11/20/07 OLC Continuing Education Task Force Reports Survey Results
Ohio Library Council's Task Force on Continuing Education completed its work on November 9, 2007 with a report of recommendations to the Board of Directors. Task force members were appointed by the Board last year to complete a special project for the organization of looking at four specific areas related to continuing education:
- Member satisfaction with the quality of OLC events,
- Member satisfaction with planning for and presenting at OLC events,
- Member interest in distance learning, and
- Member participation in the certification program.
Last summer 949 members took a survey designed by consultants Howard Fleeter and Jennifer Olejownik with input and guidance from the CE Task Force. Results of that survey were compiled, discussed by the Task Force, and shared with the OLC Board of Directors and OLC leaders at the Leadership Conference in early November.
General findings include:
- 88% of respondents were “satisfied” or “very satisfied” with the quality, content, and relevance of OLC's educational offerings.
- 85% felt that OLC events are fairly priced and a good value.
- Nearly ¾ of respondents found planning or presenting at OLC events to be personally and professionally rewarding and worth the time spent.
- 53% of respondents had no experience at all with distance learning and of the 47% who did, 23% were “satisfied” or “very satisfied” with their experience.
- 86% of respondents prefer a mix of peer-to-peer training and professional trainers and consultants at OLC educational events.
- 93% of respondents were “satisfied” or “very satisfied” with the format of OLC educational events.
- 94% of respondents were “satisfied” or “very satisfied” with communication about OLC events.
Members interested in learning more about the results of the survey can read the
consultants' executive report.
Task force members met in August to review survey results and to begin to compile their recommendations to the OLC Board. Those recommendations include:
1. Continue Current Educational Programming
Since member satisfaction with the content, relevance, format, duration, and cost of OLC's current program offerings is very high and very positive, the task force recommends staying the course. That is, to continue to develop and offer high quality events, presented by a combination of peers and outside professionals, the content of which is timely and relates closely to the continually changing work of public library employees.
2. Review and Modify Program Submission Process
The task force recommends that appropriate OLC staff work with the Library Education Committee and to review the submission process and program forms with the view in mind of streamlining both, develop a more efficient method to help members understand why programs were rejected, develop a consistent way of sharing evaluations with speakers , and continually work to insure that all OLC units understand the submission process and follow it in a timely and professional manner.
3. Expand Programming Throughout the State; Monitor Distance Learning Opportunities
The results of the survey do not indicate an overwhelming mandate from the membership for OLC to develop distance learning opportunities, nor do members wish to lose the opportunities for professional exchange and networking that face-to-face training represents. The task force recommends that, for the immediate future, OLC offer quality programs in various areas of the state through training partnerships with member libraries and other providers. The task force believes that the field of distance learning is an emerging one which the association cannot ignore and recommends that OLC monitor the development of distance learning tools and options, and seek out extant learning programs, evaluate them, and promote them, when appropriate, to the general membership.
4. Continue Certification Program
Because the certification designation appears to be important to many OLC members, the task force recommends the continuation of the certification program with ongoing promotion through Access and e xploration of ways to acknowledge the certification status of members (e.g. lapel pins; including certification status when introducing speakers at conferences, etc.) as well as ways to make the designation meaningful to public librarians.
Task Force Chair Kris Gill said, “The process of reviewing OLC's educational programming efforts was both challenging and engaging. It was gratifying to realize that OLC's educational programs are so well regarded by the membership. At the same time we learned about things that can be done to make a strong program even better and to continue to expand it in ways meaningful to our members.” Task Force members included Cindy Lombardo, Julia Walden, Karen Albury, Laura Solomon, Nancy Foth, Pat Carterette, Becky Kahl-Ranollo, Steve Herminghausen, and Tom Adkins.
