The Benefit Of Networking

For twenty years I have been a member of the Association of Surgical Technology (AST). AST has an educators division and I have been an active participant for the last five years. Additionally, this amazing group of educators has built an online Facebook community called Surgical Technology Instructors that collaborates and shares their ideas to help each other daily. I have also been a member of the Texas Community College Teachers Association (TCCTA) and the National Institute for Staff and Organization Development (NISOD) for the last 4 years. On the technology side of educational communities, I am part of an online community called LAPSIM® ST User Group. This group shares how they have integrated the use of the simulator into their learning environment, and we help each other develop ways to create an effective learning experience for our students.

Being a part of each of these organizations and groups allows me to gain valuable knowledge from other educators that have the experience to help guide me through a difficult situation or help me understand a better way to deliver content to my students. However, I give as much if not more than I take. I have made myself readily available to other educators across the nation to help implement innovative ideas into their classrooms. I have presented multiple times at the AST National Conference and the AST National Educators conferences to share my ideas and experiences with the surgical technology community.

Additionally, I have shared my early experiences with other educators in a newsletter article called, Overcoming the Fear of the Unknown, published by the Accreditation Review Council for Surgical Technology and Surgical Assisting (ARC/STSA). This assignment helped me remember this article that I wrote when I became a new educator. I went back and read it again and could feel all those emotions like it was yesterday. What is so amazing is that I have become what I hoped to be; I now help others that find themselves in that same situation and help guide them through the unknown. Networking has been one of the most important aspects of my professional career because it has led me to meet and learn from all walks of life allowing me to grow as a person, as an intellectual, and most importantly as an educator.