EDU Strategic Planning Process

The EDU set the goal of having a 3-year strategic plan in place by July 2015 to guide our practices and approaches.  The plan will be used to strengthen our individual and collective ability to build teaching and learning capacity at the University of Calgary.

The process of creating the strategic plan began with the formation of the EDU Strategic Planning Committee (SPC) in late August 2014. The SPC designed a one-year consultative process that engaged and represented the interests and need of all members and groups of the EDU (see timeline presented in Table 1 below).The committee met biweekly to plan, ensure timelines were met and to collaboratively lead the EDU through the planning process. Through reviewing strategic plans from other education development centres, the committee identified the need for a responsive and flexible living plan that is continuously shaped to meaningfully inform everyday practices, activities and approaches.  The EDU was engaged early with a collaborative effort to establish a baseline of existing EDU practices. Next the committee planned and facilitated an initial retreat in September 2014 that informed the writing of the EDU vision, mission and principles of practice. Two more retreats in January and April 2015 brought together the EDU to define goals, actions and strategies and finally to develop an assessment plan. After each of the retreats the committee met to summarize the outcomes and then gather feedback from the entire EDU to ensure the interests and needs of all members and groups were reflected in the plan (see Figure 1).

Table 1: Timeline for Developing the EDU Strategic Plan

Task	Timeline	People
Review other strategic planning documents to determine what we like and what we would improve upon	End of August	Strategic Planning Committee (SPC)
Prepare for EDU visioning retreat	End of August	SPC
Conduct an inventory and baseline of existing EDU practices	End of August	SPC and all members of EDU
Develop an EDU fall strategic planning retreat plan	September	SPC
Facilitate and participate in EDU strategic planning retreat (e.g. our vision, mission and principles of practice)	October	SPC and all members of EDU
Summarize outcomes of EDU strategic planning retreat	November	SPC
Consult with EDU groups to gather feedback on outcomes of Strategic Planning Retreat #1	November	SPC and all members of EDU
Refine Principles, Vision and Mission	December	SPC
Plan for EDU retreat #2 (Goals, Strategies and Actions)	December	SPC
Facilitate and Participate in EDU Retreat #2 – Priorities, Strategies, Goals	January	SPC
Consult with EDU groups to gather feedback on outcomes of second strategic planning Retreat	February	SPC and all members of the EDU
Refine EDU Goals, Actions and Strategies	March	SPC
Develop an EDU Retreat #3 – Developing an Assessment Plan	March	SPC
EDU retreat #3  (Developing an Assessment Plan)	April	SPC and all members of the EDU
Draft final Strategic Plan	May	SPC
Consult with EDU and others to gather feedback on the almost final product	June	SPC and all members of the EDU (potentially key members of the academic community as well)
Complete and make public the EDU Strategic Plan	July	SPC