What I have been up to

It's been a long while since I have blogged. I had a number of 'ahha' moments in class, browsing the internet and through conversations...and i'm like, I definitely should blog about that. I guess I have truly been converted to a blogger :).

The semester is finished and I am very happy that I was able to do very well on my Seminar in Work Motivation and Leadership Course. The teacher was very dynamic, had interesting class exercises and made the class very practical. People have a tendency to forget good teaching skills and effective lesson planning when it comes to adult learners. Yes, we bring more to the table and we are often more independent than younger learners. However, we still need to be engaged. Therefore, I was very appreciative of the lecturers teaching style.

I started my fellowship today and I am super excited. The highlight of the orientation was a speech by one of the founders of the program. Determination and passion resonated from her speech. She spoke of the transformation of students from being F students to B students in a year. The interesting thing was that some of the students were classified as having learning difficulties. The questions that pop up immediately are, how many students are being doomed by bad assessments? How many students are being stifled from reaching their full potential? I am very happy to be apart of a program that makes learning engaing and invest in offering'at risk students' work skills.

Well that's what I have been up to! oooh I totally forgot about my exciting final project. I am doing a gap analysis of my father's business, then design and implement one intervention.

Complex Brain

I have just completed the learning experience of scanning some pages into one PDF document. So one would think all you have to do is place the pages in the document feeder and hit the scan button and then an option will come that ask you what to save the document as, you select PDF and Tadah...you have your document....well that didn't happen!

The scanner I used has multiple programs attached to it and therefore can do several things. I don't remember the model. When I placed the papers in the feeder, several prompts and error messages came up like, unable to locate folder. So I started doing a bit of troubleshooting. Clearly the program was not installed correctly or something was wrong with the computer. I finally found the location were the scan pages were stored, however each page was stored separately as a jpeg image in the image gallery. I converted each image to a PDF but I was required to produce 1 PDF document that has all the pages.....so that didnt work! To cut a long story short I explored several complicated solutions to solve this problem.

My final and very simple solution was to locate the program from the program menu. I opened the scanning program, HP Director (I think) and operated the scanner from there. Instead of pressing the scan button manually and expecting the program to automatically give me options. My question to myself is, why did this soultion come to me after pursuing all the other complex ones. I must admit, I felt abit dumb.

This is not the first situation where my brain went complex and ignored simple. My first attempts to learn to drive was with a standard/stick vehicle. I quickly mastered changing the gears smoothly before learning to steer the vehicle. Everyone that I told that I couldnt steer, couldnot understand as they thought that was so much easier than changing gears. The problem could have been that I had a bad teacher.

So I decided to go automatic and I actually did the test, which is very comprehensive in Jamaica. We get tested on everything. Unfortunately, I falied on the road because I slowed down at the stop sign instead of stopping, I was a nervous wreck and messed up my indicator signals and the assessor claimed I took my corners badly. However, I passed reversing and parallel parking the two areas that people often fail....how odd. Oh well. Just thought I might share my complex brain moment.

I have a funy feeling I am not the only one who thinks and learns like this, don't be shy....please share :)

How satisfied are you with your job?

Wow with the state of the economy, some people are not too concerned about how enriching their jobs are but the emphasis is on maintaining a job. None the less as I am a hopeful person the economy will once again bloom and employees will have more demand in the type of jobs they select. Employers will have to design jobs so that the are both motivating and satisfying.

I have an exam tomorrow and the topic of job enrichment is one of the areas that interests me. I guess it's practical and can be applied. Hackman and Oldman in their Job Characteristic Model state that there are 3 core psychological states that are necessary for intrinsic motivation. When characteristics of the job facilitate these states it results in high performance and job satisfaction. It is said an image is worth more than a 1000 words so here is a diagram that sums it up.

I can relate to this model, I tend to like to be connected with what ever I am doing. This connection that I value relates to what they refer to as meaningfulness on the job. Meaningfulness on the job is achieved when the jobs allows employees to use a variety of skills and enagege in a variety of task. In addition, the task must be significant, that is, it impacts others in the organization or those associated with the organization. With regards to meaningfulness, they make reference to some jobs that are highly specialized where each person works on a part of a task but never gets to see how that small part that they worked on contributes to the whole. The 'big picture' is useful as it generates meaning. Hint hint, supervisors and managers: Involve your employees let them see and understand the 'big picture that their work contributes. Give them variety, let them feel competent and stimulated. Yes some of it is easier said than done, but it's still worth thinking about.

Another psychological state is autonomy and a lot of research has verified that when workers feel they have a sense of freedom and choice in their job they are more satisfied. Again let the employees have some say even a little bit.

The other psychological state is knowledge about the actual results of work. What is interesting is that they assert that there are 2 types of feedback. The first we get from the job itself. For example, if you designed a course for a team and the manager notices improvements then that's feedback from the job; you have proof that you did well. The second type of feedback we get from others like our peers or superiors. It was found that feedback from the job itself is often more valuable than feedback from others. Feedback from others can come with interference like the credibility of the person among other social and psychological factors.

One note to bear in mind is that Hackman and Oldham recognized that job enrichment strategies will not motivate every employee as some people just see work as a means to an end and seek satisfaction in other areas of their lives. They are not desireous to feel challenged or have choice in tasks etc.

I definitely value autonomy, meaningfulness and positive feedback in my job.

• What features of your job make you tick?
  
• What drives you to go to work ?
• What job enrichment initiatives has your organization implemented?

Please share!

Aside: I especially enjoyed typing this blog post as it reinforces the information for my exam, unfortunately I am being tested on much more than this..so I am off :)

Reference: Pinder, C.C. (2008). Work motivation in organizational behavior (2nd Ed). Upper Saddle River, NJ: Prentice Hall.

Hope: Wishful thinking or Goal planning?

MSNBC article titled Reagan redux Like the Gipper, Obama offers hope — and wishful thinking compares President Obama with Ronald Reagan, the author went as far as coining a word for it “Reaganesque”. The concept of hope pervaded the analysis of President Obama's speech. The analysis questioned the feasibility of some of Obama's reform strategies, but likens this era to that of Ronald Reagan's reign. Reagan's optimism contributed to the improvement of the economy. Thus, even though the author questioned, he recognized the importance of hope and optimism in a crisis like this:

"Hope is who we are and what we do. We need to believe – indeed, the world needs to believe – that “We will emerge stronger than before.”

Hope and Optimism are two of several constructs of Positive Organizational Behavior that positive psychologist have studied. This school of thought believes that even though these constructs can be closely linked to a person's personality they can also be developed and can significantly improve performance.

What is hope?

According to psychologist C. Rick Synder hope is more than wishful thinking. It's about the will and the way. Hope involves the belief that goals can be set, ways of achieving them can be devised and one can motivate themselves to follow through. Thus, the truth in the adage: Where there is a will there is a way.' Research shows that hope has a positive impact on coping with challenges and illness, academic achievement and emotional health.

This is definitely a construct that managers should pay attention to with employees especially in this time. Synder offers some strategies that may help to develop hope such as:

• Include employees in goal setting
• Clarify goals, break down complex strategies in small steps
• Develop action plans and pathways for achieving goals
• Develop skill of regulating goals, so adjustments can be made where necessary in case of obstacles: thus avoiding false hope

President Obama has clearly done some of these things. It is important to note that a leader's level of hope is significantly related to the success and viability of their unit and satisfaction of employees. President Obama's hope surely has the potential of diffusing to the rest of the population and I have noted informally the positive results of this through daily conversations with people. It is also a good thing that he's hopeful as research as shown that people with hope in stressful professions become less burnt out and survive better.

My emphasis is on hope, but since optimism was also mentioned let me note that this also affects health and performance positively. Optimism can be developed as well by:

• Identifying self defeating beliefs in challenges
• Evaluate accuracy of belief
• Replace with more accurate belief

How are your hope and optimism levels as an individual and within the organizations you are affiliated with?

What are your thoughts on the importance of hope and optimism?

What other constructs do you think are important?

Reference: Luthans, F. (2002). Positive organization behavior: Developing and managing psychological strengths. Academy of Management Executive, 16, 57 -72.

Leadership trait or skill?

We’ve often heard astounding leaders being described as ‘born leaders’ or gifted. This topic is quiet relevant in light of the fairly recent inauguration of President Obama. In my Analysis of Educational Issues: Socio-cultural Perspectives class Obama came up in one of our class discussions; we were asked to discuss the predominant factors that led to his victory. The pro Obama students gave responses like: He is a gifted communicator; He involves the people in the decision making; He acknowledges that he is human and gauges the expectations of the public accordingly; his policies are sound. These responses highlight some important skills that a leader must have, the ability to communicate the vision; ability to motivate people; ability to analyze problems, look ahead and devise effective strategies. The big question is do these things come naturally or are there a set of skills that can be learned?

One of the required text for my class “Leadership Theory and Practice” by examines the Skills Approach in Chapter 3. (Yeh, I know...you can tell that I am back at school...referencing all these books and classes )

What does the skill’s approach purport?

• Leadership involves skills and knowledge that can be learned and is not just based on inherent gifts and attribute.
• They define Leadership Skills as “The ability to use one’s knowledge and competencies to accomplish a set of goals or objectives.”
  

Robert Katz is one of the early adopters of the Skills approach to leadership and he proposed a 3 skill approach model, outlined below.

Robert Katz 3 Skill Approach

• 3 foundation skills are necessary for effective administration
• The three skills can be summed up as Technical skills: Competence in the skills and knowledge of the content area of the job, Human Skills: knowledge and ability to work with people and Conceptual Skill: Ability to work with ideas, conceptualize the vision of an organization.
• The type of skill and intensity that is needed varies according to Management level (Top, Middle and Supervisory management) (See Fig 2 below).
  
• More information on Katz model
  

(Fig. 1 Summary of 3 skill approach double click to see larger image)

(Fig 2: Katz 3 Skill Approach based on management level)

Is leadership as clear cut as this approach puts it? How does this approach stand when you think of the Gallup strengths-based findings, which emphasize that we all have strengths and we perform better in capacities that utilize our strengths? In addition, they assert that our time is better spent building on our strengths than our weaknesses. I say this to question if some of these traits that can be learned as proposed by Katz aren’t based on individual inherent strengths. Can everyone be a leader if trained? What are your views and experiences?

In my next blog post I will discuss five components that some other psychologists (Mumford et al) of the Skills Approach school of thought proposed.

The Power of the social environment

I am a Graduate Assistant (GA) this semester; major tasks involve helping lecturers with filing, typing, copying, and just about anything they need assistants with. Some times we may be required to help the Office Specialist as well. On Friday I had my informal orientation should in case I am co-opted to help with some of the Office Specialist duties. During the orientation reflective mode kicked in, as it always does. I felt happy and welcomed in the department and I was well motivated to do any task assigned to me. This feeling differed so much from how I felt working with the team lead I had for my internship. I felt she did not expect me to succeed and the constant tension between us drained my energy. It was one of those situations that it made no sense to pretend as that made it worst. It was obvious that she was not fond of me.

I compared my send off with that of her beloved Co-Op before me and there was an obvious difference with just how she and some other members of the team responded among other things. When he was leaving everybody hugged him only a few embraced me. Which I was fine with, even though some may argue that if I was ok with it I would not be blogging about it…oh well. These non-verbal messages that I received are often referred to as microinequities. Micro-inequities speak more volume than words as they represent people’s often unconscious and involuntary expressions of true emotions.

The social environment as it’s often referred to in education or the working environment in corporate world is often overlooked. However, this plays an integral role. If workers are not happy or motivated, even the most skilled worker or most intelligent student can under perform. I was shocked with how I responded to my team lead’s behavior as well as the fact that I did not 'gel' with some members of the team. I began to question my competence and personality. It’s a good thing I had two years experience where I performed well and I currently have a good relationship with my very supportive lecturers. What made me survive were very supportive peers who I got along well with. I also had a very good rapport with some members of the team as well as other members of the organization.

Indeed no man is an Island, and no man stands alone. How does your company facilitate a healthy working environment? Have you ever been in a working environment or school environment where the social environment was unhealthy? How did you deal with it?

Back to School

I am back from home where the golden sun warms my body to Southern Illinois where the bitter cold cramps my bones. I just completed 1 week of school got exposed to all my classes and I am excited. I will be graduating in August so I have started thinking about my Final project, which I want to be a performance improvement initiative. My father has a very small company that is currently experiencing a plethora of problems so I am going to see how my new knowledge can be applied to fill the gaps.

One of my courses is an Industrial Organization Psychology course titled Work Motivation and Leadership. I hope I can get some knowledge and skills from this course to help my father as a Manager as well as with his Human Resource Development. The assignments are very practical and balance between traditional quiz/test and authentic alternative assessment. One of the Assessments requires us to prepare a workshop for a group of student leaders on a selected topic. So I am super excited....I will surely keep you informed.

My wishes for you!

I received a Helen Exley Gift book for my birthday about 2 years ago and I am going through it again and I found some wishes that I would like to pass on as we approach the New Year.

“I wish you the joy of “I see! I understand!!…
I wish you the happiness of ideas, the excitement of reason, the triumph of understanding, the clearing of sight, the sharpening of hearing, the reaching out to new discovery, a pleasure in the past as well as in the present. I wish you the joy of creativity.

May there always, always be something you want to learn, something you want to do, somewhere you want to go, someone you want to meet. May life never grow stale."

Learning

I purchased Obama’s book The Audacity of Hope and I am attempting to read it. It has been a little challenging so far because I am not so connected with American History. However, as I reflect on how I react to his writings I question how I learn and what makes me recall certain things over others. For example, in the book he mentions several politicians who he had to go against as well as prominent men in the history of politics. If someone were to ask me to recall the names mentioned I would only be able to recall the ones I was familiar with before like Clinton and Reagan. What has stuck with me is the way he views politics; the fact that he went in search of a personal understanding of the evolution of American politics and has deviated from the traditional divide between Democrats and Republicans. His approach is to look at the problem of the nation and devise the most appropriate solution.Anyone who is familiar with the book can probably tell that I have just completed chapter one.

Well being the Instructional Designer that am, I immediately started drawing analogies between his approach to politics with how we approach teaching and learning. I realized the impact of Schema theory which asserts that we learn by building networks with previous knowledge and new knowledge; this explains why it was so easy for me to recall the names that I was acquainted with before.
The other issue is with theory and practice. It is the belief of some that only one approach is right and apply that approach in all situations. Many of us in the field know that this will not achieve the best results as each situation is unique and should be treated accordingly.

On page 49 Obama says “Unless political leaders are open to new ideas and not just new packaging, we wont’ change enough hearts and minds….” This just made me think of educational technology and the many debates. The fact that has educators we truly have to examine the problem and not just aim to repackage face to face learning but we need to be innovative and develop new techniques especially for the current generation.

I guess I assimilate ideas more than bits and pieces of facts. How do you learn, what do you recall when you read? Do you find yourself always finding links between what you read and your areas of interests?

I'm back!

It’s been quite awhile since I have made a post; several ideas came across my mind but just never got the chance to put hand to keyboard …..guess it’s no longer pen to paper. I have finished my internship and all’s well that ends well. I am now trying to find my niche as Instructional Design and Performance Improvement allows you to be flexible and can be applied to other areas such as Project Management and Human Resource Development. I got the opportunity to shadow one of the Organizational Development (OD) Specialist and it was great, one of his projects was succession planning. This peeked my interest in OD and this semester I am doing a course on work motivation and leadership. I tried to get in to a HR course too but unfortunately it was full.

So to wrap up this semester I need to present an electronic portfolio that provides evidence that I have met the goals of the program. I am now in search of an open source application that will allow me to do this.

Any recommendations? I am checking out Dr. Barrett’s online portfolio adventure.

Aside: I’m home in Jamaica enjoying the sun, friends and family; I am so not missing the cold!

Don't be too hard on yourself!

I have a tendency to focus on my weaknesses and not acknowledge my strengths. This makes me pressure myself more than the average person would. I am always thinking about what I need to do and were I am lacking and when people try to subtly or overtly make me feel inadequate I grant them permission by trying to see some right even when there is none in their misdoings.

• A lot of times when people try to hurt you it's because they have been hurt.
• When people try to bring you down they usually see potential and are often afraid of the fruit that it may bear.

Love your self, take pride in your strengths, acknowledge your weaknesses and balance where you can but don't dwell on them where it becomes paralyzing. Here is a quote from by Marianne Williamson from A Return To Love: Reflections on the Principles of A Course in Miracles

“Our deepest fear is not that we are inadequate. Our deepest fear is that we are powerful beyond measure. It is our light, not our darkness that most frightens us. We ask ourselves, Who am I to be brilliant, gorgeous, talented, fabulous? Actually, who are you not to be? You are a child of God. Your playing small does not serve the world. There is nothing enlightened about shrinking so that other people won't feel insecure around you. We are all meant to shine, as children do. We were born to make manifest the glory of God that is within us. It's not just in some of us; it's in everyone. And as we let our own light shine, we unconsciously give other people permission to do the same. As we are liberated from our own fear, our presence automatically liberates others.”

Sometimes life is full of so many negatives we need some encouragement, share some of your encouraging stories, quotes....

More on Instructional Design

I have posted on "What is Instructional Design?" already. However I found this video only 8 minutes long and I think it covers some salient points about the ADDIE model (The foundation of all Instructional Design models), how it is important for training and how to go about using it. Have a look!

How to Embed YouTube videos in PowerPoint 2003 and 2007

Forgive me if I am behind the times on this one, but I am quite sure I am not the only one. I am working on a presentation and I found some YouTube videos that would make the presentation interesting and cater for different learning styles :)...had to rub that in. I find it very inconvenient to link using a URL to YouTube and then play the video from there. I have seen presentations where the video plays from the slide, so I did my usual Google search and found some great instructions which I tried and it worked! So thought I might share for those of you who did not know like me!

Live Your You Tube Video in PowerPoint Presentation This is really good as it gives instructions for 2003 and 2007. It also gives instructions for two options embedding video and using the internet to play or downloading video and then inserting it if you won't have internet connection or just don't want to use the internet.

Video showing how to do live embed for 2003



Video showing how to do live embed for 2007: (The volume is a bit low...just turn up your sound... but it's good)

Learning How To Learn

I have been procrastinating in posting on this topic, and I have been directed back to it on several occasions. For starters my friend just started Law school and he has been making a concerted effort to put measures in place so that he can steer his own learning based on his preferred learning style and the nature of the subject matter. The big term in education /psychology for this is metacognition. The prefix meta means about self… person’s in technology may be familiar with the term meta data, which is data about data. I think this definition captures it well: Meta: A prefix meaning one level of description higher. If X is some concept then meta-X is data about, or processes operating on, X.

So what is metacognition?
Metacognition emerges from the school of cognitive psychology. It consists of two basic processes occurring simultaneously: monitoring your progress as you learn, and making changes and adapting your strategies if you perceive you are not doing so well.

Experiences
My first formal exposure to the term metacognition was at The University of the West Indies in Jamaica, where for my Managing Learning Difficulties class we were told that when learners are encouraged to reflect on the learning process it makes learning easier and they take control. So we used strategies like modeling and think aloud, thus making learners aware of the thinking/cognitive process. A lot of processes that seem natural to us are very difficult for learners in difficulty and they have to explicitly learn them. I used metacognitive strategies during teaching practice and they worked great.
Personally I don't soak up information very well unless I can relate to it. So whenever I am learning something new I try to find some area where it can be applied so it can be relevant to me. Because I am conscious of the way I learn and think I have been able to manipulate my formal learning experiences to work in my favour.

Strategies
Metacognition is for everyone even though the strategies have proved helpful to learners in difficulty. Eric Digest outlines 3 basic metacognition steps in their article Developing Metacognition:
1. Connecting new information to former knowledge.
2. Selecting thinking strategies deliberately.
3. Planning, monitoring, and evaluating thinking processes.


Metacognition is very important and is best cultivated from early. Once students realize that they can control and determine their own learning they are no longer solely dependent on the teacher. For example: If a teacher mostly talks in class and a student realizes that listening is not effective but when they make notes or do diagrams it helps them; even though the teacher doesn’t give diagrams that student will still learn as he/she has discovered what works and can regulate their own learning.

Parents and teachers should make a concerted effort to develop these skills in children/students this will create a thinking and adaptable workforce which is what the 21st century demands. As adults it’s not to late to start practicing some of these strategies you will find learning becomes easier and in some cases fun.

For more metacognition strategies see Julie Halter's article: “KNOWING HOW TO LEARN, and knowing which strategies work best, are valuable skills that differentiate expert learners from novice learner”

Aside: Last week I did a strengths assessment from Gallup through the book Strengths Finder 2.0. And one of my top five themes was Learner; I guess I got this metacognition thing going.

Learner Theme Description: People who are especially talented in the Learner theme have a great desire to learn and want to continuously improve. In particular, the process of learning, rather than the outcome, excites them.

• What strategies have you used to help you learn?
• Do you find that some strategies are good in some learning situations and not in others?
• Share some of your strategies and learning experiences!

Useful Tools

A friend of mine wanted help in making a decision, so he made a request using a blog post and asked for comments. In addition to that he set up a poll using PollDaddy.com. By using these two free tools a blog and a poll he was able to collect quantitative and qualitative data. I thought this was remarkable and I see how these tools could add value in an educational setting. Doing a Research study with a small group, this can be used to capture information and just making decisions on a whole.
Another tool that I have come across is huddle. This is a project management space, for my online class we are using it to work on a real project and it has been going well:

• The teacher uses it to set up tasks and deadlines.
• Email alerts are sent to the person delegated whenever a task is due.
• Discussion topics are created for each phase and we make decisions using the discussion forum. Email alerts are sent each time a post is made.
• Documents can be uploaded and edited online and it captures version history.
• The client is also included in the group so when we are finish with a document we request her approval through huddle and we get email alerts when she responds

The only problem that I have had is that the discussion forum allows a limited number of texts, but we’ve worked around it by making our post shorter or dividing one post into two.

What other useful tools are out there and how can they be used to improve and make processes easier?

Cracking the code!!

It’s been a while since I have made a post, so many things have been happening with me at work and me trying to regroup and re-brand myself.

The corporate world has its own culture and the quicker you learn the better your chances of success. So far I have picked up a few things here and there, so I guess you can call this my lessons learned:

• Network, Network, Network: In Jamaica it was always emphasized that it’s not who you know but who knows you. In the corporate world this sure rings true. I have made a conscious effort to find people within the organization that work in the teams where I could possibly fit. So far so good, I am encouraged and they have told me I am doing the right thing. So you have to sell yourself, initiate intentional interactions.

• Some people who have been through the transition process have volunteered themselves as informal coaches. I am very grateful for this and they have been a source of strength and direction for me.

• Make sure you know the expectations and assert yourself: In a situation where your boss gives you a bad evaluation, do not just take it. If you don’t agree with it question it! Find out what expectations they had that you did not meet. The truth is some leads you will never be able to please. Focus on your work as it will eventually speak for itself. Volunteer for other projects outside of the team so that others can see your value…oh yeah it’s a tough fight. Never let anybody make you feel inferior, if you find that it’s making you too depress maybe it’s time to move on….the company you are working with is not the only company in the world.

• Face reality and plan: I have realized that even though I am Jamaican, by virtue of being black I have joined the struggles of black Americans. The issues of race have improved significantly but remnants still remain. I must commend my organization that I work with as they have made a conscious effort to emphasize diversity and it’s not limited to ethnicity. I have not become paranoid but I have come to terms that some people though few ( I think) will make judgments about me and treat me differently because I am black! I am now reading a very good book titled Cracking The Corporate Code.
• Know the competency Model: The evaluation that Co-Ops are rated against is based on a global competency model for the company. Therefore, it is very important to be graded highly effective for each. Competency models are good, they help organizations to attract the right people and they help employees know what skills are valued and make a concerted effort to develop in the areas. So when you join an organization you may want to find out if they have a competency model and read it carefully! If they have one the fact that you got the job means that they think you have them, just make sure you continuously show evidence as getting the job is half the work, the next half is staying hired.
• Get some project management skills: For my wiki project I have learned from my colleagues and the lead of the project specifically that in a project you have to bug people constantly and stick by deadlines unless extremely unavoidable. If people see they can miss a deadline they will and it will make your project fail. By the way that is going good we are trying to overcome the struggles of SharePoint that I mentioned in a previous post.

Well I must say I have grown in the past 4 months, I have had my challenges…this sounds a bit cliché but they have indeed made me stronger Sizzla Kalonji songs Be Strong and Solid as a Rock have been my anthem. I humble myself as always and look forward to learn from the gurus in the field :)

Personal Branding: Leveraging our Strenghts

Today I was privileged to attend the annual business meeting of the African American group in the company that I am doing my internship program. The theme was "Partnering for success: Unleashing the Leader inside you." The guest speaker was Lethia Owens and her presentation was dynamic, engaging and filled with food for thought. As part of her presentation she had us watch a video presentation by Mark (I’m sorry I don’t remember is last name) but he comes from the Gallup school of thought. His video presentation was about three (3) myths that we have that hinder us from achieving success, I will discuss my paraphrased version of the myths.

1. As you grow you change: Before you start deciding whether you agree with this or not, let me clarify a few things. This is base on the philosophy that we have some core things that make us who we are. When we grow we refine these core things. Even if we adjust to fit situations the core things never really change. One of the participants compared it with an oak tree; even though the tree grows gets more branches, larger roots etc it still has the characteristics that make it an oak tree.
2. You learn/grow the most in the areas that you are weakest: Mark did a survey and asked parents if their child came home with grade 'A' in English and a 'F' in Biology which subject would they pay the most attention to…and most parents said biology. However, he posits that we will grow the most in the areas that we are strongest. He is not saying that we should not try to work around our weaknesses but we should focus on our strengths.
3. What the team needs is for us to put aside our strengths to make the team successful. You may not find a job that utilizes all your strengths but we should aim to utilize 80% of our strengths. We should find avenues where our strengths can be utilized and volunteer our strengths.
   

Lethia made a very important point she said sometimes what we think of ourselves is not necessarily the perception that people have of us. Therefore, we need to be aware of our personal branding. We need to make sure that our motto and our delivery are congruent.

• What are your views about the myths?
• What are some of the ways to manage personal branding and still be your true self?
• How do you leverage your strengths?
• How about re-branding?

Dealing with the learner continuum in a computer based or web based environment

Today at work one of my co-workers had to vet a computer based module designed to teach people how to use Microsoft Outlook. He is very tech savvy, and after less than five minutes of exposure to the content he was like “Are these courses designed for fifth graders, I am sure if I gave my 5th grade son this he would understand.” This brings out a very important issue especially in the non-traditional learning environments........

Who should you tailor your course for?
Well for one thing every course should have a target audience and this should also be made clear some where in the course description/introduction and learners should have access to this. This will ensure that the content is tailored to this group and potential participants can determine if the course is for them or not.
Another method of filtering learners is to divide courses in to levels and explicitly state the prerequisite knowledge that learners need to have in order to benefit from the course.

Learners! Learners! Learners!
In customer service, the customer is always right. In instructional design the learner is always right. By this I mean everything that we do should be geared towards the learners and their needs and interests. It’s like clothes, your friend may buy an outfit and it complements her/him well, but you would never in a wild dream buy that. The same is for a course one learner from the target group may find the course engaging and interesting and another who is not apart of the target group may think it’s pathetic. The important thing is that it meets the needs of the target learners!

What happens when the target group is diversified?
Well we all know sometimes it’s not that simple as sometimes, instructional material has to be designed for a wide audience. In a face-to-face environment there is much flexibility where that is concerned. However, what to do in a web-based or computer based environment? Well this is where choices come in , give learners choices in their navigation, thus if they are familiar with some of the content they can move on. Have quick explanations and more detail ones depending on the learner. Have a look at these post from The Rapid eLearning Blog

• 3 Essential Questions every learner wants answered
• Here's why unlocking your course navigation will produce better learning
  

How do you tailor your instructional materials to meet the needs of diverse learners?

A Cup of Inspiration: Making the Lights Come On!

On Friday, September 5th, I attended The 21st Annual St. Louis American Foundation's Salute to Excellence in Education Banquet. It was a very well coordinated event and it was very inspiring. Each of the awardees did a video presentation/interview on what motivate them as teachers and this was shown at the banquet. Interesting but not surprising almost all the teachers said that what keeps them going is when the lights turn on for students…when you can get a student who was oblivious to the content area to respond and say…”I get it now…I understand”. For the kindergarten teacher it was the fact that most of them leave her class literate.
This should be the aim of every instruction to turn the lights on despite the age group. Here are some things to bear in mind when preparing for instruction to ensure that the light’s get turned on. These are especially relevant for adult learners:

Know your learners
-What are their interests?
- What attitudes and skills do they bring to the course?
-How do they prefer to learn?

Identify what you want them to learn
-Decide on the general outcome skills/knowledge that learners must have.
Example, should they be able to use software, carry out a process?
- Ask your self if learners are to achieve this general outcome what do they need to know and do?
Example, for software do they need to know parts and functions?
- It may help to start off broad and then further subdivide.
For example I may have: Interface of the software as 1 thing that they need to know and under that section have: Command tabs Command sets.
-Get the content for each area in details bearing in mind the level that your learners are at. Ensure that you provide enough information for them to understand; for procedures include cues where necessary……the things that they should look out for, avoid, as well as indicators that the process has been completed successfully.

Decide how learners will show understanding
From the content that you have developed decide for each section how learners will show you they understand, using what is called instructional objectives. These should be measurable, and student centered…the image below is an example of one and the components.














Decide how you will impart the information
Based on the nature of the content and your learners learning style come up with strategies, will use demonstration, role play, video presentations.
What delivery media will you use: Face-to-face, Self paced, virtual learning environment, hybrid etc.
How will you sequence it?

Develop your materials
What ever format you have chosen develop your materials so that it is appealing to the audience and conveys the message. This can be achieved by using the right images, font faces, highlighting important points etc.

Evaluate constantly
For each decision that you make get some feedback and use the information to revise what you have done.

Remember it’s all about the learner!!

How do you make the lights come on?

40 Hours Work Week

One day last week at about 4:30pm, I was at work and I felt a little lethargic. However, in the morning I was up and perky and was in optimal performance gear. I came in at 10:00am (late, my usual time is about 8:30) and by 4:30 I was feeling like I needed my day to be done. Is something wrong with me? Do I need vitamins? Or Is something wrong with the 40 hours work week?…According to this model even though I don’t feel optimal I should force my self to work 2 more hours to ensure that I fulfill the 8 hours per day; which for some is minimum, as they often work longer hours.

Where did it all start?

I went to Google … I Google everything. I wanted to find out what was the significance of the number 40. Was it that psychology research proved that within this time frame we perform best?

Let’s deviate for a moment…don’t worry the detour is not too far off our topic route: Have you ever wondered why phone numbers have 7 digits after the area code or why social security numbers, phone numbers etc are grouped..Well in my Psychology class I learnt that studies proved that our short term memory can store between 5 and 9 items (Chunks or individual) at a given time. This was then used to come up with what is called the Miller’s Magic number 7 using a range of -2 or +2.
So back to our 40 hours per week…I am wondering if the 40 hours came about the same way.

I found a great article “Does the 40 hour work week need Overhauling” that explains it all for the American culture. In summary:

• It started with the Fair Labor Standards Act in 1938
• This act cut the work week from 60 hours to a maximum 44 per hours week. (Wow can you believe this?)
• Seven years later it was changed to 40 hours per week.

The reality

Well quite startling, studies have shown that people are working more than 40 hours per week in America. Employers are hiring fewer people to do more work. The explanation was that they are trying to save on providing health care benefits and pension….oh well trying to save at the risk of employees health….does that make sense?…When people get overworked they are more prone to be ill.

Despite this there are others who are plain workaholics and don’t feel good unless they work more. Others have no family obligations or social life so instead of going home to the walls of their home they consume themselves with work.

The Slacker Phenomenon

What is interesting is that in some working environment putting in quality time for 8 hours and leaving when the time is up is considered slack. Geeky mom’s blog post titled “The-40 hour work week” highlights this phenomenon. She mentions that some people even though they are done with work stay back and put in ‘face’ time to prevent being seen as a slacker.

Balance


Balance is important but hard to create. However, my ideal working environment is one that is output based. Give me a project, give me a deadline and I work at my own pace. Geeky Mom’s post asserts the same preference. Click here to read how one IT worker cuts his time from 80-100 hours per week to 40 hours.

Future

Gartner has an article that predicts by 2015 there will be 20 hour work week job descriptions to accommodate skilled high quality workers who need to balance work and social/family life.

• How many hours do you typically work per week?
• What are some ways to balance work and family/social life?
• What do you think about the 2015 prediction?

Please Share!!