It’s a Wrap…

Wow, so much has happened over the last what, 8-9 weeks? A huge chunk of the semester…I must say, though, the “it’s a wrap” timing was perfect…just in time for crazy busy grading...

My initial reflections on this 9x9x25 blog experience? It was not an easy task. Seemed I would remember sometime over the weekend that I needed to write something for my blog…and somehow, would manage to post in the 11^th hour on Sunday night.

Suffice to say, completing the entire 9 weeks was a lot to take on… But like many survivors of grad school, I hung in there…

Todd sent us a few possible prompts for this final week: “please write a reflection on the whole 9x9x25 event. Maybe share how it could be improved and what seemed to work. Is this something, or something like it, that could be added to our existing notions of the “probationary portfolio” or even something that could be added to yearly development plans? Could this be done by divisions? Shall we have staff participate next year if they wish?”

Let me tackle the last questions first… For the next go-round, I’d most certainly welcome staff (I mean, didn’t we have that this time as well, some staffers who also teach?) I say, the more the merrier, as the whole nine week shebang is a lot to commit to…

I do like the idea of perhaps incorporating the 9x9x25 into a probationary portfolio… However, given that even many seasoned faculty members were reluctant to sign on, I’m thinking that our newbies might be, well, a bit timid to “put themselves out there”… (Speaking of which, I’d like to give a special shout out to Verde sociology adjunct Erin Whitesitt, who shared so many great insights in her posts…)

Another shout out to other Verde faculty who represented in a major way, with Jason, Sal, Joanne, Charlie, Tina, Chris -- and me -- plus Todd -- I mean, depending on how you calculate it, we were close to 50% of the bloggers (yay us!!)

In terms of including a 9x9x25-ish blog in yearly development plans, or by divisions… I’m not sure that would be necessary… I think allowing participants to opt in or out is always the way to go… I also like keeping the themes very open and general. It was so fascinating to read what my colleagues chose to write about each week.

As for me, personally, I’m not sure I’d have anything new to say if I tried this in another year. This is all I’ve got ;-)) So it’s a wrap…and I’m out…

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