It was really great to see so many Developmental Educators at NADE, including a great many of my Illinois brothers and sisters!
So, what did I think of NADE this year?
Did you go to NADE this year? What did you think?
So, what did I think of NADE this year?
- It was … interesting … to share space with CPAC, the Conservative Political Action Committee. There were times where, because the Vice President was speaking (Thursday) or the President was speaking (Friday) where you couldn’t enter the building, and access was severely restricted.
- I haven’t been to NADE since Colorado (was that 2013?), so my memory and the vagaries of me being older make this observation immediately suspect, but it appeared to me that NADE was much smaller than in years past. Speaking with colleagues from other states, it sounds like many Developmental Education programs have been in states of transition … as someone with skin in the game, I would say the changes have not usually been for the better.
- The general theme of NADE presentations, again from my suspect observations, has changed. Emporium/Mastery models of learning are no longer innovative; now they’re what schools have been doing for some time. Flipped classrooms are similar. It felt as though there were an increasing number of sessions about the mindset and the worldview of the Developmental Education student, with less of a focus on modalities and more of an emphasis on working within preexisting modalities. (If that makes sense.)
- It’s close to impossible to get a good pizza in the Baltimore/Metro DC area without really pursuing it. I didn’t manage to make it work. This is kind of a big deal to me but might not be to you. Sorry, not sorry.
- While I had wonderful sessions, one of the things that I appreciated most about NADE was the ability to just sit with colleagues across the country and just be able to talk with them. There are so many common themes and similarities with which we all share, harmonize, and struggle – but there are also unique cases that I struggle with as a Developmental Educator, and I found that a fresh perspective from someone more distant has been very welcome.
Did you go to NADE this year? What did you think?