In your ARP, are your learners engaged in their learning? Why or why not? (2/25)

Again, since I just started Cycle 1 of my ARP, I can’t respond to this question. I can say that I believe the participants that I have selected, based on my experience of them will be fully engaged in the learning. All of my participants are members of an academic community. They’ve expressed a desire in the group, because they are looking to find a greater meaning and growth in their professional lives. Members have recognized that in the current workplace, employers are no longer loyal to their employees and therefore they must be self guided, They must have a clear focus and direction in their careers and remain marketable and flexible. Flexibility means to have the tools to make changes quickly or adapt to changes quickly. Refining and enhancing technology skills allows for more employment flexibility. For the older worker, it creates an opportunity to compete and stay relevant in the workplace against younger, tech savvy co-workers.

For your ARP, how did you select the technologies that you are utilizing? How have your learners responded thus far (2/18)?

I’ve constructed a support group made up of employees who’s company has recently gone through a top down organizational change. As a result of the restructuring the morale in the organization has decreased. Employee loyalty is almost non-existent. A large number of employees have left the organization and a number have expressed a desire to leave and are actively looking. My support group was developed as forum for those involved to feel once again empowered. A group of women that can mentor each other in whatever avenue the individual chooses. Initially I thought about developing a Wiki where they can post information, articles, poems and other useful resources, but thought against it, since some of the participants are not tech savvy. I created instead a Google group. Google groups provide instant communication through email. I can attach a Google calendar for meeting times. We can chat as group, or members can chat individually when they need assistance. Since Google groups sends email notifications, those members that have a Blackberry or other similar cellular phone features can stay in the loop continuously. We can post documents, link to various resources and upload documents for others to review such as a resume for input.

For meetings, we’re exploring Skype, but since not all members have webcams we are still chatting. I would hope that later we can all have webcams for face to face interaction. I plan on experimenting with Freeconference.com and Yugam, both are web conferencing forums.

It’s too early to tell how my group is responding to the technology forums that I chose, I think at this moment they appreciate the fact that it allows them to participate without putting the added pressure of being somewhere at a particular time and location. They can participate anywhere there is internet service and they have access to a computer. There is no cost or investment on their part for the services that we use. I hope to convince them to invest in a webcam, but that is strictly voluntary.

An added bonus to the participants of my ARP is that they are exploring with me the uses of technology in facilitating group and individual interactions. I foresee using additional technologies, such as a blogging, creating a video or webpage, although these are decisions the group will make.

Moving Forward in Understanding by Design

What were your desired results? Why did you choose these results? (Backward Design 1/14)

When I conduct workshops, I start by putting the key points of the presentation on the white board. Although, I generally provide the audience with a copy of my Powerpoint presentation, I find that this gives the audience a chance to know up front all of the areas that will be covered, but more importantly, it gives them time to think about how it relates to them, formulate any questions, comments or concerns that they may. This in essence is communicating the goals up front, providing them the "end result" of our time together, so that the audience understand the value of our time and what they will walk away with.

(Goals & Essential Questions 1/21 -1/28)

Recently at the F2F meeting in Orlando we had a number of sessions with our OMET professors. In each of the meetings, the expectations of the day were presented to us prior to the day’s activities. The problem was in some of the activities there was still confusion. Clearly the concept of backward design was not present. Confusion stemmed from contradictory information given by different participants in the process, of course then chaos ensues, confusion, and time wasted. Interestingly what I noticed is that some people checked out (disengaged) from the experience. I think as learners, since the goals of the experience were not clear, it distracted from the experience and ultimately the value of the experience.