myOMET.com Blog - Show All

A smile and a wave... - Hilden, Erik

Wed, 19 May 2010 00:00:00 -0500

Greetings, OMET community. It has been a really long time since I have been on this page. Though I did not forget it was here, and think about my OMET experience often as I hunt for work as a teacher, I have not found inspiration or time to jump on and say hello. That, and I guess I would not know what to say.

I could tell you about graduating from Lewis and Clark and earning a 4.00 and a MAT. I could tell you about the three disabled students I work with and all the lovely project-based curriculum I have planned for their summer school experience. I could tell you about the death of my dog, whom anyone from my cadre might remember. But none of that seems relevant (though I will post my ideas for my ADHD project based summer school later on). I am not far from finishing my first novel, or at least an edited first draft, and have been chasing jobs all over the country. All that and I expect you to ask - "so what?"

Good question! I don't have an answer.

But I can tell you about adventure. I can tell you about where my job hunt has taken me and the strange things I have seen. My job hunt has taken me to New Orleans, for the longest interview I have ever experienced followed by the first Mardi Gras parade and plenty of French quarter madness. I have never seen anything like it, and must admit that I have fallen in love with the place. Soon, my job hunt will take me to Charleston, South Carolina, and also to Memphis, Tennessee, Atlanta, Georgia, and Washington DC. What ties all of this together? Where is the answer to the "so what," the question that any good teacher and student should ask when reading a blog post, newspaper article, magazine, novel, etc.? Discovery.

In all of this madness, the job hunting, the tragedies, the victories, and the adventures, I have found "adventure." I am preparing to move across the country, lighting out for the perimeter, where there are no stars. I have found that my OMET experience has given me more than I thought it did four years ago, when I graduated. It not only gave me an understanding of constructivist approaches, project-based learning, engagement, and the like, it showed me that the greatest tool I can bring to my own classroom is a sense of adventure, the ability to be flexible, to adapt to the needs of my students, to be creative in my curriculum design and involve my students in it whenever possible, and to let things happen, let it all hang out (in a wholesome way, of course). It served me well as I earned my second degree and it served me well as a private teacher, substitute teacher, and consultant.

Let the adventure begin.

I forgot - Karjala, Julie

Fri, 28 Aug 2009 00:00:00 -0500

I forgot this existed...until I googled myself to find a picture to put on my school website. Hello me!

I did a blog no - no...

I deleted one. Oh well. teehee

Final Post for Action Research as an OMET Cadre XI Member - Lesser, Donna

Mon, 20 Jul 2009 00:00:00 -0500

Yesterday was the last day of the summer session for Cadre XI or more accurately, our last day of class. We have now officially completed our 13 month journey. As I post my last MyOmet posting, it allows me the opportunity to reflect back and discern my growth and the growth of my cadre peers.

I concur with James that the evolution that I have experienced is hard to describe but it is there. I feel that a whole new world has been opened up to me and I plan to take advantage of this opportunity.

Thank you Pepperdine and the OMET program for providing me this opportunity. And thank you Cadre XI members for you support, patience and never ending technical guidance. You are the BEST!

One last reflection - Watson, James

Tue, 14 Jul 2009 00:00:00 -0500

OMET reflection

Sitting in the learning circle on the last day of presentations, I remember trying to come up with something “great” to say in the final circle. In the end, I don’t quite recall everything that I said, but I do remember that it wasn’t anything special - more the ramblings of a sleep-deprived, but extremely relaxed grad student.

One thing I did want to share with the final reflection circle was how this experience has changed all of us - I liken it to when I graduated boot camp in 1996. When I went home for my 10 days of leave before reporting back to the next step in Marine Corps training, I was beset by the question “how was it?”

That question still haunts me to this day - and I still don’t know how to answer it. Boot camp was a lot of hard work, but there were moments of incredible hilarity, or amazing accomplishments, or personal growth, or just... It is really hard to encompass the whole experience in a quick-to-say sound byte, which you kind of need to answer that questions.

In the same way, I feel the OMET experience was unique enough to warrant the same sort of flummox-ation in trying to answer the question - people around me who knew me could see glimpses of the process that we went through, and the changes that I embraced. My student workers probably saw this the most - they were the people I talked to about the program the most, and were subject to several of my well-mannered rants against the top-down, standardized testing educational system that we all know too well these days. But they were also pulled into the process, as talking about this stuff seemed to light a spark in their eyes as they agreed or disagreed and offered their own opinions.

But to those who haven’t really seen me through the process - it is really hard to describe. Cadre 11 knows, and previous cadres understand, but how to describe the experience to others who ask if it is a good program or a bad program? How do I respond when they ask if the homework was hard, or how much time did it take per day, or any of the other sorts of metrics that simply don’t apply?

In the end, many people around me can see my newly unlocked passion for education and learning theory - I personally have a deep sense of satisfaction that in the last month or so, I have finally found/acknowledged what it is that I want to do with my life, and what I can do to change course and go forward. And that’s the biggest change, and most important aspect of this program - unlocking potential, igniting passion, and enabling future action.

Action Research Reflection - Going Public and Continuing my Research - Wood, Dan

Tue, 07 Jul 2009 00:00:00 -0500

Concrete Experience:

I have decided to take my future blogging public on my website. I have been using the MyOMET site for all of my reflective blogging and want to begin to transition my efforts to an open space where I can collect feedback and input on my writing. I will also be changing the focus of my writing with this move and possibly the structure. My plan is to also continue to track progress of my Action Research Project as it continues at work in a private location.

Speaking of my Action Research Project, I am ready to move to another cycle of action and there are two areas of consideration: Learning opportunities for using the SharePoint, and working to establish a stronger connection between my team and the currently forming corporate-wide Learning and Development Community of Practice. Up to this point participation in this community has been spotty by my team.

Reflection:

I have enjoyed using the MyOMET site for my Action Research Reflections as it has provided a way to reflect on some highly personal things within the security of the cadre. Through the process of preparing for and presenting my work publicly, as well as placing it on my personal website, I am finding myself interested in regularly posting content related to social constructivism, communities of practice, technology, and other topics of interest and passion for me.

As far as my Action Research efforts at work, I am finding that I came back to an extremely busy team that is pushing hard to provide some deliverables that were requested while I was away for exhibitions and graduation. Coming back to this situation has made it challenging to continue to focus my energy on my action research. Even though the reporting on my efforts is complete, I still want to continue to improve my own practice and there is a great deal of ongoing opportunity to improve the working processes of my team.

I would like to reconnect with several team members individually and get their thoughts on how we might all move forward as a community - whether they believe training in the tool, or connection to the broader community, or both would be valuable to other members of the team. In this way I hope to complete a "mini cycle" by gather input and working to gain the support of others on the team by inviting them to be a part of the change, and make the change about something they think is important.

Conceptualization:

I believe that I will find a great deal of value in continuing to pursue my research. There is so much more that I would like to accomplish and by keeping it structured within the context of the effort I have begun I feel that I will have a higher likelihood of success. It will be a challenge to keep up the effort and I will be looking for ways to always tie the project to my current work efforts, or, if necessary to change the focus, or begin a new project based on circumstances.

Meta-Conceptualization:

I like the structure and consistency that I have developed through the Action Research process and I am reluctant to leave it behind as the OMET experience comes to an end. This is one of the reasons that I would like to have a regular schedule of posting to my public blog and why I want to continue to pursue my efforts to build the community of practice on my team and continue to encourage collaboration using social learning technologies. It would be easy for me to get out of the practice of regular reflection, or using a solid structure for the reflective process, but I feel that I would be letting go of something valuable that is a key part to the change I saw in myself over the course of the past year. There will always be a place for reflective writing in my life and I am going to make every effort to keep the positive habit of regular reflection going - whether in a public or private venue.

Reconnect At the Beach with My CADRE - Smith, Karen

Tue, 16 Jun 2009 00:00:00 -0500

This was such an exciting flight, we traveled as a family. We did not get to all sit together but we were close enough. I looked at what I could accomplish if I just put my mind to it. Once we landed we had to rent a vehicle large enough for 7 people. I have learned to open my mouth and ask for help. I spoke with a relative yesterday and told her I needed a rental and she was able to get me the employee discount, the rental was only $400.00 for the week. I as so thankful, I am constantly seeing how blessed I truly am. We stayed at a friends house who just gave us a key and opened her home to us. When we landed we met with the Cadre at the beach for a cookout. This is what I appreciate about this program. The personal time we spend together. Not everyone is taking advantage of this component, but I think I get it. The children loved meeting my classmates and my professors. Paul and Margaret, jand Gary have such open personalities. I find it amazing that children are able to tell if people are fake or real and my children especially have that gift. Later that night, back at the house my daughter JoJo stated when she grows up she wants to go to Pepperdine, because we have fun. Fun along with work… Classes tomorrow, we will see.

Coming Home to Pepperdine - Smith, Karen

Mon, 15 Jun 2009 00:00:00 -0500

I can hardly believe it I am leaving tomorrow to go back to Pepperdine finish our last face-to-face session and graduate. I have learned so much this year, but the most important lesson was about me. I have learned and am continuing to learn about me. What can I do to make my environment better? How can I change? Why do I, or should I change? Will it make a difference? I have truly used efficacy this year. The study of belief has become almost second nature to me. This year I faced the death of 3 close relatives, trials with my children in school, a daughter attending school overseas, my marriage and my job. But through it all HOPE, FAITH, LOVE, and BELIEF has prevailed. I am excited about this because this is a dream come true for me. I took on extra jobs, and saved the money so we (all 7) could come to CA. I am so excited I can hardly sleep…. Well, I had better sleep, our flight leaves at 8 am… I told the family 7 am and we are getting to the airport by 5 am. Moving 7 people is like Moses moving the children of Israel into the Promised Land.

Week 7 & 8 Summer Session Action Research - Lesser, Donna

Mon, 06 Jul 2009 00:00:00 -0500

Well, I continue to move forward with my ARP and meeting with faculty to discuss, evaluate and continue to discuss what our student expectations should be and what a deep understand should look like in the clinic area. It has been very challenging yet exciting. We are getting to the core of our differences and I feel that reading The Wisdom of Crowds by James Surowiecki has allowed me to embrace our differences and diversity of experience. Instead of trying to lead everyone to a conclusion, I'm allowing the discussions to continue for more than one session. I see the richness of the discussion, as do the other faculty members.

The weekend I'm focusing on finalizing my website and portfolio. I'm not sure why I waited this long to do this. It has placed an unnecessary amount of stress on me. I hope the final product is up to the standard of OMET.

I've enjoyed reliving and remembering all the things that I have been exposed to, books I've read and concepts I've learned. It seems the year was such a whirlwind that if I wasn't putting this together, I might have forgotten some of these things.

I would have like to disclose that I’ve come so far in my technology skills but today I tried to get on to the site that Margaret developed for us to edit our AR projects and I couldn’t figure it out. It was very disappointing for me since the day before I was able to upload my podcast after five hours of trying – but I did it and that is all that matters to me. And, then this set back. Well, its like everything in life – a few steps forward and a few steps back. I just want to continue moving forward while I’m still in OMET because I will never be connected or supported by such technology advanced individuals as I have been over the last year. I wanted to prove I did deserve to be a part of OMET – even with limited computer skills. So, I will wait and see if I can get some guidance on how to participate in Margaret’s project.

Thank you! - Lepori, Kathleen

Mon, 29 Jun 2009 00:00:00 -0500

What a wonderful week! It was great to see everyone again. I was proud to be part of this brilliant cadre and was energized by everyone’s presentation having experienced yet another opportunity to learn from each other. I was truly impressed with your work and high-caliber presentations. As the OMET program winds to a close, I can’t help but reflect on the entire year. On one hand, it seems to have gone by so quickly, but on the other, it plays back as if it were in slow motion. Each and every blog, discussion thread, activity, assignment, etc., plays through as if it were yesterday. I look forward to what the future holds for all of us. We have gathered a strong community of practice which will hopefully continue long past the OMET degree. This has truly been a phenomenal learning adventure. I take with me the challenges, the pain and the reward of having completed such an arduous program with such wonderful people in which to share my journey. To this I say thank you.

Action Research Reflection - Continuing the Process - Wood, Dan

Sat, 27 Jun 2009 00:00:00 -0500

Concrete Experience:

This was my first week back to work since going to LA to present my Action Research Project at the Exhibitions. My colleagues were very supportive of my efforts and congratulated me on completing my presentation. They had heard that it went well and shared their support with me. The second day that I was back I had the opportunity to suggest the use of a wiki within the Sharepoint for a project that I joined upon returning. The team was open to the suggestion so I set up the wiki quickly and sent the links to the project driver.

The next day the individual sent the link to the broad project team and gave me credit for putting together the wiki as a single source for the project, rather then sending around emails with attached MS Word documents. There had already been one example of the incorrect attachment being sent as a part of the project. By moving to the centralized location for the knowledge content the hope was to remove the potential of further confusion as the project is moving quickly and multiple people will be adding information to the shared resource.

Reflection:

It was nice that my team was open to using the wiki space for the project, although I am still looking forward to the point when the recommendation to use collaborative workspaces such as the wiki come from more members of my team. There are a few others on the team that proactively use wikis and other shared spaces for project work, but there are still many others that are relying on emails and attached documents that can be too large for mail services or become confused or lost in the volumes of mail in everyone's inbox.

I feel that there are more steps necessary to move more members of my team further along the adoption path to thinking in terms of open, collaborative tools and processes for quickly building shared knowledge. My sense is that everyone is working so hard that there is simply not enough time to pause and consider another way. I will continue to be an advocate and strive to find ways to help the rest of my team see the power of distributed cognition mediated by technology. As a team we think together very well, but not yet through tools and processes.

Conceptualization:

My belief is that I will continue to work on my Action Research project as I move forward with my team. We have seen some initial success as a team in using new technologies to collaboratively build knowledge, but there is a long way to go before we will see the key performance improvements I believe are possible. Of the many areas that I would like to focus on for improvement, role definition comes high on the list. Also near the top is finding ways in which my team can all experience the power of distributed cognition.

I will continue to seek understanding by listening deeply to others and looking for ways they can take on ownership and find value for themselves and the organization in using new approaches to thinking together.

Meta-Conceptualization:

Change takes time and perseverance and a willingness to let go of some aspects of control as well. I know that there are times when I wish I could just tell my team how much value we will see when using better collaborative processes and letting go of our vice-like grip on inefficient methods. Even I feel the frustration of trying to manage new methods and old ones at the same time as we all try to move forward. I have to continue to find ways to invite participation and create opportunity and space within which others can take the lead and begin to also lead change. Finding the value for oneself and for the organization will be the way to begin to build the path to increased adoption and participation and ultimately improve the performance of the team.

Action Research Reflection - Post Exhibition Reflection - Wood, Dan

Sat, 27 Jun 2009 00:00:00 -0500

Concrete Experience:

Last week I presented my Action Research project at the exhibitions with the rest of the cadre. The work was presented in multiple formats including a paper, presentation board, Apple Keynote presentation, verbal presentation with a question and answer portion, and website. This represented the culmination of the effort over the course of the last ten months in moving through three cycles of action to affect a positive change in my practice and my field of action.

Reflection:

Presenting my Action Research work at the exhibitions last week was a great experience, filled with challenge, opportunity, stress, and excitement. I felt a great sense of relief after finishing my verbal presentation. The presentation went really fast - like a time warp, but I did feel that I was able to get in all of the key points that I wanted - maybe not to the depth I would have liked, but I was able to cover some aspect of each area of my presentation. The best way I could describe the presentation is in terms of a musical performance. There were passages I would emphasize more if I were to present again, but I was happy with the overall performance.

The feedback I received was strong for my paper, my board, and my presentation. I am happy with my progress as an Action Researcher and look forward to continuing my efforts within my current project framework and also to approach other opportunities for change. I was really impressed with all of the great work of the cadre. All of the presentations were impressive and it was rewarding see everyone's hard work and passion.

Conceptualization:

The past month has been incredible. So much work and energy put into writing and preparing for the presentation of my work. I learned a great deal more about my project and results by thinking about them from various perspectives, including how to use the various modalities of presenting and how to best describe the outcomes of my efforts. My belief is that by having the focused goal of the presentations I was able to take my work further and learn more from the process than in previous months.

By continuing to make my Action Research approach a part of my regular working processes I believe I can continue to gain a deeper understanding of areas for improvement in my own practice and within my work place. The skills I gained by participating in my current Action Research project have empowered me to seek literature and knowledge that supports my beliefs and helps guide me to lead the changes that help in aligning my workplace with my values.

Meta-Conceptualization:

It will be challenging for me to continue the structured, methodical Action Research approach as I move beyond the focus of the OMET program. It is easy to say that I will do so, but when the realities of work and life begin to take over it will be difficult to stay the course. I believe I have made some strong habits and good behaviors through the program by using regular reflective processes and collecting evidence that I will bring into my work on an ongoing basis. I will be using a public blog to focus on topics and dialogues relating to socially constructed learning concepts that will help me to continue my action research approach to leading change - change within myself and without in my work place.

Congrats and Great Job at Presents that I caught on UStream...Felt like I was there! - Martellacci, Robert

Sat, 27 Jun 2009 00:00:00 -0500

First of all welcome to the Alumni family! You should be proud of your accomplishments. I was so impressed by the calibre of presentations...you clearly did your homework!

Now it's time to turn to your next learning adventure which for most of us proved to be quite daunting...what to do next? We'll don't be surprised if it takes a while as it was several months before I finally felt I nailed it....it began with an ideal, The MindShare Learning Report, then a business plan and then selling the ideal, followed by execution...sound familiar...sort of like the action research project...I have to say the first one on board was a fellow graduat Mitchel Townsend, who immediately wanted to be a part of the team that just continues to grow and evolve. It's not about the money...but, trust me it helps with three kids...smile. It's about passion to make a difference and you can too!

OMET helped prepare me to take my game to the next level by testing my human potential. I've never worked harder in my life, however, it's most rewarding...I hope to see some of you at NECC...we're at booth 2023.

Until next time, keep the learning curve steep! Cheers, R.

P.S Let me know if you're interested in helping with alumni activities?

Week #7 Summer Semester Action Research - Lesser, Donna

Fri, 19 Jun 2009 00:00:00 -0500

This week was our last (actually 3^rd) face-to-face meeting prior to completing the last semester. Going into the exhibitions was a little crazy but once I arrived, everything was very calm.

On a social level, it was great to see everyone. I wanted to go up to every person who had provided me any technical support and thank him/her for making it possible for me to be with them this week. It all started with Mici, James, Greg, Dan and Matt’s help at VirtCamp. Without them, I won’t have made it through VirtCamp and especially Second Life without these individuals. Then, when I think of the fall semester and the whirlwind class with Gary Stager – I’m profusely indebted to Dan, Colby and Greg. Again, without them, I would not have been able to accomplish and maneuvered through all the different computer programs. The spring semester leads me back to thanking Dan and Colby and now including Dijlah for all their assistance and guidance over a rather calm semester. When I think about all the non-technical support, I must thank the following individuals: Mici, Greg, Dan, Colby, Matt, Maria, Kathleen, Karen, & Edgar.

What this shows me is that I didn’t work with the entire Cadre and therefore, didn’t get to know everyone as well as I could have and this is a shame. I’m the loser in this logistical happening. After reflecting on this fact on my drive away from Pepperdine today, I realized if I’m every lucky enough to be placed into a situation similar to OMET, I will not miss this opportunity.

As of today during our last cycle with Paul, our ARP is done as far as what is expected for the class. We only have to complete our webpage and portfolio. This is a bittersweet fact. It was so inspiring to see and hear what everyone had been doing over the last year. Again, I was so amazed to realize I had no idea what 95% of the Cadre was researching. Why was this? I always joke and say, “I’m on a need to know basis”, and now I think it’s a personal choice and not a joke. Was I the only one who felt this way? But the exhibition and presentations were phenomenal. So impressive! I was so proud to be a part of this group.

Another issue that was discussed at our last learning cycle was how we would keep in touch with each other. I was very impressed to hear individuals say that they felt confident they would remain in contact and they have made lifelong friends. I only hope that is true. The reality to me is that I may connect with Mici, Greg, James, Karen, and Kathleen from Paul’s group while there are many in Margaret’s group I feel I will continue to keep in contact with (Dan, Colby, Matt, Andrea and Sonja). It’s another example of how my priorities are not in alignment with my goals and passions. I’m just very poor at staying in contact with individuals that I don’t work with. It seems unless an individual is part of my daily life, I seldom find time to connect. So, I will try to remember to send out an e-mail on my birthday. I just don’t see that happening but I have added it to my calendar in an attempt to remember to do this.

I wasn’t able to attend the last dinner together as a cadre on Friday. I was sad when the time came for me to take off and I wasn’t able to go do dinner and say “goodbye” to everyone. I do know that this week was the last time I will see many individuals from Cadre XI. I’m also unable to attend the graduation. I’m going to be thinking of everyone and wishing them all a wonderful ceremony.

When I reflect on what I’ve learned this week is patience and to appreciate all that I have been given and been exposed to during OMET. I have been exposed to a wealth of knowledge, expertise and to exceptional individuals over the last 12 months and I’m not sure until this week that I truly appreciated this occurrence.

The cadre XI – thank you for all you did to allow me to become a better learner.

Where will I be tomorrow? - Smith, Anne

Mon, 15 Jun 2009 00:00:00 -0500

Where will I be tomorrow?

This last semester of OMET has me really thinking with all of the reading, discussions, and influence of friends and professors, where do I want to go with my career?

I know that I feel a special pull to remain at the school I teach at now. I can’t imagine leaving to go anywhere else because I really do love my job. I still love being in the classroom, teaching students, lighting the fire within, and creating a new way of learning for them and with them.

I wonder though, if by staying in the classroom am I limiting myself? Am I limiting the possibilities that could exist for me and my future? I think there is a lot of validity to my being a classroom teacher with speaking about my changes I have implemented in my classroom. But I wonder if that too is a cop-out? Am I sacred to try something new? Am I scared of change and where it might take me? Couldn’t there be a hybrid out there of classroom teacher/staff development instructor/ speaker, etc…?

I know one thing, I am surrounded by people who can help me talk through these changes and where I am to go? Graduating from OMET and all the hard work and learning that has taken place has made me more open to changes. Heck, it has me eve n thinking about going for my doctorate something I never considered before.

Something else I can see me doing is teaching courses in OMET. I would love a chance to try teaching people who were in my position.

The possibilities seem endless right now…

Where I am today.... - Smith, Anne

Mon, 15 Jun 2009 00:00:00 -0500

Where I am today

Today, I thought about the fact I haven’t blogged for class for a while. Part of it is challenging because with my AR work done, and the school year at AHS over, I feel like there is not much to right about. I am leaving tomorrow to go to LA to present my work on creating more successful learners. I feel proud about what I have accomplished this year and am thankful for the never ending guidance of Margaret and my LC. I truly feel blessed to have had such a community of learners guiding me through this past year. What a challenge, change, and blessing.

I have practiced my speech about 8 or so times; it has been helpful to help me deal with some of the raw emotion in discussing a topic I put so much heart into. The first few times I read my speech, I couldn’t get through some of my personal changes or quotations from my students because it touched something deep inside of me. I was too close. I liked the emotion, but didn’t like feeling as though I was going to cry during an important presentation.

Having gone over and over it again, the challenge for me now is to maintain that control, but allow the personality of the speech to shine through. I want my passion for my subject to be known to all and for them to recognize the difference.

I hope in the 10 minutes alloted it is what I should be speaking about. I feel as though it is a good representation of my learning and growth this year, as well as snipets of my AR, lit review and other things thrown in. I guess my one concern is there is not enough data to drive the discussion.

I wonder what kind of questions I will be dealing with after my presentation. Having been selected to go first, that is a worry that I have because I can’t anticipate questions having witnessed other groups. I might have to ask my LC for some help with this.

I shipped all my stuff to the hotel last week to await my arrival tomorrow. On Wednesday we have time to put our boards together and I am anxious to see what everyone’s creations will be.

For now, it is just time to practice the speech a couple of more times, then put it away, and let whatever happens happen.

Week #6 - Summer Semester Action Research - Lesser, Donna

Sat, 13 Jun 2009 00:00:00 -0500

This week has been a whirlwind due to a crazy work schedule including graduation and finalization for the semester course grades. I had a very well thought out schedule with the best intentions of finishing and finalizing my oral presentation including my board and brochure by Thursday. But, as best intentions go – I didn’t achieve my objectives. My favorite best intentions quotes is so appropriate for this week “Life is not a journey to the grave with intentions of arriving safely in a pretty well-preserved body, but rather to skid in broadside, thoroughly used up, totally worn out and loudly proclaiming ... WOW! What a ride!”

It’s has been quite a week including my waking up with the flu this morning. I now have three days to complete the oral presentation, board and brochure. I will have to rely on cadre members and friends to help me complete the board with some level of success.

My ARP did continue with the planned weekly faculty meeting. This week it seemed that some faculty members feel they are under attack during the conversations. I was not expecting this and I didn’t feel this as a participant in the discussions. I now need to look at how to frame the discussions and design an environment that would allow all participants to feel safe.

What have I learned about myself this week? I intentionally built barriers to my success this week. Why? I’m not sure why but I do have to take responsibility for my inability to complete the simple tasks that could have and should have been done over a week ago.

This is an adendum to my original post. I've now completed my brochure and I've rewritten my final paper. I'm alittle happier with it now but if I find the time, I may rewrite it again prior to Wed. I now need to get the board together and my website. The two things I feel the least competent in are the two things I've left until the end.

Congratulations! Good Luck with your Action Research Presentation and some words of advice - Martellacci, Robert

Fri, 12 Jun 2009 00:00:00 -0500

To our future alums, A short note to congratulate you on a successful year. While you have an extremely busy week upcoming to prepare for your Action Research defense savor the moment and be sure to prepare and rehearse your presentation. And finally, don't forget the sunscreen...I did and it hurt for a couple of days! I look forward to welcoming you all to the alumni family. Feel free to drop an email if you'd like additional advice, robert@mindsharelearning.com

Robert Martellacci, 2007

Action Research Reflection - The Change Within - Wood, Dan

Thu, 11 Jun 2009 00:00:00 -0500

Concrete Experience:

This week has been full of events and activities related to my Action Research: The sharing of my ARP presentation with five members of my team and receiving feedback for improvement; several colleagues suggesting and using the SharePoint for knowledge building and the high acceptance of those recommendations; and a conversation with a colleague about some of my suggestions for discussion topics to my team getting in the way of their work.

Reflection:

I'm seeing so much continued evidence and opportunity within my ongoing Action Research. There is a high level of acceptance of the SharePoint as a viable tool, however there is also still an ongoing resistance, not to the tool, but to the idea of restricting discussion and information/knowledge building and sharing in favor of fast, if siloed, answers to problems. On the one hand I have been thrilled to hear so much casual use of the idea of the SharePoint for shared knowledge. Much of the suggestions are coming from one or two individuals on my team, but they are not met with resistance, which I take as a good sign that we are on our way to accepting social knowledge building tools into our processes.

On the other hand, an interesting resistance appeared today as one of my colleagues expressed frustration and concern that some of the recent discussion/shared knowledge building topics I had suggested to our team would complicate their work. They also felt that much of the approach was wasted time and would die out after an initial period of use. Basically they had a concern that there work would be harder because of information sharing within the team. They were visibly frustrated and I felt they were not able to share their thoughts as clearly as they wanted, but we had a good conversation that leaned more toward dialogue than most we have had in the past. I felt and was calm and reflective throughout and asked questions for understanding and listened carefully to the responses. In this way it was a very positive experience for me.

Conceptualization:

I believe that my team is beginning to feel more at ease with the idea of the SharePoint, even if they need more practical hands-on time to use it. Where I feel there is still an opportunity is in a deeper understanding of how distributed cognition takes place and what can be achieved when the focus shifts from all real-time meetings and individual working processes, to open, collaborative, and asynchronous options.

In terms of my colleague who was frustrated, I believe they are struggling to mesh into the type of environment we have at my company. They expressed concern that the team was not experienced enough and had little to no experience outside of this one company. When I asked who they thought that about - they mentioned me first. Normally this would have greatly frustrated and even upset me, but I have seen the change taking place and today was a wonderful example. By being reflective "in-the-moment" and using dialogue building questions that were non threatening I was able to remain not only calm, but really unaffected by the type of challenging questions and opinions that were directed at me.

Meta-Conceptualization:

After my meeting with my colleague today about their feeling that my discussion suggestions might get in the way of their work on one f their projects, I realized that the change within for me is bigger than I first thought. In the past a meeting like this one would have included me being frustrated and defensive and argumentative. I would have focused on continued advocating for my approach and not asked as many questions or listened as deeply. I also would have left the interaction frustrated and continued to think about it, talk to others about it, and probably bring it home. When I left the meeting I realized that I felt light and at ease and that the change process I had been noting throughout my ARP was even more pronounced.

I will continue to work on reflection and thoughtful inquiry as ways to improve my interactions and move them from discussions and debates to dialogues.

Week #5 - Summer Semester Action Research - Lesser, Donna

Sat, 06 Jun 2009 00:00:00 -0500

This week involved reflection and writing of my oral presentation. I have completed my first draft and will now present to co-workers to get feedback. My concern is being able to explain the dental hygiene program and it’s curriculum in two sentences. The process of putting this together brought to my attention that I was lacking in evidence in the theory behind the actions I took. Therefore, I have returned to the literature to strengthen this component.

My next step is to get to the board together. I have tomorrow and Tuesday night to complete this endeavor. I haven’t given this much thought but it needs to be done. I find it interesting that this project is culminating at such a busy time in my work life. It has not allowed me to put the time into this project that I need to.

I have received feedback from Paul today from my final paper. I will be spending time reviewing and rewriting this project this evening. The reflection component of this paper is weak and I need to review and reflect more on how my AR project has affected me. It seems easier to reflect on the impact it has had on the students.

Yesterday was the Pinning and Awards Ceremony for the Class of 2009. I found it interesting that two administrators and two parents came to talk to me about the impact of wiki’s on learning. They were all very excited about the information that students have provided them about the use of wikis. I was happy to hear that they are discussing different teaching methodologies with others. I’m interpreting this as a positive outcome of my AR project; that I have made an impact on their view of education and learning.

ARP-Reflection Cycle Three - wood, sonja

Fri, 05 Jun 2009 00:00:00 -0500

Reflection

The following is a meta-cycle of inquiry for Cycle Three:

Content:

Reflecting back on what occurred, problems that presented, obstacles and issues that became apparent during the my Action Research Project, I am impelled to self reflect. In looking back I realize that my enthusiasm, vision and inspiration about starting a learning community were personal. Reason (as cited in Coghlan and Brannick, 2005) states the action researcher has the responsibility of making the following “choice points” clear; that alliances are developed between the action researcher and affiliates of the group, that it increases our opportunities for understanding, that the project has high level of import, that the action research is informed by legitimate reflection, and that the action research supports “sustainable change.” As I self reflect I realize that my original enthusiasm was instrumental in limiting the effectiveness of my first steps. What I learned is that regardless of how passionate I may be about the action I intend to take, others may not share my enthusiasm. In retrospect, the most important action I will take when recruiting potential participants is to not make assumptions, recruit people by focusing on their needs and desires, and recruit people who share similar interests and values as those of the group.

Process:

As I look back, the steps I took where filtered through the following protocol. Using the first filter, I attempted to recruit participants based on the premise that my enthusiasm would be enough to inspire them. The second filter I employed was recruiting people based on their needs, interests, desires and concerns.

In the process of making sense of what happened I have determined that my own internal dialogue informed my initial steps, as did my personal interests and a sincere belief that the knowledge we would create as a learning community would benefit everyone. Though this latter assumption may be correct, not involving potential participants in the dialogue and not encouraging them to assess their own interests in the project, was a shortsighted approach. The approach may have been shortsighted in that, if we are to effect sustainable social change based on our findings in the action research project, I have discovered it may be best to first value, support, encourage, draw from, pay close attention to, have dialogue with, listen to, and nurture relationships with, members of the society we intend to change.

Premise

One of the key components that appear to have improved the outcomes in regards to recruiting participants to work in this learning community was my willingness to accept, seek and self critique. Some of the more effective steps that I took in my action research were directly informed by suggestions, dialogue and conversations I had with cadre members, potential participants and concerned others. I took particular note, during the one on one meetings, that by encouraging people to talk about their lives and interests they often became members of the learning community. During these conversations I made of point of listening and asking the potential participant about themselves. My focus was to better understand their circumstances, their current life situations, how much time they had to participate, if perceived value in the project and if there were any perceived shared values or interests. The potential participants were keenly aware that I was hoping they would join the learning community, yet I did not directly ask any of them to join the learning community during our scheduled one on one meetings. Instead I primarily asked questions, encouraged them to talk and I listened to each person.

Action Research Reflection - Final Report Writing - Wood, Dan

Fri, 05 Jun 2009 00:00:00 -0500

Concrete Experience:

I am in the process of bringing my entire Action Research Project together in the final report, presentation, board, brochure, and website. Creating each of these artifacts of my effort provides a different view into the actions that were taken, the evidence collected, and my assumptions, reflections, and conclusions.

Reflection:

It is amazing to see the sheer volume of work produced in the past year on my Action Research project. As I review, revise, update, and refine each of the constituent pieces of my project to bring them together into the final report I am finding myself having many moments of new discovery and continued learning. I am seeing new and different connections to literature, some previously explored, some newly discovered, that continues to grow my understanding of the events in my project. I am also becoming invigorated for the next steps in continuing to encourage my team to more formally engage as a Community of Practice.

As I move through the work and think about how I will be sharing it, I am seeing that I am forced to reflect even deeper on what is important. While the work was broad and includes volumes of data and reporting, the presentation materials and time will be limited and the message needs to only include that which is essential to the core of what I learned through the process of engaging in action research. I feel very fortunate that the work of the project was structured in a complementary and building process and that there were several times within this process that we stopped to reflect on the total project and focus to date and share that in a concise and powerful message. Bringing the message of the change I desired to see and the change that I did see will be a rewarding way to cap this learning experience.

Conceptualization:

While the process of pulling all of the work together is tedious and challenging, I am truly enjoying it. I believe that as I continue to refine my message I will also learn more about the events of my action research and gain a new appreciation for the process. There are so many things that I would do differently if I had the chance to start again, but at the same time as much as I cannot go back, I would not want to anyway. The direction I took was the learning path that I needed in order to grow in being an action researcher. I am happy that I see opportunities within my work for improvement and new ways to approach this type of work going forward. This is all part of the experiential learning process that we have been going through, supported by the social learning of ongoing learning circle engagement. It has been a great process of learning by doing supported by social interaction.

Meta-Conceptualization:

I am approaching an ending and with it comes excitement, nervousness, anticipation, and expectation. This has been a great deal of intense work of a kind I have never done before, but hope to continue. I do not see an end to applying the thought processes and techniques learned through undertaking an action research project. My company uses a similar model, called Action Learning Projects, to prepare vice presidents for their role. I don't think I'm ready for that type of position, but I feel proud to be completing my Action Research Project. Completing is an interesting word though, as it is really only the formal reporting that is ending for now. I will be continuing forward with new actions and evidence collection as soon as I return from graduation. In fact, my next action in my project will take place prior to this time as I present my work to my team next week. More on that in another blog.... For now it is off to complete my final report work.

I love my job - Ragland, Tanner

Mon, 01 Jun 2009 00:00:00 -0500

The last day of class came with some mixed emotions. I had the students fill out a final questionnaire with only three questions – I intend to use their answers as a starting point for adjustments next school year. I have tried to figure out how the students have permanently changed and what has accounted for that change. What I have found is that it is terribly hard to undo a culture. The culture at school, right or wrong, promotes grades over the love of learning and the pursuit of topics. While my students mentioned that my class was far different than any class they have every taken, few of them admitted they will approach other classes differently – I don’t blame them. With the pressure to get into college greater than it’s ever been, I feel like they don’t even have a decision to make – make the grades or someone else will.

The end of the year was partly sad for me as well. Although I feel like I have generated some great momentum within a knowledge building community of computer science at our school, I am afraid other classes with trump my former students’ ongoing participation in the community. While they may come back to visit my class, I am afraid that very few will take an active role in helping the next class move their knowledge forward. Part of my task next year will be to find a way to keep students involved and passionate about the subject.

As I look back on the year, I can’t believe how far my students and I have come. There are so many things I want to change for next year and so many successes from this year. Part of the nature of Action Research is that it doesn’t ever have to end – I have been struggling to find the right words to sum that up in my final reflections. I chose to call it a living puzzle because of the dynamic nature of the puzzle – things are always changing and so are your actions. Actions produce data with produces more actions – I love the process of trying to “solve” this puzzle. I love my job.

Week #4 - Summer Session Action Research - Lesser, Donna

Sat, 30 May 2009 00:00:00 -0500

This week my cycle three continues in my work environment but for all intensive purposes it is concluded for my ARP. I’ve been reflecting on the oral presentation all week and I will start putting it together tomorrow.

I’m concerned with the amount of time I will be able to dedicate to the preparation of the board and oral presentation. Final exams start on the 4^th, new class orientation is on the morning and afternoon of the 5^th, pinning and awards ceremony is on the evening of the 5^th, finals conclude on the 10^th, I must verify each students completion of clinical requirements by noon on the 11^th, graduation is on the evening of the 11^th, and I fly out to a conference on the morning of the 12^th and fly back in to LAX on the afternoon of the 16^th.

My other concern is that I won’t be able to reflect and get out of these last two weeks what I deserve due to time and scheduling restrictions. I know my cadre mates will evaluate my presentation and help me bring it up to the Cadre’s standards. This is such a wonderful sense of support to know that I can have constructive and helpful feedback. But the reflection – when will I be able to find enough slack time for this?

There are two students I work with and they have a saying “build a bridge and get over it”. This is not said sarcastically but as a metaphor. So, I believe it is my turn to build a bridge and find a way to accomplish all the things that need to occur between now and June 16^th.

Action Research Reflection - Community Power Tools - Wood, Dan

Sat, 30 May 2009 00:00:00 -0500

Concrete Experience:

As the Action Research exhibitions approach I have been working on refining my thoughts about the metaphor to apply to my project. My initial thought was to use the metaphor of tools to show the change over time: Hammer to Leatherman (multi-tool) to full toolbox. This thought lead to thinking about a broader concept of what is done with tools, how people engage in them and how the community coming together around tools can achieve amazing things in a short time, such as a barn raising or Habitat for Humanity house.

Reflection:

Selecting a metaphor has been a fun, but challenging process. There are so many ways to interpret the progress of my project and I have been working to think of something that demonstrated the potential, rather than necessarily current state of the effort. At this point in time I feel that I have definitely had a positive impact on my team through my actions related to communities of practice and social learning technologies that are essential to their growth. Even with the progress though I still feel there is much more that needs to be done to truly see the community working together and collaborating more effortlessly. There is a reliance on the "old standby" way of doing things - send out an email and ask for everyone to respond, etc... In fact, just on Friday one of the members of my team sent another such email. What would have been a perfect time to use the SharePoint turned into an exercise in everyone putting information in an Excel file and sending it back at the end of the week for one person to have to cobble together.

I remind myself to be patient, to continue to ask questions, and to work to help others see how thinking from a social learning standpoint can ease the effort and empower the team to work together. This is how I feel that my metaphor is going to help when I convey my message back to my team as I share my Action Research project presentation with them in about a week. If my metaphor has the power that I hope it will help to carry the message and hopefully begin the process of aligning others around a common goal. It is by having the shared vision and access to the right tools that amazing amounts of valuable information can be created and shared for the benefit of the community.

Conceptualization:

As I worked through the concepts of tools and building I began to realize that I was focusing too much on the tools as being the focus of my action and not the community. This is the same type of challenge that also occurred for myself and others on my team as I was working through my cycles. It is easy to think of the tool and how to use it, if it is the right tool, if there is a better tool, anything about the tool is straight-forward. It is when you start to delve into the conceptual world of Communities of Practice and working together that you begin to get into more gray areas. In these dialogues you have considerations of the motivations, feelings, and resistance of others. Certainly a tool discussion can carry these same passions, but it is still a more tangible conversation than talking about theories related to community interaction. My own tendency to revert to thinking of the tools at a superficial level serves as a continual reminder of the deeper level of influence I am working to achieve through my actions.

Meta-Conceptualization:

What are the underlying experiences or beliefs that drive my actions and my own tendency toward the concreteness of tools over the concept of community? Is it the environment of work that is so caught up in behaviorist motivations and the need to be able to quantify all actions? I agree that having solid data to back an effort is important, particularly in a business environment, but has the desire for all action to result in such measurements began to undermine the human side to business? I enjoy the conceptual dialogues but sometimes I feel that others are expecting a more concrete discussion of a tool or process.

Perhaps I am not allowing my team enough benefit of the doubt (giving them the "A" to quote Zander and Zander) and diving into the conceptual dialogues to see what results. While there have been conceptual dialogues that took place at many points in my project, it is clear that there are those on my team that prefer the tool-related discussions over the less tangible community of practice concepts. I believe that by bringing a clear and powerful metaphor and then working with my team to create a reality of the metaphor within our field of action true change may begin to take place. The seeds of the change and some sprouts are already in place, it will take a motivating, central vision to move us to the next level of community interaction.

AR - AR project Learning circles are great - Serrano, Jaime

Fri, 29 May 2009 00:00:00 -0500

Concrete Experience:

This week was great I was able to get ideas from my learning circle for my cycle three. LC team members suggested I try an easier approach. The suggestions was, why not make it easy and take the next meeting and provide the medium to collaborate on the agenda for the meeting and sharing out the notes form the meeting itself. This way I can overcome the low participation issues. To combat the technical support issue I would be more involved since it was a project that would be quickly planned and executed.

Reflection:

I would have never thought of coming up with this idea for my third cycle. I am happy that we are able to talk and share ideas with fellow cadre members. This is great since sometimes getting other team members inputs are critical to any project.

Conceptualization:

I think am positive that with the suggestions I received from my LC I will be able to have a more productive cycle. Looking at cycle two results I I think that I needed to be more involved in providing support.

Meta-Conceptualization:

I can see the value of changing oneself to change your own community. I also see how critical it can bee to talk to other people to gain different perspectives. Sometimes it is difficult to ask the right questions, and even more difficult to provide the right answers