IECA Education on the Move

Back in May 2011, I wrote my first Director’s Message. The main focus of that article explained how I initially became involved with IECA, and it elaborated on one of my two main passions: chapters and chapter development. My other passion will be the theme for this article, and that is my passion for the educational component of IECA.

I always have enjoyed teaching training sessions and presentations for our folks in the West Virginia Division of Highways. Developing training to teach about the latest and greatest thing to come along and how it relates to linear construction always has been a challenge. Doing so feels like trying to put a square peg into a round hole the majority of the time. Most of the rules deal with site development, not linear construction that can cover several miles and multiple watersheds. It can get frustrating at times, but it never gets boring!

I was fortunate to be elected as the technical vice president of the IECA Board of Directors in February 2011. Before this position, I thought I knew everything there was to know about IECA’s education, since I had been involved with the Professional Development Committee (PDC) for a couple of years as the Chapter Advisory Committee’s liaison. But to become more hands-on and involved in the actual decision-making process for IECA’s education and training has re-energized me, and I realize there is much exciting work to be done.

Charles Riling is the technical vice president of the IECA Board of Directors and serves on the Chapter Advisory Committee, Professional Development Committee, and the Educational Track on MS4 Management.

Re-Energized By Education
With the advent of regionalization within IECA, we need to let the world know that IECA as an organization encompasses more than just erosion and sediment control. In fact, it has been many years since that was the sole focus of our organization. But many people still believe that erosion and sediment control is our only focus. For this reason, there were discussions at Environmental Connection 2012 about “re-branding” IECA. The goal is to change the perceived notion that we are a single-minded organization into one where people know that we are multifaceted. While we have known for many years that our education and training goes beyond the standard erosion and sediment control topics and covers all areas of water quality and stormwater management, we need to let others know!

With this need in mind, the PDC started exploring how to make our education more appealing to the nonconventional erosion and sediment control person. One of the first strategies we thought about was making our annual conference educational structure simple and easy to understand.

A New Direction
IECA member J.B. Dixon, as the technology section chair, proposed the concept of assimilating and organizing the then eight technology sections into a more concise and manageable four basic headings. The four headings are identified as follows: Erosion & Sediment Control, Stormwater Management, MS4 Management, and Surface Water Restoration. This reorganization was not an easy task, but J.B. was up to the challenge. The project was two years in the making when the first discussions were held at Environmental Connection 2010 in Dallas, Texas. With J.B.’s expertise in the subject matter and the PDC’s recommendation to the board of directors (BOD) that the changes be accepted, we made a presentation to the BOD at its Environmental Connection 2012 meeting. By unanimous vote, the board gave the PDC the authority to make the changes and to roll out the new “educational tracks.”

With the four educational tracks, people can tell at a glance that we are much more than an erosion and sediment control organization. It will make determining what course of training attendees want to take at the annual conference more user friendly as well. For more information about the new educational tracks, and to examine what topics are included within each track, please read J.B.’s article in the April 2012 issue of Environmental Connection. You also can find more information at http://www.ieca.org/resources/techsectionhome.asp.

Easier Submission Process
In addition to the educational tracks, the PDC took on the task of restructuring the process of submitting presentations for consideration in upcoming Environmental Connection conferences. This process was condensed to a two-step submission process from the previous three steps. The first step is the abstract submittal phase, followed by the presentation phase.

The abstract submittal phase will require the following information: 1) personal/organizational information, 2) title of presentation, 3) type of presentation, 4) level of expertise of participant, 5) learning objectives and summary statement, 6) educational track, and 7) description of presentation.

The presentation submittal phase will include the actual visuals and support materials used in the classroom. In addition to the PowerPoint presentation, handouts are highly encouraged so that participants will have an easy way to take notes. For more detailed information, please go to the following: http://www.ieca.org/membership/getinvolved/submittals/opportunities.asp.

In closing, I would like to thank the hardest working group of people who spend an enormous amount of time and effort to ensure that when we all go to the conference each year, the education we receive is the best anywhere. This group is the Professional Development Committee, composed of IECA member volunteers, with more-than-able assistance from Jimmy Eanes and Natalie Bollinger. When you see any of these folks at the conference, and you like the education that you received, please give them a big THANK YOU.