Your Hopes for the Program Management Community

This is a time of transition and change in LINCS communities. It’s a great time for you to be able to influence that change.

We want to hear your hopes for the Program Management CoP. Please share them now!

For some here the Program Management CoP is a way to:

  • Get information: what’s new, what’s good, how are adult education program managers using xyz, what does the research say, what professional development opportunities are there (e.g. LINCS resources, conferences, webinars, blogs)?
  • Get information to solve a problem or challenge by posting a description of it on the CoP and asking for ideas or information from colleagues about how they have addressed it
  • Dialogue with colleagues about issues of interest or concern
  • Hang out” and absorb information, to learn more about how those with more experience have been managing adult education programs, especially for those who are new to program management or administration
  • Meet people online and then in person at training or conferences, get to know colleagues who have similar interests and passions
  • Meet like-minded people who are working on specific program management challenges (aligning curriculum to standards; helping teachers get up to speed with new assessments, especially the new high school equivalency assessments; writing grants and getting funds; learning about new technologies that can improve programs; and others)
  • Explore deeply and possibly over time a particular program management function such as:
    • Recruitment
    • Screening
    • Waiting lists
    • Efficient ways to develop curriculum
    • Open Education Resources
    • Blended (face-to-face and online) learning
    • Management information systems
    • Online tutoring
    • Online training and professional development for teachers and tutors
    • Supervision
    • Formative assessment
    • Access to low-cost wireless routers for your classrooms
    • Access to low-cost computers for teachers and for students
    • Micro-credentials for adult learners, and perhaps for teachers, such as digital badges
    • Free Google Drive tools and how adult educators are using them
    • Digital literacy and problem solving in technology-rich environments
    • What else?
  • Get information about using LINCS vetted resources, or even what these are

 

Some may have enjoyed a particular feature of this community, such as:

  • Expert panels on particular topics organized by the moderator
  • Discussions here between two or more CoPs
  • Postings about upcoming trainings and conferences
  • What else?

If so, tell us that.

Finally, if there are some things -- even if its only one thing -- that you definitely don’t want changed, tell us about that.

Please reflect on what you want to get from and contribute to this community. Then, please share your reflections and hopes here with all of us between now and Monday, April 6th

David J. Rosen

Program Management CoP Moderator

djrosen123@gmail.com

Comments

Program Management colleagues,

We really _do_ want you to weigh in, and you _don't_ have to wait until April 6th. Please let us hear from you now. This is your community of practice. Please reflect on what you want to get from and contribute to this community. Then, please share your reflections and hopes here with all of us.

If for no other reason, please reply so that you don't have to see more reminders from me about this.  ; - )

Thanks,

David J. Rosen

Program Management CoP Moderator

djrosen123@gmail.com
 

I was in a meeting last week where program administrators expressed their disillusionment and discouragement with all of the changes that are occurring in adult education. it was almost as if so much was changing that you didn't know where too start....WIOA, CCRS, career pathways, reporting. How do we help practitioners manage change and avoid burnout? 

Thanks Kay and Jim,

You both have put your finger on a major concern of adult education program managers, one that needs attention at every level: federal, state and program levels. For example, I have recently chatted with state level administrators who are feeling burned out, too!

Here are three suggestions, and I would like to hear more:

  • In one state, program administrators communicated to state administrators that while they thought aligning their curricula with CCRS made sense, the timeline had to be adjusted, and the state responded by adjusting it.
  • In another state, over the past several years, programs have weaned themselves from public funding because they have found the demands unreasonable and, as I think Jim was suggesting, in conflict with their organizational mission.
  • In still another state, a program manager regularly dialogues with her state program manager about the demands on programs, and they work out what _is_ possible that will not cause burnout or compromise of their mission.

What strategies have others -- you -- found that help address this critical issue? How can administrators -- at every level help to manage change and avoid their own and others' burnout. Let's hear from program administrators, state administrators and federal administrators on this important and difficult challenge.

David J. Rosen

Program Management CoP Moderator

djrosen123@gmail.com

It's TRUE! We are suffering from too much change, too rapid change, too many mandates, too little funding, ...  Need I go on?

Truth is that this is as it has always been, so far as I can tell. And there are no real answers. There are only choices to be made. 

The choices made by the three programs David highlighted, seem smart. 

Does anyone know the CORE mandate, i.e., intent of all these changes? What is it?  Can we identify it?

In my previous situations I was able to identify a core mandate, or stated intent of the legislation that created the program. 

Then, whatever my work, I made sure it was clearly focussed on that mandate. For example, in Child Protective Services it was to do that which is in the "best interest of EACH child." 

What is it in Adult Education? 

Hello,

It's good to see a Forum like this during, what I consider, trying times. There is usually a strain between the mission of an organization and the demands placed on ABE by funders and new or enhanced challenges brought about by political changes.

I'm concerned by what has been gained or lost as a result of these changes and what management challenges programs have to face.

How has the direction of programs been altered, or in other words, how has management effected mission?

 

Program Management Colleagues,

Thanks to those who have responded with their hopes for this community, but frankly, I am underwhelmed and disappointed by how few people have responded. It makes me wonder how many of the several hundred program management members actually read and reflect on these posts.

I would really, really  like to hear from you. Now, please. Time is running out. Let me know you are there and that you care.

Your Program Management Community of Practice Moderator, David J. Rosen

djrosen123@gmail.com