2010 presenter follow-up — William DeJean

In the sec­ond of our catch-ups with pre­sen­ters from TEDx­Can­berra 2010, we’re talk­ing with Dr William DeJean, the award-winning edu­ca­tor at the fore­front of bring­ing the AVID pro­gram to Australia.

So what was TEDx­Can­berra like for you?

It was an incred­i­ble oppor­tu­nity to be around peo­ple who are work­ing to make the world a lit­tle bet­ter.  There was a pos­i­tive energy that filled the room the entire day, which I con­tinue to carry with me today.  In addi­tion, it was an hon­our to have the time to share one of my pas­sions in edu­ca­tion, AVID Aus­tralia, at TEDxCanberra.

Did being a part of TEDx­Can­berra make a dif­fer­ence in any way to your life or work?

Peo­ple from the United States and through­out Aus­tralia have let me know they have watched my TEDx­Can­berra pre­sen­ta­tion online.  In addi­tion, hav­ing my pre­sen­ta­tion online has been an invalu­able pro­fes­sional resource for col­leagues who are inter­ested in AVID.  Telling peo­ple that I was able to present at TEDx­Can­berra has helped posi­tion AVID to be heard within the wider edu­ca­tional community.

What have you done since TEDx­Can­berra 2010? Any new projects?

Inter­est in AVID con­tin­ues to grow.  Since TEDx­Can­berra, Vic­to­ria Uni­ver­sity in Mel­bourne has got­ten involved with our work and has helped estab­lish another AVID pro­gram in their region.  They will begin AVID in 2012.  We also have had a lot of inter­ests from Mac­quarie Uni­ver­sity, schools on the cen­tral coast of NSW, and through­out the Albury/Wodonga region.  We will be host­ing our sec­ond AVID Aus­tralia Sum­mer Insti­tute dur­ing the first week of Decem­ber, with reg­is­tra­tion open­ing next week.

The Fed­eral Government’s goal is to widen par­tic­i­pa­tion of uni­ver­sity enrol­ment to under­served com­mu­ni­ties through­out Aus­tralia.  If any­one knows any­one in the Fed­eral Gov­ern­ment who could sup­port our efforts with AVID, please send the flier their way!  We believe AVID will sup­port these efforts.

Will you be try­ing to make it to Can­berra visit us again this year?

Unfor­tu­nately I can’t make it there this year.  Bummer.

William’s TEDx­Can­berra 2010 talk is below.