Overview

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Serving as the Coordinator of Technical Services, I was primarily responsible for planning technical requirements for the conference, preparing and conducting technical training (hardware and software familiarization) for conference participants as well as recruiting a team of volunteers to provide technical services on the day of the conference to ensure its smooth execution.  In specific, we had to make sure that all presenters were well equipped with the required hardware to make their presentations.  In addition, we were responsible for ensuring that online conference presenters and participants were well connected and could follow the proceedings smoothly.  At the same time, the team was responsible for recording all conference presentations for archiving purposes.  As a result of everyone working together, IST Conference 2012 was a great success and remembered as the conference with the highest participation and attendance thus far.



Beyond the planning, management and implementation skills described above, I also participated in a poster session, presenting on the Class Motivation Model - which I had developed as part of an assignment for the Instructional Techniques to Facilitate Thinking, Collaboration and Motivation (R546) class.  Drawing on my previous experience in the military, I recalled that instructors often struggled with making connection with their trainees, often attributing it to 'generation gap'.  Drawing upon the many motivational models referenced in class, they similarly emphasized the need of gaining learners' attention but did not touch on the pre-requisites or how to go about doing it.  Hence I put together the five-step model comprised of Care, Lead, Arouse, Support and Secure as a practitioner's guide making connection with learners and subsequently motivating them.