I believe, because I haven't checked, that my last post was in February. I don't really know what took place between February and June, but in June my professional life kind of got catapulted out of control. I was asked to work on a proposal for a non-credit course for a Certified Financial Planner and I joined the board of the ASTD Smoky Mountain Chapter. I also joined the walk committee for the Knoxville Walk to Defeat ALS. Somehow everything hit at one time.
My proposal was due in September, the walk was in September, the board takes much more of a time commitment than I realized it would, and on top of all of that, I was preparing for a presentation that was last week (the week after ASTD ALC). So - I've been busy. I haven't been motivated to blog on anything, either. I wanted to incorporate something learning related in this post and not just talk about how busy I have been, so below is a little bit on my presentation.
At my presentation last week I discussed eLearning. My partner for the presentation did a great job with the PowerPoint and I got to stand up in front of a group of my peers to talk to them about eLearning development tools and social media. We showed them how they can create a Facebook page and upload a YouTube video on two different development tools: Camtasia and Captivate. I was quite pleased with the response that I received from the audience. There wasn't as much interactivity as I wanted, but that's okay. I'll try to get more interactivity when I do the presentation again in two weeks to a group of credit union trainers in Atlanta.
I'm looking forward to doing more presenting. It was something that I was extremely frightened of. After about 10 minutes I realized that I was calming down and starting to enjoy myself. I like talking to people. I like helping them. And most of all, I like doing something that it turns out I'm decently good at!
Below is a link to the presentation:
eLearning: From Preparation to Delivery to Evaluation
Oct 24, 2011
Jan 23, 2011
Collaboration - How a TED Talk Inspired Me
I have been thinking about collaboration a lot lately. It probably stems from the work that I've been doing at my job as a trainer for a small credit union. I'm the only "trainer" employed by the institution and relatively new to the industry so quite a bit of the work that I do requires collaboration with my peers. As the person responsible for the encouragement of learning for roughly 70 people, working collaboratively is a job requirement that I can't look beyond - and don't necessarily want to.
I downloaded the TED app to my iPad and decided to do a quick search on collaboration. I planned on spending several hours watching these TED videos. I didn't anticipate that the first video I saw would prove to be so inspiring. It doesn't deal with corporate training, and it doesn't mention collaboration. There were several reasons it was inspiring. The speaker's passion for the subject matter was what first made me think that there was something special going on. It wasn't just his passion, though. It was the whole story: how they went from being a publishing company to a retail store to a community-wide tutoring group. The way they used what they had and made it work for everyone by being creative really struck a chord with me.
I know that your time is valuable, but I feel that if you take 25 minutes to watch this video you will understand why this has impacted me.
Pirates, Superheros, Time Travel, Fighting Words and happy kids. People working together to achieve something for people they don't know. Just because they have something to offer. Because they want to help. There is this need, this void that needs to be filled in these kids lives, and these people are helping them, selflessly. I don't think that this should have surprised or impacted me as much as it did, but it did.
Since watching Dave Eggers' video, I've been trying to think about how I can do something like this. How can I achieve this in my environment? How can I pull this inspiration into my training? I should focus on the constraints that I'm facing within my organization. I should use the same kind of creativity that his group used to solve their dilemma. Focus on the end result. Make adjustments to the program as I go along.
They collaborated together and developed this amazing thing that has impacted untold number of people. How many kids that are nine have been published five, yes five, times? To be able to impact people and create successful members of society is amazing. How can this be done with adults? Collaborating with my peers and coming up with creative and innovative ways to involve the people who are going to be impacted most with the training should be the focus. If I'm told "this is what you've got" then I need to work with people to make 'this' go above and beyond. I know it can be done. If I create a culture of fun, creative, and innovative learning at my place of employment while collaborating with my peers, I will view myself as a success.
The most important thing out of this whole 'insight' for me is to realize that while the focus of the collaboration is different for Dave Eggers' and myself, the method for achieving the results is oddly similar. We'll use our individual talents to create an environment that is irresistible to those partaking in what it provides.
I downloaded the TED app to my iPad and decided to do a quick search on collaboration. I planned on spending several hours watching these TED videos. I didn't anticipate that the first video I saw would prove to be so inspiring. It doesn't deal with corporate training, and it doesn't mention collaboration. There were several reasons it was inspiring. The speaker's passion for the subject matter was what first made me think that there was something special going on. It wasn't just his passion, though. It was the whole story: how they went from being a publishing company to a retail store to a community-wide tutoring group. The way they used what they had and made it work for everyone by being creative really struck a chord with me.
I know that your time is valuable, but I feel that if you take 25 minutes to watch this video you will understand why this has impacted me.
Pirates, Superheros, Time Travel, Fighting Words and happy kids. People working together to achieve something for people they don't know. Just because they have something to offer. Because they want to help. There is this need, this void that needs to be filled in these kids lives, and these people are helping them, selflessly. I don't think that this should have surprised or impacted me as much as it did, but it did.
Since watching Dave Eggers' video, I've been trying to think about how I can do something like this. How can I achieve this in my environment? How can I pull this inspiration into my training? I should focus on the constraints that I'm facing within my organization. I should use the same kind of creativity that his group used to solve their dilemma. Focus on the end result. Make adjustments to the program as I go along.
They collaborated together and developed this amazing thing that has impacted untold number of people. How many kids that are nine have been published five, yes five, times? To be able to impact people and create successful members of society is amazing. How can this be done with adults? Collaborating with my peers and coming up with creative and innovative ways to involve the people who are going to be impacted most with the training should be the focus. If I'm told "this is what you've got" then I need to work with people to make 'this' go above and beyond. I know it can be done. If I create a culture of fun, creative, and innovative learning at my place of employment while collaborating with my peers, I will view myself as a success.
The most important thing out of this whole 'insight' for me is to realize that while the focus of the collaboration is different for Dave Eggers' and myself, the method for achieving the results is oddly similar. We'll use our individual talents to create an environment that is irresistible to those partaking in what it provides.
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