Chief Executive Officer’s Report, September 2019
Dear Members
At the start of the new academic year and with a successful Annual Conference behind us, I am writing to update you about important developments for the Association.
First, there have been changes to the Board of Trustees and also the staff team in recent months. At this year’s Annual General Meeting the Chair of ALT, Sheila MacNeill, announced the results of this year’s Trustee election to elect two new Trustees to the Board of Trustees and the appointment of the next Vice-Chair. Eight candidates stood for election for two vacancies. Two Trustees were elected: Sharon Flynn and Natalie Lafferty. For the role of Vice-Chair, the selection process was led by a panel consisting of the Chair, President and Chief Executive. The panel recommended the appointment of Keith Smyth which the Board of Trustees has approved. Find out more about the Board of Trustees and individual Trustees.
Also, I am delighted to formally welcome two new members of staff, Debbie Baff and Fiona Jones, who have joined the staff team from 1 September and 10 June respectively. Many Members had the opportunity to meet Fiona, our new Administration Officer, and Debbie, who joins ALT as Membership Manager, at the Annual Conference.
This month also saw the launch of two new CMALT pathways, Associate and Senior CMALT.
Choose your CMALT pathway
You can progress from Associate to CMALT to Senior CMALT or submit your portfolio for any given pathway.
Associate CMALT is likely to be for you if you:
- Are an early-career professional or have just moved into a Learning Technology-related role.
- Have fewer than three years’ experience in a Learning Technology-related role.
- Only engage with Learning Technology as a smaller part of your role, and therefore have a limited range of evidence to draw on.
CMALT is likely to be for you if you:
- Are an established Learning Technology professional or educational practitioner.
- Have three or more years’ experience in a Learning Technology-related role.
- Engage with Learning Technology throughout most aspects of your role.
Senior CMALT is likely to be for you if you:
- Are an experienced Learning Technology professional or educational practitioner with more than three years’ experience in a Learning Technology-focused role.
- Engage closely with Learning Technology as a core part of your role.
- Have management, leadership or strategic responsibilities, or can demonstrate an equivalent level of impact on others through your work.
- Have a research focus in a relevant field.
The CMALT webpages have been updated to include an overview of the new pathways, updated guidance documents and a guide to choosing the right pathway.
There are a number of free webinars scheduled for the coming months to provide information and support for candidates and assessors. You can sign up here. If you have previously registered an interest in Associate or Senior CMALT you will receive an update via email as well.
Over the coming months, there are a number of developments in the works including a new submission and assessment system for CMALT, more community-created peer support resources and examples of portfolios and support for assessors.
This is an important strategic milestone for the Association and long-awaited by Members who are seeking new avenues for professional recognition.
At the meeting of ALT’s Members Assembly in Edinburgh, President of ALT Martin Weller and I also launched the formal consultation with Members for ALT’s next strategy. As a member organisation it is vital that our Members have input into the development of the new strategy and the Strategy Suggestion Box has already received a good number of contributions.
I would like to invite you warmly to come along to the monthly online consultation meetings with the ALT Assembly, join in with the strategy activities during the upcoming winter conference and also participate in the Annual Survey, which will include a dedicated section on strategic priorities.
If you prefer, please reach out personally and contact me directly if you would like to discuss ALT’s next strategy, future priorities or if you have any other comments or concerns. Email me ceo@alt.ac.uk .
Maren Deepwell, Chief Executive of the Association for Learning Technology (ALT), @marendeepwell
If you enjoyed reading this article we invite you to join the Association for Learning Technology (ALT) as an individual member, and to encourage your own organisation to join ALT as an organisational or sponsoring member.