Synthesize

My white paper!

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Architecture of Space

My favorite place to inhabit or work is my living room. I am easily over stimulated and distracted by noise and the general public. Therefore coffee shops and even libraries do not lend a conducive environment for me. After capturing images of the things that make this space special to me I realized that they all contributed to a single feeling. Comfort. When I work, or am creating, I tend to get overwhelmed easily. All of these elements play their own role in keeping me cool, calm and collected.

Some of the things that help keep me calm include my slippers and readily available tea. My coffee table is an unusual shape and sits very low to the ground. It is great for crafts or just resting my feet. Then there is my Netflix. I like background noise when I work but not necessarily music. I find that when I listen to music it consumes too much of my brain for me to be productive or creative. So I have a favorite show that I have seen hundreds of times, that I just play while I work. I have seen it enough times that I no longer need to pay attention and my brain relates happiness to its sound and presence.

The living room itself is meant for another purpose than my workspace. It is a common area for the household to relax. This may be why I was attracted to this space for working. I related the space with peace and serenity. This space is engaging by its interesting, non white, walls and minimal decor. It is equipped with the necessary technologies needed for relaxing (tv and Xbox). It has two giant windows that give the space life and energy. Lighting is limited which sets a calm, not over exposed, mood. The furniture is soft and engulfs you when you occupy it. There are blankets available for its inhabitants as well as the therapeutic presence of my cat Zedd.

The article taught me that the environment is truly what the inhabitants make it. For an environment to be useful or conducive to its inhabitants it needs to incorporate what they are using it for and how they are doing those things. This pertains to my space because I made my space work for me. I may use my coffee table for more than just a surface to set my cup on.

How I relate this to my professional may be a bit abstract. A lot of times I actually have to take a step back and realize that 90% is actually virtual and only 10% is my desk or physical workspace. I can apply my coffee table theory to software and tools I use. Just because the tool was designed for one thing does not mean I can not use it to solve other problems. This assignment has made me realize how important those elements at home are to my mental state when working or creating. I am hoping to find a few ways to incorporate those comforts at work. Obviously I cannot play Netflix at work but I could maybe bring in a nice lamp for my desk to set a more peaceful mood. I would like to get a small stool to go under my desk so that I can elevate my feet once in a while. I realize that I crave working at home because I am comfortable and do my best work that way. Comfort is key to my creativity.

How Do I Love Thee: Play

Activity: LearnWorld

Participants: Teachers, Deans, Principals, Administrative

- Just like in Sims, participants will have some kind of visual representation of what they do. ie: Teacher Avatars have an blue diamond over their heads. Deans may have orange.

Location: VIrtual

Objective: Network, Learn, Ask Questions

Groups: There are several club houses in the central town in LearnWorld. Each belonging to a profession or possibly by projects/initiatives or needs. Anybody is welcome into any club. This would be a great place to have virtual roundtables. Players can simply click on another player to read their short profile and then choose to interact with them via messaging.

Optional: Some players may choose to also use microphones and have live conversations with other players. This may be the best method for roundtables or interactions involving more than one person.

Extra: LearnWorld also provides customized environments where players can participate in simulations based on real life examples and potential problems they may run into.

The cognitive tool of play is the ability to unleash the mind allowing the freedom to explore and in engage in physical, social and emotional activities or topics.

Ever played Sims? What if there was a system like Sims, World of Warcraft or Second Life that pertained to your professional life? Where your Avatar could practice scenarios, problem solving, ask questions to your peers and collaborate. You could meet peers that work across the state, country or world.

The LearnWorld environment would be available year round but I would like to setup “Town Hall Meetings” or “Meet & Greets” several times a year virtually. Different sessions would have to be held to accommodate the different time zones. These sessions would be available to Deans, Principals, Teachers and some administrative positions such as Training, Curriculum and Ed Tech. This promotes cross department and cross position understanding and creates a community in which we help drive change and effectiveness.

I thought of this activity because it would fill a current gap I see in my own organization. My audience is teachers and yet I never get to meet them or learn about their processes and their needs. My job requires me to not only create consumable courses to train them but also to deliver that training in a way that meets their needs and availability. I think that nearly all of the administrative positions in my organization could really benefit from an experience like this. Also deans and principles.

I created this activity in the attempt to be different. Get out of the box. I was slightly inspired by my embodiment thinking assignment from a week or two ago. But I also really relate to the benefits in which this exercise/introduction/tool, whatever we want to call it, in that I am more confident online. When you give me a virtual environment it strips away all the social hangups that prevent me from networking, sharing and collaborating. I feel more free to ask questions and ask those questions to peers or positions I feel that I can’t normally. Teachers can ask questions to their supervisors that they normally feel they can’t, don’t have time for or do not have the appropriate situation in which to ask. This tool could truly open up the communication and community that many organizations are hungry for.

How Do I Love Thee: Modeling & Dimensional Thinking

Modeling is the ability to analyze, abstract and understand the smallest components to the big picture of a subject.

found this activity to be quite overwhelming at first. Not only to look at something like my topic; Adult Learning with an emphasis on Training in dimensions but then to have to make it actually useful to someone. I came across the idea of Return On Investment. The corporate reasoning and arbitrary number that us trainers must use to receive sponsorship. Unfortunately in the world of business everything must be represented by a number as its benefit to the company. This becomes really difficult in the world of training when we deal with so many unpredictable factors. I asked myself; What is the difference between education and training? Most training is compliance driven. Legally companies must educate their employees on certain subjects in order to protect themselves from possible lawsuits later. This is can be great in teaching these employees specific things to know or do. If you think back to high school or college, as a student you were taught theory and concepts so that you could develop, adapt, and customize the information. We lose sight of that in training due to the compliance. What ever happened to soft skills.

In the 1980’s we determined that you could be an absolute genius but if you didn’t have the social skills to communicate and collaborate you would not do as well in the workforce. These are prized skills that we have somewhat neglected the development of. Employers just hope that the people they are hiring have a decent set of soft skills because we have lost sight of how valuable these skills truly are and no longer take the time and spend the resources to invest in their development. So at the true reasoning for investing in soft skills training we have the benefits it will provide the company. Training on soft skills will improve the functionality of teams, group and individual production, the community/communication within the organization and the culture the business has. Some of the most desired soft skills for employees include; time management, flexibility, ability to adapt, work under pressure, communicating, problem solving, using feedback to grow, working well with a team and overall confidence in their tasks and abilities. Once we have trained it is important to measure the results. Not only to report the much desired numbers to “suits” but also to determine possible ways to grow or improve the training and to check employee satisfaction. Before we train and measure we must determine factors that influence soft skills such as; generation or age, experiences, education, socioeconomic status, race/culture, culture within the organization and individual personality types. Knowing about these factors will help develop, deliver and measure the training. At the end of it all we have our ROI. I think this graph could be helpful in trying to obtain buy in for the development and implementation of the training. It may also be helpful to visualize the idea as more than a number. That soft skills training is the ultimate investment in employees. This kind of education helps grow the employee not just in their position but in their own possibilities.