Week 6 - Class Presentation

Our Cognitivism presentation took place March 14th. This was the very first time I facilitated a class and I was both excited and nervous. Our group had little time to prepare for this night and we lost a teammate, to boot! Nonetheless, Judy, Bob, and I managed to meet several nights and pull it together in short order.

In addition to being the first time I facilitated a class - this was also the first time I participated in group work at the post graduate level. There were many challenges, for sure - but I came out of the experience stronger and wiser. I hope to apply some of the lessons I learned as I embark on my group project in Jane's 601 class. :)

Week 5 - Group work underway!

This week has been spent working on our first group project. My team chose Cognitivism and we'll be the first to present next Thursday. We met one night last week and had plans to meet on Thursday, as well, but unfortunately snowed out. But that didn't deter us... we kept in constant contact via email and took charge of the various tasks we delegated to one another. Dan and I developing the content for Piaget and Ausubel while Bob chose to focus on Bruner and Gagne. Judy is spearheading the second hour of the presentation focusing on more modern day theorists as well as the anatomy of the brain. We came up with some great pre-work... several relevant readings, some video, and a few fun activities - with more to come in class! In fact, Dan just posted the pre-work to the wiki... so if you haven't been there yet, I urge you to check it out! Also - I used my graphic skills to develop a custom PowerPoint template. I haven't gotten feedback from the group yet. I hope they like it. :) We hope to meet this Sunday to finalize the presentation and run through it. We're all a little nervous, but very excited to present our project to the class on Thursday. It will be interesting to see how the pre-work goes and the various projects we have planned for class. I think it will be a fun, educational time had by all! 

Week 4 - Ages, Stages, and Intelligence

Class four started out with an interesting activity where the class divided into 3 groups - Gen X, Gen Y, and the Baby Boomers. I fell into the Gen X category, (1965-1980). Collectively, we recorded our thoughts on how we view ourselves vs. how we are viewed by others and then compared notes. For the most part, we were all pretty accurate on our beliefs as to how others view us and, as a rule, both the "how we view ourselves" and "how others view us" lists matched up pretty good... it's fascinating to see how the generations to which we were born influence us. We like to think that we are all unique individuals capable of formulating our own thoughts and opinions - but the fact is we are products of our country, our culture, our class, and our individual generations. All of these influenced and shaped us into who we are today.

I shared my thoughts about the class with a colleague here at work who in turn forwarded me a great PowerPoint presentation titled "Recruiting, Retaining, and Managing a Multigenerational Workforce". It offers a great overview of the generational differences.

Here are some excerpts from the presentation:

Baby Boomer Core Values:

• Open minded and rebellious in their youth
• Conservative in their 30’s and 40’s
• Evolving and will live with a different focus in the later years of their lives
• Buy now—pay later
• Believe employment is "for life"
• Created the concepts of the "Workaholic" and "Superwoman"
• Have rewritten the rules especially in the workplace
• Experienced layoffs and downsizing - have seen the company loyalty standard change
• Divorce Rate Rises—Nuclear Family Declines
• From child care issues to parental care issues

Generation X Core Values:

• Independent—Self Reliant
• Resilient
• Technologically Savvy
• Seek Work-Life Balance
• Sense of Informality
• Sense of Insecurity

Millennial Core Values:

• Confident
• Optimistic
• Respect Diversity
• Sense of Civic Duty
• Group Oriented
• Achievement Oriented
• Structured-Scheduled Lives
• Impatient
• Sense of Morality/Integrity—Conservative Values

If you are interested in seeing the full PowerPoint, please send me an email and I will forward it to you.

Week 3 - Learning Theory

One of our assignments this past week included selecting our top two pics for our Learning Theory Group Assignment. I chose Cognitivism for my first choice and Communities of Practice for my second pick. I chose these two simply because I found I could relate to them. 

Here's a brief description of each:

COGNITIVISM

(Source) Briefly speaking, cognitivism means through interaction and self cognition development to acquire knowledge, and concern what learner know and how to use efficiency way to processing information.

COMMUNITIES OF PRACTICE

(Source) Etienne Wenger summarizes Communities of Practice (CoP) as “groups of people who share a concern or a passion for something they do and learn how to do it better as they interact regularly.” This learning that takes place is not necessarily intentional. Three components are required in order to be a CoP: (1) the domain, (2) the community, and (3) the practice.

I wonder which theory I'll be assigned to. I almost, intentionally, chose the theory I found the least interesting just to challenge myself. I may still do this... more later.

Graphic Facilitation & Learning Theory

...and now for some musings from Adult as Learner: Class II...

My second class kicked off with a very interesting sidebar conversation with a fellow adult learner (whose name escapes me.) Upon learning of my art background, she suggested that I might make for a wonderful "Graphic Facilitator". 

I had never heard of Graphic Facilitation - so I ran right home and read up on it.

From Wikipedia: "Graphic Facilitation is the use of large scale imagery to lead groups and individuals towards a goal. The method is used in various processes such as meetings, seminars, workshops and conferences. This visual process is conducted by a Graphic Facilitator.

The early field of Graphic Facilitation was named “Explicit Group Memory” by Facilitator Geoff Ball, who “discovered” that a shared picture supported group learning or more importantly – a lasting memory in the group." Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Graphic_facilitation

There are some great examples on the web of the artwork produced by graphic facilitators, such as this:



Adult as Learner

Last Thursday, February 7th, I embarked on my grad school journey at UMASS Boston. My first class, Adult as Learner, proved to be an engaging course replete with a wonderfully diverse group of students and an energetic instructor. The introductions were enjoyable - long live the adjectives!

I am jubilant about my Adult as Learner team at UMASS - and my future as an Instructional Designer!

These last few days I have immersed myself in my studies, eagerly digesting the chapter work on adult learning theory & models, adult development, and intellectual/cognitive development. I also joined my very first wiki and resurrected this long neglected (but nigh forgotten) blog. Stay tuned - more musings to come!

Way Overdue Update

Wow - it has been over 3 years since my last post and so much in my life as changed! First things first:

This designer was hired on March 5, 2012!

and now...

This designer is in Grad School!

Over the coming weeks I'll be repurposing this blog to chronicle my experiences in the Instructional Design Graduate Program at UMASS Boston. Stay tuned!