Professional Development Advisory Group

Introduction

The Professional Development Advisory Group is responsible for planning and coordinating training and professional development programs within ITS as well as offerings for the broader IT@UofT community. The overarching goal is to introduce flexible opportunities to enhance the skills, knowledge and engagement of our IT staff, in alignment with and support of our IT@UofT strategic framework and the activities of the Education, Awareness and Culture (EAC) unit.

Objectives

The primary objectives of the advisory group are as follows:

1. Identifying topics of interest: Collaborate to identify relevant and timely topics for training and development. These topics should align with the evolving needs of our IT environment and community.
2. Alignment across program elements: Provide coherence in planning across various program elements, including workshops, online training and other professional development activities. Ensure alignment and coordination between ITS program initiatives (EAC events, IT@UofT conference, Information Security, ITS town halls); training offered by individual ITS units; and training offered by other U of T offices such as the Centre for Leadership, Learning & Culture (LLC).
3. Annual planning and scheduling: Develop an annual plan and schedule of activities that address the diverse needs of staff at all levels. The schedule should be well-balanced, considering both foundational and advanced learning opportunities, technical skills as well as people skills.
4. Staff engagement, development and retention: Promote staff engagement and retention by increasing visibility of development opportunities and promoting our core value of nurturing a culture of learning.

Composition of the advisory group

The advisory group will consist of the following members:

• Chairpersons – two (2) – Laurie Harrison, Director, Digital Learning Innovation and Kalyani Khati, Associate Director, Information Security Strategic Initiatives
• Managers from ITS units: A PM/manager from each ITS unit will provide diverse perspectives and expertise: Enterprise Infrastructure Solutions (EIS), Enterprise Applications and Solutions Integration (EASI), Academic, Research & Collaborative (ARC) technologies, Education, Awareness & Culture (EAC), Business Operations & Administration (BOA), Planning, Governance & Assessment (PGA), and Information Security (IS).
• IT@UofT liaisons – two (2): Two external liaisons to provide divisional input on IT@UofT programming
• Representative from LLC in the Division of People Strategy, Equity & Culture (PSEC).

Roles and responsibilities

Advisory group members will be asked to undertake the following:

• Participate actively in quarterly meetings.
• Contribute to topic identification and program alignment.
• Assist in identifying presenters or experts.
• Ensure alignment with other program initiatives (IT@UofT conference, Information Security, Microsoft training) and training planned within individual ITS units.
• Support review processes.
• Champion the annual training plan.

Program elements

Program elements include, but are not limited to:

• Thursday@3 series
• Microsoft specialized training and Enterprise Skill Initiative (ESI)
• Orientation programming
• ITS all-managers meetings
• Buddy program support
• Promotion of other U of T learning opportunities; organization programs (Canada’s Community of Information Technology Leaders [CUCCIO]; EDUCAUSE; Gartner; eCampusOntario)
• Connect+Learn

Advisory group target activities and outputs

• Needs assessment: Conduct annual needs assessment to identify training gaps and unit requirements.
• Topic selection: Collect input from directors and units to prioritize training topics.
• Program schedule: Prepare for annual program launch in fall term, with activities to be reviewed and updated quarterly with iteration as needed.
• Promotion and support: Act as liaison to ITS units/work teams/committees/divisions to promote activities and encourage participation.
• Feedback and refinement: Seek feedback from leadership and participants annually and adjust the plan as needed.

Program activities will be implemented throughout the year with support from EAC regarding strategy, scheduling and communication, and from the CIO’s administrative assistant for note taking, action item tracking, advisory group meeting scheduling, metric tracking, etc.

Reporting and evaluation

The advisory group will provide an annual report to the ITS directors and chief information officer. This will include an annual evaluation to summarize feedback on the training initiatives and their value to staff.

Membership

Name	Title	Role
Laurie Harrison	Director, Digital Learning Innovation, ITS	Co-Chair
Kalyani Khati	Associate Director, Information Security Strategic Initiatives, ITS	Co-Chair
Bill Brennan	Assistant Director, Learning and Leadership Development, LLC, PSEC	Divisional partner
Frank Boshoff	Assistant Director, Technical Solutions & Architecture, EASI	ITS member
Douglas Carson	Senior Manager, Enterprise Networking, EIS	ITS member
Andrea Eccleston	Executive Assistant, Office of the Chief Information Officer, ITS	Administrative resource
Jordan Holmes	Senior Manager, Teaching, Learning & Technology, ARC	ITS member
Ravneet Kaur	Director, Strategy and Business Transformation, University of Toronto Scarborough	Divisional partner
Kanupriya Kejriwal	Manager, Risk Management, IS	ITS member
Brett Lavoie	Manager, IT Operations and Support, Faculty of Dentistry	Divisional partner
Marden Paul	Director, Planning, Governance and Assessment, PGA	ITS member
Gary Raposo	Acting Assistant Director, Human Resources Information System, EASI	ITS member
Carrie Schmidt	Senior Manager, Education, Awareness & Culture, EAC	ITS member
Julian Weinrib	Associate Director, Student Information Systems, EASI	ITS member