If anyone was curious...

here's what the back end of my project looked like:

Week 4 - Post 4: Reading - Reframing

What I liked best about this reading was the idea of reframing an event. In Zander's story about the misbehaving teenaged orchestra members, their behavior could have easily been framed as "these teenagers misbehaved and made the orchestra look bad." In that case the trip would be defined as one where some of the participants ruined things for everyone and those teenagers would be defined as people who misbehave on group outings. Both these outcomes take away from the overall benefits of the trip and may have shaded how those particular teenagers were viewed in the orchestra from that point onward.

Instead Zander reframed the event in a more positive way: there were individuals who were elated at their performance and just happened to get carried away because they were still so excited from earlier that night. He gave the individuals a second chance and he kept the event from weighing down the group. Had he verbally reprimanded the teenagers who misbehaved they likely wouldn't have misbehaved again, but the group morale would have severely dropped. Instead he gave everyone the chance to not only brush off the event, but also to focus on what good they could do during the rest of their trip.

When terrible or disappointing things happen to or around us it's important to try to reframe the event in the most productive way. That's not to say you should always put a Pollyanna-type spin on everything and sweep negative thoughts or feelings under the carpet, it's more to say that you try and view things in a way that allows you to move forward positively after the fact.

For example, back in 2008 I left a job where I was paid well and respected by my bosses but wasn't doing something I loved (I was working as an executive assistant) and moved to a job where I was going to be paid terribly but was doing something I was passionate about: teaching (that's my old classroom there on the right). I was quite excited about the opportunity, but it turned out to be a massive bust. As I've complained in class before, the school I worked for was a private institution that cared only about making a profit and truly didn't have the students' or the teachers' best interests in mind. I became so run down and put out by the situation that I quit my job after only 11 months even though I didn't have another job lined up.

I could have looked at that experience as a massive mistake. I left a good job at a company that really cared about doing their job well and moved to a horrific company that didn't care at all about doing a good job. I could have seen this as a terrible error and let that mistake haunt me... except I don't. I learned so much in that job about teaching adults, what I didn't want in a future job, and how I still really wanted to follow my passion for teaching; just not there. I think it was an important experience for me, even though it was also a pretty painful one as well. I was able to frame the experience in a way where I actually don't regret making that decision, even if it turned out to be a bad place for me to work in the end.

Week 4 - Post 3 - Media Project Link

I finally got it running properly! Hooray!

Introducing my Media Project:

Working With Angry Customers: A Customer Service Simulation

The project is a website containing a customer service simulator created in Udutu. It allows retail workers an opportunity to practice giving high quality customer service under the pressure of an angry customer.

My thesis is on the use of simulator software to rehearse skills that must be performed under high amounts of stress. The media project demonstrates just one aspect of the proposed software: branching dialogue.

Chances are you're most familiar with branching dialogue from "Choose Your Own Adventure" books. In a story you're presented with a series of options. Depending what option you choose the story from that part is different. This process continues until the story completes and can create a large number of potential story paths.

Somewhat poorly-written children's fiction isn't the only place this branching dialogue can be utilized. It can also be used to simulate realistic interactions as well. This can be seen treated in a sophisticated manner by recent video games like Heavy Rain, in which a considerable number of choices have severe ramifications on the game plot. It can also be seen in some training materials as well.

For the media project, a simple branching dialogue simulation was created using Udutu. In this simulation the user is a retail clerk attempting to assist an angry customer with a complaint. The interaction choices range from the best service possible to the worst and the simulated customer responds directly to the type of service they are given. The simulation ends only when the customer is satisfied with the situation or has become so angry that she asks to speak to the manager about the user’s poor customer service skills.

This simulation creates a safe practice area for the user to rehearse what responses best serve a customer without the potential to offend actual people. It also gives feedback based on the user’s performance so that they can improve in customer service skill weaknesses.

In the case of the media project, a simple branching dialogue simulation was created using Udutu. In this simulation the user is a retail clerk attempting to assist an angry customer with a complaint. The interaction choices range from the best service possible to the worst and the simulated customer responds directly to the type of service they are given. The simulation ends only when the customer is satisfied with the situation or has become so angry that she asks to speak to the manager about the user’s poor customer service skills.

This simulation creates a safe practice area for the user to rehearse what responses best serve a customer without the potential to offend actual people. It also gives feedback based on the user’s performance so that they can improve in customer service skill weaknesses.

Week 4 - Post 2 - Comment on Mohamed Bahrani's posting

This is my comment posting to Mohamed Bahrani's blog entry Week4 - Blog # 2 - PC vs Mac

I have been a PC user for the past fourteen years, and I am still using PCs in my work. However, I started using Macs after registering with Full Sail University last year. There is no win-win in this argument. It is a matter of opinion, preferences, and maybe, it is just what you have to use as part of your business environment.




I still use both Mac & PC, though here are some of the facts, Mac is safer, as fewer attacks targeting it Mac OS X comparing to Windows. Design wise, I think Macs are more appealing and have a futuristic look and feel. Operating system wise, you can install Windows on Mac, but you cannot install Mac OS X on Windows.
I also think that the default programs (iWeb, iPhoto, Garage Band, etc) that come with Macs are better and useful compared to the ones that comes on the PCs. 

My Response

I'm a hardcore Mac person myself, but I honestly believe that it's not for everyone.

There are a lot of fantastic benefits to Macs in general. First, as you noted, there's BootCamp, so you can install a partition with Windows on your hard drive and dual boot if you need to (you can do this with software like Parallels and run both concurrently as well). Second, the software that comes with the Mac is lightyears beyond what comes with Windows and encourages creativity. Third, I personally find OSX more intuitive to use than Windows. Fourth, Apple clearly cares about both form and function as their software is nice to look at but also functions beautifully. Fifth, because we have much less of the market share we're targeted by viruses much more rarely. Finally, and this is a small point but one that matters to me a lot, there's additional integration between Macs and iPods, which allows me to sync up my calendar and contacts with my iPod easily.

But, like I said, Macs don't make sense for everyone. First, many businesses don't offer tech support for non-Windows computers (alas, this means Linux as well), so using one at certain workplaces is near impossible. Also, certain genres of software have very few Mac options (e-learning is unfortunately one of these areas). If you're someone who likes changing out the components in your computer constantly, most Macs won't work either. People who like gaming on their computer are out of luck on the Mac as most games either never come to Mac or come much later than their PC counterparts (this is a great spoof Apple commercial on the topic from a few years back). Finally, Macs cost a bit more than their PC counterparts. While I do believe the additional expense is worth it for the programs that some pre-installed on a Mac, not everyone has that kind of money to spend on a computer.

It's for these reasons I'm glad there's multiple options out there for operating systems. There's a good fit for everyone, especially with all the different flavors of Linux out there these days.

On a side note, you can technically install OSX on a Windows set up and create a Hackintosh, but it's tricky. Here's one set of instructions for doing it.

Week 4 - Post 1 - Getting past the wall

*sigh*

I had the worst problem getting started on my media project. Well, to be more specific, I had the worst problem getting started on the media portion of my media project. I'd had my idea, a branching dialogue customer service simulation in Udutu, solidified since our first week. I had the whole idea all mapped out, but when it came to actually creating it in Udutu I had the most terrible time getting started. I hummed and hawed and vaguely poked in its general direction until just finally getting it properly rolling and working today (status update: got a great chunk of it in order and I feel confident about having it more than 75% done by the time I do my presentation).

It's not that I wasn't excited about the media project; in fact, I was kind of elated to be putting my thesis materials into practice finally. It's more that I'm starting to just get TIRED.

I've been pushing myself in both my school and work life for the past 11 months and it turns out pushing myself past exhaustion is finally starting to catch up with me. I just want to crawl into a fetal ball and sleep for a month or so to recover. Alas, there's still 5 more weeks to go, so no recovery hibernation for me just yet.

I thankfully hit a second wind (or, well, maybe eightieth wind to be more accurate) today and getting the project to work finally will definitely get me through this week at the very least (although I'm hoping the delight of finally getting a breakthrough will boost my energy for longer).

I'm hoping this will all work out like the exercise class I took the other week. It was my first yoga/pilates/tai chi-style class in a long time and around the middle I honestly thought I couldn't go any further. Not long after that, though, I caught a second wind and by the end of the class I felt fabulous.

So here's to us ALL catching that second wind, making it through the rest of the program, and coming out the other end feeling amazing and refreshed... or, at least surviving the next 5 weeks. Yes, just surviving would suffice ;)

(Anime self portrait made with the help of the Anime Face Maker v1.0 by ~geN8hedgehog, which is an excellent stress reliever, might I add)

Week 3 - Post 4: Reading - BTFI

The idea of BTFI in chapter 8 made me grin from ear to ear when I read it. I really think those moments are some of the most important that we can have. Sometimes they're about letting go of control, sometimes they're about letting go of fear, sometimes they're about letting go of caring what others think, but they're also about freeing yourself up from whatever is holding you back and just letting things happen.

I love a good BTFI moment. Sometimes they're small. Today, for instance, I was working on a crochet project and at some point I realized I was off on my row count, but I wasn't sure by how much. To fix it I would have had to start from scratch, which is always frustrating. I could have been stressed out by the discovery, but then I took a look at what I had done, decided it looked great, acknowledged that the project really didn't require precision, and gave myself permission to internally say "f*^k it", and just finished the project in a way that perhaps wasn't an exact copy of the directions, but still looked fabulous. Stressing out and redoing my work would have probably killed the fun I was having... letting go and being okay with what I had done kept the project fun and didn't make my end product any less nice.

Sometime, though, those moments are much bigger. For years I wanted to own a Vespa scooter. Unfortunately in order to drive a motor scooter where I live you have to have a motorcycle license. Since I didn't own a scooter I knew I was going to have to take a driving course where they supplied the vehicle in order to pass the first of the two driving tests needed to get a full motorcycle license... but none of the driving courses used scooters; they ALL used standard motorcycles. Plus, they weren't cheap either.

For years fear of driving a motorcycle that I'd have to manually shift gears on (or rather, completely failing at driving a motorcycle that I'd have to manually shift gears on) and fear of spending a lot of money on a driving course I could fail miserably at kept me from my goal of being able to drive a scooter. This summer though, after chatting with a student who also was longing for a motorcycle license, I finally got to a point where I just thought "f*%k it, I'm going to get that license already". Later that week I took the written test, passed it, and found a two-day motorcycle course to sign up for.

When I got to my course I was the only person there who didn't drive standard and one of the few who hadn't been on a motorcycle before. The motorcycles? They scared me senseless. I also SUCKED beyond belief for at least half of the first day. Really, I was just awful and clearly the worst person in the class. But I tried not to let it affect me and sometime after lunch I managed to get the hang of it. I was never the best person in the class, but letting go of worrying about being so far behind everyone else and just trying to learn what I could helped me to progress well beyond what I had initially thought I was capable of.

In two days I went from not being able to get a motorcycle started to being able to zip about, take obstacle courses, cleanly shift gears, and, most importantly, pass my first driving test. I also, thanks to a kind classmate who shared my interest in scooters, was able to borrow a Vespa and drive around the parking lot on my second day of class. And yes, it was bliss.

I don't have a Vespa yet (I'm still saving up for a used one), but by getting to a BTFI moment I'm way closer to my scooter dream than I was this time last year.

Week 3 - Post 3 - Personal 20-Percent Time

Lifehacker did another posting on Google's 20-percent time. For those of you unfamiliar with the concept, at Google employees are given one day a week to work on whatever projects they feel like. It's basically structured experimentation time and it's worked exceptionally well for Google. Some of Google's best-loved offerings (including Gmail) came initially from the experimentation done in this 20-percent time. In the Lifehacker article today they discussed creating your own personal 20-percent time so as to increase creativity and innovation.

Now that we're coming closer to the end of our program I'm starting to think about what I'm going to use all my spare time for, and some 20-percent time style personal development sounds just about right. The last few years I've been in and out of classes both for my Canadian teaching certification (my original Florida certification didn't transfer over completely) and now for training for my new career in instructional design. I love learning, but I'm getting a bit tired of taking classes mostly for career growth. I'm also a bit sick of grades altogether. I'm thinking of following up Full Sail with some fun non-graded classes just for me. I'm also thinking of working on some fun projects on my own.

Here's a short list of the things I'm planning to work on and learn in the year or so after graduation:

• I promised myself I could take a glassblowing workshop after I finished grad school. I've wanted to do this for years but it's not cheap so I kept putting it off. I deserve a treat after finishing grad school though.
• Nate mentioned a PowerPoint alternative called Prezi that is ridiculously pretty. I'm going to play around with it a lot I think. I also picked up a spiffy program called Timeline 3D in a Mac software bundle I bought up this week. I don't have a need to create timelines for anything right now... but the program is just so spectacular I think I'm just going to have to make things with it anyway just for fun.
• I've been working on a home decorating project as part of my New Year's resolution (shameless plug: here's my blog for it) . I've done a few small projects for it, but once school finishes it's time for the big projects like refinishing a cool (but banged up) vintage vanity, drafting and sewing a slip cover for my currently boring black office chair, and finally matting and framing all the great prints I've bought in the last few years (most of them are from Imaginism Studios, whose work I adore).
• I've gotten a lot more into graphic design since I started at Full Sail. Because of this I just need to bite the bullet and become friends with Adobe Illustrator already.
• Language class time. Which will it be: Spanish (which would make my Abuelita delighted and be useful on Caribbean vacations) or Japanese (which would make reading manga and watching anime easier and would be useful for when I FINALLY go to Japan... and likely blow my life savings in Akihabara)

What I suppose I'm hoping is that these side projects will function to keep me creatively invigorated, which will lead to more innovation both in my personal life as well as my professional work. I'm also hoping some of the side projects I do might have parts that will transfer to other areas of my life as well. It's surprising how this can work sometimes. For example, back in one of our early classes at Full Sail I made a video that was an introduction to Twitter and blogging. Just recently I showed it to my boss as an example of what we could do on our company website, and she pitched the idea to a client of ours who has now contracted us to create a similar video to promote a training program she's leading. Who would have guessed that what I thought was a one-off class assignment would have turned into the opportunity for me to create a promotional video? If I do even more personal creative exploration, who knows what opportunities I'll be able to take advantage of in the future.

Week 3 - Post 2 - Comment on Bob Walker Jr's posting

This is my comment posting to Bob Walker Jr's blog entry Response to the Rise and Fall of the Music Industry:

Joe Bustillos sent me a link to his post with this interview. The link can be found here:
http://web.me.com/edm613/edm613/Tech_%26_Media_History/Entries/2009/6/18_Important_Media_History__the_Rise_and_Fall_of_the_Music_Industry_(NPR__Fresh_Air).html#

This is my first reaction:

Steve Knopper’s book, Appetite for Self-Destruction is now on my must read list after listening to the interview on NPR. There is quite a bit of information on the price increase the record labels put on CDs in order to get more money. Some of this information fell through the cracks with me as a smaller, non-label musician in the early to mid 90s. I may also have to blog about the various topics discussed in other posts as there is quite a bit of information in this discussion. 

I do find it interesting that the title and the focus seem to be aimed toward the Music Industry as a whole, when in reality this is the destruction of the major record labels. Within the history of the recording industry there have been bad negotiations and decisions that have led to mergers and closings of record stores. 

The end of the interview covers the positive side of this new technology. Ultimately, it is about the music and musicians who create. There are now more opportunities for non-major label musicians to be heard. The technology allows for minimal costs of distribution and immediate world-wide releases. This used to be a large undertaking with vinyl, cassettes, and cds. The multi-million dollar records may have dwindled, but the wealth is now spread around where a struggling musician can still get music out there and for sale and manage to make ends meet. This can be done through bypassing the major’s cut and pay minimal costs of distribution. 

I would describe this shift as the small mom and pop businesses taking back the market in recording. I do worry about the hype of focusing the industry in just recordings. The industry covers quite a bit more such as scoring for film, TV, and games. There is also this world of live performance where ticket sales are the money maker for the musicians. Within the touring there is work for a number of skilled people outside the direct lines of the music such as promoters, venues, merchandise, etc. The large live shows also bring people into the towns of venues which continues to drive local economies. This change and direction of the recording industry I see as a positive one. Stay tuned for more. 

My Response

I was just reading two fascinating articles/books on this very topic.

The first was an article on the Gizmodo blog a few days ago that more specifically addressed the need for record labels to, as the article put it, "change or die."

There was a time in which the labels held all the power because they had the means of production: the recording equipment, the ability to produce records, and the means of distributing those records to stores. The advent of the internet and computer recording solutions is, in a sense, to music as the printing press was to the printed word: it put the means of production in the hands of the many rather than the privileged few. If you wanted to record and sell your music now you could record and master your CD on your Mac, upload the tracks to CD Baby, and through there end up with your tracks on the iTunes store extremely easily with absolutely no intervention at any point with a traditional label. Sure, you'd also have to promote the CD on your own, but that's increasingly easier for bands to do thanks to the internet.

The second thing I read that may be of interest to you is the book The Long Tail by Chris Anderson. In this book Anderson examines how easier access to niche products has made it so that there are fewer "hits" and much more moderate successes. From the data Anderson examined it seems that the main reason there used to be massive hits within the music industry was due to a lack of other options easily available. Now that services like Amazon and iTunes can offer a much broader selection of music to purchase, people appear to be gravitating towards more specific music genres rather than settling for what they could easily pick up at a brick and mortar music store.

Record labels built their business practices around the idea that there would always be mega hit recordings and to succeed it was just a matter of discovering those artists before the other labels did. Now the reality of the music industry has shifted with consumers more interested in access to a broader selection of artists and the artists themselves less in need of the services offered by labels.

As Gizmodo noted, the labels are either going to have to adapt to this new model or they're just going to go out of business.

Week 3 - Post 1 - Thesis

Technology and Training: The Use of Simulations to Train and Practice High-Stress Skills

Bianca Woods

Masters Thesis for Education Media Design and Technology
Full Sail University
March 21, 2010

Abstract
Training is key to the development of skills, but how best should these skills be trained? This paper shows that the problem of insufficient practice, particularly of skills that must be performed under stress, can be addressed using computer software and a distinct development method. Research indicates that significant rehearsal is needed for skill mastery, that stress degrades the ability to perform tasks, and that increased task practice can lead to improved task competency. This paper suggests that the solution to skill rehearsal requirements for high-stress jobs, taking into account research regarding the effects of stress, is the use of simulation software to provide a means for individuals to explore deliberate practice with the goal of skill mastery.

To read the full thesis, click here.

Week 2 - Post 4 - wk2 reading - Rule #6

One of my favorite teachers was my high school 12th Grade English teacher, Hazel Haley. She was the oldest teacher at the school (she had taught at my school so long the entire English building was named after her), completely committed to the subject matter, and her class was NOT easy in the slightest. You couldn't be in one of her classes and not respect her knowledge of the subject. I enjoyed her class because of this, but the reason she was one of my favorite teachers had less to do with that and more to do with the fact she never took the subject she loved too seriously. he may never have heard of it, but she practiced Rule #6 every day she taught.

My previous English teacher for 11th Grade American English, Mrs. Fite, was a horror who sapped all the interest and humor out of the material we read and subscribed to over analyzing literature to death as a rule (We still laugh in my family about the time Mrs. Fite told my mother I was just too creative and I would have a hard time in university because of it. Most inaccurate and ridiculous advice... EVER!). Miss Haley was a breath of fresh air because she understood that you could both respect a subject as well as laugh about it when it was a bit ridiculous.

I'll never forget the day that she told our class that she was glad the curriculum had been changed so we were now reading Macbeth instead of Hamlet because she thought Hamlet was just a whiner and if he had just stopped whining and killed his uncle right away everyone would have been infinitely better off... and no, I'm not paraphrasing loosely... that was pretty much how she said it. Here was an English teacher actually criticizing a play by Shakespeare... this was simply novel to my 12th grade self. In her jesting she created an environment where we students were actually allowed to criticize what we were reading as long as we could back up our opinion, and that was infinitely more valuable to me in university than being told I should be "less creative."

Miss Haley epitomized our reading's Rule #6 for me. She could be serious and committed to her job, but she also knew when to step back and just laugh and I know her students all learned more because of that.

Hazel Haley died in 2008 after having taught for 69 years, 67 of those at Lakeland Senior High School. This interview is from her last week of teaching:

Week 2 - Post 3 - Week 2 Comment

This is my comment post. I decided to reflect on Nick Oaster's posting on his thesis project.

I have spent most of this week working on the thesis and buying my first house (yikes and yay!). I feel the thesis is coming along nicely and should be able to have it solid by next week sometime. I really wish I could have a couple more months, but such is the nature of school - always pressed for time. The general scope of my thesis is that students lack an ability to self-assess themselves properly. Specifically to my field of music, students lack an objective tool for self-assessment. I see this problem in my students all the time: they perform a song, I ask "How did you do?" They say "I THINK it was good" OR "I GUESS ok" OR "I don't know" OR "good" when it was actually below their normal work or what they could have done OR "bad" when it was actually a good display of musical ability. Furthermore, I saw students just not being aware of what they did, how they performed, or how they presented themselves to the world. There are numerous theories as to why this happens that I discuss in my thesis, but much less is known about actually fixing the problem.

In my thesis I argue that high quality recordings and videos can be an objective self-assessment tool for students. I came up with this solution throughout the program. Spending hours making numerous podcasts and videocasts for various EMDT classes allowed me to see and hear myself. After getting past the anxiety of hearing myself, I was able to notice behaviors, both physically and aurally, that I was not aware of. I started using these tools (the computer/cell phones) in private lessons that I teach - trumpet and voice, and I noticed that all of the students noticed similar behaviors that they too were not aware of. From there, the basis for my solution was set, and I have been using those tools in private and small group settings ever since. Students can listen to themselves, critique themselves, and ultimately, fix themselves.

My Reaction Post

When I was in high school my art teacher had us complete a couple of quick drawing assignments on our first day as an assessment of where we were at. On the final day of class, much to our surprise, we did those same assignments again. Then she let us compare our original assignments, which we hadn't seen since that first class, with our current work. Even students who thought they hadn't made much progress were stunned to see that they had actually improved significantly over time. They had a skewed perspective that was only corrected with tangible evidence of their skill improvement.

I get the feeling that your video taping would give this same view point correction.

Seeing a video of yourself after the fact so that you can step back from the performance and take a fair look at the performance makes so much sense. Sometimes it's hard to have an accurate perspective in the moment, especially in performance-based classes like music. It's so easy to have either your anxiety about performing or that natural high you can get in front of the audience color how you remember how well you did. Video taping lets you step away from those issues and just evaluate the performance as it actually was.

During my student teaching we had to tape one of the classes we taught and I was surprised how many little things about my teaching (both good and bad) I was able to notice through the video that I would have never seen otherwise. Video taping lets you, in a way, be your own audience.

Week 2 - Post 2: The flaw in the education system

Through my current Google Reader obsession (I mainline 43 blogs a day now, NOT including the class blogs... I'm sure there's some 12-step program I ought to be joining about this) I bumped into the following quote from Dr. Neil deGrasse Tyson:

Dr. Neil deGrasse Tyson is, among other things, one of the scientists who is responsible for Pluto being demoted and people like me being forced to wear t-shirts that say this:

As a result of his involvement with the whole Pluto debacle he even received hate mail from elementary school children. He also happens to be exceptionally funny and personable, which is what's saving him from getting pro-Pluto-as-a-planet hate mail from me too... well, that and from a strictly technical perspective he makes a good point that Pluto does behave completely oddly for a planet, what with its wonky orbit and tiny size.

He's also got a point about education. Like our reading from last week, he questions the value of having students work towards A's, which is a feedback scheme that becomes almost completely irrelevant when you become an adult (well, unless you apply to work at Google that is, because they ask for your GPA for some reason). Here's the full quote:

The flaw in the educational system, as far as I see it, is that you live your life – the teacher and student – in quest of A’s. Yet later in life, the A is irrelevant. So then what is the point of the school system? It’s missing something. It is not identifying the people who actually succeed in life, because they’re not showing up as the straight A’s. So somewhere in there, the educational system needs to reflect on what it takes to succeed in life, and get some of that back into the classroom.

There is ever so much more to becoming a success than being able to get good grades in the standard school system. The school system as it is just doesn't work for a lot of children, but because this single system doesn't work to teach certain students some people see anyone who can't get A's as failures. And, in the end, this letter grade structure relates very little to what we do outside of school.

Dr. Tyson is right in questioning the system and what kids who go through it actually gain (or don't gain as he suggests) from getting letter grade feedback instead of something more relevant.

Week 2 - Post 1: Content Proposal (Full proposal under the cut)

Technology and Training: The Use of Simulations to Train and Practice High-Stress Skills

EDM-665 On Line Course Development
EDM-613 Media Asset Creation
Education Media Design & Technology MS Program
Full Sail University

Prepared by:
Bianca Woods
March 9, 2010

I. THESIS ABSTRACT

Training is key to the development of skills, but how best should these skills be trained? This paper shows that the problem of insufficient practice, particularly of skills that must be performed under stress, can be addressed using computer software and a distinct development method. Research indicates that significant rehearsal is needed for skill mastery, that stress degrades the ability to perform tasks, and that increased task practice can lead to improved task competency. This paper suggests that the solution to skill rehearsal requirements for high-stress jobs, taking into account research regarding the effects of stress, is the use of simulation software to provide a means for individuals to explore deliberate practice with the goal of skill mastery.

Click here to read the full Content Proposal

Week 1 - Post 4: Reading - GETTING an A

Before I really start into the reading, you first need to know something about me: despite being reasonably good at anything I've put my mind to, I am made physically ill by grades and by performance reviews. Seriously... just checking grades on the FSO makes my stomach flip around wildly and my brain come up with all sorts of worst-case scenarios even though chances are the grades will be fine. I even felt anxiety when I had to get my car emission-tested last week, and I wasn't even the one who had to pass the test.

I very rarely fail... and by fail I mean all-out fall on my rear end fail, but the few times I have, the repercussions were severe. We live in a world that so often is unconcerned with how often you do things right and more interested in judging you by your failures. In that kind of world it's frightening to take risks and try something new because what would happen if you tried and it didn't work out? You'd be a failure.

So throughout this reading I found myself thinking about what life would be like if we were more apt to think along the lines of giving an A. Then I wondered what it would be like to be on the receiving end of that A all the time.

Take our experience here at Full Sail. Granted, it's a pretty supportive environment here, but say for the sake of the argument Full Sail could make all their courses pass/fail as opposed to letter graded (without losing their accreditation, that is). What would that mean for us students?

On a whole, we're not a group of people who play it safe with assignments, but I have noticed anxiety spikes when classmates go out on a limb with a project. We want to experiment, but we also don't want to be way off-base with our assignments. In the "giving an A" world it would be okay for us to occasionally misinterpret an assignment. Instead of a bad grade, we'd just get constructive criticism from our instructors and advice on how to tackle assignments like it in the future. There would be no stain on our GPA and no single mark pulling us away from the grade we feel actually reflects how much effort we put into the learning process.

As much as we're learning a lot now, I think we'd learn even more under the "giving an A" system. We'd try even more things and not stress out so much about whether we did what the instructor wanted or not. We could have discussions about where things didn't go right without dredging up the feelings of deep disappointment from receiving a bad grade. We could truly look at a mistake as a learning experience rather than a failure that defines us (sure, people recommend that you look at all failures as learning experiences, but it's pretty hard to do that when that failure is dragging down your GPA).

I think I'd be a less-anxious and more courageous learner in this system.
______________________________________________________________

On a note related more to the overall reading rather than this particular chapter, I thought I'd share one of my favorite TED Talks. Earlier in our reading it was noted that people limit possibilities when they try to define and measure things according to what they perceive as the one true interpretation. In this video Malcolm Gladwell talks about a turning point in which one scientist stopped looking for the one perfect product and realized he should instead be looking for the perfect products.

Enjoy!

Week 1 - Post 3: Essential Software and Sites for Surviving Full Sail Online

Donna Tracy did an excellent posting on Mac software bundles that got me thinking about the software and websites that helped me get through the last 10+ months and remain relatively sane in the process. In no particular order, here are some the I leaned on the most.

Dropbox



Dropbox is essentially a way to easily share files. Much like MobileMe, the files and documents are stored online, can be accessed online from any computer connected to the internet, and specific files and folders can be shared with others. Unlike MobileMe, however, are two key elements of Dropbox that I like the most. First, you get 2 gigs of storage for free (and more if you refer others to the service or choose to pay for a subscription). Second, you can install the Dropbox application on any computer (Mac, Windows, Linus... heck, I've even got it on my iPod Touch) and this app allows you to access your online Dropbox file just as though it was another portion of your harddrive. Drop a file into your app on one computer, and it ads it to ALL the computers you have the app on.

On a side note, Dropbox is where I obsessively reupload all my thesis information as I'm a bit paranoid about losing it.

PowerPoint

 

I took Garr Reynolds' Presentation Zen to heart and dove deep into creating better PowerPoint presentations and related media for my class work. Many a class project had me mucking about in PowerPoint for one reason or another, be it specifically for making a presentation, creating more complex slides for iMovie, or just planning out a lesson. While it failed me a bit last month and I had to swap over to Keynote (also a fabulous program... but as others have noted, not always perfectly compatible with PowerPoint), I did spend an enormous amount of time with it.

iLife

All of us spent a good deal of time playing with Apple's delightful iLife suite. In my case, I fell in love with making movies, so iMovie and Garageband became my best friends. I'd had iLife for some time prior to starting at Full Sail, but I'd never had any focus to explore it with, so the software sat collecting digital dust. Now it's some of the most used software on my computer and I even have a significant numebr of videos posted on YouTube.

Google Reader

I was late to the party on this one, only becoming obsessed earlier this year with reading all my blogs on Google Reader. GR is great for aggrigating blog feeds all in one place. Thanks to the speed in which I can access and read content I'm reading more blogs than ever, including ones I had given up because it was just too tedious to keep checking a large number of blogs every day. I started following a large number of graphic design and home decorating blogs as of late, and I'm definitely a better designer (both of graphic and of homes) because of it. It's also made keeping up with the class blogs this month ridiculously easy.

GR has also been fantastic for helping me to discover new blogs. The recommendations aren't always perfect, but every once and awhile the site recommends something just perfect that I likely wouldn't have found otherwise (the blog in the picture was a recommendation that I got just today!).

Lynda.com

Other than the Macbook Pro and Presentation Zen, my favorite thing I've recieved as a part of my Full Sail experience is the Lynda. com membership. I've used it to get me out of class project binds (it got used a lot when we were working with Flash), to help build up my software knowledge for my resume (and it worked!), and to just get inspired (the Nancy Duarte Creative Inspirations video set was one of my favorites). 

I'll be spending the money on continuing my membership once our Full Sail mambership is up.

Amazon.ca's Recomendations

Amazon's been on the ball with good recommendations since I started picking up books related to school. I've found a myriad of great suggestions that have helped me both in my coursework (my thesis would have some big holes if not for Amazon book suggestions) and in my new job. My knowledge base has grown every time Amazon entices me to check out another new (to me) book.

iTunes' Genius Playlists

What better way to wind down or stay motivated than to listen to music. iTunes' Genius Playlists feature has saved me the time of putting together my own playlists from my extensive (25 gigs and counting) music collection. It also thinks of song combinations I might not have put together myself and digs up songs I haven't heard in a long time, all while creating brilliant playlists. This application hasn't directly helped me complete assignments, but indirectly it's been an essential part of my work process.

Week 1 - Post 2: Blogging

When we were asked as an assignment this month to create a class blog, it was something I felt incredibly comfortable with. The nice thing about blogs is how differently they can be utilized for different purposes... which I'm intimately aware of since I currently maintain 4 (count 'em, 4) active blogs, all of which have distinctly different purposes.

For this entry I thought I'd give a little tour through my blogs to highlight a few ways you can use blogging for a variety of goals.
(click on any of the images if you want to see a larger version)

Blog #1 
Journaling and Socializing - Shiroiko (Journal Desu)
Hosted on: Livejournal

This is my personal blog. I've had a blog in one form or another on Livejournal for around ten years now. I hooked up with Livejournal because a large number of my real life friends had done so and we all used the service to give each other updates on our lives. Many years later a few friends have navigated elsewhere, but the vast majority of use still use Livejournal for the same purposes. We tend to share general updates about our lives, links to articles and websites we've enjoyed (you can blame Livejournal for my habit of communicating in links in class), and we also use the site to plan events (much like many other people do on Facebook). For my social group, it's the equivalent of sending out update emails and status updates, only faster and more in-depth.

This is my only blog that's locked down and is accessible to friends only. I wanted to feel comfortable posting personal information and I also needed to be able to plan events through my blog, so keeping strangers out seemed to make sense. I love that many blogs have features to lock or filter certain postings, which gives you a real sense of privacy if you desire it.

Blog #2
Business Applications - Shiroiko (My Etsy Store)

Hosted on: Blogger

Just before I signed up at Full Sail I launched a jewelry store on Etsy.com. To promote it I decided to use a variety of Web 2.0 tools, including a blog. I originally launched it on LiveJournal, but decided it would both look better AND attract more readers on Blogger, so I moved it not long after the initial launch.

Using a blog for a business is both a way of communicating with your current customers as well as attracting new ones. The most obvious use for a commercial blog is to let current customers know about your goods and/or services and updates to your business. The other benefit, though, is that your content can attract new customers as well. In order to do this, however, you have to add content that will appeal to people who don't already know about your business. In my case I added jewelry and Etsy tutorial postings and also noted when sales at some of my favorite stores were taking place. I hoped that people might come to the blog for my secondary content and stay to check out the postings related to my business.

Blog #3
The Blog as a Means of Tracking a Project - My Cheap Ass Home
Hosted on: Blogger

In the new year I made a promise to myself to start properly decorating my apartment. I was in that horrible decorating spot of living somewhere I wasn't planning to stay long-term, so both my boyfriend and I were hesitant to spend much money on improvements we couldn't take with use when we moved. We also were suffering from both a merging of two households AND beginning to slowly transition out of the "furniture I had handed down to me and stuff I bought cheap" and towards nicer furniture that we had picked out on our own. Our apartment looked... well, kind of mismatched and mostly undecorated. Something had to be done.

Following in the footsteps of many others, I decided to push myself towards action by creating a project and blogging my progress. Since my decorating budget was minimal at best, I decided to focus my project on decorating on the cheap. My blog included tutorials for the home improvement projects I worked on as well as links to related resources.

When you use a blog to chronicle a project you create a tool that can help you feel more energized about what you're doing and can hold you more accountable for your progress. You don't want to disappoint your readers by not making new postings, so you force yourself out of ruts so as to not shame yourself to your peers. Think of it as online-peer-pressure, but in a good way. You can also build up a group of cheerleaders that can give you help and support when you most need it.

Blog #4
Blogging as an Assignment  -  Bianca's Full Sail Blog-O-Rama

Hosted on: Blogger

This is the type of blog all of us are familiar with at this point. Class blogs allow us to share information and reflections about readings, projects, and other course work. RSS feeds and web-based aggregators give us easy means of keeping up with our peers' blogs as well.

Back in the grim days before Web 2.0 journaling was a common practiced used to create assignments as well as reflect on performance. Unfortunately there was no easy way to share this information with more than one person at once. Blogging, on the other hand, carries the same benefits as journaling, but also allows easier connection to classmates, conversations through commenting, and linking to additional resources. Blogging leads to the same introspection, but also has additional community and interactivity aspects to it, which I believe make it a stronger learning activity overall.

Week 1 - Post 1 - Week 1 Comment

This is my comment post. I decided to reflect on Bob Walker Jr.'s entry on the group collaboration aspect of our degree.

Bob's Original Post

Week 1 Blog 1 - It Takes a Group to Earn a Degree

After a long day of work on a Wednesday evening (or maybe a Tuesday, Thursday, or all three), I sit at my desk, turn on my computer and log in to go to class where I join up to forty others with the same goal. The goal of earning a Master’s Degree is what bonds all of these people together, tied by the thread of the internet. Working alone late at night reading, and writing papers for the next twelve months is a long, hard, and lonely road to travel, yet an expected scenario when entering online learning. 

Time to look at what really happens. No one will be up late alone working on papers. Everyone will be in a group working together on creating projects in a variety of mediums. When a group project is not an official assignment, classmates and instructors are at my desk ready and willing to lend a hand when asked. Time is not a factor, the problems are not a factor, someone within this class of forty has an idea to make difficult tasks easier. These ideas are not held in secret, they are shouted from the top of the internet. Posted in social network sites, uploaded as tutorial videos, and emailed directly. If I get really lost one of these friends will put their screen on mine in order to help solve a problem. 

I did not know what to expect when entering the task of earning a degree. I did not expect to make bonds and friendships with people from throughout the world. I did not expect to be able to work together, struggle together, celebrate together, and play together for twelve months. 

The success I have experienced in this program can all be attributed the group I am on this journey with. The open sharing of talents and ideas is where the learning takes place. I did not earn this degree on my own, we all earned it collectively. Without the group, a video like the one posted here would never exist. This is not the work of one, but a creation of many. 

My Reaction Post

Bob, there are no words for how important I found our group of classmates during my time at Full Sail. I wonder when Full Sail devised the idea of keeping groups of students together for the entirety of the degree if they could have predicted how positive the experience would be for us?

I love knowing that if I have a problem all I have to do is post it on Facebook or mention it in class and almost instantaneously I'll get enormous amounts of help and support for my problem.

Being together these past 10+ months has made us a family of sorts. We want more than just individual success... we also want to know that our classmates are succeeding too. Every time I hear a classmate talk about a problem I want to help because I genuinely care about everyone in the class. I don't think there are a lot of other degree programs where the students feel as close to and supported by classmates as we do at Full Sail.

As we get close to the end of our time together I'm excited about eventually not having to scramble to find time to complete assignments, but I'm going to deeply miss the camaraderie. Sure, many of us will likely stay connected through Facebook, but I'll miss all of us working at the same time on common goals.

Same blog, new use

This blog was originally used for my Emergent Technologies course back in August 2009. As we're doing blogs again for Media Asset Creating in March 2010 I though it made more sense to dust this blog off and use it again rather than making a new one, hense the change of the headline to "My Full Sail class blog". From this point on if there's a school blog assignment, it'll live here.