Ocotillo Chairs Role

This document is a set of guidelines to assist Ocotillo Faculty chairs in identifying their roles, assuming that they may vary at the local level.

What is an Ocotillo Chair?
An Ocotillo Chair is a full-time faculty member representing the local group or roundtable at their college ("TLTR", "College Ocotillo", "ICC", "CTC", etc) that addresses the issues of teaching and learning with technology. These local groups are based loosely on the Teaching Learning Technology Roundtable (TLTR) concept (see TLT Group for more information) of having wide representation on committees that make instructional technology decisions at a college. A set of suggested guidelines were proposed at the 1997 Ocotillo Retreat when the old Ocotillo model was "overturned" into our current structure.

Each Ocotillo College Chair is compensated the equivalent of 3 hours of release time in both the Spring and Fall semester to serve their college functions as members of local the "TLTR" activity as well as representing their roundtable at the District level meetings and activities of Ocotillo.

College Level Role
The Ocotillo Chair may lead or participate as a member of a college "roundtable". They are a leader in local issues that relate to technology as used for teaching and learning. They provide a conduit for ideas and solutions communicated via the district Ocotillo group, and they bring local issues to the district meetings.

The functions of local roundtable groups are varied; some are decision making bodies for technology, some are groups that advise technology decision committees, some are focused on brainstorming and promoting the issues of teaching and learning as they relate to technology. Some meet every two weeks, once a month, some meet only electronically. Most are directly involved in the technology planning process at the college. Most chairs are involved as members of college Strategic Planning processes.

Ocotillo chairs regularly consult their Dean of Instruction (DI) and/or President on technology issues. Note that the DI is considered the Ocotillo Co-chair for his/her college

District Level Role
Ocotillo Chairs attend the monthly meetings at District Office, held the second Friday in September, October, November, December, February, March, and April of each academic year. This schedule is provided at least by early August. If a chair cannot attend a meeting, working with their DI, they are expected to designate a college representative.

The Chairs are expected to communicate local issues to the district group and participate in the planning and promotion of Ocotillo events- the May retreat, technology dialogue days planned during the year, and other activities that support the current Ocotillo goals. The Ocotillo support team will set up meetings (and snacks!) and can provide the chairs requested readings from articles, books, and reports.