:
The Continuing Education and Development Committee performs various activities assisting TLA in its continuing education efforts, including, but not limited to:
- Assessing the needs of the TLA membership in regard to continuing education;
- Coordinating TLA's CE programming and development activities within the organization and with other organizations;
- Coordinating information sharing concerning other state organizations' CE and development requirements or criteria;
- Identifying sources of funding/sponsorship for TLA-produced CE and development programs and activities;
- Insuring that TLA members are informed of CE and development programs produced by TLA and others;
- Assisting, at the discretion of the President-Elect, with the New Officers Briefing at the Annual Conference, and/or at the discretion of the president, with officer training efforts at Annual Assembly.
Evaluation of the current charge was based on our knowledge of current activities of the Committee and of other groups within TLA. In addition, we looked at:
- Clarity of the stated charge
- Roles that overlap with other groups and committees
- Roles of similar committees in other state associations
- Feasibility of the activity
- Assessing the needs of the TLA membership in regard to continuing education;
Clarity: This charge is clear, however, there is no indication of what is done with the results of the assessment or how often these assessments should be made.
Overlap: Currently, the continuing education needs of the TLA membership is assessed through the program evaluation form. The data is collected by the Program Committee with the CE&D assisting in the analysis. The membership survey that is being planned (with Ron Pollack serving on the advisory committee) will also contribute to discovering the needs of members.
Similar committees in other states: This is a common task in the charges for continuing education committees in other state library associations. A number of those charges go on to state that the assessment results in suggestions and recommendations to other sections, round tables, and committees about programming that they might offer. Additionally, some committees are responsible for evaluation of continuing education programming offered by the state organization.
Feasibility: It is feasible for the CE&D committee to be involved in this activity.
- Coordinating TLA's CE programming and development activities within the
organization and with other organizations;
Clarity: It is not clear what ?coordinating? means here. It appears that currently coordination of conference programming is done by the Program Committee, though that committee?s charge specifies only that they will select the theme and general format of the annual conference.
Overlap: In addition to the conference coordination done by the Program Committee, there is some overlap here with two of the Continuing Education Providers Interest Group's objectives a and c:
- a. To provide a forum for staff development coordinators and continuing education providers within TLA to share and explore issues of mutual interest and look for opportunities for partnering.
- c. To provide opportunities for mutual cooperation, partnership, and collaboration.
Similar committees in other states: In addition to state committees making recommendations regarding needed programming, some committees are charged with maintaining records on programming, providers, and resources. One state committee is also responsible for maintaining contact with continuing education providers such as ALA, ACRL, library schools, and companies.
Feasibility: In order for CE&D to coordinate programming, there would have to be an understanding on the part of other committees as to how our responsibilities and theirs fit together. Coordination implies oversight to ensure that programs do not compete and that groups with similar interests cooperate to provide better programming than they might by working individually.
- Coordinating information sharing concerning other state organizations? CE and
development requirements or criteria;
Clarity: This is awkwardly written. It is unclear what other organizations and what kinds of information are being referred to here. Does this mean other state organizations within the state of Texas or outside of Texas and with whom the information would be shared?inside or outside the state.
Similar committees in other states: As mentioned, one group includes a responsibility to maintain contact with providers of CE such as ALA, ACRL, library schools, and companies.
Feasibility: Unknown until clarified.
- Identifying sources of funding/sponsorship for TLA-produced CE and
development programs and activities;
Clarity: This charge is clear, however the way in which this fits with TLA programming in general is not clear. Is the committee to seek sources of potential funding and notify units offering programming? Are units developing programs to ask us to help identify funding sources?
Overlap: We did not identify any overlap within TLA
Similar committees in other states: ?As mentioned above, one of the state committees included a responsibility to maintain records on programming, providers, and resources.?
Feasibility: Either interpretation suggested above is within the abilities of the group. If groups are to come to us for assistance, that should be in the documentation on how to prepare a program.
- Insuring that TLA members are informed of CE and development programs
produced by TLA and others;
Clarity: This charge is clear.
Overlap: This activity overlaps with an objective of the Continuing Education Providers Interest Group:
- b. To promote the awareness of continuing education activities of interest to TLA members.
Similar committees in other states: One group includes a responsibility to maintain contact with providers of CE such as ALA, ACRL, library schools, and companies.
Feasibility: It is feasible for the CE&D committee to be involved in this activity.
- Assisting, at the discretion of the President-Elect, with the New Officers
Briefing at the Annual Conference, and/or at the discretion of the President,
with officer training efforts at Annual Assembly.
Clarity: While this is clear on its face, it is not completely clear why this is one of the CE&D committee?s tasks. The first part, having to do with briefing new officers, might well be part of the charge of most TLA committees. Rather than being at the discretion of the President-Elect, submission of an annual report from each TLA committee should be required to enable new officers to have an overview of association activities. It is also unclear what training efforts would be within the scope of this committee.
Similar committees in other states: We found no mention of similar activities in other charges.
Feasibility: Without knowing the details of what the assisting would involve, we cannot judge the feasibility.
Discussion and Recommendation:
The intent of several portions of the CE&D Committee's charge may be lost to history unless other members of the current group participated in the drafting of the charge. All charges should be reviewed periodically as a group in order to ensure both coordination of efforts and appropriate boundaries. The fact that we felt a review of our charge necessary at this time suggests that it isn?t clear within TLA what our activities our. If it were, then someone would be asking for our assessments, information sharing, identification of funding, and assistance with training. We take it that we have not been asked for these.
The highest degree of overlap we found is with the CE Providers Interest Group. The purpose of the interest group is to empower CE providers and staff development coordinators to initiate dialog and develop partnerships among themselves, a task more suitable for an interest group than a committee. Committees, with their changing membership, are more suited to oversight activities. Among the tasks in the CE&D charge, #5, referring to keeping the TLA membership informed about continuing education programs, should be done in partnership with the Providers Interest Group. They already have significant activities underway that promote CE awareness.
If the CE&D Committee is to be successful in carrying out its charge, there must be clarity in the charge and recognition of that charge by other groups. As it is currently written, clarity is lacking and some tasks seem inappropriate for the group. Those activities that do seem appropriate and feasible would require a subcommittee structure with groups assigned the particular tasks if they were to be accomplished on a regular basis. That probably would necessitate a larger committee.
We have provided a summary of our examination of the charge. We recommend that the entire committee, either by email or face-to-face at our next meeting, discuss the charge and our comments. There may be some members who have a more complete understanding of the intent of certain sections and can help us judge whether they are still appropriate. In some cases we may just need to rewrite the section. In other cases, we may need to drop tasks that are no longer needed or that have been taken over by other groups.
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| Last Modified
08/20/08 Copyright © 2005-2008 by the Texas Library Association |
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