MAC – Month 11 – Week 4 - Comments on Jeff Kohls’ Blog

Jeff,

Most times it is so much easier to initially place blame on something outside of us when things don’t go the way we had anticipated. This stance most often relinquishes us to being like a cratered moon, constantly being bombarded by space debris crashing into it. Putting ourselves into the game as the activity builds an atmosphere around us, letting most small issues to dissolve before reaching us.

On Saturday, September 25th Jeff Kohls wrote:

Be the Board?

It's quite a concept to remove oneself from the game as player, and establish oneself as the board. Especially the board on which the whole game is being played, taking the problematic aspect of any circumstance from the outside world and bringing them into the boundaries of yourself.

Much of the reading of Practice Ten, Being the Board focus on the diffusion of the personal ego, which can be very difficult to any individual to do. As humans, I believe we possess traits that cause us to place blame, compete, and remain in number one position. These are intrinsic to our ego.

According to this practice, the first step is to self-declare, "I am the framework for everything that happens in my life." What a radical, and difficult concept to adopt. But in order to ensure that we experience a peaceful journey through this life, we must adopt ourselves as the board, remain on track, be present without resistance to the way things are, and act effectively. Experience a graceful journey. Some things happen that are definitely beyond our control, but to experience them in this graceful existence can leave our spirit whole, and leaves us free to chose again.

The analogy of identifying oneself to the chessboard, and not the chess piece or strategist, allows us to better interpret the concept. By becoming the framework for the game itself, we give ourselves the power to transform our experiences of unwanted situations into ones in which we want to live. When we begin to see things differently, other changes can occur.

Step two of this practice is contemplating for the self, "how did this get on the board that I am?" This practice allows us to see the obvious and then not-so-obvious contributions of our calculating selves, or earlier decisions that we may have made that landed us where we are.

Being the board is not about blaming oneself, however. Self-blame follows the rules of the game in which we, as humans, divide fault and place blame.

Zanders indicate that when we are the board, we present no obstacles to others. We name ourselves as the instruments to which we make all relationships into effective partnerships.

Many of my colleagues have expressed gratitude for the assigning of this book. I would like to share in that sentiment, and offer that this is a book that I will share with my high school leadership students so that they may explore their Art of Possbility.

You can find Jeff Kohls' blog here.

MAC - Month 11 - Week 4 - Blog Post Comments on Scott Legere's Blog

Hi Scott,

I am so glad to hear that you have “seized the inopportune moment” and looked at all of the possibilities in your morning commute, instead of focusing on how it could be an inconvenience. It is true that our reactions to change paint a reality that is not always optimum, but we always have a choice in the way we deal with it. This is a great example of perfecting this exercise. Congratulations on your new teaching opportunity!

On Monday, September 20th Scott Legere wrote:

I now ride the bus. Every day, I walk 7 blocks to the Downtown Minneapolis 5th Street Station. From there, I catch the 94Express and ride into downtown St. Paul. If I'm a little early (a rare feat), I'm able to grab a seat by the window and sit relatively distraction free from the chaos that can be indicative of public transportation in a major metropolitan area.

I wasn't excited about being a commuter. For the last few years, I've tried to maintain a strict rule of living within a short bike ride or walk from the workplace. Still, when I received an invitation to teach Media Economics at the McNally Smith College of Music, I couldn't refuse the offer.

And so I commute. Initially, I was pretty against the idea. It was going to be inconvenient and take too long. On good days, the trip usually takes about 30 minutes. Yet, come January, I can only assume that a brief snow flurry will easily extend the trip to over an hour making the ordeal even more excruciating.

Yet what I've learned to do is to take this unique opportunity and reframe the experience into an opportunity. This new daily ritual is a break. A breath. And even a chance to read, prep for class, and watch the world go by. As it stands, only two weeks into the school year, I'm enjoying the bus.

In some ways, this process is akin to what the Zanders describe as "being the board"- readjusting your perspective regarding the systems of cause and effect that create specific situations. In this simple case, I've found that over time, this strategy (and the others already prescribed in the Art of Possibility) is real. We can pause, reflect on a situation, and draw from it a more positive conclusion or perspective than we had first held.

In one brief paragraph of analysis, the Zanders spoke of the strong reactionary powers that we have adopted as human beings. It is true, biologically and physiologically we have developed an extremely perceptive ability to sense potential danger. Clearly, this adaptation was instrumental in escaping predators and protecting early communities from danger. However, today, these same powers are likely a contributor to the negative feelings we can harbor towards new situations and events.

Without question, it is imperative that we avoid letting these receptive powers lead us towards a "downward spiral" of behavior or attitude. And, if we take a broader view towards the seemingly seismic changes happening in our schools, workplace, country, and world, our students especially need to be reminded of this concern.

Honestly, I think an excellent title for a teacher today could be that of one who "creates frameworks for possibility". I can see no greater nobility to extend to our young learners. The world is complicated. It is scary. And, being left to one's own devices without a roadmap, support, or self confidence building feedback, I'm sure today's students could develop severely negative opinions of the future and their place in it.

I'm really enjoying reading the Art of Possibility. It is refreshing, and I'm able to bring ideas and quotes straight from my reading into the classroom minutes later… after getting off the bus.

You can find Scott's blog here.

MAC – Month 11 – Week 4 – Reading – “Being the Board”

My sensei told me once that the difference between work and play is locus of control. If you choose to engage a challenge, you are able to have fun and express yourself. If you feel like the task is a burden and something that you have to do, it will always be work. Chapter 10 of “The Art of Possibility” seems to reflect this in the concept of “Being the Board”. It is often very easy for us to place ourselves at the mercy of the universe instead of saying that we are a part of its creation. Universe literally means, “one song”. It is this one song that we are all notes in, and doesn’t it make more sense to be in harmony with the music than to be in discord? Being willing to engage every challenge brings the control back into our hands, to the point where we are creating the beautiful music of the song.

This book has really given new context to some valuable life lessons. Just the idea that anything is possible is such a brighter outlook to take than saying, “if this and that changed, then I could be happy”. This is placing the control into something outside of you, which can make everything seem bleak and dismal. By giving you the power to choose to engage conflict, it then becomes a fun game to play. Being the board allows us to be creative in overcoming challenges that other players have introducing into the game. It would seem absurd to tell your opponent that they are not allowed to sink your battleship, the fun part comes in when we ask, “What strategy will I use now that my battleship is sunk?” It becomes much less about winning or losing, but how you play the game.

I am reminded in this reading of a passage from the book Siddhartha by Hermann Hesse, where the main character responds to a potential employer’s asking of his qualifications. “I can think, I can fast, and I can wait.” This outlook of oneself is incredibly empowering. It states that no matter what is on the path ahead of us, we always have the ability and choice of how to deal with it.

MAC - Month 11 - Week 4 - Publishing-Leadership Project - Part 2 of 2: The Reception

Now that the Media Services website has had a few test runs, and the majority of the bugs are worked out of the system, the first place I would like present this work is at the Keystone College Administrative Council meeting. This monthly gathering serves as a forum for members of the College to communicate information about current policies and explore new ideas. It also provides an avenue to voice development initiatives to the executive committee of the council, which in turn acts as a liaison to members of the Cabinet, and the President of Keystone College. I will inquire about sharing this presentation at the November 9th meeting.

The presentation will consist of an explanation as to how my Action Research project was created to address the need of instructional technology support at the College, and how the work created through the project could provide a solution. Keystone has a growing online program, and a non-traditional program that meets on weekends. Providing this technology support infrastructure in an online format would help students and staff who cannot be on campus during our face-to-face support hours. I would then like to present the MS website, and give a short demonstration of the functionality and how to access it.

In addition to a live unveiling to the administration of Keystone I will also present the system to the campus via our daily newsletter, the K.C. Morning E-Notes. This information could be publicized at several times throughout the academic year, primarily nearing the start of each semester. Since it is sent to every email inbox on campus, there is a high probability that the website will get noticed.

This project could also be presented in two Keystone publications; The Chronicle, and the Keystonian. The Chronicle is a monthly newsletter designed to keep students, faculty, staff, administration, and alumni current with Keystone events. The Keystonian is an annual publication that concentrates on letting the community know about new developments at the school and its intended growth for the future. Both of these publications would be another great way to broadcast this new support system. You can find the archives to these publications here.




This system is custom made for Keystone College, so I feel that the initial venues to approach are ones that can function to disseminate the information to the rest of the school. For the future of this project I could see this support system helping our online program grow to offer more degrees, and make a Keystone education possible for a larger body of individuals for whom traditional education is not possible. I am excited for the possibilities.

MAC - Month 11 - Week 4 - Publishing-Leadership Project - Part 1 of 2: The Broadcast

I can envision taking the work complied throughout my Action Research journey to facilitate the growth of our hybrid and distance education programs at Keystone College. The Media Services department serves in many roles at the College, but the primary function is the integration of instructional technology into the educational structure. The first step is to find a means of broadcasting the existence of the support materials available on the Media Services website to the campus community. This would include redirecting links from the main Keystone website’s technology and support pages to the MS website. Also redirecting the support links within each of the various management software systems utilized and supported by the MS website.

In addition to the virtual networking and linking to the MS website, I would like to publish a quarterly announcement in the K.C. Morning E-Notes. This is a daily email publication containing current events, campus news, and upcoming activities on campus. It has proved to be a very effective way to communicate information to the entire campus community. I feel that rebroadcasting the link and function of the MS website prior to the start of each semester will promote learning of our various course management software systems, and allow users to realize the potential of these educational tools.

There are also several organizational meetings of faculty and administration that would also be a good opportunity to announce this project. This way the background behind the project could be presented and a live demonstration of the websites functionality could be shown. I hope that this would inspire several established initiatives in the realm of our online and distance education programs to use the MS website as a tool to support the growing number of students in these programs.

This will be presented in three steps. The first is to provide the physical connections between the software systems and the support website. The second is to tell the campus where the website is and what it can do. The third is to show the community how it works. This process would at least ensure that the campus is aware that these support tutorials are available to them.

Here is a link to the Media Services website. Be advised, the site is in a live working beta stage and there are some links that are not working.

MAC – Month 11 – Week 3 - Free Choice

This month’s readings have really inspired me to rethink my approach to life. I think after almost a year of highly intense and often stressful study in this program I have forgotten some of reasons why I started it in the first place.

1.) I want to become a more effective teacher.
2.) I want to inspire students to be as fascinated as I am about the subject matter I am in teaching it.

I think it is very easy for us to take our perceptions of reality as reality, and allow what we think is going on to color how we feel about it. So many times throughout this year I have become stressed and felt that I wouldn’t be able to see this endeavor through. Every time this happened, it would send me in a downward spiral of blaming myself for not being able to do it under the conditions, or blaming the program for being too difficult. This is like saying that in order for me to succeed there can be no obstacles in my path, and that the competition must throw the fight so I can be the victor. I have been allowed to remember this month that it is pressure that turns carbon into a diamond. The more difficult the challenge, the stronger one will be when they survive it.

So how do we survive the immense pressures that are placed on us daily? It may seem too easy to say, “Just don’t let it bother you”, but in essence this is what we must do. The more time we spend not accepting everything for the way it is, the more weight we add to our already very heavy lives. This in turn can make us focus on the weight we are carrying instead of where we are walking. This always makes us fall.

I am glad we had the opportunity to read “The Art of Possibility” at this point in our journey. It made me ask the question, “Why am I doing all of this?” Remembering that I am here to inspire others, has given me the inspiration to forge ahead.

MAC – Month 11 – Week 3 - Comments on Sharon Jones’ Blog

This is a great application of the ideas touched on in this week’s reading. So often we expend a lot of energy trying to break a barrier down with our fists, when if we took a step back and looked at the whole terrain we would see that we can simply walk around it. Perspective has everything to do with it, and the more narrow our view of a situation, the less likely we will be to “see” other possibilities.

On Saturday, September 18th Sharon Jones wrote:

What an interesting and enigmatic reading this week! Would that I had read this prior to posting to the discussion prompts! The first chapter assigned this week dealt with “the way things are.” The discussion prompts dealt with our experiences with introducing new ways to do things into the school (or business) setting. The second topic dealt with the reason educators seem to be so resistant to change. Both of these topics spoke to me immediately, and I jumped right in and began cataloging all the difficulties I have had and PLACING THE BLAME for the resistance I had met. Reading chapter 7, though, reminded me that there are two things I must consider. One is “the way things are” and the other is “the way I perceive things to be.” As Ben Zander has said, “How fascinating!”

Obviously “the way things are,” the resistance expressed by our administration to the use of technology with our students, exists. I even understand many of the reasons our particular district has set the standards that are currently in place, and I can continue to disagree with them, and work toward the development of a more enlightened policy. I may or may not be successful, but the primary reason for engaging in this program has been to arm myself with the skill set needed to help move education into the 21st century. After reading chapter seven, I asked myself what benefit my students or I gained from me blaming the administration for the current status quo. The answer, of course, was “none.”

What “is” is. What needs to be changed, needs to be changed. Instead of placing blame, I need to be looking at a much bigger picture. It is not enough to know why something is the way it is. I must also look at what small steps can be taken to facilitate change. In much the same way as the example story of the father who felt his son was uncommunicative and walled off, even though this same son had requested and gained counseling for his family, I must look at the walls and barriers I am creating through my interpretation of the situation in which I find myself.

You can find Sharon Jones' blog here.

MAC – Month 11 – Week 3 - Comments on Dana Kohls’ Blog

Dana,

I think you really touched on something here. Distance from the source of the energy plays a dramatic role on the way we are affected by it. You mentioned not having serious conversations through electronic means, because the intention of you message can be misconstrued. I could not agree more. I think for people to truly relate and understand where you are coming from on a particular topic, they need to be within your personal sphere of influence. Much like a spark can only catch other things on fire if they are close enough, perhaps proximity to a persons energy field aids in the transfer of the idea.

On Tuesday, September 14th Dana Kohls wrote:

It was difficult for me to choose between chapter 7 and chapter 9 of this weeks readings. Ultimately, I chose chapter 9 to write about: Lighting a Spark. The quote in the opening story struck a cord with me; "Certain things are better done in person." When conveying passion for a subject it is always better to do it in person, that way the audience has a feel for your expression, tone, excitement, interest and these elements draw them in. This is especially true of technology leaders. Often times we feel that we are not heard and that we are swimming upstream, so the subject and the change we are trying to implement deserves our attention. When we display our knowledge and passion in person we have a greater chance of being heard and understood. This is why I don't have serious conversations via text or email. The tone is so difficult to tell and the affect is non-existant, so it has such great potential to be misunderstood, not taken seriously or even ignored.

I love the concept of enrollment as an idea or spark for others to share. This idea that person to person I can affect change and be ready to be affected by it in return, is such a positive concept of sharing passion rather than forcing ideals. I think what also needs to be considered is how the message is delivered. I understand how over-zealous people can kill even the best of intentions or the slightest spark. I think as human beings, many of us have a uneasy or reluctant feeling to get involved with people and their ideals when they appear extreme in their passion. It's a fine line between being passionate and appearing a bit nutty.

You can find Dana Kohls' blog here.

MAC – Month 11 – Week 3 - Reading – The power of "The Force"

Most of my life I have been intrigued as to the possibilities of the human psyche. Probably from the first time I watched the Star Wars movies, I have wanted to cultivate “The Force”. Over the years, I had come across literature where people were performing supernatural acts that defied the laws of science. Humans that could regulate their body temperature, slow their heart rate, or move objects with their mind, functions that by previous definition were involuntary or impossible. When it was found that there were definitive changes in the brain wave patterns of individuals who could perform these acts, it was evidence to me that we were discovering an unknown energy. What else were we not seeing? At CERN in Switzerland, it was shown that the paths of subatomic particles were being influenced by the presence of scientists observing them. This seemed to link the power of our minds to our physical reality. If our presence were capable of having an effect on the outcome of a controlled experiment, what would happen if we were to focus our intentions? And how to we approach achieving this level of ability?



This weeks reading of “The Art of Possibility”, seemed to touch on where our minds need to be in order to focus our personal powers. Much like the Jedi, if we dwell on fear, anger, hate, or other emotions that rise from the Calculating Self, we move ourselves further from the light to the dark side of the Force. By being ever-present and aware of what is happening right now, we are able to see possibilities that we would have missed if we were “stuck in our own heads”. From this balanced point, we can also take on any conflict in our path effortlessly because we are only dealing with one thing at a time. We do this without fear of losing to the obstacles up ahead, or how we dealt with conflict in the past.

This type of focus also seems to generate ripples that radiate outward into our world. When we encounter a person who has experienced extreme hardship yet doesn’t seem rattled, we are inspired. When we witness a performer who is so adept and passionate about they are doing, we cannot help but be moved to our cores. This spark could be the result of waves of energy emanating outward and touching us. Much like a struck tuning fork can make another still tuning fork vibrate when they are placed near each other, perhaps our personal energy level can influence all those around us. If you watch the way waves interact in water, waves that are in harmony with one another will amplify each other’s power. By radiating waves of harmonic energy we have the potential to affect everything in our paths. What kind of world would you create if you were able to tap into this power?

MAC – Wk2 – Open Project

Just this evening I received an email from our Chief Information Officer stating that the long anticipated Moodle system was installed on our server at school. This is very exciting for me as our campus’s CMS administrator. For several years now I had hoped to offer this free alternative to our current CMS, Blackboard Learn ver. 9, to those faculty members who admonished the system for whatever reason. Now we have that chance.

I would again like to implement the work from my Action Research project and create tutorials that can be placed on the Media Services website to train users on the Moodle system. If the tutorials are successful in supporting learning on this new system, and the system itself is welcomed into the hybrid and online learning environments, I could see making a case to switch over to Moodle entirely. This could allow more control over customizing our learning environments, and ultimately save the college a lot of money in the process.

I hope to put into place systems that will measure the usage of the Moodle system in comparison to Blackboard to determine the rate of adoption. This will also be a great chance to track the usage of the Media Services tutorial website on a system from the ground up, to see if the availability of reference materials improves the overall acceptance of the new CMS system.

MAC – Wk2 Comments on Tamara Collins’ Blog

Tamara,

We are never able to see ourselves the way others perceive us. If a person has a thousand acquaintances, they will have a thousand reputations. Perhaps you were the ultimate disciplinarian to that student because that is the contribution from you that he needed? Perhaps other students of yours, even in the same class, would perceive your lessons differently because of their individual needs. Either way, it sounds like you are doing a fantastic job in the classroom, one that will make a difference to everyone who has the fortune to experience it.

On Saturday, September 11th, Tamara Collins wrote:

As an educator I often wondered what my students and trainees see when they look at me. Do they see a person whom is calm, relaxed and ready to tackle anything or do they see one who gets caught up in a fit of rage when things do no pan out the way they see fit? I would to say that I am somewhere in between. For the most part I am patient with others, but most times while in the classroom I was most definitely the ultimate disciplinarian. And guess what? That is exactly what one of my students who just entered his first year of college (Yale, might I add) said to me the other day when I saw him. I wasn’t sure how to take it. Was I to be proud or a little embarrassed? Well, when he hugged me and thanked me for making him work on his reading strategies over and over again, I was filled with joy and a sense of accomplishment. The Art of Possibility Chapters 4-6 spoke to me in a very familiar manner.

I realized that it was not the amount of time I invested in being “the ultimate disciplinarian,” but what I taught those students on how to act in and out of the classroom. Like the author in The Art of Possibility that was my “contribution” to society. I made sure that not only did my students learn the subject area, but also that they knew how to respect everyone. Or rather I became the “the contribution.” Of course I continue to read on, and come across Rule Number 6, thus far the most interesting.

The Rule Number 6, Lighten Up. This is most definitely easier said than done; however I continue to read because I am intrigued. According to the book when we follow the Rule Number 6 and lighten up over our childish demands and entitlements, we are instantly transported in a remarkable universe (Zander & Zander, p. 97). I think it’s safe to say that many people want to take things less seriously, but they often get caught up in what may go wrong. I believe this is one of those rules that take practice.

I suppose taking a chance is what it’s all about.

MAC - Wk2 Comments on Jeff Kohls' Blog

Jeff,

I find myself doing the same exact things. Often times can’t walk away from a project or an escalation at work until it is complete, even when I am no longer being efficient at working on the project. There is a little too much ego involved, “I am a person who always gets it done”, is something that often runs through my mind. The words from this chapter made me realize that there is no sense in pounding your head against a brick wall just to prove that you have a hard head. This is something that eluded me for so long because I wanted to be perceived as a problem solver. But what good am I doing for anyone, especially myself, when I end up taking other peoples’ monkeys home with me to mess up my house. By laughing it off, and attacking the problem without fear of judgment, the problems seem to resolve themselves. Great post!

On Saturday, September 11th, Jeff Kohls wrote:

Sometimes I believe in fate.

Sometimes I believe in chance.

I'm not sure which vehicle it was that placed The Art of Possibility in my hands, but it seems to belong there in so many ways.

I'm going to discuss the Rule #6, the Calculating Self, and Central Self.

Last week, I read a Tweet from a member of my PLN that stated, "I try not to take this place too seriously." I thought for a moment, wow, what a concept. Here I am, in all of my busy, high stress, time-managed glory, dealing with high school students, family relationships, graduate school work, leadership committees, assessments, irate parents, and car issues, and these 9 words that are so simple, rang an internal gong so loud, it frightened me. Then, I read about Rule #6.

You see, I tend to be a driven individual, often narrowly focused on the outcomes as opposed to the contributions. After all, it is the contributions that make the outcome. When facilitating a student-lead project, I'm very, very serious, and tend to get irate at the smallest problems or issues. The focus of the chapter is to lighten up, use humor and laughter to "get over ourselves," while keeping in check our calculating selves which could impede progress. The Zander's make a great point that "children grow up in a medium of language and have a long, long time to think. A child comes to think of himself as the personality he gets recognition for or, in other words, as the set of patterns of action and habits of thought that get him out of childhood in one piece." Habits remain from childhood into adulthood and become very difficult to break. This is me.

As adults, especially ones in a field where we are charged to care for the youth of our great country, we have a responsibility to be honest to our students, no matter what age, our clients, and our selves. How can we do so if our calculating self, our pride, our egos get in the way. Zander's go on to say, "when one person peels away the layers of opinion, pride, and inflated self-description, others instantly feel the connection. As one person has the grace to practice the secret Rule Number 6, others often follow. Now, with the calculating self revealed and humored, the central self shines through."

The most important paragraph in these three chapters, to me, is the final paragraph of the 6th Practice:

"When we follow Rule Number 6 and lighten up over our childish demands and entitlements, we are instantly transported into a remarkable universe. This new universe is cooperative in nature, and pulls for the realization of all our cooperative desires. For the most part it lies a bit above our heads. Angels can fly there because, as you may have heard, they themselves lightly. But now, with the help of a single rule, so can we."

MAC – Month 11 – Week 2 Reading – Taking Myself Too Seriously

I was told once that if you are to shine a light on a negative behavior that you exhibit, it cannot exist under your observation. For instance, if a person has a tendency to be dodgy with their eyes while in conversation, and no one ever tells them that it is often perceived as insincere or untrustworthy, they may never be able to alter the action. Something that stuck with me from the reading of “The Art of Possibility” by Zander and Zander this week was Rule Number 6.

In the weeks prior to the start of the fall semester at Keystone College this year I was the most stressed I think I have ever been. It was to the point that I was quite short and downright nasty to my coworkers when they would pick on me for being in a bad mood. I kept tabulating all the reasons I had to be stressed out, and why none of them could understand because they weren’t in the same situation as I. The work environment had become a place of eggshells and thin ice, because my temperament was spilling over into the attitudes of everyone else. My supervisor had on several occasions tried to speak to me about lightening up, but I couldn’t hear him through my mind’s voice screaming about all that I needed to get done in the upcoming weeks. It wasn’t until reading about Rule Number 6, that I realized that it was exactly what I was doing. I was taking myself too damned seriously, thinking that my life situation and my problems were more important than all of those around me.

This leads me back to my opening statement. It wasn’t until reading this passage, that it was revealed to me that I was taking it all a bit too seriously. Once I was able to see that this was the root of my transgression and negativity, I was able to laugh at how ridiculous I was acting. After that, the problems that I thought were the most serious in my world suddenly became like a book of fiction. They were only as real as I made them, and by looking at them with a bit of levity, they went from being impossible problems to fun challenges in a game that I was inventing as I went along. Who needs all that stress anyway?

MAC Wk1 Project Post – Open Topic

For this assignment I decided to perform the exercise of “Giving myself an A” as described in “The Art of Possibility” by Zander and Zander.

Tuesday, December 21st

Dear Full Sail University,

Today I will walk at graduation knowing that anything is possible. Like any of us who are reflecting, my journey began a long ago and only now am I able to see why every single moment of my life had to happen for me to be right here, right now. In the formal years of my early education I never performed as an “A” student because I didn’t think I was one. It probably wasn’t until my junior year at college that I really realized why I was in school at all. I actually wanted to learn. There wasn’t a definitive moment when the light bulb went on, but at some point I started becoming absolutely fascinated with the subject matter we were studying. Then my marks began to improve. At some point I realized that I could get an “A” and that it wasn’t impossible for me to be an “A” student. From there more and more doors opened up in front of me.

When life had presented me with a reason and a motivation to pursue a graduate degree, I thought, “If I could choose any school, where would I want to want to learn from?” So I applied, and was accepted. Never before would I have thought that possible. I knew that I would have to step up to the challenge. And as challenging as it was, I did it. There were plenty of times throughout that I wanted to give up, but I made it here. Now I am poised and ready for whatever life can throw at me.

I am receiving an “A” because I realize now that anything I focus my attention on can be a reality. It is all about scraping away the inessentials from the block of marble. We are all capable of becoming a work of art, if we are willing to shed the parts of ourselves that are keeping us from revealing this true nature. I appreciate everything I have learned throughout this journey, and the resonation it has created will carry me on a wave throughout the rest of my life.

With sincerity,

Justin Kraky

MAC - Wk1 Comments on Scott Legere's Blog

Scott,

I think many self-empowerment texts get a bad rap because they are trying to explain concepts in spirituality through a logical and linear fashion. The idea that “you are not your mind” as quoted by Eckhart Tolle in his book “The Power of Now”, is something that frightens people. If we are not the collections of mental perceptions that establish where we are in the universe, then what are we? We have become so attached to “things” to create our identity for us, that we don’t even know ourselves. We end up being an extension of our car, our house, our job, and we are afraid that we won’t be us if any of these things are taken away. This also traps us in a safety net of being like everyone else, so that we are not judged on what we don’t have. I think this limits what we are capable of. After all, it wasn’t until Roger Bannister broke the four-minute mile barrier that runners around the world saw that it was possible, and then more and more were able to do it.

On Thursday, September 2nd Scott Legere wrote:

By nature, I'm sometimes skeptical about books like this. Self-help books that is. There was a trend- for years these books were coming out of the woodwork and every title and analogy imaginable was used to craft a somewhat glib yet optimistic view of the world.

Most authors seemed to suggest that if only we knew more about our personal strengths and how to find cheese, we'd surely all be much better off.

However, I'm coming to realize that "The Art of Possibility" is reassuringly different. First of all, the authors are basing much of their writing on science and clinical psychology, not "Hallmark Moments". This is a book rooted in science and scholarly research, and it shows.

Moving through the first few chapters, what really struck me was the authors' explanation that societally, we are often stuck within a perspective of a "Measurement Center". In short, we are constantly trying to organize our lives, careers, and aspirations along a series of presupposed societal benchmarks.

I could not agree more. The world around us readily defines what is successful, beautiful, and even good. As such, we are commonly pitting ourselves against a level of measurement that we personally did not create and are likely unattainable for the average individual.

I think that this realization is a critical point not just for working professionals and adults, but for young students who are not only struggling with the common challanges of school, but the more difficult and diffuse issues of identity and self-esteem.

Much of what has been discussed within the first few chapters of the Art of Possibility reminds me of some critical distinctions Howard Gardner raised in his seminal text, "Intelligence Reframed". While highlighting the social variability of "intelligence" early on in his work, Gardner used what I consider an extremely powerful analogy which I paraphrase below:

Imagine that you are a member of a tribe in the jungle. While individuals amongst the tribe would all likely possess a wealth of valuable skill sets, it is highly likely that the tribe would elect the most able hunter and provider as the leader of the group.

In short, the notion of individual "intelligence" as understood and valued by society, is variable based upon the cultural constructs of one's own individual community. Clearly, when measured against those skills often deemed as valuable here within the industrialized United States, we would likely have a much different vision and understanding for "intelligence" or "value" than someone subsisting in a jungle environment.

Humans do measure and analyze the world around them. Partly, I believe this phenomenon is a problem solving tool- we are trying to categorize and understand a very complex and dynamic world. However, per the authors, it is incredibly important that we understand the impact that our propensity for "categorization" or "measurement" actually is.

Furthermore, we are all reading this work together as a growing voice in the public sphere is raising concern about the creative aptitudes of tomorrows' graduates. The Chronicle for Higher Education, Newsweek, The New York Times, and authors like Seth Godin and Jason Fried have all ran headlines stories or written books about a perceived lack in creative competency in today's students. Many of these works purport that this "creativity gap" (as Newsweek described it) is due in part to our development of an education system that pre-defined "academic success" by measurement benchmarks such as memorization and fill-in-the-blank based assessments.

In all, I'm actually very excited to continue reading The Art of Possibility. I do believe that we as a society often unfairly judge and measure ourselves against ill-conceived benchmarks and it is imperative that we limit this behavior's affect not only on our lives, but the world view of our students.

ee cummings may have said it best:

to be nobody-but-yourself -- in a world which is doing its best, night and day, to make you everybody else -- means to fight the hardest battle which any human being can fight; and never stop fighting.

Scott Legere's blog can be found here.

MAC - Wk1 Comments on Jeff Kohls' Blog

Jeff,

What you say here rings so true. If we are telling our students to complete assignments solely by our own standards, we are assuming that we know the only “right” way to do the work. A student that has a fear of failure will follow the predetermined rules and will stifle their own ideas as not wanting to “rock the boat”. In nature when water is not allowed to flow freely, stagnation results. If we allow students creativity to flow and to find alternative means of coming to the same conclusion, they will carve new channels in the realm of possibilities. It is funny to think about how much time we spend resisting change, when change is the only constant in the universe.

On Saturday, September 4th Jeff Kohls wrote:

I was most struck by chapter 3 of The Art of Possibility, and the concept of Giving an A. One of the first lines of The Third Practice that stood out for me, as I assess and reassess how important grades are to our society, is the in the second paragraph, "grades say little about the work done. When you reflect to a student that he has misconstrued a concept or has taken a false step in math problem, you are indicating something real about his performance, but when you give him a B+, you are saying nothing at all about his mastery of the material, you are only matching him up against other students." (Zander, Zander 25)

It points out that we, as educators, have our own standards and agendas that we impose upon our students, and punish them for not meeting those standards with a lower letter grade. We force our students to literally do it "my way, the right way" which can often suppress their creative abilities, which of course, could be the student's strength in learning. If children have their creative efforts stifled enough, they may lose their ability to think creatively, and we'll simply produce a society of young people who follow well, and rarely lead.

The chapter indicates that one can give an A to anyone from any walk of life. When we acknowledge the respect that should be shown for other members of the human race, putting aside our own standards and predispositions, we can offer an opportunity for a complete, unadulterated opportunity for people to learn themselves.

Jeff Kohls' blog can be found here.

MAC - Month 11 - WK1 Reading – Obtaining a black belt

Reading the opening chapters of “The Art of Possibility” by Rosamund & Benjamin Zander, I am reminded of two lessons taught to me by my sensei, Kurt Sussman. This past August I was to test for my black belt in the Tang So Doo style through the Blackhawk Martial Arts system. It had been six years since I had set out on the journey to pursue the rank, yet as the test drew closer I began to feel less and less like I was ready. When I began my training in this style, I had a preconceived notion of the skill level that I would be at by the time I was ready to test for black belt. A commitment to my schoolwork and maintaining life’s other responsibilities did not lend time for the hours of daily martial arts training I thought were required to wear this symbol around my waist. As the test date grew closer, I continually tortured myself with thoughts like, “I am not practicing enough”, “I should be able to perform this form better than I am”, and “I am not good enough”. Taking on this mindset, training would leave me aggravated to the point of hopelessness. I would never be the black belt I thought I could be.

After the four-hour test, I was told to sit and explain how I felt the test went. I went into a self-analysis of my weaknesses in hand-range, where I had bobbled in the forms, and why I felt weak for not being able to quit smoking to be in better cardio-vascular health. By my own account, I didn’t earn it for all of these reasons. As my sensei presented me with the belt, he told me that regardless of my performance during the test I would have been leaving the test that day with a black belt. I was somewhat astonished at this statement. He went on to explain that this test was as much a reflection on him as it was on me. If I were not at the proper skill level by test time, it would mean that he was not doing his job as the instructor. He said, “Your perceptions of reality are not reality itself, only your limited viewpoint of it. You do not see your growth as I have seen your growth.”

I realized then that I had spent a lot of time and energy on thinking that I was not a worthy candidate, instead of focusing on how far I had come and how amazing it was to be able to participate at all in something I wanted to do my entire life. Looking at myself with the critical eye of comparison to others that hold the rank only made me feel less than adequate. The test wasn’t about the juxtaposition of how I compared to every other martial artist, but of my personal growth throughout the entire time I had been training. It was simply a statement of who I was at that moment. It was more important that I knew myself, and could see my strengths and weaknesses without validation. If I could honestly evaluate myself, and my position in relation to my goals, I would have a roadmap to get to where I wanted to be.

Weeks after the test I had fallen into another slump. The completion of this task didn’t seem to change my life the way I assumed it would. In many ways I thought, “When I am a black belt all these other problems will go away, I will be confident, and able to take on anything”. However, nothing really changed. I didn’t feel like the all-powerful black belt that I should have been. I found that I was happier in the pursuit of being a black belt than I was in achieving it. Now that I was a black belt, I would have to start all over again, being graded on a different scale. Presenting my quandary to my sensei, his response was that it wasn’t about the destination, but the road to that destination that gives us happiness. A flower doesn’t think about being in bloom, it just grows towards the sun. These were both lessons that will stay with me forever. Pursue perfection, but know that you will never be perfect, and all that matters is that we grow. This seemed to be the overall message of the beginning of book, remove us from our personal measurement system and anything is possible.

Wk4 Blog Post Comments on Jeff Kohls’ UDUTU Project

Jeff,

This project sums up the Professional Learning Network and the steps required to set one up for your self. I liked the way you incorporated the survey into the lesson. This is a really neat way to bring all of these separate entities into one learning unit. I could see using this in my Interdisciplinary Skills courses to help new freshmen students begin building a professional online profile.

On Saturday, August 28th Jeff Kohls wrote:

The Udutu project can be found here.

Dana Kohls and I collaborated on the Udutu project because we are collaborating on the Action Research Project as well. The project focuses on establishing a PLN for our school district. The Udutu project will serve as a launch for Cycle II data collection and analysis, as well as deliver course instruction.

The focus of the Udutu course is to introduce Google Reader, Twitter, Facebook, and iGoogle as they relate to the PLN. This is done through audio, and video tutorials, produced by Dana and I (K-Squared Productions), as well as media assets that are on Youtube.

I very much enjoyed the Udutu platform, and can see this as an asset that I would subscribe to in order to support my districts' PLN. The platform was easy to manipulate, add media, and add text.

Wk4 Blog Post Comments on Scott Legere's UDUTU Project

Scott,

This was a really good lesson on contract law. It broke the complicated concepts of recording contracts into easy to understand pieces of information. I really like the explanation of royalty calculations. I don’t think most of us realize how much pressure is on the artist to “sell”. Once they are bound by the contract, they really need to move their product.


On Saturday, August 28th Scott Legere wrote:

For my Udutu project, I attempted to develop a short lesson about some of the common language found within production and recording contracts. Often, this language is complex and bewildering for young media students, so I tried to imbue my project with some humor and silliness. In many of the assessments, there is no wrong answer and each choice leads you to the next site.

Overall, I found the Udutu environment to be surprisingly easy to navigate. I think this is a valuable tool, and I've enjoyed learning to post content. That said, I'm having some technical difficulties- thus far, I can not get any of my MP3 files to load and stream from the site. They are accessible within myUdutu, the stream from inside the editor, but I can't yet get them to play from my published site even though they are set to "Stream" the narration directly from the page. Also, I'm struggling with some of the auto-advance functions after certain assessments, but I'll get to the bottom of all of these issues.

Again, the process has been positive so far. I'll continue working through the night and the rest of the day tomorrow in order to solve this little glitch.

Thanks,

URL http://publish.myudutu.com/published/launcheval/22206/Course40561/Launch.html

NOTE: 8.29.10

I'm changing my opinion of Udutu somewhat. While I've finally gotten my audio narrations to load (when refreshing each page) I'm finding significant browser inconsistencies and an inability for Udutu to launch new "links" within the system. As I've added several pages since yesterday, may of the links remain tied to the old navigation scheme bypassing Slide 10 especially. And, a blank opening page keeps loading inappropriately. Hmmmm.

Wk4 Blog Post Comments on Tamara Collins’ UDUTU Project

Tamara,

This is a great lesson on the writing process. Very well organized and put together. I know that this was geared towards the 6th grade level, but these are concepts that are applicable at any level. The additional links to things like starter words, transitional words, and proofreaders marks are a great asset to have available in the lesson. I really like the idea of color-coding the different parts to see where you may be lacking content in your writing. The end assessment perfectly sums up the lesson with identifying the steps in the writing process. Great work!


On Sunday, August 29th Tamara Collins wrote:

Click here to go to my UDUTU.

I decided to create a writing course for 6th grade students. The UDUTU goes through the six steps of the writing process. You can click on the watermark to make it go away.

I really enjoyed this project because this is something I could truly use in the classroom. This year we have a ton of new teachers whom have never taught before, so I figured with a bit more tweaking I can modify it to make it completely fit our students. The new teachers can get an idea on how we teach the writing process.

Kraky Justin - LMO Wk4: Future Report

References

Intelligent tutoring system. (2010, May 14). In Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia. Retrieved
17:01, August 29, 2010, from http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Intelligent_tutoring_system&oldid=362168791

Loyens, S., Magda, J., & Rikers, R. (2008). Self-Directed Learning in Problem-Based Learning and its Relationships with Self-Regulated Learning. Educational Psychology Review, 20(4), 411-427. doi:10.1007/s10648-008-9082-7.

Taraghi, B., Ebner, M., Till, G., & Mühlburger, H. (2010). Personal Learning Environment. International Journal of Emerging Technologies in Learning, (S1), 25-30. doi:10.3991/ijet.v5s1.1195.

Kraky Justin - LMO Wk4 - UDUTU Project

For my UDUTU lesson, I chose a project created in Musical Theory and Educational Applications. This lesson was designed for the Advanced Audio Production class at Keystone College, and teaches audio physics principles and terminology.

I found the UDUTU platform slightly awkward in the beginning, and it took me a few tries before realizing that I needed to save all of my changes after making them. Once I got the hang of it, the platform revealed itself to be very versatile. I was able to create a guided video lesson with two forms of assessment. At the midway assessment point, if the learner answered any of the questions incorrectly they would be redirected back to the appropriate lesson. For the final assessment, the learner would have to answer a series of five multiple-choice questions correctly to successfully complete the lesson.

I was very impressed with how easy it was to create highly interactive teaching components with UDUTU, and I can’t wait to import them into our school’s CMS and use them for class this upcoming semester.

Click the link below to see a published version of the lesson. Because I am using the free account, you will see a watermark over the lesson. Simply click on the watermark to make it go away.
COMM 320 - Advanced Audio Production

Wk3 Blog Post Comments on Scott Legere’s Blog

I completely understand what you mean when you commented about being consumed with trying to find ways to use these technologies in our classrooms. Last month in the Game Strategies and Motivation class, I had racked my brain trying to come up with a digital exercise for our final project. I was trying to envision some sort of Guitar Hero style means of teaching frequency and audio principles, and making it entirely too complicated for the scope of the project. It wasn’t until I received some feedback from Dr. Siegel and other members of the class, that my direction changed. He instructed me to start by thinking of a game that wasn’t a video game, to come up with a core concept first, before getting caught up in the technology. I think it is too easy for us to have these tools and then go looking for things to fix, instead of having a problem and then finding the right tool for the job.

On Tuesday, August 17 Scott Legere wrote:

This is all very complicated and I am coming to the conclusion that a topic area like Learning Management Systems and Organization could easily morph into its own year long program. As the previous two weeks have shown, there is a plethora of tools and systems available for not only developing learning content and organizing that that material per the needs of a specific student or institution.

CMS, LMS, and LCMS platforms are all very complex, and their implementation should be made only after considerable discussion from those immediately involved including participants (learners), trainers, administrators, IT staff, and programmers.

Despite the complexity that comes with the depth of functionality within these systems, I really appreciated this week's readings which first helped categorize the different tool sets that might all be leveraged within a larger learning platform. Per the e-learningguru website, authoring or production tools, individual element tools, webcasting and streaming tools, virtual classroom portal and discussion tools, as well as information management and training tools are all critical components in the creation and deployment of content. Seeing these resources broken down into some individual laments helped to clarify not only the tools themselves, but the steps that might have to be taken to go from lesson conception to deployment.

Furthermore, it is no surprise that the other main topic up for discussion this week is assessment. Within one of our first EMDT courses, I believe it was Beth Strugeon who reminded us all that "teaching and learning are two distinct activities". This perspective is critical as we all look to understand the role of technology and how it can effect a student's learning and comprehension.

At least personally, the idea of education and technology could easily be consumed with a singular focus on the exciting digital resources available for media-rich content. As an educator, I can immediately start dreaming up all of the videos, podcasts, and interactive web-enabled elements that would be fun and engaging to distribute within the classroom. However, this attitude is largely focused on my content delivery, or "teaching". Little in this particular subject area concerns "learning" or the actual input, understanding, and synthesis on behalf of the student involved.

Both virtual and physical educational environments demand assessment, otherwise, educators, parents, administrators, and even students have no way to measure true comprehension. What has been learned? How can it be applied? How does this relate to one's life, community, or profession? These are all important questions to carefully consider when developing educational goals and outcomes prior to the blind implementation of an exciting new technology or resource.

Throughout the last 10 years, I've learned (often frustratingly so) that organizations and institutions in higher education move very slowly. However, I believe that this realm is one of those areas wherein any use of new tools should be a deliberate and comprehensive "discussion" between all parties involved.

Like many FSO participants I'm sure, as soon as I was enrolled in this program, I wanted to have a portal as powerful as Full Sail's available to my students. However, it is clear that the development of such resources is a lengthy process which can take nothing short of years. It comes as no real surprise that as Full Sail began developing the custom-built FSO system, they leveraged other online CMS tools in the interim.

Quality work takes time. Developing systems which not only distribute educational content but aid in assessing whether that material is understood by the learner is a significant and time consuming process that demands careful analysis and planning. Thankfully, as a grateful participant currently engaged in the FSO portal, I can whole-heartedly say that these systems can be nothing short of life changing for students if adequate time (and care) is taken.

Wk3 Blog Post Comments on Jeff Kohls’ Blog

I agree with you Jeff, that technology will not fully replace the human instructor element in the classroom. However, with technologies like SCORM, RLOs, LMS, CMS, etc., I could see a time that humans would become nearly transparent in teaching. Imagine a future where courses are completely premade prior to the semester and then just run like a program, made up of building blocks of material that has already been created, with little or no direct instructor interaction! I think there are so many things that are like that already. I know when I want a tutorial on how to fix something around the house the first place I check is YouTube, to see if someone had created a video explaining how to do it. In this case, I don’t get to ask the person giving the instruction questions, I would have to check another source or figure it out. It is somewhat frightening to think that someday students may ask their wristwatch how to solve an equation and a computer generated voice replies with the answer.

On Friday, August 20 Jeff Kohls wrote:

I think the future of LMS, CMS, and LCMS looks exciting. While I feel that the human instructor can never be replaced by technology, the human element can be augmented with technology, and the future looks to be highly interactive and synchronous.

The reading this week on the FSO platform talked about trends happening right now in the realm of CMSs. Social networks are becoming more professional and collaborative, and are no longer just a place to see old friends. Professional Learning Networks can be assembled by using such social networks as Twitter with professionals located in every country of the world, all who share a common focus or goal.

Media technology that is being used in schools and institutions of higher learning has been highly developed and now allows for a virtual view of every content that is studied. Those studying biology can virtually dissect a frog, anatomy students can delve inside the human body without touching a cadaver, geographers can fly to remote places and track the last surviving member of an indigenous tribe by using real-time satellite imagery and geographic information systems, and architects can electronically design their buildings and make changes instantaneously. Medical students can learn how to prepare a patient for examination without entering a doctors office. The market has come to the student, as opposed to the student going to the market.

The third trend mentioned on FSO was the use of hand-held mobile devices in classrooms, such as cell phones and PDAs, but could now include iPods, and iPads. Many of these devices possess as much power as the instructor's company-owned computer and offer high speed internet access outside of the school networks.

Trend four spoke about the accessibility of Internet based learning facilities, or distance learning. The Internet is used for nearly every aspect of our lives, from shopping to finding a mate to accessing a schematic diagram to learn the wiring of a 92 Honda Civic. The infrastructure already exists, and seems to be untouched by such events as economic recessions.

The fifth trend discussed the notion of embedded learning. This notion is further supported by a Wikipedia page on ITS, Intelligent Tutoring Systems. Wikipedia defines an ITS as any computer system that provides direct customized instruction or feedback to students i.e., without the interaction of human beings, whilst performing a task. Basically, this is learning by doing. Through the use of artificial intelligence, the user makes a series of choices and experiences results based on his/her choices.

The sixth trend is cloud computing, web services, and online applications. These will make the creation, distribution, and consumption of information experiences more available, flexible, adaptable, and cheaper.

One very interesting (and long) article included in the reading was the MMOG 2005 article by Curtis Bonk and Vanessa Dennen. I only skimmed this article, but did download it because I found it intriguing as it discussed how the military is using the popularity of gaming, online gaming, and the fact that 75% of teenage males play video games to its advantage. This really speaks about the psychology behind organizations such as the military and how they use RLOs and other management systems to train millions of independent individuals.

Kraky Justin - LMO Wk3 - LMS Choice: Selecting the Right Learning Management System

As more and more companies and educational institutions move towards an electronic, hybrid, or distance learning model for delivering information media to their learners they run into the issue of how to select the right system to fit their needs. There are hundreds of Learning Management Systems (LMS) on the market today, each with a particular range of features and functionality in relation to price. In order for a company to achieve the highest efficiency possible from their LMS, they first need to clearly identify what their learning objectives are. From there, the company can narrow down their selection before moving into the acquisition of the product.

In the blog article by Godfrey Parkin entitled “The LMS selection process in a nutshell” (Parkin, 2005), he states that the intuition needs to form a selection team made up of all parties who will be involved with the use and implementation of the LMS. This includes information technology staff, content creation managers, and perhaps an outside consultant. This team must identify what they want the LMS to do, how they plan to integrate it, and who will manage the system once it is implemented. Parkins suggests that the team form a list of “critical success factors” (2005), or the features that absolutely need to be available in order for the system to be an effective solution for the companies training needs. These could include compatibility with human resource management systems, or other legacy systems that the company has in place. Other factors may be the need for a multilingual system, assessment and tracking needs, the need for content compliancy across multiple platforms, point-of-sale or monetary management functionality, hosted or in-house system administration, as well as system support needs.

The next step for the team is to request information from LMS vendors and create a list of systems that meet all of their critical success needs. If the team has several systems that meet their critical needs, they can begin to further narrow the list based on additional features or price factors. Once the team has a handful of potential systems that meet all of their needs, they can contact representatives from each of the LMS companies for demonstrations on the software. The LMS selection team can then start evaluating each system from the perspectives of the LMS administration, support-staff, and the end-user. This will allow the team to see the performance of such a system in practical scenarios, and the software vendor can illustrate how their system can meet the prospective buyer’s needs.

This leads to the stage where the selection team must create a Request for Proposal (RFP). The RFP is a document designed to alert the service vendor to the needs of the proposing company. The RFP should establish all of the constructs that the software vendor must meet to be considered. These include the project’s scope, functionality requirements based on critical needs, other desirable features, proposed budget, and the projects time-line. This way the service vendor can prepare a portfolio containing the features, functionalities, and prices of a system that will fit the proposing company critical needs. Once the selection team has received proposals from all of the vendors they sent the RFP to, they should have enough information to distinguish their top three picks.

Now the team can further research each of the top three systems by having their users try out each system, and provide the team with feedback of their concerns. The team can also request that other companies write a recommendation on their satisfaction with the particular system. The team can often negotiate with the vendors in order to achieve the best price in relation to the competition. At this point the team should be armed with all of the information they need to make their decision. Now they can install the system and begin the implementation process.

Parkin, G. (2005, April 30). The LMS selection process in a nutshell. Parkin’s Lot. Retrieved from http://parkinslot.blogspot.com/2005/04/lms-selection-process-in-nutshell.html

Wk2 Blog Post Comments on Tamara Collins’ Blog

With all of these systems, I think it is very important that the school clearly assess what they plan on using the technology for. An LCMS gives you the best of both worlds with learning and course management, which would allow expandability for future development as well as the benefits of reusable modules. However, cost may prohibit a smaller institution from implementing this technology. They also may not intend to utilize all of the features that the management system contains at first, but perhaps would be able to introduce a LMS specific to their needs and then later upgrade to an LCMS. PowerSchool seems like a fantastic resource to have available to you, it is important that instructors are comfortable with the tools before they use them in the classroom.

On Wednesday, August 11th Tamara Collins wrote:

Learning Content Management Systems (LCMS) are fast becoming a way for training individuals within corporations as well as some educational institutions. It allows for authoring, publishing, and managing learning content (Nichani, 2001). The LCMS can create instant Reusable Leaning Objects or RLO’s to satisfy the needs of the learner. For example companies can foresee the needs of what the employee (learner) will need and create a new course required to train them on a new product, which may launch in the near future (Nichani, 2001).

LCMS can also be customized to fit what the learner may need. Rather than attending an all day training session the LCMS is designed to allow the learner what is necessary or what they need. Along with catering to the needs of the learner they are also able to customize their learning experience through the LCMS (Nichani, 2001).

According to the article LCMS Round Up it is crucial to understand the differences between the Learning Management System (LMS), the Content Management System (CMS) and the LCMS. The article described the LCMS as combining the learner administration capabilities of an LMS with the content creation and storage capabilities of a CMS (Ellis, 2001). LCMS can be considered a very powerful system because it deals with the learning content (Perry, 2009).

After reading the articles on LCMS I immediately thought about a system my school has been using called PowerSchool. It not only allows the teachers to view tutorials on how to accomplish specific things, but it allows the administrators to input what they feel the teacher needs. For example if the administrator foresees that the teacher needs additional support in setting up their grade books they can then tailor the database to include more tutorials on grade books.

Wk2 Blog Post Comments on Karen Williams’ Blog

You are correct that there is a huge cost consideration in implementing a LMS or CMS into your institution. Even if the institution was considering a free open-source alternative to skate around the high-priced enterprise models, there is still the need for at least one full-time administrator of the software as well as one full-time information technology expert in order to integrate and manage the complex software and databases on the server side. You need all of this before you even bring in-house support materials and content creation into the mix. Unless you have individuals willing to donate their time, and a very accommodating IT department, there really isn’t a simple low-cost solution to implementing a LMS or CMS at a school. Perhaps SCORM-compliant programs like Udutu will help to ease these costs in the future.

On Tuesday, August 10th Karen Williams wrote:

The cost factors to implement a Learning Management System (LMS) or Course Management System (CMS) is quite expensive. Several elements and factors have to be consider before implementing such an effective tool. A deciding factor of implementing a LMS or CMS depends on the cost factor of incorporating an existing and established system like Blackboard or customizing an in-house development system. To build an in-house system having moderate functionality can be very expensive ranging from $200,000 to $500,000.

Along with building the LMS/CMS, hiring full-time staff must also enter the equation. For the tool to be effective, personnel is needed to manage, support and oversee the system. The effectiveness of a tool is not that it exist but that it causes your organization to work in a more proficient and efficient environment. Therefore, allotting funds to manage the system is essential to its success.

One would think to create a virtual learning system like LMS or CMS is simply transferring or reorganizing data into a template. On the contrary, analysts say that Learning Management Systems are investments ranging from $500,000 to millions of dollars. Many organizations would love to have an innovative LMS or CMS tool, however, finding the funds to implement and support this system may be a great obstacle for many.

Kraky Justin - LMO Wk2 - UDUTU Setup

1. Name: Kraky, Justin
2. Prior Project Selected: The Physics of Sound Waves; Understanding the physics of sound as it relates to digital audio editing.
3. EDMT Class Created In: Musical Theory and Education Applications – May 2010
4. Initial Appraisal of Udutu Scenario: For this lesson the learner will watch a video on the basic concepts and terminology used in the physics of sound waves. Upon watching the video lesson the learner will have to correctly answer a series of questions to complete the module. I chose the Advanced Assessment three-deep scenario template to direct the lesson. The material from this lesson will be very applicable for the rest of the course, so it is important that the learner have feedback and a chance for them to obtain the correct answer before leaving the lesson.
5. Location/URL:http://publish.myudutu.com/published/launcheval/22103/Course39892/Launch.html
   

Kraky Justin - LMO Wk2 - ADL/Standards/Scorm: The benefits of information standards.

The Advanced Distributed Learning (ADL) program was launched in 1997 by the United States Department of Defense in an effort to standardize how educational training was delivered. Their solution was the Sharable Content Object Reference Model (SCORM), a set of coding standards that would allow compliance between a wide array of learning management systems(LMS)(Advanced Distributed Learning [ADL], 2010). In this way, instructional materials could be easily transferred from one LMS to another, regardless of the system they were created on. Content created to the SCORM standard is also designed to be easily adapted to meet changes in technology. It is also capable of being incorporated into many different scenarios dependant upon the needs of the institution.

With the hundreds of different content and learning management systems being used today, compliance standards ensure that all of these systems can communicate in a common language. This allows the management system to change or upgrade and yet the information is not lost. These standards also keep many educational institutions from reinventing the wheel when it comes to content creation. If an intuition created very effective learning modules on a particular system, they could then share it with the rest of the world. Then the other institutions could focus their energies into creating materials for different subject areas thereby increasing the collective knowledgebase for everyone. This consistency also ensures that learners are receiving the same quality of information. These learning modules can also be tagged or labeled with information about the lesson that can be placed in a searchable database. For instance, a content creator at a high-school could search a database for intermediate lessons about the Pythagorean theorem for the 9th grade level, download the content, and deploy it to an entire school district. This ensures that all of the learners are receiving the same information.

SCORM is designed around being granular and reusable. By breaking down the learning components into topic specific modules the individual lessons can be shared throughout many different applications. The same lessons about the Pythagorean theorem could be incorporated into classes for algebra, geometry, calculus, and trigonometry. The more focused the individual lesson, the easier it is to customized applicable information to fit the learner’s level and educational objective of the lesson. These lessons can also be based on conditional components where a learner could not move on to the next lesson until they fully understand the concepts of the prior lesson in the sequence.

This system of standards can be very beneficial to education as we move into the future. If every institution was connected to a centralized network of reliable and credible sources of information packaged into manageable modules, then we could make sure that our learners are receiving the same quality of education across the board. Even as technologies evolve and the physical platforms that these technologies run on changes, the information contained can migrate along with it.

Advanced Distributed Learning. (2010). SCORM. Retrieved from
http://www.adlnet.gov/Pages/Default.aspx

Kraky Justin Wk1 LMO Overview

There are many differences in online learning environments, particularly in the way these systems are implemented, and what terminology used to describe the individual types of systems available. They have many distinctive names, such as CMS, LMS, LCMS, or PLE, but the function of all of them is primarily the same, to manage digitized content and maximize online delivery. In this blog post I will review each type of system and attempt to point out what makes each one different from the next.

Course Management Systems (CMS)

The Course Management System has its primary home in education to manage materials related to class work. Some key items that set the CMS apart from other online learning solutions are that they are able to integrate with other institutional systems that deal with student class registration, official transcripts and grading progress throughout the students’ careers, as well as connect with online library service systems. The individual courses can also be recycled semester to semester for the upcoming group of students. These systems revolve around the course itself, and the management of users in the course.

Learning Management Systems (LMS)

A Learning Management System is focused on the learner. Where the CMS is course based, the LMS is learner based, addressing the needs of a more diverse group of individuals liked to that in the commercial realm. These systems are used to train and certify employees at a particular company or business, where the learners in a group may be at various levels, ranks, departments or working towards specific certifications. An LMS system focuses on what the learner needs to achieve knowledge and skills.

Learning Content Management System (LCMS)

The Learning Content Management System is the blend of the LMS into the CMS. These were designed originally for very large organizations like the military, where you may have to train a large number of learners in many different areas using smaller training modules and Reusable Learning Objects (RLO). These RLOs could be taken from a library of very specific trainings and adapted to fit an individualized course lesson. In this way subject matter could be constructed out of many smaller pieces without having to recreate the material for each lesson, and can maintain congruency across lessons.

Personal Learning Environments (PLE)

A Personal Learning Environment is the future adaptation of a learning environment where the learner designs their coursework around what they want to learn individually. It is very rooted in social networking where the learner surrounds themselves specifically with experts in the chosen field of study. In this way the learner can customize their learning experience to suit their individual needs. Issues arise with this type of system as far as what methods or standards are used to accredit or validate that the learner is gaining skill. The term PLE is very new, of the last decade, but we may start seeing some systems shift in this direction.

Wk1 Blog Post Comments on Jeff Kohls’ Blog

The broadness of pedagogy absolutely makes it difficult for a VLE or LMS to address all of the possible needs of the instructor or students. These systems do require in many cases that the instructor rework their strategies to fit into the technology rather than the other way around. I agree with you that if the institution pedagogy begins to shift to align with the societal trends, then we will make more effective use of these technologies in the classroom. I think that we in the EMDT program are in the crest of that wave, and we will be the ones to carry this to the shores of our own institutions making this shift fully realized.

On Friday, August 6th Jeff Kohls wrote:

Course management systems (CMS), learning management systems (LMS), and virtual learning environments (VLE) have grown exponentially since the early 2000s, and have found their foothold in both corporate settings and educational environments. While much of the research that has been done has taken place in institutions of higher education, the implications are that they can be properly facilitated into secondary and primary schools but measuring end-results at all levels is an imperative issue that must be dealt with, either by the CMS vendors or the administering organization. Research also suggests that there is a direct correlation between CMS, LMS, and VLEs, but no clear leader among the three.

Glenda Morgan from the University of Wisconsin suggests that CMS doesn't necessarily improve pedagogy, but instead causes teachers and instructors to rethink and reassess their course instruction and instructional environment (Morgan 2003). The indication is that the course becomes more transparent and accountable thus possibly increasing student success with the materials (Morgan 2003). The potential is there, then, for the implementation of VLEs, which would allow even more transparency into the pedagogical practices of the teacher and have the potential to increase interaction between parents and students with the teacher. However, the implementation of VLEs can often be met with skepticism and disinterest among educators and administrators because, pedagogy is difficult to define, and culturally embedded in institutions (Howell 2006). Because learning institutions have functioned with this culturally embedded notion of what pedagogy is, it can be difficult to introduce the VLE. in 2006, 56% of the United Kingdom's Further Education Institutions (FE) had implemented and successfully used Moodle, which is designed to reflect principles of constructivist learning (Howell 2006).

Constructivism, which is a theory of knowledge, that humans generate knowledge and learning from their experiences (Wikipedia 2010) can be facilitated through VLEs, like Moodle, Ning, Google, and other collaborative software and interactive platforms, such as Full Sail Online, with successful results. If it true that pedagogical practices are culturally embedded in institutions, but the societal paradigm shift has caused that culture to reflect more use of technology and interactivity, then the use of VLEs in learning management systems is a perfect fit. A prime example of this paradigm shift, in higher education, is Full Sail Online and the EMDTMS program. Each and every aspect of this course uses web-based interactive platforms to deliver and receive student work, teacher and course information, while allowing for instantaneous feedback. Viewed by some institutions as different, it merely reflects a shift in the pedagogical paradigm, a shift in the culture of education.

Wk1 Blog Post Comments on Scott Legere’s Blog

You make a very interesting point when you refer to many people not taking online education seriously enough. Most of the time when I tell people that I am working to acquire my masters degree online, they are puzzled and say, “How does that work?”. I agree that there are many benefits that were historically not available to students as they are now in this technological age. I liked the phrase you used, “democratization of information” when referring to the amount of material that the Internet has made accessible to so many. I think one of the goals in the proper use of LMSs is help provide a focused beam of knowledge from all that is out there. Allowing students to receive many different perspectives as easily as browsing a single web page. I share your enthusiasm for the possibilities of distance education, and think of FSO as a great model for how it can be done effectively.

On Wednesday, August 4th Scott Legere wrote:

Honestly, I am not at all surprised that our readings this week trace the origins of distance learning back almost 300 years. More importantly, I think it is critical that supporters of distance learning programs reiterate this fact in light of the many recent criticisms which have been brought to bear on VLEs within the last several months.

I think the social nature of humanity is ingrained deep within our beings. For millennia, we have communicated with each other and passed down information through oral history, hieroglyphics, pictographs, stone tablets, and virtually every other medium discovered. Furthermore, communication and negotiation between peoples is vital to the stability of any civilized community.

Education is but one of the many frameworks through which we communicate. As such, it is only natural that our educational systems incorporate the very tools and resources which our society regularly uses. Whether this phenomenon is manifested in Caleb Phillips' mail order lessons, the University of Alberta's purchase of a IBM 1500 in 1968, or the launch of Jones International University, all of these examples bear a similar educational intent.

More to the point, it was encouraging for me to study the timelines of distance education development. Personally, I've been thrilled with our program here at Full Sail and I would whole heartedly encourage other colleagues considering an advanced degree to look at the EMDT program.

However, as many of us have previously discussed in various blog posts and course assignments throughout the year, there are still many in both the public and professional spheres who are skeptical about online education. Recently, as schools like the University of Pheonix and other for-profit institutions (which rely significantly online resources) have come under federal scrutiny, I've found myself having to defend our program more than ever. While "defend" is probably too harsh a word to accurately describe some of these conversations, it is a shame that all too often online education is trumpeted merely as a convenient and time-saving option for learning.

What I would like to reiterate to parents, teachers, and legislators alike is that for centuries, educators have been working to bring the best tools, resources, and minds together in order to provide for the learning of that era's students. For example, if I were to teach copyright course this fall, I believe it would be in my students' best interests to meet with and discuss intellectual property with Lawrence Lessig, one of the nation's preeminent scholars on the subject. Considering Mr. Lessig's obligations and responsibilities at Harvard Law School, it is very unlikely that this opportunity would come to pass. That said, I could add his book to my syllabus. Better still, we could try and set up a video conference with Mr. Lessig or stream one of his recent lectures.

In any of these scenarios, we are simply trying to pass on the knowledge of an expert to our learners. Personally, I think that VLEs such as Full Sail's portal have tremendous potential to supply educators and students with a wealth of information, communications infrastructure, and the mechanisms to store, catalog, and relay such information in a compelling manner.

Distance learning is not new. Motivated teachers have been leveraging such tools for centuries. However, since the early 1990s, the power of desktop computing and the democratization of information afforded by the development of the Internet has greatly expanded these platforms to near ubiquity. Furthermore, the greater adoption of these systems will only grow as Internet-based communication protocols represent one of the most comprehensive and efficient means to disseminate important content. The debate within our educational system moving forward should not be about the validity of distance education, but rather how such tools are designed, implemented, and maintained in order to best meet the challenging learning goals of our diverse population.

This program has made me a true believer in the potential of online distance education. I'm grateful to have had the opportunity to study their evolution (even at a cursory level), as this experience will only further allow me to discuss these valuable tools with a broader and more holistic perspective.

Kraky Justin - Wk1 Blog Post Activity

I was absolutely drawn in by the first chapter of Course Management Systems for Learning: Beyond Accidental Pedagogy (McGee, Carmean, & Jafari, 2005), particularly the concept of no significant difference (NSD) intrigued me. The NSD trend is the observation that despite all of the investments of time, money, and resources into Course Management Systems (CMS), there has been neither measurable advantage nor disadvantage in the overall quality of learning. This is somewhat mind-blowing in many ways. Throughout time humans have created tools to make the task at hand easier, faster, or more productive. How is it that we have a garage full of state-of-the-art tools, and we still have the same throughput of vehicles as we did before the fancy tools? Something doesn’t make sense.

One of the roles of my position at Keystone College is that of part-time Blackboard LMS support, so I have experienced many of the flaws in the system first-hand. Primarily, facilitating a proper level of support for the system requires at least ninety percent of my work time per week, leaving my other duties to fall by the wayside. This fluctuates drastically dependent upon time of year, moving from the end of completely overwhelming to a manageable amount of time required for support. This includes faculty and student training on system usage, user management, course creation, and issue troubleshooting. Secondly, the complexities of a large enterprise LMS like Blackboard means that it is hard enough to teach faculty what it can do and how to navigate within it, let alone how to use it to effectively augment their coursework. For the most part, it seems that these systems have just become a replacement for paper handouts. In itself, this is a great benefit to the environment, but is an overly elaborate means of providing a service that a networked folder could do easily.

Systems like these have the potential of creating a learning environment that make the material so engaging that student would want to learn it. Right now, it seems like we are just making our students jump through a technological hoop just because the hoop is there. This article suggests that we look at the issue of LMS usage not as what features can we cram into the box, but as how are the features enhancing the learning experience, and how do we know that they are enhancing the experience. Grades alone are not reflecting that students have a more comprehensive knowledge of the subject when using a LMS, therefore we need to explore ways of utilizing the technology to engage a deeper understanding of the subject matter so our students are better off having used the technology than not.

McGee, P., Carmean, C., & Jafari, A. (2005). Course Management Systems for Learning: Beyond Accidental Pedagogy. Hersey, PA: The Idea Group.

LMO - Month 10 - EMDTMS - Full Sail University - Justin Kraky

This blog will be used for month 10 coursework in Learning Management Systems and Organization as part of the Education Media Design & Technology Master of Science program at Full Sail University.

BP13_2010023_One Minute Message #2

[BubbleTimer logo image]. (2010). Retrieved February 22, 2010 from: http://www.bubbletimer.com

BP12_2010023_Link to your comment on another’s blog

Follow this link to view my comments on Scott Legere's Blog. 

 

Follow this link to view my comments on Jeff Kohls's Blog.

BP11_2010023_Link to your comment on another’s blog

Follow this link to view my comments on Donna Thomas's Blog. 






 




Follow this link to view my comments on Ginger Shaw's Blog