As another school year comes to a close, it’s time to reflect on our work over the past year as well as what we can do as educators to improve and prepare for the upcoming academic year.
Some of the impacts OBTA members are having are at the state level. Matt White and Stephen Lewis have been serving on an Ohio Department of Education advisory committee where they continue to provide input on ODE’s revisions to Ohio’s learning standards for science, social studies, and financial literacy. Impacting post-secondary education, I have been serving on an ODE panel that is investigating the use of the Information Technology College Level Examination Program (CLEP) exam to provide students the opportunity to earn college credit in Ohio for knowledge they may have gained through secondary study or professional experience. These are example of the kinds of work we hope to continue in the future.
To prepare for the upcoming year, many educators will be seeking out professional development opportunities. One opportunity is very close to home, the OBTA and NCBEA joint conference in Columbus on September 29th at Columbus State Community College. Our planning team is working hard to organize a great professional development conference that will offer opportunities to both secondary and post-secondary educators. Please help us spread this affordable professional development opportunity to all the business educators you know. Additionally, if you are interested in submitting a session proposal, please visit OBTA-Ohio.org.
We can all help strengthen OBTA. One thing we can all do is spread the word to more people and to people in similar disciplines and in both secondary and post-secondary institutions. Furthermore, as we expand to support post-secondary educators, we hope to attract educators in the areas of finance, marketing, accounting, information technology, and others related to the business field.
Finally, if you are looking for service opportunities, we have several positions open that can give you a chance to make a difference in business education in Ohio. Please contact me at maysta@miamioh.edu if you want to learn more about how you can help OBTA and business education in Ohio.
I hope to see you at the joint OBTA and NCBEA conference on September 28-29 in Columbus. Here’s to an enjoyable and productive summer!