President’s Report
Hello ILSADE Members! It’s been an absolute pleasure serving as President over the past six months – my Presidency is already halfway over! I know I was never elected, having taken over this role because no one else was interested in it. I hope I can work to build your trust in me. My door is always open – please don’t hesitate to contact me at [email protected] with any comments, questions, thoughts, or ways in which you’d like to help ILSADE build your vision.
These are some of the improvements we’ve made over the course of the last six months of my Presidency:
1) Our website is in need of an update. I’m the best one among the Board at web administration – which is scary, since I’m not very good at it, and it probably shows. A new website, preferably with a dedicated URL, would be a much-needed change for our organization.
2) Our listserv is in need of an update. I’m currently using a listserv from when I was last President in 2014 – I don’t believe there’s one more current available. Building a new listserv is going to be a primary goal of mine going forward.
3) We currently are not effectively targeting potential members. One ILSADE attendee mentioned to me that the only way she knew we existed was because she went to the NADE site first, which directed her to our website.
4) We need new blood, and I need to do a better job of cultivating new members who are interested in becoming the next generation of ILSADE leaders. We currently don’t have a President-Elect and we could also use a new Treasurer – our current Treasurer, Robyn, is doing an excellent job but she’d like to be able to retire. I currently feel as though too much of ILSADE is directed directly through me, which is not good for its robustness.
These are the goals I have for the remainder of my Presidency:
Jason King
Associate Professor, Mathematics and Geography
Moraine Valley Community College
President, ILSADE
Hello ILSADE Members! It’s been an absolute pleasure serving as President over the past six months – my Presidency is already halfway over! I know I was never elected, having taken over this role because no one else was interested in it. I hope I can work to build your trust in me. My door is always open – please don’t hesitate to contact me at [email protected] with any comments, questions, thoughts, or ways in which you’d like to help ILSADE build your vision.
These are some of the improvements we’ve made over the course of the last six months of my Presidency:
- Our Internet traffic is up dramatically. Traffic to the ILSADE Website has improved seven-fold since October.
- We are giving our members more information. Our Blog continues to drive traffic – or, at least, I perceive this to be true, since traffic spikes 0-24 hours after posting new blog entries – and we have increased Facebook members by 31% and average Internet traffic on the Facebook page by 400%.
- We held a conference, which had moderate attendance (40 members), and we are planning another conference in September. Initial feedback has been very positive; I am currently working through the data and will have better results next week. I believe we can get a much larger attendance than 40 in the future.
- We have done more with collaboration. Currently we are collaborating with INADE, the Indiana chapter of NADE, to host a joint conference next Spring, and we look forward to fruitful ventures with them in the future.
1) Our website is in need of an update. I’m the best one among the Board at web administration – which is scary, since I’m not very good at it, and it probably shows. A new website, preferably with a dedicated URL, would be a much-needed change for our organization.
2) Our listserv is in need of an update. I’m currently using a listserv from when I was last President in 2014 – I don’t believe there’s one more current available. Building a new listserv is going to be a primary goal of mine going forward.
3) We currently are not effectively targeting potential members. One ILSADE attendee mentioned to me that the only way she knew we existed was because she went to the NADE site first, which directed her to our website.
4) We need new blood, and I need to do a better job of cultivating new members who are interested in becoming the next generation of ILSADE leaders. We currently don’t have a President-Elect and we could also use a new Treasurer – our current Treasurer, Robyn, is doing an excellent job but she’d like to be able to retire. I currently feel as though too much of ILSADE is directed directly through me, which is not good for its robustness.
These are the goals I have for the remainder of my Presidency:
- I would like for us to have another Conference in September. One of the things I love about going to Conferences isn’t always seeing a new place, or going to workshops – it’s just having the ability to talk to others that are like me in different places. A fresh perspective, a new pair of eyes – these things can be very helpful in gaining perspective. I’d like to have a conference that is more like a retreat in September – limited formality, limited scheduled events, but with lots of time to talk about ideas in a relaxed, comfortable atmosphere. I know many of our members would benefit strongly from this.
- I would like to get new schools and new members into the ILSADE fold. I believe there’s no reason we can’t get Transfer Math and English members more fully into ILSADE. Similarly, tutors, Academic Advisors, Counselors, Intro to College faculty and staff, and all other related administrators all have important roles within Developmental Education, and I believe we would be stronger for their more complete inclusion in what we do.
Thank you for being a part of what we do and for helping out our students – the students who are the most at-risk, the students who need our help the most in order to be successful. Thank you for taking the time to read this and for being invested in ILSADE as an organization. I look forward to celebrating our students’ success with you down the road!
Jason King
Associate Professor, Mathematics and Geography
Moraine Valley Community College
President, ILSADE