Week 5, July 18-23, 2006:

This week my family returned to San Diego and I started putting in 12-14 hour days so we could meet our Friday deadline. On Sunday I went to Harvard Square to have sushi with an adjunct professor who teaches at the prestigious Berklee School of Music. We had an interesting and wide-ranging conversation that among other things touched on the frustrations of being and adjunct and global warming.

Since we were scrambling to finish our project on time and error free the week is somewhat of a blur, however there were some things that stood out. One was how I saw the “reach out” B of A culture in action, another was how in the midst of the craziness they took time to still hold a monthly meeting where they study an instructional design together, and I developed a confusion about writing objectives I need to clear up.

Reaching Out in Action

One of the tasks they gave me was to create a graphic that illustrated a step in the sales process using the Client Connections Integrated Desktop. In order to match the typeface of the original graphic I had to obtain a font I didn’t have in my computer. I asked Peggy, my supervisor, what to do. She suggested I send and email to woman in the marketing department. I did and got a phone call back from her almost immediately. She said that font is not an approved B of A font, but understood when I said the art was created by an outside vendor. She then gave me someone else to email. He didn’t have the font, but knew where I could get it. He forwarded my request. By the next morning the font was in my email.

I don’t know who I was dealing with, where they were or anything. They didn’t know me either, or even what I was doing, exactly. However, because we were working on a project for the bank I got all their attention immediately and they quickly responded to my request. Reaching out really works.

Monthly Study

Even though they were working very hard to finish the CCID project they still took time to reflect and study for an hour on Thursday. Each month this team holds a semi-formal meeting where they discuss some general items, then study one or two chapters of a book together. They then discuss what they read in context of the work they are currently doing for the bank. After that they reassess their accomplishments the previous month and renew their determination to get closer to their department goal for next month.

The book they studied was Performance Consulting: Move Beyond Traning by Dana and Jim Robinson. The main point of discussion was to strive to get to the consultant level of performance analysis. In other words, those who are creating the training get to the point where they are consultants instead of order takers.

The difference is consultants are brought into the process at an early stage and help decide what kinds of training are needed and how to approach it. The current reality is still a top down approach. Management decides what needs to be done and somewhat directs how to do it. They discussed the need to "push back" a little more and insist on more analysis before a project is undertaken. They feel they’ve made progress in this area, but have a ways to go.

I was impressed by their spirit to never stop studying and to help each other deepen their understanding of the field. I guess you could also call this an Instructional Design Book Club.

Peggy asked me to deliver the training at their next meeting. She wants me to tell them what’s new and interesting in this field. Guess I better figure this out quickly.

Objectives

Writing objectives is a big deal here. It’s considered an essential step in all the training and built in to forms used for planning. However, I’m a little confused.

The way I learned about objective writing in EdTec 540 was similar to the ABCD method below:

• Audience – Who? Who are your learners?
• Behavior – What? What do you expect them to be able to do? This should be an overt, observable behavior, even if the actual behavior is covert or mental in nature. If you can't see it, hear it, touch it, taste it, or smell it, you can't be sure your audience really learned it.
• Condition – How? Under what circumstances or context will the learning occur? What will the student be given or already be expected to know to accomplish the learning?
• Degree – How much? How much will be accomplished, how well will the behavior need to be performed, and to what level? Do you want total mastery (100%), do you want them to respond correctly 80% of the time, etc. A common (and totally non-scientific) setting is 80% of the time. http://tlt.its.psu.edu/suggestions/research/Write_Objectives.shtml

The thing that always seemed to be missing from the objectives written for our training at the bank is the condition. I seem to remember that you’re not supposed to say upon the completion of this training the learner will be able to do such and such. Instead, you’re supposed to be more specific with your conditions. However, all our objects start with upon completion of this chapter, or course, etc.

Then I was looking through the textbooks I use for the courses I teach. They each had the same thing for objectives – “Upon completion of this chapter, you will be able to…” Is this a legitimate condition or not?

Conversation with J.T., Berklee Adjunct Professor of Music

An organization I’m a part of has a chapter in Boston. I went to one of their activities recently and met J.T., an adjunct professor at the world-renown Berklee College of Music in downtown Boston. We struck up a friendship and decided to go to Harvard Square for sushi. He knew a place that was cheap and good.

Before we went he gave me a demonstration of ProTools, a Mac-based system for music production and mixing. He’s an old-time jazz guitarist who stays on top of the latest technology. At my high school we’ve just obtained ProTools and I have yet to master using it, so I really appreciated the demo.

J.T. is an author of one or two books about guitar playing, a composer, and has played with many of the jazz greats all over the world over the years. The piece he played for me that he made using ProTools was a kind of experimental, smooth jazz. He personally played all the parts on the recording except drums and had recorded it in his apartment. The guitar was synthesized so it actually sounded like an organ. He's an incredible musician.

I asked him about his experience teaching at Berklee. He said teaching there was one of the major goals in his life. The place is music heaven, especially jazz music. A perfect place for someone like him. However, it’s become a little frustrating teaching there. He’s been there over 12 years, but they still keep him two hours a week below the level of a regular professor so they don’t have to pay benefits or let him accrue tenure. He laments the politics involved in faculty decisions. He’s planning on leaving Berklee in the near future if something doesn't change soon.

I fully understand his situation. I’ve been with one community college for going on 7 years. I’ve made three attempts to be hired full-time. The last time they wouldn’t even interview me. I originally entered the EdTec program to improve my chances for full-time employment at a college. I’ve all but abandoned that dream and am starting to seriously look at the corporate world. On the other hand I love what I’m doing at my high school, MVAS. I just wish they paid a wage that matches San Diego's cost of living.

The adjunct system is cruel. Once you enter it seems almost impossible to advance. I heard a commentator on NPR describe adjuncts as bottom feeders. She said once a school realizes you’re willing to work under those conditions they try to keep you there. For those who have another job and teach to simply pick up some extra money, it has advantages, but for those who desire to do it as a career it’s an unfair two-tier system. Especially galling is what I’ve read recently about the pay abuses in the UC system. Something needs to be done to make this situation more equitable.

It turned out J.T and I have a lot of mutual friends, so we reminisced about that, but at one point we started talking about global warming. We talked about the recent killer heat wave in Europe. He said he used to climb mountains there and that a friend recently sent him pictures of some of the glaciers. They have receded dramatically. For so many years people pooh-poohed this. Now there seems to be a sea change in attitude. It will be interesting to see how this plays out in the near future.