As I worked on writing my proposal for my Masters Project, this class helped me in several ways:
Formulating my question. At first I started with the wrong question, and I had to change it in order to allow me to narrow down to the answer I wanted.
Writing my introduction. My introduction would've been very technical if it weren't for the instruction we received on narrowing down and creating a funnel.
Working with my committee. I was able to go around and meet with each member of my committee individually, so that when we met together, it only took us a half-hour to complete the meeting.
Some other things that helped me:
Attending another proposal defense to see how that worked.
Having a "mock" defense before it happened.
Writing notes beforehand of things I wanted to mention.
Using things I'd learned from the summer about writing proposals--including the deliverables and the objectives associated with them.
Defending my prospectus was one of my favorite experiences in the program thus far, to have three respected professors in the room worrying about me and my project and giving me suggestions for improvement, discussing things I'd already considered... it was great!
If you put the Lord first--studying the scriptures and praying--you will have a greater capacity to do the things required of you.
Leave time (20 hours?) to write your final grant report. Be aware of funding cycle for your group.
Finding and hiring people is the hardest part.
AuditsIRS Audits will happen. Keep affairs in order. Keep track of hours spent and what you did during your time. Submit as you go along and keep communication honest and up-to-date.
Track your trails, how you got to where you are.
Nari's Presentation
Knew that there were things she didn't address, so she addressed them right up front--clarified what it was she was and wasn't doing.
Met with them each individually, brought them the two-page deal.
Under deadlines, but didn't want to do a bad project because of that.
Wanted to demonstrate, "I know what I'm doing. I've got a plan."
Be aggressive with yourself in getting the proposal submitted. If you don't build that tree, then you think you're there and you're not.
Guided Missle System - commuted from San Diego. Learned that all SME's aren't. "It turns out taht even the people who were the senior maintenance people on the system didn't have a full understanding of how the system worked." Be bold. Our tendency was to change the project to fit what they knew. We asked for someone new. The second person was not a real SME. Second SME was not and SME either. Then they found Mr. Cooper!! Project was supposed to be over in 6-8 mo. Created the trouble-shooting text ''ultra-fast." On-time, below budget, took materials to DARPA. Mis-perceived what they wanted; they wanted a simulation, not a training. How little people communicate when they think they are communicating, in a design world. Sometimes client doesn't know what they want, but then they describe something and when you create it, it's different than what they wanted. Make sure you understand your client thoroughly, and make sure you stay with your client. Make sure your SMEs are SMEs, and when you find that they're not, get rid of them early. We discovered on the job that verbal text is best way to instruct. Have to consider nature of content separately from natrure of anything and design "out of a box." Representation is different from the controls, strategy, etc.
Flight Evaluator - Scope Creep. NW Airlines, study for Aerospace Studies. North Dakota- all they have is sky, so they had plenty of space for teaching people to fly! They wanted some cool things to show off. We had a vision that out-did our software capabilities. The program became so big that it would only fit on one computer, and there was no way of transferring it. We didn't understand how to temper our design tools. Financially taxing. Two weeks later we came up with a prototype. Show something sooner. You have to know in advance the scope within which you are designing, what the edge of your resources are with the "gee whiz." You can build a house with a hammer, or you can build it with an air gun, and the guy who uses the air gun will probably get it done faster. We were able to bring the cost down by an order of magnitude each time.
MD-80 Flight Guidance System. Another system for TWA. The environment in which we were working changed. Video disk wiht grahical, new operating system, new graphipng system. Otherwise, everything else was stable. We were overtaken with versioning within our own company. During a project, you can get overtaken easily by a new version of software. Have to understand everyone on your team. One of the reasons that you want to be knowledgeable in advance is to understand where your team is. Programmers, Artists- the moment you start talking with them, they start thinking of what they want and how they would be doing it. Sometimes they don't know what the instructional method is, and if they knew, they'd do something much differently. Many people do not understand.
SMEs and scheduling conflicts. Companies do not send the best workers to move to a place. Used pet shop- What they'll send you is the used pets. Learn as much as you can about them, and learn early when you need to make a change.
Get to the heart of the other person's subject matter as quickly as possible is a skill to be learned. There are different kinds of subject matter. You can do a task analysis when you know the subject matter. You have to develop, as an INstructional Designer, a sense of knowledge that's different from other concepts of knowledge. YOu have to understand knowledge structurally.
Joe Anderson, Kittornger (Act * - If, Then rules; WMEs)
David Johnson - task analysis methodologies
We have been so flat in our dealing with knowledge, it's a scandal. We continue not to be interested in what kinds of knowledge are there.
Subject Matter Experts, keeping on schedule: There is a feeling among designers and people. There will develop within your team a feeling that there is one right way to do this, and everyone will start fighting for their own way. You have to avoid that. In design, there are always a multitude of right answers. Optimization is a dream, a fantasy. What you're looking for as a designer is a design that satisfies the customer. Debate about how to refill a paper machine, held up progress for three weeks. You have to watch people thinking they're right getting in the way. You have to be open to lots of ideas and develop a spirit among your team like IDEO. You have to develop that kind of culture. (*This is what I want to cultivate in my team, in my design, and in my home.*)
As we sang the opening hymn this morning in IP&T 682, I looked around the class and realized that this amazing experience--being counted as equals among this group of enlightened adults all trying to learn from an expert we trust and respect--will come to an end. I foresee a time in which I will look back at these days with great fondness as I remember the individuals in this class and what they have each taught me from their comments, personalities, and examples.
Communicating with Customers
Not communicating with your customers, the more problems can come about. Our customers are not necessarily the people we're contracted with; they may also be professors or the end users of the project.
The person you expect to be the Subject Matter Expert (SME) will often take the longest.
Mosiah 4:30- Watch yourselves and continue in the faith of what ye have heard
Summary of Crucial Conversations - Have to watch yourself and what you're doing based on your thoughts, words, emotions. The key is to observe the commandments of God, which teach people to be kind, forgiving, loving. Consider what the Savior would do.
In project management, when the CEO comes in with a vision, sometimes they don't keep "beating the drum" or setting everyone's thoughts on that goal.
I think measurement and feedback are the ways to accomplish this scripture.
'watch yourselves, and your thoughts' = Metacognition - think about what you're thinking!
Murder in the Cathedral- To be a martyr- "The last temptation is the greatest treason, to do the right thing for the wrong reason."
The Netflix Culture
A good work environment: stunning coworkers
"Adequate performance gets a generous severance package."
Give a generous severance now to make a place for someone else who could do a better job!
Measuring effectiveness over effort? We all have a different end to fulfill, but we are all capable of achieving it. We're all capable of improvement.
Perhaps part of being a good project manager is allowing group members the opportunity to make and fulfill individual goals.
Research Questions in a Thesis
Make the question so small that the faculty won't accept it as a significant contribution.
THEN cut it in half.
Effective model and key principles for distance learning in higher education? (This could have been two studies.) - Don't use "and"s in questions because there are really more questions in the one.
- No yes/no questions.
- Cannot offer universal answers.
Customers of a Thesis
Immediate customer is your committee
The field is your primary audience. But you can't get to them without pleasing your committe. Find efficient ways to communicate with them. (For example, instead of printing out your entire dissertation, make changes with Change Tracking and then print it out so they can view it again.)
Social learning - current, or for the future? The best market right now is for homeschool. People are desperate for tools for Home school. People are fed up with the things universities AREN'T doing. Do ask, "How do I help a student?" and to actually mean it is rare among universities.
We're moving towards a more social world right now
Global education- some homeschoolers go travel the world every year. You come back a changed person.
Changes for Institutions today- after-school programs, e-portfolios, undergraduate education: more traveling students/faculty
World of Warcraft
Virtual spaces
Social spaces (facebook)
joint collective agency- Building something together (not just talking together, like in facebook), doing joint work. A shared practice with a tacit knowledge component to it
MMOGs develop long-term relationships through networks and communities of practice, which develop over long periods of time.
"To see the value of games don't just look at the core of the game but pay close attention to the 'social life' on the edge of the game...a knowledge economy. "
You have to build guilds, bring groups of people from guild together to build raid teams. So much of this game is changing so fast that you have to change the structures to facilitate how you learn.
10,000 new entries made in one night- new ideas, new videos, new ways to play certain things, new ways to manipulate spells, etc.
Layering of Information Management
Intra-guild communication
Guild-to-Guild communication
Dissemination and "bragging rights"
Dashboards - What are the tools kids create for themselves in order to accelerate their ability to learn?
360 Review- Leaders of the raid get evaluated exactly like everybody else and rendered immediately public to everybody else.
Gamers want to be measured- they want to know that they are learning. They want to be in charge of crafting how they are measured.
Game designers think it's all because of graphics, when the kids don't even notice the graphics; they play for the personally-constructed dashboards!
EXPONENTIAL LEARNING
Networks of imagination - a suspended belief that they are ONE! When in joint activity/shared practice, feel more unified. *Huh... is this good or bad?
Networks of Practice + Communities of Interest --> ACTION = Networked Imagination.
Gamer "Dispositional stance"- You have to discover the resources you need before you can do the things you need to do. *Isn't that what Heavenly Father lets us do? He lets us find those things. They often assume full leadership, even finding the resources you need.
Google- Made that the corporate stance- take 20% of time to work on your own projects that could belong to Google. If you can convince other people to join your effort (they can try you out for a little bit), then it is the responsibility of your boss to facilitate the poacher. This has directed Google to being a talent-driven company.
Currently researching how students start to craft their own outcomes. "How do I let students craft the tools they want to play the game?"
What's the key to doing cooler stuff? "Obsessable"- ability to get obsessed with it.
