Organizational Development, Equity, and Health

“At a University, success is measured in decades, not years.”    - University of Alberta President, Indira Samarasekera   Did you know that in ten years the number of registrations for OLE programs has surpassed 12,231?!!  Dale Reesor on goals and strategies Last Friday the OLE team had the opportunity to showcase our teachings and talents among each other, as part of our team retreat entitled ‘OLE Next’. Being primarily facilitators ourselves, we sure know how to create excitement around goal setting and accountabilities. Within a couple of hours, we had participated in ice breakers, brainstorming sessions, and a mini world café designed to lay the groundwork for the future of OLE over the next ten years. What can we say, we take strategic planning seriously! Emerging from the world café were three beacons of guidance for the OLE team to work towards over the next 10 years along with several possible strategies about how to achieve them....

Pro tip: Don’t lick the frost on the swing set, it doesn’t taste like candy. If you are anything like OLE Program Advisor, Dale Reesor, you may have been that child back in grade school who deliberately pushed the boundaries of authority figures, testing limitations and doing the exact opposite of what was suggested… you may have licked the frost off of the cold swing set pole. Sadly, yet effectively, this was a pain not soon forgotten and never again repeated. What happened in that playground was likely part of an internalization of learning that encompasses many themes included in what Daniel Goleman calls Emotional Intelligence . Emotional Intelligence in the workplace (and any context, for that matter) includes five important elements: Self Awareness, Self Regulation,  Motivation,  Empathy, and  Social Skill.    For two days last month the Faculty of Medicine and Dentistry: Academic Leadership cohort, met in ECHA to engage in the discovery su...

Have you heard about the Employment Equity Program here on campus? OLE and the University of Alberta are collaborating with EmployAbilities and On Site Placement Services to create voluntary opportunities for persons with disabilities to gain meaningful work experience. Not only will this program enable University employees to support and engage in community outreach with the broader Edmonton community, it will enhance their own individual diversity awareness and skills and help them to complete special projects that have been relegated to the "wish list." Through the Professionals with Disabilities and the Junior Office Assistant Work Exposure Programs, UofA faculty and staff will be introduced to: inclusive interviewing techniques  implementing work-place accommodations  welcoming newcomers to the workplace  enhancing supervisory skills, and  gaining experience working with individuals with differing abilities  To learn more about these pr...

OLE is pleased to congratulate and promote the Research Services Office (RSO) for their commitment to transformation and change! On Tuesday October 16th, more than seventy RSO staff participated in an ‘All-In event’ designed to rollout their 2013–2015 strategic plan. The event involved strategic planning team members presenting on the background of the planning process. This was followed up with a strategy marketplace, also known as the 'creative' part of the event. This included seven uniquely personalized booths. Each presenting group used innovative designs to describe the objectives of the plan to their fellow colleagues. The booths used fun and experiential learning activities to demonstrate how the objectives of the strategic plan: align to the University’s Academic Plan, are driven by clients, are enabled by the RSO internal processes, and are powered by the RSO people. One participant commented: “It was a fun and engaging event creating understandin...

  Skillsoft: Online tools to enhance your skills! In January 2012, OLE launched an online learning resource through Skillsoft Canada, and since the launch, over 5000 staff and faculty members have been given access to the resource. Just-In-Time Training Think your schedule is just too busy to do anything outside of your existing workload? Keeping your skills and knowledge up-to-date through training and development is something you need to truly invest in and maintain. Stretch and improve your skills so you can be more efficient and effective. Skillsoft allows you to take training when you are able, instead of waiting for a course to be offered. Learning assets are broken into smaller modules, where one module may take you only 20 or 30 minutes and the bookmarking features make it easy to come back to where you left off. Think you already have a baseline knowledge? Don’t want to take the entire course? Take a course test and skip over sections of content that you a...

As a team of educators and facilitators, we are passionate about the learning of others, and by extension are always looking to learn ourselves. The third week in September offered a couple of our team member’s opportunities to do just that. During the first part of the week, PeopleSoft User Training Program Co-ordinator, Kim MacLock, attended a three day session offered through the CACE (Certificate in Adult and Continuing Education) program at the Faculty of Extension. The course was about understanding learning styles and learning preferences, as well as the best ways to work with those as an educator/facilitator. Kim learned about learners with preferences for reflection, questioning, planning and action. In addition it was discussed how some learners learn best from visuals, some from all things ‘audio’ and others who are kinesthetic. In OLE, we work to ensure that all preferences are accommodated in our sessions. This is one of the reasons they are so engaging and of inte...

FoMD Academic Leadership GOLD Program pilot orientation After more than a year in planning, the Office of the Provost in partnership with the Faculty of Medicine & Dentistry (FoMD) and Organizational Learning and Effectiveness, launched the FoMD Academic Leadership Development Pilot program with more than forty in attendance. Over a year ago, Dr. Verna Yiu (Acting Dean, Faculty of Medicine & Dentistry), Dr. Stewart Hamilton (Director, Faculty Professionalism and Leadership, FoMD) and Victor Shewchuk (Senior Advisor, Organizational Learning and Effectiveness), identified a need to provide academic leaders with opportunities to enhance their leadership skills. After setting a Gold Standard for quality and excellence, the Academic Leadership Development GOLD program was initiated. The Orientation session was attended by a learning cohort of twenty Physicians, Chairs, and Department Heads from the Faculty of Medicine & Dentistry. Also in attendance and bringing openi...