9 Dec 2009: Ethics & Morality

This issue of ethics and morality is interesting to me. I read Case #2 regarding the situation in a developing country and oppression of women.

On one hand, I can see that the consultant might be better off executing the project inasmuch as it is one of the only ways for the women in the country to get education. However, it's tragic that the educational programming provided will be endorsing the misogynist regime. It's a difficult scenario to reconcile.

This discussion in class reminded me of my experience doing work in Pakistan for 3 years from 2005 - 2007. I was recruited as a Program Officer for USAID's Education Sector Reform Assistance (ESRA) Program. As I understood the initiative, we were mandated to provide literacy services to 100,000 people - primarily women during a 5 year period.

As I understood it, this program's intent was to educate women - particularly mothers - in order to improve opportunities for education for their children. I wholly supported this idea and I was happy to meet the participants in the program and find ways to document their stories for circulation among government leaders in the USA and in Pakistan.

Later, after I'd been working on the program for some time, I found out that this program was understood in Washington circles as the "Anti-Terrorism Bill." I found out also that the $100 million dollars I knew was earmarked for ESRA was part of a $3 Billion package from US taxpayers to the Pakistani government. Of that, the majority was earmarked for F-16 fighter planes. In reality, this project was to bolster America's strategy for the war in Afghanistan and Iran.

I realized that I was writing warm-fuzzies for the facade of a larger military agenda which wasn't really focused on Pakistani civilians at all. I was involved in just a small component of a much larger plan in that region. It made me question my role and the appropriateness of my work in an ethical and moral sense.

Tbis illuminates the reality of any instructional design endeavor. Education is always political. It behooves me and any other person involved to find out what politics are going on and, if those agendas aren't clear from the outset, to act with integrity according to one's personal morality when confronted with difficult challenges once on the inside.

7 Dec 2009: Presentations on Interviews

I enjoyed watching these videos made by our class members. My overall impression after watching these films is that the breadth of instructional design is vast. Indeed, it is difficult to predict in what ways one might use this IPT degree in the corporate world, in academia, or in the non-profit arena.

It's interesting to learn more about our classmates by hearing them share what interests them. Seeing who folks chose to interview was revealing about the different paths that our own coursemates may take. It was also a great way to see the talents people have with video media technologies. I really enjoyed this activity.

Richard Marwedell:
What's the chatter in the hallway? How do people think/talk about training? You may not be interested in HR if you have great ideas and cannot implement them.

Danny Young:
90% of you will probably do project management if you choose to do Instructional Design for your work. (That's where the money is.) Most people you work with won't have that experience. He coordinates workers in several disciplines. Adaptive expertise - you will find it is easier if you're building from existing knowledge.

Debra Biser:
Change agents and instructional Design. Russ Osguthorpe making impact through meetings and training.

Rob Stephenson:
$40,000 per day for training. Telling stories is his way of training. What about measuring results of the training. (Partners in Leadership.) Focus on culture and accountability change.

When Faith Endures (Vietnamese author)
There are 2 reasons for poverty: 1) there are not opportunities; 2) opportunities are not taken.

Keith Proctor:
Question of face to face vs. virtual trainings
Increasingly virtual world of training

Alberto
Realization that teaching is design?
Depending on the teacher's willingness to change, the CTL can make a big impact.

2 Dec 2009: Moral Dimensions of Education

I enjoyed this reading by Osguthorpe. I resonate with his ideas because I feel he is not only speaking from a life of experience, he is speaking from a life of integrity. I really appreciate the concept of instructor's responsibility to look at students in their wholeness.

I also resonate with the concept presented by Jackson (1986): Transformative education is acutally attempting to change students in a fundamental way. This means that we should not just be concerned about the learning a student gains, but the changes in their character. Isn't this the core of any good education?

While I did graduate work at the University of Oxford (the oldest university in the English world, circ 1000 AD), I learned more about the ancient education practices. I learned that a Masters Degree (or a graduate degree in general) was a degree focused on preparing a student to become a master, or a teacher. I know that, because I have been given much, I, too, must give. This is a fundamental concept of learning. We learn in order to do. All students are also teachers - and we are compelled to build the kingdom by edifying others with what we've learned. This is a higher dimension of consecration. I love it.

Conscience formation transcends the learning of specified objectives.
Conscience of craft (adhering to code of ethics for ones' profession).
Doing instructional design is a mkoral endeavor
The greater impact your design will have, the greater responsibility you have for moral choice

Vocation = vocare (life's calling)
This isn't about the paycheck, it's about the skills and talents we're given and maximizing the ways that we share these.

Conscience of membership
Conscience of sacrifice: Making sacrifices to satisfy the demand of the work you've committed to giving at the highest level of quality.
Conscience of memory
Conscience of imagination