LaBausa's Corner

An Ending And A Beginning

2007-08-07T06:21:00.000-07:00

This is the last blog entry related to the Online Education course I've been taking. The instructor's last assignment was to comment on some of the various technologies we explored and indicate which we felt we could use later on.

In my last entry I mentioned zoho the online office suite that goes anywhere and is useful for collaboration. Definitely something I will use in the future especially since you can port your Microsoft files into it and use it to produce .pdf files.

This course has also introduced me to blogging. While I have to come up with a system to increase my consistency I do enjoy blogging and find it to be of value as an Organizational Development professional. I'm incorporating a blog into the company website I'm planning.

Reader2 and del.icio.us will also leave this course with me. As a hardcore bibliophile I need a way to categorize and track the books I'd like to read; Reader2 will help me do that. Del.icio.us will allow me to aggregate and categorize my Internet research and resources so I can go to one place to access them.

A technology we've explored in class that I haven't mentioned in my blog is Bloglines. You can use it to track and access all the blogs of interest to you. It will notify you of which of them have new content as well. While I set this up on my laptop, I haven't used it yet. I think I'll try it out later.

Farewell for now. I don't know whether this will be the last entry in LaBausa's Corner. If so, I'll reappear via my corporate blog but the focus will be different.

Soho, Noho... Zoho?!

2007-08-07T06:19:00.000-07:00

I've been playing around with a couple of the tools on this site: http://www.zoho.com/. It is like having an online version of Microsoft Office that you can access from anywhere. In addition to its version of Word, Excel and PowerPoint, it allows for web conferencing, customer relationship management, project planning, database creation, chat and other useful business functions. If you have a need to access or create documents while traveling or to collaborate with people located in various regions, this is something to look into.

So far I've used the word processing and presentation programs. The word processor worked well but I ran into trouble importing it into my version of Word. Since my software is outdated that may have been an issue on my side. The presentation program was pretty good - especially since I lost my PowerPoint CD and have subsequently rebuilt my laptop w/o saving those files. The one thing I didn't care for was the drawing feature. I found it to be a bit annoying to manipulate however that may be resolved by becoming more familiar with it.

I will definitely continue to use zoho.com and explore its functionality. I can see where it will facilitate my ability to collaborate with other professionals and the ability to log on from anywhere and create or access a file is priceless.

Reader2

2007-07-17T07:16:00.000-07:00

This week I'm experimenting with Reader2. It allows you to create and share booklists online. I don't know about you but I love to read. Unfortunately the other facets of my life normally leave me with little time for pleasure reading. In the past I have tried to make a list of books I'd like to look at but the paper ones get lost or thrown out and the softcopy ones get buried in my numerous and poorly organized laptop folders.
Well this week I'm looking at Reader2 as a solution to my problem. It's linked to amazon.com so you can type in the book or author name and it will automatically search for it. If found on amazon.com, information such as the ISBN and book cover will appear. You wind up with a picture of the book cover along with the rating you assigned to the book. You can add your own tags to the book and include other information.
There are some topics for which I want to develop booklists. I'm going to give it a try this week and let you know what happens. Meanwhile you can go to http://reader2.com/ and see for yourself.

2007-07-08T09:26:00.000-07:00

Outside The Comfort Mode

I have a full life in terms of my career and academic responsibilities. Often by the time the weekend comes I just want to relax, keep my place from getting too messy and grab a few vittles to store away for the week. Yet I starting to appreciate the need to mix things up and get outside one’s standard mode every so often. We all have preferences; some need more alone time than others. Some think best when they speak aloud and bounce their ideas off others. Have you ever “helped” someone work out a problem without ever saying a word?

Despite our natural preferences, we all operate in different modes at different times. However we often get stressed, uncomfortable or cannot recognize ourselves when we do so. Learning to allow yourself to act outside your “comfort mode” can be a healthy and rejuvenating experience. Take last night for instance. I went out to celebrate a friend’s birthday. Initially I planned to have dinner with them and come home. I have a final this week, blah, blah, blah. It’s my comfort mode to have my social decisions and plans set well in advance. I mean I can turn a social occasion into a highly structured activity if you don’t stop me. “Okay, it’s 10:02. Time to stop eating and ask for the check. That way we’ll be walking out the door at precisely 10:30 and I’ll be home by 11.” I know what my comfort mode is and I’m working on being more open with my social schedule. While speaking with another friend I was encouraged to not just go out with them for dinner but to go “shake what my momma gave me” afterwards!

I managed to wait until I’d gotten through dinner to make my decision, go home or go dancing, without obsessing over the matter. I did go out dancing with my friends and had a blast! Today I’m refreshed and ready to focus on my studies. Guess what? I’d been trying with minimal success to study for this final for the past few days. I think I just needed a little breather and to get out of my comfort mode. What comfort mode do you need to shake up a bit?

Facilitating Discussion Boards

2007-07-03T06:44:00.000-07:00

This week I've had the pleasure of facilitating a discussion board for an On-line Education course. It raised some interesting issues: how do you know if you have a good discussion question; how to facilitate discussion without becoming the center of it all; and how long do you wait before jumping in to stir the waters if there is little response?

Sometimes you won't know whether the question/topic works until you try it but it should be something that is thought-provoking and open enough to elicit different responses. I asked people about their experiences - what did they find challenging and how they were managing it. Knowing how others managed a particular situation or event can spark ideas, validate and reassure.

Facilitation is an art I press to master. The best facilitators are under appreciated because people do not realize that the discussion flowed so well and was so enjoyable due to the discreet efforts of the facilitator. I know how to be the person in the middle - getting everyone to direct the comment or request to comment to you for acknowledgement and permission to speak. However that does not facilitate learning and sharing in the same manner as the Master Facilitator who can let exploratory conversations form comfortably yet gently draw them back if they lose value. So far, I have only replied to people's postings twice; I don't want to over do it.

Lastly, when do you allow on-line silence and when do you nudge people to participate? With a discussion board it can be tricky because people respond based on their interest level and schedule. In this instance I relied on past experience with the forum. Certain classmates normally respond on certain days. Just as I was about to avail myself of the e-mail list and nudge the ones who hadn't participated, I saw another response today. I don't know if all discussion boards allow the moderator to e-mail the participants but a weekly "this is the current topic; have any thoughts? come see how others responded" blast is a possible solution.

del.icio.us Update

2007-06-27T10:45:00.000-07:00

I am enjoying the ability to save links to sites I'm interested in at one location. I have tried using del.icio.us from work to see if I could and no problem. However I just looked at another social bookmarking site named furl. It seems to have a bit more than del.icio.us in terms of the ability to add more notes and even a snippet from the site you are bookmarking.

What I would like to see is a system where I could also create text lists, for example a bibliography of publications on conflict management and resolution that I'd like to read.

I mentioned a similar "program" called furl above. An advantage it has over del.icio.us is that you can actually save a copy of the webpage. That way you still have it even if the page is removed from the webserver. That is a definite advantage because this becomes an issue when it is a resource you want to use repeatedly, for example in teaching a course or for research.

del.icio.us?!

2007-06-24T06:53:00.000-07:00

I have spent the past week mulling over a course assignment regarding the use of technology. Del.icio.us in particular. You may be wondering just what del.icio.us is. It is a way of pooling your various digital resources in one place. Because del.icio.us is online it gives you a way of making your resources available from anywhere and you can easily share them with others.

The question becomes "is this of any use to me?" Perhaps sharing my thought process will help you decide if you're interested in trying del.icio.us. I'm planning my return to graduate school. That entails much research - schools with appropriate programs, grants and scholarship opportunities, cutting-edge professors in my field. With del.icio.us I can save all the bookmarks (they point back to the place online where I found the information) regarding graduate programs under one tag (keyword), grants and scholarships under another, and so on. If you are like me, the biggest problem I have is that I have started researching so many different things on-line and it's nearly impossible to keep track of it all. Printing things out only makes it worse because of space constraints, the need to organize it and the guilt over those poor trees! I think I may have found my answer in del.icio.us. I'll let you know what happens.

The Media for Choosing Your Medium

2007-06-17T09:45:00.000-07:00

Just read an article in Wired about vlogs; video weblogs. Basically people record something then post it online to share. Really it's a great idea and a natural next step. The beauty of the internet community is it's accessibility. People have different communication styles and different comfort levels with the array of communication media. If you haven't already figured it out, I like text-based communication. In person I'm rarely loquacious, only my closest buds can disprove that, but give me a piece of paper or a blank screen and watch me go! A regular chatterbox.

In the same way, vlogging allows people who prefer recording a message or scene to do so and then use it to communicate with others. Podcasts move over! This simply speaks to the fact that despite claims of technology being used to effect culturally homogenization, it is being used just as much to share various viewpoints and cultures. I think it will serve just as much as a preserver and nurturer of diverse cultures. People can seek out and take part in the world they prefer.

Overlooking the Essential

2007-06-14T10:50:00.000-07:00

This week I read a study that challenged me as a professor. It's entitled Communicating Care in On-line Courses, by Daniel Gross and Vicki Burford, and it looks at how 2 professors responded to their students' expressions of confusion and frustration with on-line courses. While some of the students' comments and concerns were about the educational medium (i.e. technical issues, how to access the real-time class session) others could apply to a traditionally conducted course.

When confronted with a student who needs reassurance, how do I respond? Am I willing and able to guide someone through a technique or project assignment so she/he will have the know-how and confidence to succeed? Does my response engage or deter further questions? Do people feel like dummies after I finish answering their questions or do they realize the issues and frustrations they are experiencing are a normal part of the learning process and can be overcome? In short, am I a hindrance or a help in their quest?

I'd like to think I am a help however as I reflect on the last course I taught I realize that my attitude needs refining. It's my role as instructor to address all those "soft issues" just as much as, perhaps even more than, it's my role to be the subject matter expert and to assess my students' progress. I never saw the student-teacher interaction that way. Next course I'm going to spend more time engaging the students and creating an open environment where people feel secure in exploring their weaknesses and expressing their knowledge/skill gaps. I'll focus on building the infrastructure in which the course will be conducted before piling on the content. Could it be I'm growing in my craft? We'll see.

Inhale Deeply

2007-06-12T19:06:00.000-07:00

For the past few days I've been thinking about an important anniversary that will arrive this August. Three years. It will be three years since the cousin I'd known my entire life died of breast cancer. Jackie was a 18 months older than me. Some life events bring a release; others bring a fundamental challenge to move beyond your excuses for why life isn't as you wish or just shut up. Her death stirred up the later response in me.

Three years ago I was engaged in a whopper of a pity party. Had a respectable career with good prospects, my own place and a few superb friends. One problem; I was miserable. I didn't like my career and my love life was zilch with none up to bat. Yet I was in a rut; living the definition of insanity, repeating the decisions and actions that kept me in that career, with that employer and with zero prospect of finding someone with whom I could share my life. I changed the window dressing a bit but nothing substantial.

I learned about my cousin's death while sitting in an office cubicle on a business trip in the midwest. I was in disbelief; I had not visited her at the hospital in over a week because I'd been sick and then I was involved in the business trip. I wish I'd made the time to see her - I was so sure she'd pull through.

Through my grief, pain and regret I learned to ask myself "If I knew I would be dead in 2 years, is this the way I'd want my life to be?" It has become one of my self-evaluations. When I find I am being less than who God designed me to be, I confront myself with the choice of allowing God to change me or choosing to accept less than the best He has for me. Few people realize just how much I've changed over the last three years,

A few days ago I started thinking about how I wanted to spend Jackie's anniversary. You see she died about a week before her birthday so when I commemorate one I celebrate the other. I feel the need for a ritual. I'm going to get some beautiful candles - one for each of her children, her mother, her sister, her brother-in-law and the gorgeous little niece she never got to hold. I'm also going to get a candle for myself. I'll light the candles and ask God to bless each one of those people Jackie meant so much to; those people Jackie's life unchangeably, immeasurably touched. On her birthday, I'll toss rose petals off the Brooklyn Bridge into the water then come home and have a champagne toast; thanking God for blessing me with my cousin for the time that I had her. Grateful that I grew beyond the childish jealousies and hurts before she was taken away.

I still miss her.

One Can Be Fun!

2007-06-11T18:55:00.000-07:00

Saturday I was all set for the kick-off of my golf association's Summer League. I'd stepped up my involvement and coordinated 6 weeks of play at public courses in NYC. The publicity e-mail had gone out; a tee-time had been reserved. We were starting off slow with only 3 people but it was better than nothing.

I issued a challenge to myself; I was going to go out to a golf course at least once by myself this summer. My golf role model had told me the week before that she went out by herself frequently and it was a great way to meet people and improve your game. In fact the reason why I never got into tennis was because I could never find a partner and shuddered at the idea of just showing up on the court and looking for someone to play.

But back to golf. By the time I was ready to head to the course, everyone had cancelled on me! As the association representative I forced myself to go anyway. I mean it would look bad if no one showed up! It was definitely a learning experience. There were so many basic things - not even playing golf but paying for your fees, getting your cart, finding the person who starts you off, finding the first hole and the tee box for it!!! Duh I didn't know I was soooooooooo green!

I wound up playing by myself most of the time and getting pointers from a guy who really knows how to play for the last few holes. And I had fun! I'm going back out by myself before the season ends. But I sure hope there are more people next weekend!

If At First You Don't Succeed...

2007-06-11T18:51:00.000-07:00

Okay, LaBausa's Corner got off to a rocky start but we're back!