The Professional Development Community of Practice hosted its inaugural professional development conference for Virginia Tech faculty and staff, "Influencing Change and Solving Wicked Problems,” also known as WickedCon, sponsored by Technology-Enhanced Learning and Online Strategies (TLOS) and Human Resources Talent Development in early May.

Nearly 300 employees attended the one-day conference both in person and virtually. Twenty-one concurrent presentations offered throughout the day provided development opportunities in six tracks: technology as a tool, accessibility as a solution, shared governance as a change strategy, shared resources for influencing change and solving wicked problems, engagement strategies, and examples of leading where you are.

“The opportunity to partner with professional development colleagues like TLOS represents how we can crowdsource development opportunities for employees across the university … and we’re just getting started,” said Greg Beecher, director for talent development in Human Resources.

“It was great to see employees engaged and learning from one another,” said Aaron Bond, senior director of learning services in TLOS. “The event was successful because of the energy and work that volunteers from the Professional Development Community of Practice provided.”

Employees respond

Presenters and attendees alike brought questions and ideas as they explored the presentations, enjoyed networking, and engaged with new technology. Feedback from the conference included:

  • “I left with a much better understanding and appreciation of instructional design, and I need to learn a lot more about TLOS and how they can assist my unit.” 
  • “My most memorable takeaway came a day later when the positivity of the ‘making your own happiness’ closing remarks started to reappear in my thoughts. It was uplifting and continues to be in my mind.”
  • “Knowing the university governance structure is helpful to implement change.”
  • “The keynote speeches brought up quite a few aspects of my teaching that I think I need to be conscious about.”
  • “I enjoyed actually testing the sites I use for accessibility.”
  • “I definitely will look into using Zoom Events for our next multi-session virtual conference.”
  • “The whole conference was a very positive experience for me.”
  • “I look forward to next year's training. Thank you!”

This year’s morning keynote speaker was Rob Moore, assistant professor of educational technology at the University of Florida in the School of Teaching and Learning, and the director of the Investigating Digital Ecologies to Advance Transformative Education Research Lab in the Institute for Advanced Learning Technologies. Moore’s research examines the processes and structures that impact learner experiences in digital environments. Moore’s session focused on designing and delivering impactful training programs using elements of audience analysis, backwards design, and rapid prototyping.

This year's afternoon keynote speaker was Bryan Garey, vice president for human resources. With more than 25 years of human resources and organizational development experience, Garey is spearheading change at Virginia Tech that will position Human Resources to better support a work environment and experience for faculty and staff to develop and thrive in support of the university’s bold Beyond Boundaries vision. Garey’s session provided practical strategies to enhance relationships and improve an individual’s ability for a proactive response.

Zoom Events gives more options

WickedCon was the second conference at Virginia Tech to use the Zoom Events platform. The platform leverages all the features of an online seminar while allowing central management of a multiple-session hybrid event with up to 1,000 participants.

The fully customizable platform allows conference planners to bulk upload session data, group related sessions into tracks, and add images such as speaker photos and logos. Presenters can embed videos and other materials, such as a copy of the presentation or supplemental documents, and they can share polls and quizzes with multiple question types. The platform’s full suite of analytics tracks all interactions and can report what sessions participants attended, polls or quizzes they answered, and materials they accessed.

In-person participants can use the platform to select sessions to attend, chat with colleagues, follow along with the presentation, and access polls, quizzes, and other supplemental materials. Online participants can also move between sessions without interrupting the presentation. Using the Expo feature and a personal Zoom breakout room, all logged-in participants can have chance conversations just like if they were at an in-person conference or event.

“From a support and logistics perspective, this platform makes it a lot cleaner and easier to centrally manage events,” said Dan Yaffe, TLOS learning technologies specialist. “Plus, the built-in meeting features encourage virtual collaboration and a feeling of community.”

For questions regarding the Zoom Events platform, email tlos@vt.edu.

Save the date for 2024

“It was great to see the success of this year’s inaugural conference,” said Garey. “The response from faculty and staff shows there is demand for more development opportunities on these and other topics relevant to the challenges leaders and employees face in today’s workplace. Human Resources, in partnership with other teams at the university, is poised to answer that demand.”

Next year’s slightly more wicked conference will be May 2, 2024. Mark your calendars.

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