Newsletter Article

Future 2013: Weigh in on our future, your future

Read and share materials on Future 2013 Intranet site

Comment on Future 2013 Discussion Board

Your input will be part of the plan presented to the Board

FUTURE 2013

Weigh in on our future, your future

It is critical that you take this opportunity to enter into the Future 2013 discussion board and express your thoughts regarding the environment around us and what you see as the future for NWTC. Find out what others are thinking. Join in the conversation! Like my favorite Salada Tea Bag saying, “the best way to cope with change is to be a part of that change”. Take a few minutes and be a part of determining the future of NWTC!

As many of you know, NWTC will celebrate its centennial starting in the fall of 2012 through calendar year 2013. Preliminary plans include historical exhibits, oral histories, and community celebration events. More on that later.

Today, however, NWTC is discussing its future. What do we want NWTC to look like in 2013? What strategic directions will lay the foundation for the next 100 years? What does the community expect of NWTC? This semester we have been conducting an external and internal scan, addressing the following areas:

1. Environmental Scan/Predictable Surprises within the external environment other than within the post-secondary learning delivery process at the national, state, and district/county level

Economic
Demographics
Natural Resources
Impact of Globalization
Technology
Government

2. Environmental Scan/Predictable Surprises within the post-secondary delivery process at the national, state, and district/local level

Education industry market
Investor demand for performance
Productivity
What, when, where, and how in delivery of education
Structure and funding of PK-16 education in Wisconsin
Enrollment patterns and projections PK-12, Tech College, and UW Colleges and Universities
Alternative sources of revenue

3. Environmental Scan/Predictable Surprises within the internal environment of NWTC

Demographics of workforce
Generational differences in workforce
Issues of compensation
Issues of work life

An outside investigator from the League of Innovation has been hired to conduct a literature review and a detailed analysis of existing data within and without our district. Every program advisory committee is addressing a set of questions that provide input on the above topics. The Board of Trustees has spent time discussing these issues at its board meetings. Finally, a three-hour community forum was held on March 12 whereby fifty attendees representing a cross-section of the district discussed and provided input on the following five areas:

1. Describe your Vision of NWTC in 2013

: For Example:

What educational needs should be addressed?
What labor markets should we be addressing?
What is the needed rigor and level of core skills (math, communications, physical sciences, social sciences, humanities, interpersonal) NWTC should be addressing?
In what areas should NWTC provide leadership to Northeast Wisconsin?
What challenges will NWTC face?

2. Future 2013: Social Needs:

What social needs will exist in Northeast Wisconsin?
What role should NWTC play in meeting those needs?

3. Future 2013: Economic Conditions

What will Northeast Wisconsin's economy look like in the next five years with regard to sustaining, emerging, and declining labor markets/industries?

4. Future 2013: Partnership Goals

Describe the desired nature of the relationships to accomplish what purposes NWTC should have with:
1. the higher education community (UW System, New North Technical Colleges, private)
2. the PK-12 education community (local school districts, daycare, early kindergarten)
3. Other key partnerships that need to be developed or sustained (businesses, social service agencies, others)

Future 2013: Alternative Funding

What strategies would you recommend NWTC pursue in developing alternative funding streams to supplement property and state tax revenue?

A website named Future 2013 has been established on the NWTC Intranet. In that site you will find articles, reports, and other items pertaining to the external and internal environment within which we work. I encourage you to submit materials to Mary Jo Tilot to put on the site.

Also included in the site and listed separately on the home page of the NWTC Intranet is a Future 2013 Discussion Board. Here you will find the five questions posed to the community forum as well as a place to make general comments. Each question is listed as a separate thread. Thus, you can enter your thoughts, react to others that have been posted, and do this in an interactive way over time.

Or access the discussion via Blackboard - you could earn 2 Professional Development hours. Go to http://online.nwtc.edu and click Course Login to log into Blackboard using your network login and password. Click the Future 2013 link under My Organizations. Use the buttons on the left to access the discussion forums and other information. This forum will allow faculty, staff, and administrators to explore current issues in higher education and participate in a College-wide conversation.

To earn

one or two professional development hours

Participate in a minimum of 3 discussion board forums. (Participation in 3 forums qualifies for 1 hour of professional development. Participation in all 6 forums qualifies for 2 hours of professional development.)
You must cite one 2013 document or article posted on the intranet for each forum. The link to the documents and articles is available in the Future 2013 Blackboard site.
Click the Professional Development Hours button in the Future 2013 Blackboard site for more information regarding how to get professional development hours for your participation.

If you have any difficulty accessing Blackboard or do not see the Future 2013 organization link, send an email to

Mike VanderHeiden

for assistance.

Your responses to these questions and your general comments will be used as part of the analytical presentation of the environmental scan to the Board and college community. Your input will be used along with those of others listed to form the foundation of the College’s strategic planning discussions that will occur the latter part of this summer through the fall, with a final plan being presented to the Board of Trustees in December 2008. This plan will drive the direction of this College as we approach 2013 and begin our second century.

So … sit back, get a cup of coffee, tea, or soda and get it on the discussion. Visit the Future 2013 Discussion Board!