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Commission Reports: National Conferences Dallas Commission Meeting Report October 4, 2003 Mike Leonard, commission chair, provided a brief overview of the commission, distributed fliers about the commission and it's on going projects. Mike introduced steering committee members in attendance (all but one) and talked about ways NACADA members could get involved in Technology Commission projects. Chuck Haberle, former Commission Chair and Service to Commission winner, presented this year's Service to Commission award to Hal Caldwell, (Ball State University) creator of the very first NACADA listserv for advisers. Hal created ACADV and was instrumental in creating the Technology in Advising Interest Group that went on to attain Commission status. He was recognized as one of NACADA's founding fathers on the use of technology in advising. It was wonderful for Hal to see all that the Commission had become and to learn of the activities of members on their individual campuses. Members were likewise awed by the history of technology in advising, the commission itself and Hal's role in getting it all started. Andrea Irby, incoming chair, along with Mike Leonard, asked people to discuss what was working on their campuses, what was not, in effort to help members network and learn from each other. This has always worked well at both regional and national conferences and this time was no exception. Our session ran over as people were enjoying the discussion. Next year, we may try to schedule an optional lunch after the session, depending on when the roundtable discussions are held (they were in advance of the commission meeting for us this time). Issues discussed were making the transition from paper to electronic student files and the management of those files. Several members have successfully done this and others were eager to learn from them. Members desire to learn from others was stronger than just listening to others describe their experiences and visit concurrent sessions. Members seem to want more hands on training- perhaps in the form of extended pre-conference workshops, teleconferences or on line web-casts. This is consistent with findings from the Commission survey performed last year. A continued topic of interest was student information systems and related software. Some schools seem more content this year to work with off the shelf software, yet many are still developing or planning to develop their own to save money and to create programs that are suited for individual institutional needs. An emerging trend is that some schools/advisers are developing software that may be applicable for a variety of institutions. These members are just starting to consider themselves as possible vendors to other advisers and campuses. Advisers are not used to thinking of themselves in the entrepreneurial, for profit sense, yet they have a chance to make a real impact for themselves and others by doing so. They offer the unique perspective of an adviser that traditional private software companies have not had. Finally, given the vast knowledge of members and the difficulty in members finding time to publish their knowledge, Andrea asked the group about possibly creating a group of ghostwriters to help members get their knowledge published on the web-site. Members seemed receptive, but this issue needs to be further explored through the larger commission membership via the listserv. Andrea Irby Chair, NACADA Technology in Advising Commission Revised June 17, 2004 |