Meetings

With the end of the semester and school year comes the meetings and conferences.  Last week I was out at a conference only to come back for a day of leadership meetings and a two day retreat for our school.  While these events take me away from my work and put me further behind in my to-do list, I do gain a lot from these events (my to-do list also gets much longer with new ideas I want to implement).

One of the great things about academia is the autonomy.  I'm free to discover and learn new ideas and methods and incorporate these into my classes and administrative processes.  With the numerous publications and the instant access to the online journal databases, new ideas are easy to disseminate.  The biggest challenge is sifting through all of the great ideas to focus on those that are most important to me.  While there are so many articles and books I want to read, I only have very limited time to explore these new ideas.

Now back to meetings.  These meetings at the end of the semester allow faculty an opportunity to share and learn from each other.  We don't always have to reach out to the literature to find new practices.  We can often find new ideas from our colleagues down the hall or across campus.  While meeting can become tedious at times, they can also offer value in the new insight we gain from collaborating with our colleagues.

New knowledge surrounds us.  It is in our libraries, at the conferences and meetings, and also in the discussions with our peers.  There are always new opportunities to learn.  Now hopefully once these meetings begin to subside over the summer months I'll be able to digest some of these new ideas and incorporate them into my classes and administrative processes.