Well what do you know, yesterday marked one year since this ePortfolio was created.
1 year
Tag: #5305
Hugs
I always do my best to shine a little light, encouragement, and love with those willing to connect. Tonight, I stopped at the local drug store. The employee was having a rough night, and I asked how much longer her shift was (10:30 pm with 7 am return).
My husband picked up chocolate peanut butter ice cream, and she said she would come over to cry and help me eat it. She said something about being a hug person, and I lamented how much I also miss hugs.
As I was preparing to leave, I asked, “can I give you a hug?” She accepted and met me at the end of the counter for a genuine hug.
My favorite days are the days I get to hug strangers. I’ve missed it so much.
As I said goodbye to my classmates Tuesday night (our last class meeting), I had to say out loud that I would miss seeing many of them next semester (accelerated post coming soon). Some will be graduating by December, and our classes no longer overlap. Tonight, I reflected on our one-two sessions together, our growth and vulnerabilities.
Then I realized that some of them will walk at the commencement ceremonies. I volunteer at those events and hug strangers at those events. Surely, I will get to meet some classmates at graduation! I started to imagine the next two years! Three ceremonies a year, potentially meeting the people with whom I will undoubtedly grow so much.
- Who will we be after completing another class? What about two classes from now? Four?
- Can you imagine looking at our final projects, reflections, innovation plans, and these digital babies (our ePortfolios)?
- How much will they/we change through the evolution of this program?
- How are you feeling?
- Have you taken a good deep breath lately?
- Have you hugged a stranger? (Okay, I know that the last one’s not for everyone)
Contributions, 5305
Innovation Course
- Spring 2022
- Course Number: EDLD 5305
- Course Title: Disruptive Innovation in Technology
Contributions to learning and learning community.
I am giving myself a score of 45 out of 50
Crediting Group Members: Deena B., Lorena R., and , Jose V.
Key and Supporting Contributions
Reflecting on my first course in the Applied Digital Learning program makes me realize how far I have come since those first painful weeks. I sincerely hate to admit it, but the painful process of learning how to do new things is indeed working. I cannot accurately describe how many times I would start a new assignment and think there is no way. I have figured out to do so many new things (like the Innovation Proposal, Literature Review, Implementation Outline, and Digital Story). I learned so much by fighting my way through it. Reading and watching YouTube videos on how to use a new technology or write in a new way paid off.
I do not generally submit assignments against a deadline for fear of technology failure or other interruptions. I posted all of my discussions and feed-forward projects by their posted deadlines to allow enough time for group mates and classmates to respond so that I could make revisions and edits in time for the final deadline. Through this opportunity for reflection, I realized that I tended only to share where there are required feedback obligations. Still, if I was less insecure about feeling lost, I may have had earlier opportunities for clarity.
I wish the discussion thread were instead a group chat to share our ideas and understandings in a single location verse trying to scroll through posts repeatedly. Most of the discussions seem to remain somewhat surface level when I know there is more depth we would find through the back and forth more real-time conversations.
I completed every course reading, video, and supportive resource throughout the semester. Often I wondered exactly how far down the rabbit trail I could fall following links. Sometimes I wondered if that was the real test to see how far and deep we would travel. I have attempted to absorb and synthesize every piece of information provided to help alleviate my insecurity with these new topics and tasks. I return to previous sources and discover a new meaning or more profound understanding each time I rewatch/review them. I have found new content, followed new links and information, and re-watched so much content throughout the semester. I am so grateful that I had the opportunity to watch until I finally understood. The whole concept of flipped learning has become an interest of mine to provide solutions to my advising unit, colleagues, and, most importantly, to my advisees due to my own experience learning by doing.
I was a late bloomer, finally having an epiphany moment with how everything ties together and how the all the revisions along the way provided the foundation for learning and growth. There were so many revisions of the components that led to this innovation proposal compilation. Undoubtedly, there will be more revisions as I learn more and accumulate more skills to create more dynamic and engaging content.
While I was not citing APA correctly in my initial discussion posts, I have learned so much about proper citations since. I am sure that I still make citation errors, but I have learned so much through the weekly posts and the assignments throughout this initial course. When classmates had questions, I made additional supportive postings in the student lounge and student/faculty lounge.
Learning Community Key and Supporting Contributions
I participated in all activities this semester. I would have attended more because every meeting provided clarity and community. I took a leadership role and sent multiple email correspondences to potential group members on time, delivery, and frequency of group meetings and attended every online or phone meeting scheduled to provide feedback on projects as updated throughout the semester. I sent emails to classmates whose “Introduce Yourself” posts resonated with me.
Group members completed discussions using conference calling and GroupMe chat. The group faced challenges throughout the semester as group members stopped responding. Thankfully a core group made feed-forward helpful. I made sure that my submissions were made by each posted deadline so that my group-mates would have time to review drafts. I provided feedback to my classmates through discussions and my group mates through meet-ups. We utilized the screen sharing capability of meet.goto.com. I received feedback from my group-mates through those same discussions and screen sharing means. I valued the input from both classmates and instructor to help me improve upon my ideas and think more creatively as they evolved. Additionally, I cannot express how helpful the instructor’s video feedback was for each assignment. I often hit submit, hoping that I understood the assignment/goal correctly and submitted the intended document.
While I contributed to every classmate’s experience, after reviewing each discussion post, I found two discussions in which I did not engage with my classmates. I now see that there is room for improvement to find a system to go back and review threads for new posts.
Originally posted March 11, 2022
Communicating Vision
I think as a personality trait, I have always had a touch of an innovative spirit. I have often described myself as a bit of an efficiency expert. I always try to tweak systems and processes to be better, clearer, simpler, and more effective in every role I have held. I hope to become an innovative “educator” through my role as an academic advisor. I can confirm that my influence currently does not include meaningful or authentic learning opportunities. Often general information is sent out to students. However, the messaging is the same old, templated messages with very little valuable information.
My innovation proposal seeks to make the information more meaningful for students than generic copy/paste notifications. I also aim to provide a resource that will allow students ownership over locating the information they will need along their academic journey. The programs I advise for have specific paths to program completion, course offerings, and more. However, I believe students often go along with the flow and do not stop to ask essential questions until a substantial investment of time, money, and energy has been spent (or worse, wasted) if they are not on the path they intended.
Regarding under communication, I agree that because we live in the planning, preparing, researching, meeting, and are party to endless discussions of our innovation/implementation plans, we can make faulty assumptions about how much communication has been shared with our constituents.
The above video makes a good point when it pointed out that we need to remember that sometimes the people we hope to influence are a few steps down the hierarchy. We have to remember that they may not be aware of all the information that has been shared in the prior planning stages. The video made an excellent point that we should all try to keep in mind when communicating about our innovation plan and implementation strategy. We must remember that we are competing with the day-to-day business in their workday. We must constantly send out updates and find other ways to communicate excitement and a sense of urgency about our plan.
I am Change
In the above video, we see a person panhandling with a sign that reads, “I’m blind, please help” Power of Words (2010). We see a few passersby drop some change here and there. Then a woman comes by who creates a shift in perspective by updating the sign to ready “It’s a beautiful day, and I can’t see it,” and suddenly, everyone is dropping change for the gentleman Power of Words (2010). By the end of the video, our level of compassion changes, although nothing about the man’s situation has changed. The fact of a man who is begging on the street stays the same. The fact of a man who is blind remains the same. However, a simple change in presenting the facts resulted in more donations for the gentleman.
I did find the fact that the video contained minimal dialog impactful. I am not sure about the focus of my video creation as I do not have a clear understanding of the project yet, but I would like my video creation to have a similar impact on the viewer.
I appreciated the point made by this second video when we learned that slamming our viewers/audience with more information is not the way to win them over to our cause. The Behavioral Science Guys propose that instead, we approach our audience with “influential questions” Crucial Learning (2015). They explain that this shift allows the audience to leave a place of defensiveness so that they can approach your topic with more receptivity.
I want to affect the heart of my audience by sharing my heart for people and my desire to make a difference.
I am currently attempting to wrap my mind around the concept of digital storytelling. However, I hope to incorporate Nancy Duarte’s advice on using rising and falling within the storytelling to draw the audience into my innovation proposal TEDx Talks (2010). I love the way she recommends comparing what is against what could be and the beautiful utopian vision she recommends as the final call to action TEDx Talks (2010). Similarly, I would love to utilize the “angel cocktail” described by David JP Phillips (TEDx Talks, 2017). However, I feel that practice makes perfect, and my first attempt may lack the ability to create a sense of expectation, gain sympathy, and create a sense of amusement TEDx Talks (2017). However, I see the benefit of these disarming and engaging techniques. I especially connected with Tom Asacker’s identity point as this is what has driven me to this program, my innovation proposal, and ultimately my profession TEDx Talks (2014).
My video will attempt to create a sense of urgency by appealing to my audience’s heart instead of their head.
References
Crucial Learning. (2015, January 5). How to Change People Who Don’t Want to Change | The Behavioral Science Guys [Video]. YouTube. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9ACi-D5DI6A
Power of Words. (2010, February 20). The Power of Words [Video]. YouTube. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Hzgzim5m7oU
TEDx Talks. (2010, December 10). TEDxEast – Nancy Duarte uncovers common structure of greatest communicators 11/11/2010 [Video]. YouTube. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1nYFpuc2Umk&t=594s
TEDx Talks. (2014, June 30). Why TED Talks don’t change people’s behaviors: Tom Asacker at TEDxCambridge 2014 [Video]. YouTube. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W0jTZ-GP0N4&t=1s
TEDx Talks. (2017, March 16). The magical science of storytelling | David JP Phillips | TEDxStockholm [Video]. YouTube. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Nj-hdQMa3uA&t=862s
Nowist?
We can learn from these examples of innovation that sometimes, as Plato was paraphrased as saying, “necessity is the mother of all invention” or, in our case, innovation.
I was struck by Joi Lto’s statement that “education is what people do to you and Learning is what you do to yourself” (Perry, 2015, 10:12). That is a way of thinking of learning that never occurred to me. What a great perspective for myself and my student population. I do not think I have been practicing this in my learning or the environments I influence. I need to incorporate this quote into my signature and daily life for a while, inspiring myself and my students.
I enjoyed Lto’s now-ist call to action. Nevertheless, somewhat ironically, I seem to have a case of analysis paralysis regarding the Literature review. His challenge to stop plotting and planning every move and instead act is quite the timely message for me to stop trying to control everything before picking a direction. The only thing holding me back is myself. I know I must embrace failing forward.
I am somewhat new to my current role, but during my interview process, I made it very clear that I was looking for a position that would allow me to use my skills, knowledge, and big picture perspective to suggest improvements. I have already implemented some strategies and am constantly looking for more ways to make our processes more effective. Thus far, I have had full support from my supervisor.
My colleagues have been willing to adopt my suggestions. All seem open to incorporating technology if they feel it is valuable and will make their day-to-day operations more efficient.
I will strive to provide a resource through my innovation plan to provide students with choice, ownership, and voice through an interactive resource that they can utilize at their own pace, as needed, throughout their program at each step of the educational process.
References
Perry, Joshua. (2015, May 15). Joi Lto Want to innovate Become a ‘now ist’ [Video]. TED Conferences. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vRAMQJJu7uY&t=222s
Progressive Education
I believe that people are resistant to change due to familiarity. I have friends in terribly toxic relationships, yet they remain in them because of their perceived comfort. I imagine the same is true when approaching our innovation situation. We will come across people who may be miserable with the current system yet vehemently hold on to it for fear of change.
Listening to the 1940’s progressive education video, some of the things that struck me as they described traditional education were factors like grouping students into classrooms, repeatedly drilling lessons, and that students only “go to school because they have to” (Danieljbmitchell, 2007). As the video transitioned into descriptions of progressive education being presented in the 1940s, the idea of “learning by doing” struck me (Danieljbmitchell, 2007). I love that past the idea of progressive education included hands-on practice to make classroom skills relevant to real life.
I have seen this exact desperate search for a passing grade in higher education through some of my previous coursework. It would seem that we have not seen more changes in education over the years because more focus seems to have been placed on standardizing the evaluation of learning (tests) instead of actual learning. Classmates would simply look up questions online or utilize groups to share answers. These students never even considered the cumulative nature of education. The basic concept that content builds upon itself and the whole point of education should be to seek knowledge instead of just chasing a test score, advancing to the next grade/level, or obtaining the next credential.
While we have seen technology advance, we have learned through our readings that many have just been additions to the classroom without successful implementation strategies and no thought to innovation. Therefore, these devices often provide no real change to learning. I often think we convince ourselves that our to-do lists are too long to implement new processes, techniques, or strategies for learning. Change is hard but often so very worth it.
Yes. There is a culture of “this is the way we have always done things” rampant in education, higher education, and business. Seth Godin said it best when he said, “people who like the place don’t want to hear you’re changing everything… (Godwin, 2014). In a previous role, I was charged with chairing a committee to evaluate the processes of our first and second-year advising center. I created an A-Z list of everything we attempted to cover with our incoming college students. Through a committee of collegues, under the direction of my executive director, we attempted to go item by item to see what processes could be outsourced, streamlined, eliminated, or improved. I would like you to picture the Finding Nemo Seagulls saying, “Mine, mine, mine.” The committee was not very effective at innovating the intake procedures for college students. My executive director was appalled and amazed that, on the one hand, people were screaming that they could not do everything that was expected of them, yet they were unwilling to relinquish any of their tasks. Change is hard. Marc Rosenberg explained it by saying, “Schools aren’t bad; they’re just having a very difficult time evolving. After all, they’ve worked so well for so long. And if it ain’t broke…” (Rosenberg, 2014).
For me, education is a helping profession at heart. There should be room for innovation if everyone tries to find the best solution to the learning variations in their classrooms, among their students, or with their clients. Organizations must find their why. Simon Sinek’s explanation of the brain and the “golden circle” was fascinating to me (TED, 2010, 6:04). The inspiration begins when you “start with why” (TED, 2010). I want to help inspire change through innovation in my organization.
References
Danieljbmitchell. (2007, August 01). Progressive Education in the 1940s [Video]. YouTube. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=opXKmwg8VQM
Godin, Seth. (2014, September 16). People who like this stuff….https://seths.blog/2014/09/people-who-like-this-stuff/
Rosenberg, Marc. (2014, September 09). Marc My Words: Back to School – Technology Is Changing Learning, but Is It Changing Schooling? https://learningsolutionsmag.com/articles/1499/marc-my-words-back-to-schooltechnology-is-changing-learning-but-is-it-changing-schooling
TED. (2010, May 4). How great leaders inspire action | Simon Sinek [Video]. YouTube. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qp0HIF3SfI4&t=122s
Disruptive Innovation
In order to prepare for my innovation plan, I found that I needed to learn more about why there is a need for change in education.
Sir Ken Robinson explains that our education system is based on an outdated industrial model of grouping students together, throwing lesson plans and objectives, then sending them out to be productive members of society (Robinson, 2010). Students are still advancing to the next grade level, topic, or learning objective despite lapses in learning or understanding. This practice of advancing students whether or not they are prepared or understand the concepts on which the next grade or following content will build only sets students and education systems up to fail. To change our educational system, we must approach learning in new and innovative ways. This type of change is essential because education provides our future generations of political leaders, teachers, doctors, lawyers, trade skills-people, and members needed for a functional society.
Sir Ken Robinson explains that we “cannot predict the outcome of human development. [We] can only create conditions under which they will begin to flourish” (Robinson, 2010). This analogy to an agricultural model is an appealing way to reframe “human flourishing as an organic process.”
Through the materials of this course thus far, I have learned about the idea of nonconsumption as an opportunity to broaden learning opportunities through disruptive innovation in otherwise unmet needs areas within educational systems. Through Michael Horn’s conference talk, I learned that competing in areas of nonconsumption is more likely than trying and overtake an existing system which is helpful information as I formulate my innovation plan (Horn, 2013).
Disruptive innovation is vital to education because students and our education systems are falling behind. Currently, education teaches the average student level at an average pace, leaving high achievers bored and slower learners behind. Scott Cook goes on to argue that in addition to teachers teaching to the average student, our “students don’t get the best teacher in their geographic area; they get the average based on the instructors in that system/grade at that time” (Disrupting Higher Ed, 2014).
Disruptive innovation brings things that were impossible to do in the old model into the realm of possibility, explains Clayton Christensen (Tech as Disruptive Force, 2014). He goes on to say that using disruptive innovation can take costly and complicated systems “to make it affordable and accessible so that a whole new population of people [has] access to something that used only to be available to the wealthy” (Tech as Disruptive Force, 2014). Scott Cook agrees that applying technology is a profound disruption because it makes education more easily accessed and more affordable (Disrupting Higher Ed, 2014). This access to technology explains how the concept of blended learning is not about the devices themselves but instead the access to tools that were not previously available in the traditional classroom.
According to Michale Horn, disruptive innovations provide an opportunity to “reinvent the model itself to solve for: multiple intelligences, learning styles, talents, motivations/interests, aptitude,” and more (Horn, 2013). With advances in technology, students can now get real-time feedback and on-time support through blended learning opportunities. By giving learners control over their learning, students can help them become more engaged in the learning process.
The opportunities for innovation I see within my organization are giving students equal access to information related to their program of study. Currently, students are left to navigate the world of higher education by learning lingo, searching websites, and trying to determine what information is essential to know. There is currently no assessment to determine their level of understanding, and students cannot become the navigator of their learning effectively. I want to develop an innovation plan that allows all students access to the most common policies and program information they can review and process at their own pace through blended learning modalities. I want to utilize various resources such as onboarding information for student information systems and degree tracking purposes. I want to include program specifics such as internship applications and departmental websites/information links. I want to incorporate an element of ownership component for students to inform themselves about their program with my guidance. I want an option for students to assess their understanding, possibly through quizzes or feedback surveys, so that I can target interventions and information sharing that will keep students engaged through the completion of their chosen program.
References
Horn, Michael. “Disrupting Class – Part 3: Disruptive Innovation in Education.” YouTube, uploaded by Edmentum, 5, March 2013, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iX2hOF5YkfQ
“Part 6 — Technology as a Disruptive Force in Education.” YouTube, uploaded by Clayton Christensen Institute, 5, June 2014, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k0ENX-GTUf4
“Part 7 — Disrupting Higher Education.” YouTube, uploaded by Clayton Christensen Institute, 5, June 2014, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IY18XHjGTFU
Robins, Sir Ken. “Bring on the learning revolution! | Sir Ken Robinson.” YouTube, uploaded by TED, 24, May 2010, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r9LelXa3U_I
The Advisor That Cares 