Take My (Old) Job

It just goes to show that on the net, someone is always finding things out for you.

Doug H was kind enough to let me know that he spotted on the Chronicle an announcement for the Instructional Technologist position at Maricopa I vacated in April. They must have scooped it from the local newspaper ad, as from what I was told, it opens to external applicants next week.

So if you are in the hunt for a great position, and can take the heat (the heat of Phoenix, meaning that you can restrain your self when someone reflexively utters, “it’s a dryyyyyyyyy heat”), then sharpen up your resumes. I am glad for my old office that they have started the HR wheels in motion, but I am not vested in the details, so please do not write me asking questions about the job. Do your research, prime your materials, and give it your best shot. I have no inside tracks.

If you do ask, I may flip off something like, “Be sure to trash talk web technology (everyone knows that blogs are just teen diaries, wikis are for liars, RSS is useless), and boast of the future of VHS, overheads, and HyperCard.”

This I will say– I cannot say that in the 14 years I was there I really heard of another similar position in terms of the freedom to initiate and provide leadership in instructional technology, and the incredible support at all levels…. and how fortunate I was they took a big roll of the dice on a green, PhD program drop out back in 1992.

But as I advised my colleagues when I left, that it is also time for someone to come in and perhaps take the position in a different direction– I am at heart a techie with some experience and good intuition in teaching, but mostly I liked coding and building and experimenting directly with technology, and taking it to the people in the system, but that is not to say that the job cannot take another slant. Maricopa has a great reputation, well earned, is a healthy organization, plenty of resources, and you will find some of the most innovative and committed faculty anywhere.

So do your homework, just about everything we did from 1993 onward is stuffed somewhere in the sprawl of the MCLI web site (which will somehow become the domain of the new hire… there are some 50+ pages of documentation waiting for you).

You do get a nice office with a fair amount of tech goodies…. and a window. How about that?