The College Sector Committee once again followed its winning formula in planning the 2006 CSC Provincial Conference for program managers, faculty/classroom support staff and administrative support staff involved in the delivery of Academic Upgrading at all 24 colleges. This formula includes hosting the conference at a central location to ensure maximum participation, choosing a fanciful, future-oriented theme to guarantee a fun, creative atmosphere, and providing a variety of professional development (PD) formats on relevant topics to respond to the needs of the different groups attending the conference.
Last year, 97% of participants reported that they enjoyed having the conference at a college site and 89% found the accommodation satisfactory. The site selected for the 2006 Conference was Seneca College (King Campus) conveniently located just north of Metro Toronto in King Township near Aurora. The campus is situated on 700 acres of rolling, wooded country side. The first week in June continues to be the best time for individuals to attend the conference, so June 1st and 2nd were chosen as the conference dates.
The title of the conference was Let’s “Pond”er the Future, which directed participants to reflect on the significant changes that will be implemented as a result of the One-Stop Training and Employment System. The “Pond” in “Pond”er, too, was an appropriate image, since No Wrong Door, one of the key features of One Stop, is designed to help Ministry funded programs work together more effectively at the community level in addressing the needs of clients. In effect, all of these programs will be “swimming in a bigger pond.” Academic Upgrading programs will be challenged to respond to the needs of an expanding and diversified client base. The learners, therefore, were clearly the focus of the 2006 Conference. Specific professional development (PD) needs were identified through focus groups and surveys – part of two large-scale projects headed up by the CSC. The information gathered through these projects determined the themes for the plenary sessions, workshops and panel discussions.
The 2006 Conference acted on participants’ suggestions and recommendations from last year’s conference as much as possible. One key recommendation was that the conference should be longer. Several participants suggested longer workshops or additional time to attend more workshops. While it was not feasible to expand the conference to three days, the Conference Planning Team did incorporate an additional plenary session into Day 2 on a topic considered highly relevant to all participants.