Learning Proposal and Process
Are you interested in developing a professional development event or course with SWE? To be considered for future offerings, you must complete the learning proposal form below. Please note that only individuals selected to speak will receive a reply due to the volume of submissions we receive. Although we truly appreciate all your ideas and proposals, it is simply not feasible for us to respond personally to every submission.
Speaker Expectations
All speakers are expected to work with SWE to provide high-quality content and engaging learning experiences in addition to the following:
- Timelines:
- Submit live event learning proposals at least 45 days before the event date to ensure adequate marketing time. Live events that do not have 35 registrations two days before the scheduled event may be asked to reschedule the session outside the Advance Learning Center.
- If you are interested in having SWE develop an eLearning course, please submit the proposal six months in advance to allow time to determine the scope of work.
- On-demand webinars must submit the learning proposal and recording at least 10 days in advance.
- Use the SWE branded PPT and the SWE brand guidelines.
- Write a blog and/or social media post to discuss the importance of the content.
- If CEUs are provided for the course, you must work with SWE to ensure your content follows the systematic approach identified by the IACET learning standard.
SWE Tracks
SWE’s professional development content is organized into six core tracks.
This track is inspired by SWE’s strategic goal of advocacy; focusing on advocating for future generations of women in engineering and technology. Examples of topics include:
- Participating in or leading advocacy efforts (influencing public policy, techniques for communicating with Congress, etc.).
- Best practices for developing K-12 outreach programs that encourage and support girls to pursue careers in engineering.
- Developing strategic partnerships involved in K-12 outreach and advocacy efforts.
This track examines tools and best practices to assist in managing and advancing careers in a variety of engineering industries. Examples include:
- Resume and interview best practices, salary negotiations
- Techniques to manage various professional transitions
- Techniques for creating and maintaining successful professional relationships
This track is inspired by SWE’s strategic goal of diversity and inclusion. The content address the challenges and opportunities that engineers face within the context of workplace culture and globalization. Examples of topics include:
- Developing skills to be a more inclusive leader and team member to work effectively with others from diverse backgrounds.
- Techniques and strategies to build and promote a culture of diversity and inclusion.
- Research and approaches concerning workplace diversity and globalization.
This track addresses topics to improve and grow personally. Examples of topics include:
- Developing wellness strategies (personal care, balancing demanding work and personal schedules, etc.).
- Self-reflection and assessment techniques to recognize strengths and weaknesses, seeking feedback from others, and learning from failure.
- The importance of lifelong learning strategies and development.
This track focuses on how leaders shape the performance and success of organizations and SWE Sections. It includes the needed leadership skills to meet the myriad of opportunities, challenges, and demands STEM leaders face. Examples of topics include:
- Techniques to develop a greater capacity to grow and support people and teams
- Recognizing the importance of sponsorship
- Strategic thinking skills and building alliances
Thought leaders from a variety of disciplines will share emerging technologies helping to make organizations more competitive. Examples of topics include:
- Artificial intelligence
- Blockchain
- Data science
- Machine learning
Specialized Areas of Focus
The specialized area of focus provides professional development for key areas of expertise.
Sessions explore topics of interest to community college students, faculty, and staff. Sessions may include subjects of interest to individuals in universities and industry seeking best practices to engage community college students.
This focus area is for those interested in or actively involved in creating and maintaining new business ventures. Sessions may touch on (but are not limited to) themes such as creating a startup team, business planning, raising venture capital, new venture structures, strategies for product marketing, and licensing.
This focus area provides programming and participation for the LCR demographic. It includes presentations on a broad range of topics showcasing their career expertise and SWE legacy.
This specialized content focuses on ways to gain men as allies as well as content that
encourages men to be allies. It features allies who will share insights on their proven records championing DEI.
This specialized content is used to identify techniques for organizational improvements and change.
This focus area identifies sessions that would be relevant to employees, managers, and owners of small businesses, as professional development and the path to success in smaller organizations may look very different than in large corporations. These sessions are not exclusive to small businesses and may be relevant to a more general audience as well.
This content is intended to provide resources to any engineering professional who has taken a career break for two or more years and wants to re-join the STEM workforce. The sessions are for both individuals reentering the workforce and organizations considering launching a program.
This focuses on topics relating to SWE governance and volunteer leadership. Many of the presenters are active SWE volunteer leaders within their section and/or are members of SWE’s leadership coaching committee (LCC).
This specialized area of focus examines various career paths and opportunities for women in academia. Administrators, faculty, and graduate students within the academic community will share insights, research, and experiences.
This area of focus examines various career paths and opportunities for women in government and the military.
Learning Levels
Each of us has unique professional development needs based on our previous experiences and future development goals. As a result, SWE provides professional development opportunities for three learning levels to allow you to select sessions based on your own development needs. The learning levels below indicate the level of experience with the given topic.
Content focuses on awareness and factual recall is appropriate for those with limited experience (0-2 years) with the subject matter. Foundational level content often provides an introductory or basic understanding of the content areas.
Appropriate for those experienced (3 -9 years) with the content who are looking to build upon and increase their knowledge of the identified content areas. Can indicate that the session will result in the application or analysis of topics.
Appropriate for those who have been actively applying the foundational and intermediate concepts and are looking to increase their expertise in the content areas. Advanced level content is often appropriate for those with 10-20 years of experience.
