2nd class

Two things in this class impressed me a lot. The first one is LD simulation. All the discussion we had before gave me a abstract concept of LD, I know what it is, but I was not sure how it felt. The simulation brought a vivid experience that helped me understand how people with learning disability struggle in many ways. Actually, many parts of the simulation remind me of the process of learning English as a foreign language, especially the early stage. One of the struggle we had in the simulation was the separation of decoding the words and understanding the meanings. Because of the misspellings,  I spent the major energy in figuring out what the word was. As a result, I focused on individual vocabularies, but not the whole sentence and text. Therefore, I did not got the main idea although I read all the words. This is a symptom of dyslexia, also a common experience of foreign language learners in the early stages. Even now, I experience it occasionally when reading sophisticated academic article with many unfamiliar vocabularies.

I do agree with Dr. Gerber that one of the best solutions to this is extra time and support. I takes longer time than most of my classmates to read the assigned material to ensure comprehension. Also, my professors and classmates never show any doubt about my reading capacity and encourages me constantly. They are very helpful during my first year in VCU. Therefore, when dealing with people with dyslexia, extra time should be allowed. It may also redue the level of anxiety and improve their performance. Plus, based on my personal experience, multi-sense input promotes comprehension. Audio book and radio broadcast are usually more enjoyable for me than reading in English. I guess it is very similar to people with learning disability. It will be great if the supporting system provides their more chance to exchange information by listening and speaking, but not reading and writing.

The discussion about how to accommodate people with LD in modern society sheds light on another benefit of technology, especially voice control technology. One of the example is Siri in Iphone. I thought it was not as impressing as it was advocated since I seldom use it.  But I see how life-changing it could mean to people with dyslexia. With this technology, they do not need to read the words on their phone to operate it, but to talk to it. This could make their life so much easier. Also, this technology has been installed in cars, so that people can just talk to the car to control the music and the navigator. To people with dyslexia, it could seriously reduce the risk of driving since they do not have to stare at the bottons and try to figure out what they mean. Now there are one more reason for me to love these human-friendly technology: it cares those who suffer more than ordinary people and promotes equality.

Another discussion we had was about adult disability law. Dr. Gerber mentioned that people with LD need to show that they have the essencial skills before getting the job. After the fireman's story, I cannot help wondering what kind of job is not involved with reading and writing skills. Words and written language are so fundamental in our society that it is also impossible to avoid them. After reading TJ's story, I realize that although reading and writing is always a part of life, reading in a limited time is just characteristic of specific jobs. Although TJ's job as a special teacher requires a certain amount of reading and writing, he could spend extra hours on it. Therefore, he is still qualifies for the job.
However, people like TJ still dazzle me. It is so hard for me to believe that people are suffering this and they are working so hard to prove themselves.

1st class

Compare with my American classmates, I have little background knowledge about learning disability. Therefore, I fell really behind when everybody else has at least a general idea of what ADD,BD and ADHD are while they make little sense to me. These are just something we haven't begun to talk about in mainland China, or, more precisely, in the area I come from. As a result, I felt silly about some of my questions or comments, such as the question I asked Melissa “Can learning disability be cured like other deseases or no?" By the way, I found it sound awful once I uttered it. 

Fortunately, we started the conversation by clarifying the concepts and categories of learning disability. It definitely helped me catch up a little bit. It really impressed me when subtypes of learning disability were identified, such as dyslexia, dyscalculia and dysgraphia. They explain to me much clearer about what learning disability is, or, at least, what the symptoms look like. 

But, at the same time, what puzzled me was if they really exist. According to Dr. Gerber, LD happens to 5% to 10% of the population, which means that, in average, there should be one person with LD among 10 to 20 people. However, I have never encountered or heard about anyone like this in my 22-year life experience before I come to America. Although I had some classmates who just cannot get good grades, it was generally believed that they didn't work hard enough. No one thought that they might have some biological challenges in their brains. Also, they were not as bad as the example Dr. Gerber provided. Anyway, learning disability seems to a new idea that I need to buy in. 

The video we saw in the end of the class helped me get more understanding of dyslexia vividly. I began to regard dyslexia as myopia. Both of them are resulted from biological issues and cause inconvenience or problems in people's daily life, and I believe people may get them since born. Nowadays, all kind of tool, such as glasses, contacts and surgeries, have been developed to support people with myopia so that they can function well and do what they can do. As to learning disability,  we are still in the process of creating the suitable support for people with it. There is no reason to devaluate them, just as we do not devaluate people who wear glasses. 

One of the question I have about LD is where it comes from. Are people born with it, or they can also get it later in their life? I hope the questions will be answered later in our class. 

Final Reflection on ADLT 625

Most classes I have had in Adult Learning program are incredibly practical. I can apply what I have learned immediately to my work in FI program and at the Writing Center. However, ADLT 625 is a little different. Probably because it’s a class in HRD track, it is clearly aimed at organizational development in work settings, which I do not have as much experience as my classmates. That’s why I found the class challenging and a little distant to me at first. However, as I read more about it and conducted interview and facilitations with my group members, I feel much more confident about it, and realize how useful it is.

The first topic we discussed in class was what change is. I thought change was simply the fact that something became different from what it was, and it would happen at a certain point on the timeline. But this class has opened up my mind and transformed my understanding of and attitude towards changes. Now I would regard change as an on-going process. It does not necessarily happen suddenly and end immediately, but usually takes place in an organic manner. It is not limited to fix what is not working, but also includes positive inquiry and further improvement. It is not only about the leaders, managers or directors who decide that something needs to change, but also about the whole system, including the past, present and future of the organization, as well as all the individuals and groups in the organization. It is usually hard to promote a change since it is affected by various factors. Therefore, strategies are needed to cope with unintended changes and to promote and conduct planned changes.

After understanding what change is, we began to explore how to deal with changes and promote organizational development. What I find extremely helpful are the theories and models we have learned about this topic. They provide clear guidelines for change agents to conduct successful changes. One of the most eye-opening models for me is Kotter’s Eight-step model (Kotter, 2006). In this model, change is a well-designed, carefully conduced, and consistently enhanced process. None of the steps should be overlooked, or the real change may not take place. Communication is particularly emphasized throughout change process. Through communicating and sharing, members in the organization line up for the same goal, contribute to it collectively, and celebrate the achievement together. On the one hand, the new behavior should benefit the organization in its productivity and efficiency; on the other hand, the collective effort will bring group members closer and enhance the enjoyable working environment.

When examining my experience in the Student Union in my college with this model, I notice that there are things I would like to do differently if I had another chance. First one is about share the reason for the change before the actual change. In Kotter’s model (2006), the first four steps are the preparation and foundation for a successful change. The whole organization need to be involved in the change, and be motivated and committed to it, no matter it is a tope-down decision or a bottom-up one. It is crucial to have all the members understand why the change is necessary, where the change is leading the organization to, and how they can contribute to it individually. To achieve that, the change agent needs to establish a sense of urgency, form a powerful guiding coalition, create a vision and communicate the vision (Kotter, 2006).  When I tried to promote a change, having weekly meeting instead of monthly meeting, in the Student Union, I did not communicate well to all the group members why it was necessary. My intention was to bring member together and enhance the social connection in our organization. I thought that all the members would like to devote as much time and energy as I did to the Student Union and would like to build their network with other members. Therefore, I made the decision based on my assumption and made it a new rule without getting feedback from other members, especially the new ones. Of course, since the urgency, motivation and vision were not shared, many members complained about the new rule. As a result, it was forgotten one month later. If I could sharing my idea with department leaders and other ordinary members, and confirm my assumption with them, things would turn out differently. Also, maybe they would like to social more with other members, but in other forms than department meeting. If the members had had the choice to envision the activity, they could have committed to it and stuck to it. Again, the importance of whole system involvement can never be over emphasized.

Another interesting idea in Kotter’s model is to create short-term win (Kotter, 2006). According to him, there is a much high chance for people to give up if there is no short-term goal. Therefore, "planning for visible performance improvements”, “creating those improvements” and “recognizing and rewarding employees involved in the improvements” are essential to prevent regression or desperation, keep members positive and motivated about the change, and guarantee the ultimate success (Kotter, 2006, p. 243). I am quite impressed by the optimism here, and it also reminds me of other models and theories we have discussed, such as the Appreciative Inquire (Whitney &Trosten-Bloom, 2003) and Open Space Technology (Owen, 2008). In all of them, positive perspective is adopted in designing and promoting a change. In Kotter’s model, short-term wins and small improvements are celebrated because it is a sign of success. The organization believes in the capability of its members and is grateful for their excellent work. In Appreciative Inquiry summit, people focus on what they have been doing great and try to build on their strength. They believe that the power lies in themselves, and all they need to do is to find it in their daily practice and keep promoting it. In terms of Open Space Technology, group members are given the freedom to have a dialogue and develop their solutions. It is believed that people hold the wisdom of success, and they have the creativity and ability to develop the organization. It is the genuine belief in human capability that promotes change in a positive manner. Therefore, when I tried to enhance the new meeting rule in Student Union, instead of criticizing those who ignore it, I could had reward those who did well to reinforce the change.

When introducing my major to others, I usually describe it as “a combination of education and business”. This class demonstrates the combination perfectly. It focuses on changes in work settings, especially in corporations and organizations, and highlights learning of individuals and groups. I really appreciate the emphasis on learning because it is both the motivation and the mean of change. First, one of the reasons for change is to learning new ideas and behaviors that improve individual and group performance. Through learning, individuals become more competent in their fields, which impacts their life positively. Along with individual improvement is group advancement, which helps it stand out among other groups and better serve its customers and members. Therefore, the appreciation of learning starts a virtuous cycle where individuals and groups are powered for continuous development.

Second, learning is an indispensible factor that leads to successful change. As pointed out in Bolman and Deal (Bolman & Deal, 2006), training helps organization deal with resistance and moving toward new norms. In many cases, resistance to changes is resulted from the fear for the unknown. People are reluctant to step out of their comfort zones and change what they have been used to because there is a high risk that they may fail. They may perform worse than before, as they are unfamiliar with the new norms. Therefore, training is the primary solution to acknowledge and cope with the fear and resistance. By learning about what’s new and how to perform under the new rules, individuals are prepared with the knowledge and confidence to deal with new situations. It is just like asking people to swim. It is extremely unsettling to be thrown into a different environment and know the end will be either to survive or to die. However, if the individuals are offered training coursed to acquire necessary skills and equipped with life-saving gears, they will feel much more prepared, both mentally and technically, for the change. As a result, they will accept the change and enjoy it.

In terms of the group facilitation in our class, I regard the experience as one of the most valuable for me. As I said in another final reflection, what I like the most is practicality of the courses. I got hands-on experience of facilitating group meetings, which is slightly different from what I facilitated in ADLT 612. These experiences are what I lack most comparing with other classmates, so that I am really grateful that I had so many opportunities to try it out. By conducting and observing group facilitations in different strategies, I understand how knowledge can be constructed socially. As I mentioned in our final class, I realize that the future of an organization is deeply connected with its past, present, as well as every member in it. Therefore, no matter what facilitative strategy is adopted, it is critical to have the holistic perspective when designing a change and envision the future. Moreover, the three strategies we used in class are not in conflict with each other. They can be combined and modified, if necessary, to better serve a particular group.

To sum up, this course is much more useful than I thought in the beginning. I have learned theories, analyzed cases, and gained experience of facilitating a group. I expect to use what I have learned in this class, as well as others, to my summer internship and work with groups of Chinese high school students.  It is such a great feeling to know that I can use my knowledge to help others feel better about themselves.

Reference

Kotter, John P. (2006). Leading Change: Why transformation efforts fail. Joan V. Gallos (Ed.). San Francisco, CA: Jossey-Bass.

Bolman, Lee G., & Deal, Terrence E. (2006). Reframing change: Training, realigning, negotiating, grieving, and moving on. Joan V. Gallos (Ed.). San Francisco, CA: Jossey-Bass.

Whitney, Diana, &Trosten-Bloom, Amanda (2003). The Power of Appreciative Inquiry. San Francisco, CA: Berrett-Koehler Publishers.

Owen, Harrison (2008). Open Space Technology: A User’s Guide (3^rd Ed.). San Francisco, CA: Berrett-Koehler Publishers

Reflection on AI Facilitation

In the change strategy class last week, we facilitated the group from AKL with their recruiting strategy. In the facilitator, four of us took turns to conduct the four phases of AI, which are Discovery, Dream, Design and Destiny. I was leading the last part, Destiny, which is about summarizing and implementing the ideas discussed in the early phases. Generally, I think we inspired the AKL members to think differently about the way they present themselves and the way they recruit. However, there are several things we could have done better.

First, the four members in AKL were engaged in the process. In each phase, there were learning tasks that they fulfilled individually or collectively. In Discovery, they answered same questions based on their own experience; in Dream, they worked together and created their jingle within a relatively shore time; in Design, they all participated in discussion about how to practice and display the value of their organization in recruitment; finally, in Destiny, they split into two groups and work out lists of things they could do to better recruit. Throughout the summit, the group members had multiple experience of working in dynamics and on different topics. I believe that it will be valuable learning experience for them.

Also, there are many "take-aways" besides they flip chart they physically took away with. The jingle they created in the second phase is a good example. They can really use it in marketing. They can further develop this idea and create an mtv. The creativity can also be adopted in other kinds of recruiting strategies. In the last stages, they listed practical things they could do to improve net-working. By creating the list taking the reality into consideration, they got something tangible to work on.

What I wish we could have done better is to engage the whole class into discussion. There were 8 people in the room besides the four facilitator. However, in the most time, only the four AKL members were in the discussion. The rest of the class were mostly observing the discussion, which could be boring. During the discussion, Lauren offered several valuable ideas. If we prepared more time for group discussion and engaged all the classmates, we might get more interesting ideas, and that is also one of the gist of AI. In Destiny, I tried to encourage the class the split and regroup with AKL members. I noticed and was glad about the lively discussion. I wish I could have divided the class more even so that it might be more engaging and inspiring.

To sum up, we did a good job in our first trial with AI and have learned a lot from the experience. When I do it next time, I would spend more time planning the process and think more about how each members will feel during the process.

Future Search

We had the group facilitation of Future Search (FS) this week, which helped the IFC members figure out the solution for their marketing problems. Also, I have learned a lot about Future Research and facilitation skills in the process.

According to Dr. Hurst's introduction last week, the gist of FS is to recall the memory of the past, focus on the situation at present, and envision the solution in the future. I thought the three parts would be clearly separated, which I found is not true in practice. In our discussion with the IFC member, the three parts were closely connected with each other, and form the whole picture of the organization. For example, in the discussion, the stereotype of the fraternity was a big historical issue. It had significant negative impact on people's perception of the chapters, as well as how those members portrait themselves. Currently, there are a series of factors that relate to this issue, including the posts on social media that disgrace the fraternity. One of the solution to this issue is that, in the future, they will create a shared online platform where all the chapters will post the picture of their events to demonstrate their spirit. Since those online information will be easy to share by those members, it will help spread the real spirits of the fraternity.

The beauty of FS is that it makes people think seriously and differently. By breaking down the timeline and focusing on each part individually, group members are more likely to notice the details. Meanwhile,  when presenting and sharing the discussion in mind-map, all the ideas connect with each other and make much more sense. Without those well-designed stages, it is hard to achieve the concreteness and the generalization of the thoughts. Also, mind-map serves to invite every members into the conversation. No voice is isolated or eliminated because they are all interwoven into a big picture. It helps flat down the hierarchy in a group so that every idea get the attention it deserves.

Personally, I have learnt a lot about fraternity and FS through the facilitation. It is very successful and inspiring in general. In terms of facilitation skills, I think it was a brilliant and sweet idea to prepare several note sheets for each participant so that we had something to write on in the discussion and take away after the meeting. This detail was so crucial to the success of the facilitation. I could not imagine how could the group share so much if we did not take notes during the discussion. Also, when each participant make notes, he was constructing the knowledge for himself,  which could be the best "take-away" for him. If there is something I would do differently, I may try to make the ice-breaking activity more relavant to the topic of the meeting. For example, when using AI, which focuses on the positive side, the ice-breaker could be "to describe your life in ten years if everything is perfect". After sharing, we will sense the optimism and reflect on it a bit. Then, based on the positive energy, we would start AI.

To sum up, it was an impressive learning experience last class, and I am looking forward to our facilitation with AI.

Reflection on the Group Dynamic (2)

In this post, I will talk about what happened in the group discussion. What I find most interesting in the process is how we brought different ideas together, stormed a little bit, and reach consensus in our decision. Also, this is the process where we evolved into a cohesive team and began to perform.

The main topic in this meeting was the specific topic of the presentation and the facilitation strategies we would use. Although we had chosen "power and social influence" as our borad topic, there was no way we would be able to focus on every part of the chapter within half an hour. Melissa proposed to focus on the part of "power dynamic" and relate that part to the films we watch in class. But it seemed that April would like to cover the whole chapter so that we would not limit the discussion. She also volunteered to prepare the handout which would summarize the chapter in two pages and help learners review the content in this chapter.  I wish we could touch on every aspect of the chapter to avoid the risk of losing points in evaluation, but I know that deep and inspiring dialogue among learners is also a important criterion of a successful presentation. Therefore, I suggested that we dispatch the handout to learners, and ask them to choose what they want to talk about and teach each other on that topic. Since all the class had read and discussed a little about this chapter, this presentation could be a chance for each learner to bring in their own experience and focus on the learning for themselves. Happily, the team agreed on this idea. Also, we decided to adopt Melissa's idea about the film and she volunteered to  lead the presentation in that part.

The beauty of our final design is that each team member's idea counted. No one's idea was excluded. We didn't vote any idea out, but tried to bring them together to a consensus. Therefore, all of us were on board with the final decision and committed to it. During the presentation, each member was leading the part that she originally proposed, which allowed us the freedom to design our own part under the umbrella of the topic. This is very important because it empowered each individuals in the group to realize what we believed was the best for each part. As a member, each of us had the ownership of our contribution as well as the group product. That is the source of achievement and proudness. As Melissa said, working on the ppt of the films was the best thing she did in that week. This is a perfect example of how individual goal and group's goal are synthesized and contribute to support individual development in a group.

Working in such a team is a enjoyment. Every member's talent is accurately allocated so that it serves the team the best. After this meeting, we have moved out from "Storming" into "Performing".

Reflection on the Group Dynamic (1)

Last Friday, we had the group meeting to prepare for our presentation on power and social influence. Before this face-to-face meeting, we created a Google+ group and throw out ideas. Honestly, I do not think that the online discussion was very productive. While it did help with brainstorming since no idea was shut down, there was not many practical and specific ideas that could help us develop the framework and  the content of the presentation. Also, because of our different schedule, we didn't have a time to be online together and chat lively. To some degree, I believe, it interrupted the natural flow of minds, and create barriers for us to build on each other's ideas.  Therefore, after a week of online communication, we made little progress and still feel lost about the assignment. 

During this period, there was not a leader in our group. April created the online discussion group,  but there was no authority associated with it. We relied more on personal motivation, peer pressure and the pressure from our grades in this class. At this point, we were still a loose-organized group, or we are experiencing the forming stage, 

In the class on last Monday, seeing the progress in other groups, Melissa began to panic. I also felt a little nervous, and realized the urgency of a fece-to-face meeting. Actually, I thought we should have the meeting in the beginning of the process, but I reserved the idea because I knew that both of my partners works full time, and an extra meetin might be too demanding. Since they believed that we could accomplish the task online, and we still had time to try it out, why not give it a shot. Even if it did wort out, we could fix it in the last week. However, when it came to the last week before the presentation and our online discussion was not fruitful enough, I made up my mind to propose and schedule a face-to-face meeting. 

It turned out to be quite easy to settle the time and location for the meeting. There was no resistance or reluctance to it as I expected. I think the reasons might me the urgency of the task and the unsatisfactory  result of the online meeting. I do not regret that I didn't propose the meeting in the beginning. If I did that, probably someone would feel resistant to it because there might be more efficient to do it online. It could be my problem with the technology, and the other group members might do perfectly well with it.   If this was the case, I should try to catch up with the group, but not ask them to accommodate me. After we tried the online discussion and failed to accomplish the task, all of us were on board that we need a real meeting. The commitment to this decision wipe out any potential resistance to it. Also, maybe we were not ready to have the meeting in the beginning yet, and the online brainstorming provided some grounds for us to start with in the meeting. 

When settling down the time and location of the meeting, April acted as a cheer leader. She brought into our group her personality and the experience of preparing for presentations, and assured us that we would nail it. Her enthusiasm contribute to our confidence, and prepared the group for a positive and productive meeting. 

At this point, I think we had finished forming stage, and moving into storming and performing.