Epic Huggles

10/8 reflection post

Wednesday’s lecture was good in a sense that we had a guest speaker from another country.  It was good to hear about the issues their dealing with, which involves our country.  Being able to get a full understanding on what witness for peace is all about and what their trying to accomplish.  Trying to understand learning networks was a different story.  Our group had some difficulty understanding this concept.  What Bruce said compared to what the readings stated was different.  So we just came up with our on definitions of learning networks and each member agreed that many groups or clubs with or without leaders should be consider learning networks.  I think after the blog group discussion everyone had a good understanding of learning networks.

10/8 Reflection

I think yesterday's class was very interesting in having someone from outside the US come in and talk to us about how our policies are effecting their country. It really shows how interconnected the world truly is and how such a "strong" country as ourselves really effects how other countries live and function.

The discussion on Learning Networks was a little bit harder to grasp, I know a lot of us in the group couldn't necessarily get a full understanding of it. I know after listening to him, what I had blogged about for the discussion question was what he said was NOT a learning network.  It would have been nice to have had a discussion about it prior to blogging, since some of the readings appeared contradictory to our "knowledge" of them. But that's what the discussion groups are for right?  I think we could all tell its midterm/papers time, and it was rainy, since we were all kind of out of it (I know I was), but I think we still tried to make our discussion group as productive as we could, not really fully understanding what a learning network is. We tried to talk it out amongst ourselves to try and formulate a definition that we understood. Great collaboration guys!

Discussion for Oct. 8

Considering clas starts in about 30 mins this post might not be the best one of the semester, but I didn't realize my first group report would take so long (I'm by myself). Anyway, I mentioned this earlier but I'm a member of the VT Green Team. Basically we are a learning network that extend across campus to a variety of student organizations, greek organizations, and residence halls. Our "domain" centers on environmental sustainability and the issues that are the root of our environmental crisis. We cover types of energy, the benefits of alternative fuels and energy sources, and how nations, states, and local towns are reducing their ecological footprint. We also tackle how individual students can lessen their own footprints (recycling, reducing, reusing) and how they can become more involved with sustainability on campus. The GT is a smaa community consisting of about 20 mentors, and we do have a core group that makes leadership more effective. In practice we use stories and other activites related to learning and innovation. The presentations we give are not just us lecturing to students about the environment, but also strive to open up the floor for discussion and questions about the issues. The program has been realtively successful and we were even mentioned nationally as part of VT's sustainability report card. Like I said a little bland, but I have to sprint across the Drillfield.

Post for 8 October

A community of practice I've been involved in could be my sorority. The domain is evident in our purposes; each sister values and truly believes in our purposes and should incorporate them into her the way she lives her life. There is a strong community bond, not only between the sisters here at Virgina tech, but sisters all over the country and the globe because we are united by our experiences within the sorority despite a diversity of backgrounds. We have a executive board here at Virginia tech, plus there is a larger governing body that governs all the chapters nationally and coordinates the efforts of the chapters, ensuring that each woman is contributing and the organization as a whole is making a positive contribution to the world. It's practice would be how sisters learn from each other and offer each other support when another sister is in need. Plus, there in an annual convention where chapter executives can discuss things they've done with their chapters and learn from others. Furthermore, nationals visits each chapter every once in a while to check in and provide assistance if a chapter needs it. Being involved in my sorority has given me an incredible opportunity to get involved in the Virginia tech community in a way that I never could have had I not been affiliated with a Greek organization. I also know that wherever I go in the world in the future, I'll have a sister nearby which really shrinks the world in a sense; I find that pretty comforting.

Xternal Discussion Question - Oct. 8

Question 1) Name a learning network that you are a part of, and tell me about its purpose, and some of the outcomes that came from your interaction in that learning network.

Question 2) Do you agree with definition of Learning Networks as defined by the reading “Key Elements of Success”? Their definition is : small groups of conservation practitioners working together to accelerate conservation work at specific portfolio conservation areas, and organizational learning about planning, threat abatement, strategy development and implementation, measuring success, and practicing adaptive management.  I believe that the definition could be interpreted in a much broader sense, not just applied to conservational efforts, hince I did my Xternal on an organization that didn’t involve conservation practices.

Question 3) Under the subchapter named “Key Elements of Successful Networks” the authors go through nearly everything a network needs to be considered successful, do you think that they left any part out? Why or why not?  Pg. 272 for reference.

Question 4) Do you think that an experienced staff of communicators is needed in a Learning Network, even though the Network Leader is supposed to be exceptionally strong in communication skills?

Question 5) Do you think that consistent funding is an integral part of a Learning Network? Can they function without it?

Xternal Discussion Questions 10.8.08

Below are just some things we will discuss in class today. If you have any suggestions feel free to post.

1.In the reading, the essay states that "A community based approach to world design is not a silver bullet for solving the problems of the world. While the emphasis here has been on community, a complete discipline of world design would address how the power of communities can be most fully realized by aligning community activities within a broader ecology of formal and informal structures -institutions, cultural groups, laws and social networks," Do you agree? and do we see this active in any community?

2. How do you feel about global stewardship?

"The key challenge of a large scale learning system is not whether people can learn from each other without direct contact but whether they can trust a broader community of communities to serve their local goals as well as a global purpose."

3. Language and cultural barriers in learning networks, how does that effect the overall effectiveness of the network?

4. What are the major differences between successful/effective learning networks versus the unsuccessful/ineffective networks? What ones do we see thriving today? What makes them have greater success?

5. Has anyone seen the all-state Parent/Teen Driving contract commercials. Below is one, if you have a time to take a look at this. How do feel about All-state's learning network? or would you even consider them one?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4JAV-_PXSck

October 8 Discussion Question

One community of practice that I have been actively involved in is the Enlightened Gospel Choir of Virginia Tech. Most of our focus was geared towards establishing a presence in the campus and community that provide more than just comfort, encouragement and hope to a community but resources as well. We partner with other groups and organizations to promote unity and commitment to concerns of the campus community and surrounding community as well. In this group I have had the opportunity to serve on the executive leadership board under two positions and now reside as president over the organization. In that I noticed that my role changed however my goal remained the same. Our leadership team consists of six individuals that together function as the core of the organization. We function as a learning network as well, where we engage in many of the learning activities that are listed in the reading.

Discussion Question - Oct. 8

One Learning Network I have had the priviledge of being apart of in my life was the Virginia Tech Corps of Cadets (VTCC).  I was a member of the VTCC for 4 years.  As a cadet I was introduced and indoctrinated into a strict regimented military culture, that of which was unfamiliar to me.

In the Corps, I had to conform and assimilate to Corps standards.  I had to learn knowledge about the organization, for example the purpose and mission statements and the overall goals of the cadet regiment.  I also had to learn cadet corps jargon.  For example, military language was much different from anything I was used to, when I would say I needed to go to the restroom I had to correct myself and say I need to go to the "head".  In the Corps I pushed myself to reach goals and overcome obstacles that i never dreamed possible.  I learned things that will set me apart in the future.

October 8 Discussion Questions

After thinking long and hard over what I could use as an example of a "Community of Practice" that I have been a part of, I have decided to describe my experience with Ytoss? and the associated planning committee that I worked with.  If you are unfamiliar with Ytoss?, then let me explain a bit.  The main purpose of Ytoss? is to collect items that are typically thrown our during spring move-out by students and sell them to incoming students in the fall.  It serves as an unconventional recycling event, while raising funds for the YMCA at Virginia Tech and giving students a place to purchase things they need for school at a very reasonable price.  We just completed our third year of the event and it has seen tremendous growth since its inception.  For this past year, I served as the director for the event and therefore played a very active role in the overall planning and implementation of the event both in the Spring and Fall. 

To answer the questions posed, there was a core group of 12 people, including myself, who served as members of the planning committee.  We each had various roles and responsibilities, but all shared the common goal of running a successful and effective Ytoss?.  An interesting aspect of this committee, or learning network, was the diversity of the members.  Because the nature of the event, our impact extends well beyond the campus.  To accommodate this, we had several members of the community and staff from the Town of Blacksburg as part of the committee, in addition to students and faculty.  We all brought something new to the table with our background, skill set and interests, an important aspect to a learning network according to Snyder and Wenger.  But together, we merged our strengths, learned from one another and pulled together to accomplish our objectives.

The "domain" of this community of practice is similar to its goal.  The members of the planning committee are passionate about environmental responsibility and reducing the amount of waste we send to the landfills, in addition to providing a low-cost alternative for students to purchase necessary items for school and aid in financially supporting the YMCA.  I speak for everyone when I say we wanted to see the event serve its purpose in a greater capacity than in any previous year.  The "community" of this learning network is very representative of the actual community that it serves with the inclusion of students, working professionals, staff and community members, as mentioned previously.  I served in the capacity of "community coordinator" and the other members of the committee were the core group that together are key success factor.  The "practice" of the Ytoss? planning committee was obviously to carry out a successful overall Ytoss?, including the collection and sale.  This action alone, which was quite complicated and involved, involved several tools, methods and experience from previous years that enabled the innovation and improvement we saw by the end.

8 October Discussion Question

My community of practice was the Youth Council of the Presbytery of the James.  Our domain was Christian education, encouragement of the youth of the Presbytery.  The community consisted of all youth members of the 160 Presbyterian churches in the POJ.  Our practice was to organize three major events each year to gather and educate young people. 

Being part of this community allowed me to help set the agenda for instruction for people in a large geographic region.  The community as a whole had way more resources than I had personally.  For instance, the community organized and funded a three-day two-night retreat with guest speakers and food, for only a nominal participant fee.  The funding of the community was more than my own personal funding.  It also allowed for collective brainstorming to come up with the best and most interesting activities.  I got to learn from other people who were working toward the same end as I was.

10/8 discussion question

The community of practice I’m involved in is the Muskets Bows and Stuff archery club.  The club holds bow shoots monthly during the winter, spring, and summer until bow season.  The club members pay yearly dues, and the community who shows up to the monthly shoots have to pay an entry fee to shoot.  The money goes for setting up the shoots, targets, food, prizes, and trophies.  Then about ever other month who have a cancer shoot, where all the money earned by the shoot gets donated to the cancer victim.  Therefore this could not be accomplished individually; it’s a community effort and also helps people in need of money.  My part basically includes money for the targets and helping set the ranges up differently before each bow shoot as a club member. 

The domain here is simply bows, the people within the club live to shoot bows year round and so they can become the best bow hunter or 3D shooter possible.  The community here is all the binding relationships because of bows, people meeting other people with the same passion which is what provides a strong foundation within this group.  There are also two key coordinators within this club that are behind the success of the group each year.  The practice is learning everything there is to know about bows, the keys to success in the setting up the bows correctly to all the elements to becoming a good shot.  Therefore this club has there own bow shop that is open for business during the week, so people can get tips and advice on bows year round.

Oct 8

I have mentioned in one of my previous posts that I was involved with Campus Crusade for Christ for four years since I came to college.  I think it is a great example of a community of practice. For the time that I was a member, I have learned not only about my spiritual faith but also communication and leadership skills. And we also proceed to pass the wisdom that we’ve learned down to younger people in our group.

Our domain as a group is very well summed up in our mission statement: “Turning lost students into Christ-center laborers.” The main purpose of the group is to provide Christians on campus a place that we can feel comfortable to grow as individuals and as a group in our faith. We all share one passion, our Lord Jesus Christ and the desire for others to know about Him as well. It is indeed a deep part of every member’s identity.

Our community is divided into different levels. Once a week we meet as a big group of 400+ people to worship with music and a sermon kind of talk. And then throughout the week, we meet as small group Bible Studies of 5-10 people. And in addition to Bible Study times, we have Discipleship times, which are one on one meetings of an older student mentoring a younger one of the same gender. We also have prayer meetings through out the week.

Our practice is developed though the different factors of our community that I listed above. Most of our practices are more face-to-face, public, and informal. We do have a website and a listserv. I can’t think of any activities that are not opened to the public or formal except a few instances.

As in the Learning Network reading, our group actually has all the key elements that ere listed: Designated Network leadership (our Campus Director, staffs, and a group of students), Participation by External Scientific Experts and Partners (we have regular Campus Crusade specialists come speak at out meetings), Product-Oriented Objectives and Structured Assignments (we have series of studies that we do throughout the year at the big meeting as well as Bible Study), Dedicated, Results-Oriented Participants, Network Advisory Teams (we have a team of students who are in charge of Campus Media), Field Trips To Focal Landscapes (this is in form of different conferences that we organize), Experienced Facilitators (Bible Study facilitators are trained), Effective Communications (different teams are required to meet weekly, leaders even meet daily to talk through issues), Consistent Funding (a team of students is designated to raise fund from alumni, churches, concession stand, ect.)

10/8 post

While thinking about all the things I have been involved in over the years, I couldn't pinpoint one specific "goal" that any of my organizations have really focused on, so I chose my time working at the James City County Planning office as my learning network.  In addition to trying to plan for the community, we also took every time we could to teach citizens about the process, what we do, etc in order to make JCC what it is.

The domain would be JCC and its physical boundaries, social networks, etc. It focused on creating a sustainable, family friendly community that thrived economically, yet was not just focused on more and more development (as has been the criticism). The group of planners I worked with were/are very passionate about making the best possible place to live for the citizens of JCC and want to be able to provide the goods and services that the citizens needed and wanted, and were frustrated if the proposal got stuck in the political battles going on in the planning commission and board of supervisors.

The Community (like Alana's) is two-fold in that the community within the planning office was vital to the quality of the work, since each had a specific "focus" for what part of the plan they looked at, and it also is vital that they had a relationship with the citizens themselves. If there was no connection between the planning office and the citizens, there would not be a community FOR the citizens. The planners would not know what people are thinking, what they're wanting, etc. The involvement of the citizens helps the planners see projects in a different light than they may have seen it and it leads to potentially new and more inventive ideas. It was a way for the the planners to teach citizens, while at the same time collaborating with them in order to make a better county.

The Practice would be the office's daily functions of approving/not approving projects, having community conversation meetings to meet with citizens and find out their views, educational brochures, interesting website information and surveys.  The planners try to get as much knowledge about the citizens, as they try to educate them on what planners actually do, and what we're doing when we're creating a document like a Comprehensive Plan and what it means for the county.  While the interaction is mostly through the internet and mail, there is also a newsletter that goes out via email if a citizen wants to sign up for it, there is some face-to-face contact at community meetings, public meetings, and if citizens want to come to the office and ask questions.

Working in the planning office, not only gave me more knowledge about the field I'm going into, it helped me understand the underlying principles (rather than just reading the theory in a book) as why we need to constantly be in contact with citizens rather than just making decisions. It gave me the tools to go out and educate people as to what a planner is, what we do, etc. It also gave me the ability to reach out and ask "the hard" questions that I may not have asked before, to find out reasons for something, other than just accepting it--like a lot of citizens do if they don't agree with something, they take a stand and fight for what they believe in. It was a very rewarding job that was never dull! :)

Oct. 8 Discussion Question

A community that I was very involved in was my church’s youth group.  Aside from singing and performing within our church community, we started a new program where we would perform a musical (“Celebrate Life” one year and Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat the next) throughout the first part of the summer.  After performing for our church community, we would take our show on the road; traveling from Florida to Tennessee and Kentucky, before returning home. 

My youth group’s domain could be defined as spreading the Word through an interactive and fun way.  Our passion was demonstrated through our high energy and excitement for the different productions.  Within our domain, and especially through traveling to new places, it brought our youth group together even more, which only amplified our energy for the performances.

Our community was three-fold: the community within our youth group, our immediate church community, and the communities we traveled to.  It was within our immediate youth group community that we were able to strengthen our relationships between practices and experiencing a new area together.  However, our youth group community also received a lot of support from our church community.  Our summer trips always kept the church community active, other than on Sunday mornings.  Finally, our youth group community interacted with other communities from the states we traveled; these communities ranged from other church youth groups to nursing homes.  Interacting with other communities allowed our community to further diversify and grow.

 

Within our community, our greatest practice was our ability to teach our church community and other communities our story through visual learning.  Our practice was a face-to-face, informal, public display, that provided collective learning; another community learning from the youth group community, and the youth group community learning from ourselves and our peers.

My involvement within the youth group community allowed me to experience new places and break outside of my ‘shy bubble.’  For me, I get very shy and reclusive in new situations; however, the youth group trips let me experience new things while being in the comfort zone of my community.

Reflection 10.1.08

Last week's lecture brought a new light to what goes on behind the scenes. I was glad that we were invited to see that through Mr. Owczakri's presentation. It actually changed my perspective somewhat as to what really goes into outputting information to the public and helped me understand why the media officials or others must respond the way they do in particular situations. I thought it was pretty awesome to see his passion for the job which made him the perfect person to communicate the things that he has to get across to the public and to the media. After his presentation I think we had a good transition into blog groups to discuss further what he talked about as well as other topics.

Oct. 1 Reflection

Guest speaker, Mark Owczarski provided great insight on the media, from both the insider and outsider points of view.  When working with the media, Mr. Owczarski explained how important it is to tell the media your side of the story when approached, because like it or not, the media is going to run their story.  He also explained the applications of media, as well as an individual having the right to set ground rules for an interview.  Mr. Owczarski added that for future interviews, it is very important to know the business and to make sure your point of view is established.  Through his years of experience, he provided great advice, which will only be beneficial for any professional career. 

Shifting from Mr. Owczraki’s lecture and moving into our groups, I really enjoyed the spontaneity of it all.  Our group had a great discussion on a variety of topics, from our reactions to the discussion question to the most effective forms of media. 

Reflection for Oct. 1st

Gathering information from a majority of our posts; Mark Owczarski's presentation on how to work proactively media was pretty informative/eye opening to the class. I feel like the biggest shock to most of us was the small staff that actually was involved with the media aspect of the tragedy. This revelation definitely put into perspective the importance of the media's role in helping the campus and community get through that day. I remember pretty much being glued to the television that day waiting for any new information, or if someone I was close to had been hurt. Looking back I feel that the information supplied by some the media outlets really helped a majority of student body deal with the situation, and was a huge blessing to our families back home. However, even though Mark stated that the media played a positive role that day I still feel that some of the reporters were just trying to get a good story. Not to beat a dead horse, but one vivid memory is the cross hair graphic placed over blacksburg on the fox news network. Who even had in bold letters CAMPUS MASSACRE!! I feel like this really hyped up the violence and bloodshed surrounding that day, and might have been more "if it bleeds, it leads" type of coverage. Some of the other networks seemed to concentrate on the victims and their stories, which I found more helpful. I don't know really...just a difficult subject to comprehend.

The rest of the lecture seemed to be very informative, and I do feel like I have a better understanding of how to construct postive media relations. The small group discussion was also interesting. I love ripping Exxon whenever I get a chance. Oh and feel free to come to just a training or two for Powershift.   

1 October Class Reflection

Class was great!  The media frenzy on and after April 16, 2007 was only a part of that day's singularity.  It was really interesting to hear from someone who practices what we've been learning about. 
Our generation takes the internet and the immediacy of news for granted.  It seems like all the time some new communication medium comes out.  When we start working, we're going to have to be able to adapt to the changes in technology.  I think it's good that we're learning the basics of stuff, to be more flexible in practice. 

Our blog group talked about a little bit of everything.  One thing that seemed to come up was the idea of reliability of information sources.  When some media outlets are telling us that global warming isn't human caused, and others are telling us it is, how do we as an audience figure out who to believe? 

Class Reflection Oct. 1

I truly enjoyed the guest lecture by Mark Owczarski, Director of News and Information from the University Relations Office. The discussion about how his office is set up and functions was informative, but the most interesting portion of this talk related to how his office handled the events of 4/16.  I know for myself, I had to stop watching the news after the first day because I realized it wasn't doing me any good to stay glued to the TV the following days.  I watched bits here and there and continued to read stories published and watched any reports made by the University. From my personal experience and what I gathered from many of my friends, the media quickly became someone we wanted to avoid and leave the campus. It's hard to accept that the University is a public place and we have no ground to ask them to leave during such a trying time.  As a result, there was a lot of negative feedback from students about the media and how cold, inconsiderate and news-driven they were to students.  I even had a good friend of mine that had long wanted to be a reporter up to this time, drastically change her career path after seeing how the reporters behaved and treated the students.  I know Mark said some journalists are 'crackpots' and I just hope we had an disproportional amount of them the days and weeks following 4/16.

Our blog group discussion was most beneficial when we discussed the best ways to inform and educate the student body.  Effective reach-out to students we determined involved selecting appropriate classes that are likely to have the students you are trying to hit, using table cards in the dinning halls and wearing a uniform t-shirt if your group is large enough.  These ideas will certainly come into use this year for a variety of events and activities I am involved with.

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