Strategies for Determining a Contribution

In one of my electives for my Ph.D., I took a class with my brother from Barclay Burns about strategies for figuring out what your path in life could be--a specific area where you could add value. We talked about several interesting ways to find a goal and how to get there, two of which were particularly memorable.

Value Genealogy

One of the first activities was we had to make a timeline of our lives--all the activities, work experiences, etc. that made us who we were. From that "genealogy" we were to deduct something that we could do well, based off of our life experiences. As we created the timeline, detecting different patterns and sharing the timeline in a presentation, we learned more about ourselves and our "natural path" to a particular value.

My presentation looked something like this:

While you could "deduct" several different paths, doing this activity helped me see many of the significant life experiences I had and how they could possibly "fit" together.

Value Ecosystem

Once we figured out what we were supposed to do with our lives, another activity was to come up with our value "ecosystem," a chart of all the individuals and/or organizations who could be stakeholders--people/parties who would be interested, who could help fund the project, who would have policies the project would need to fit, or who would be helped by our particular value. This activity made it apparent who I would need to talk with in order to contribute in the ways I wanted.

These two activities could help those who are trying to blaze a new trail to their own "niche" and do it well.  

Stuff I Know About

I have a unique set of experiences that give me an interesting expertise.

• Agency and Learning (main theories, not philosophy)
• Interface Design
• Children with Special Needs
• Using technology to teach
• Music preference with movement (children)
• Graphic Design
• Project Management
• Music Education
• Web Design
• Using media for social change
• Games in education
• Learning assessment
• 1-on-1 tutoring reserach
• Music
• Computer Science
• Program Evaluation
• ARTS in Public Schools

Design Sprint

Sometimes my most productive work is done under pressure.  Here is a design strategy for a "Design Sprint":

Before the sprint: Prepare
    Get the people and things you need.
Day 1: Understand
    Dig into the design problem through research, competitive review, and strategy exercises.
Day 2: Diverge
    Rapidly develop as many solutions as possible.
Day 3: Decide
    Choose the best ideas and hammer out a user story.
Day 4: Prototype
    Build something quick and dirty that can be shown to users.
Day 5: Validate
    Show the prototype to real humans (in other words, people outside your company) and learn what
    works and what doesn’t work.

Background Music for Movies

Life is better with background music.  Here's a list of my review of music I like:

• http://listen.takenobumusic.com/album/momotaro - Whimsical cello music
• freestockmusic.com - beware which email address you register with- they send lots of e-mails

Choosing a Topic - with BYU Specialist

Today I got to meet with a BYU Specialist in Educational Research, Rachel Wadham, to consider some important questions to ask when selecting a topic.  While these questions seemed basic to her, to me they were refreshing and helpful:

1. You need a context for the learning.

• Is it a talent or a skill? Is it a particular subject? What are they learning? 
• Different kinds of learning means there are different forces at work.

2. You need to choose WHO you're studying.

• Who are you getting information about? Professors? Students?
• Different people will have different applications - motivations, attitudes, etc.

3. When/Where is the learning/phenomenon taking place?

• In the classroom? During homework? Taking Tests? 
• Does it happen independently? is it guided?
• Morning? Night?
• Where in the life of the individual is the phenomenon taking place? Beginning of school? End of School?

4.  WHY- Application.

• Why is the learning happening? For the grade? 
• Why are you doing this study?
• Why is this study significant to talk about?
• Why is this study important?
• If there's no reason to know the answer, why do it?
• The answers need both a nebulous and a practical side. 
• To advocate a pedagogy/promote ________.
• To know more about ______ so we can ______. 
• Why is it important/interesting to you?

5. How- How this all goes on.

• How is the homework assigned? How does the teacher grade the homework?
• How to go about finding answers? Data? Quantitative? Qualitative?
• Gather, organize, answer questions, design elements, etc.

Finally, PICK SOMETHING AND MOVE ON.  After a brainstorm, rate options by:

• Convenience - What data already exists? what's available to you? Do you already have connections/information?
• Passion

Then take top two of each category to your chair, select one, and MOVE ON! Don't wallow in this exploration phase for more than two weeks!

BYU IT Training

Here is some free training on how to use Adobe Captivate, provided by BYU:

http://train.byu.edu/?q=captivate

And here's a link for other courses, including several Adobe products, and mac vs. pc basics.

http://train.byu.edu

So What?

In my descriptive, qualitative research, my committee member brought to my attention that I have no new insights - my "findings" are things that are already known or obvious.  To have a research study without a claim is like having a car without a motor-- it might look pretty, but it doesn't DO anything.