Master of Education Degree Achieved!

Well I just submitted my last project for my Masters in Education. I can’t believe it! This has been an amazing 2.5 years. I remember being so scared to take the MAT’s. In fact, I never thought I would go to graduate school because of the test just to get in. I remember going to get my picture taken and wearing that ugly green Wegmans work shirt. I was so nervous. But, it has been a fantastic journey. I have met so many wonderful people, taken some great classes, and learned a whole bunch of stuff about how adults learn. That seems to be the biggest connection among my classmates; the love of learning. I will treasure this experience for the rest of my life.

Social Networking

I recently listened to a podcast with Kevin Roberts, CEO of Saatchi & Saatchi. Roberts was asked about the use of Social Networking Sites. He stated that in order to fully understand the consumer, it was necessary to develop great insight and foresight into their behaviors. Roberts emphasized the importance of being creative, forward thinking, and acting before the competition. He implied that Social Networking sites should be recognized as valuable because they offer so much insight into consumer behavior. The interview ended with a discussion about the importance of being innovative. “It’s all about getting to the future first.”

The Brandon Hall Conference, entitled “Innovations in Learning”, focused on the use of Web 2.0. Companies such as Intel, Sun Microsystems and IBM are building Wikis, social networking sites, and Second Life. More corporations need to embrace Web 2.0 technologies to be innovative and current. Employees are using these technologies at home to communicate, save time, learn and keep in touch. Why not offer the same opportunity to communicate, save time, learn, and build networks on the job?

Visualization Techniques to Build Learning

 

One of the highlights of the Brandon Hall conference, was a full day pre-conference workshop called “Visualization in Learning - Approaches, Tools, and Applications to Improve Effectiveness”. The session was primarily facilitated by Tom Crawford of VizThink, www.vizthink.com.  Tom was assisted by Christine Martell of VisualsSpeak www.christinemartell.com. Christine ran a highly engaging activity which had the participants use kits of photographs to build stories. Tom ran an activity in which he had the participants use post-it notes to brainstorm outlining a course on the popular tale of the three pigs and the wolf.  Both of the activities used very basic techniques for teams to design instruction creatively, quickly, and effectively.

Camp Onas and Constructivism

There has been a classroom discussion on the similarities of playing in a sandbox and constructivism. This brought me to thinking about a my magical experiences at Camp Onas when I was a kid. One of the reasons that I know how wonderful it was is because of my contrasting experience at Girl Scout Camp. The 2 camps have completely different philosophies. Camp Onas is Quaker. The campers make their own choices as to what daily activities to participate. They are able to choose from archery, swimming, arts and crafts, acting, canoeing and so on. They are, in fact, in charge of creating their own learning experiences, hence the word “Onas”. I’d even say that Camp Onas uses a constructivist approach. It was truly wonderful for me. I probably experienced more self discovery during those summers than I did during the entire school year. I would always cry when my parents came to take me home. I could have stayed there for my entire childhood. On the other hand, Girl Scout Camp used a Behaviorist model. Campers are given a specific predefined schedule to follow, with no regard to the child’s interests. I only went to Girl Scout Camp for 2 weeks. The experience made me feel like a caged bird. I was trapped in someone else’s preferred learning environment.

Women Who Blog

I am out here in San Jose California at the Brandon Hall Innovations in Learning Conference. The Conference has been great. One of the highlights of the conference for me has been meeting women who blog in the learning profession. At the pre-conference I went to a small gathering of women who blog. We all sat in a circle and introduced ourselves. I was able to actually say that I had been blogging for a total of 2 weeks! I was so proud…. The meeting was fascinating. It reminded me of a small support group. The moderator of the group was Janet Clarey of Brandon Hall Research. She had a number of questions prepared to facilitate the conversation. I have copied her list here because I find the questions to be provocative. You may want to ask yourself these questions. They may help you to define what blogging means to you.

·   Why did you start blogging?

·   Did you think about what you wanted your blog to be about?

·   What were your goals when you started blogging?

·   What are your goals now? changed?

·   How (if at all) has blogging changed you?

·   Do you set any ground rules? (personal information, language, etc.)

·   What platform do you use? hosted free or host yourself?

·   Do you have any technical advice? (SEO, linking, tagging, etc.)

·   How do you connect with your readers and commentors?

·   How much time do you spend blogging?

·   What did you give up to make time for blogging?

·   Do you have to deal with sexism and if so, how do you handle that?

·   Do you think that being a woman impacts how you blog? Do you think there’s a difference between how men and women approach blogging?

·   What keeps you blogging?

·   How do you re-engage after periods of not making time to blog?

·   Do you have women bloggers you particularly admire? Why?

·   Do you have more women subscribed to your blog than men?

·   Do you promote that your blog relates to womens views?

·   How do you decide what to blog about?

Here is a list of women bloggers who participated in facilitating the conference. I hope you find them as interesting as I have found them to be.

Janet Clarey

http://brandon-hall.com/janetclarey/

Michele Martin

http://michelemartin.typepad.com/

Christine Martell

http://www.christinemartell.com/

Kristina Schneider

http://technogenii.wordpress.com/

Emma King

http://www.brandon-hall.com/emmaking/

Cathy Moore

http://blog.cathy-moore.com/?page_id=2