Looking at my daily activities over the past few days, I’m definitely doing a lot of zooming. Part of that is due to the fact that we’re slightly understaffed. Another part of my zooming has to do with where my roles are located within my organization. All efforts relating to online teaching and learning (as well as instructional design, course building, etc.) were historically located within the college’s IT department. Today, that location means that in addition to “provide[ing] campus-wide leadership in support of Syracuse University online teaching and learning initiatives,” I’m also charged with “providing leadership in selecting and exploiting business, instructional, and information technologies throughout University College's operations, faculty/student support, information management practices, and communication efforts.” That’s a lot of blah, blah, blah, but it’s the catalyst for my daily zooming.
When I look at my goals for the year, I feel like I’m working toward them. It’s the time commitment that’s already a little frustrating. For example, one of my goals to accomplish before next June is to “standardize the University College Online Course Quality Model for adoption by the University for undergraduate online courses.” This is a goal that requires a lot of face-to-face brokering with various stakeholders among the schools, colleges, and administration. Without dedicating a set amount of time each week to this specific goal, I’m now wondering how realistic it is.
