Putting my learning to action

After two days of eLearning class, I started my first assignment for that class.  We are asked to increase our digital footprint.  So for students that have never blogged, they can start a blog.  And students that do not use Facebook or LinkedIn they can add those "services".  I however do all of the above, so needed (and wanted) to increase my digital footprint, so today, I made the leap and registered my own website!

Yep, I am going to create a website all about me!  Kinda of egocentric huh?  Oh, well, according to our fine instructor, it is wise to have a presence on the web to share your work with the world.  I took the leap and we will see how it goes.  I will let you all know when the design and content of the site actually goes up.  Right now it is just a parked site, so nothing to see.  I am very excited to work on this.

We also learned about Diigo and Delicious, social bookmarks.  Very interesting!  These social bookmarks allow a registered user to mark sites that are of interest for them and save them all in one space, so say for example, I am doing research on a learning theorist, I can save all my links in one place and if one of my student colleagues would like to learn more about this theorist, then they can subscribe to my bookmarks!  I am not sure that the general population has realized the value that these tools can bring to education and work.  Anyway, I also have a ton of reading to do, so enough with working on the fun stuff that I WANT to do and now to focus on what NEEDS to be done!

Trust

Yesterday we had our first paper due for class. The topic was trust in organizations. We were asked to review one of two articles that we read from HBR. The first article was about the suggestion that humans are hard wired to enter into social interactions and therefore trust. Some people trust too much and others do not trust enough and finding the appropriate balance. The second article was discussing how organizations should create a climate of candor or trust because it will "improve performance".

The paper and discussions that followed brought up excellent ideas around what role trust should play in an organization. Yes, we talk about management, leadership, communication, etc everyday in business, but what role should trust play? Obviously on some level we need to have some amount of trust with our immediate employee teams, but should the organization as a whole place trust in ALL employees just simply because they managed to get hired? Would an organization with a more rigorous hiring process be more likely to trust its employees because they had to work harder to become a part of the organization? Tons of questions around this issue and yet, the authors believe that trust is the next generation for organizational growth...
I just hope that the prof likes my paper... Okay, and I had fun writing it. It was the first time since I started the program that I actually felt a bit crunched to get something done. AND I had a bit of a panic attack after the second class when we set up a total of 4 different groups with which we have to write papers and deliver presentations. Oh, and did I mention that we have not even STARTED our third class yet? We meet the prof for the first time on Friday. I am actually really excited because it is an eLearning class. Right up my alley! Yippee! AND I get to go to school more this week. Later...

One Week Down

I finished my first week of class and reading and I still LOVE it! Class was long, but incredibly engaging. I was able to stay involved in discussion for almost 6 hours. Although, it was LONG!

Reading was good and mediocre. The classic textbook reading is easy to follow along and stay engaged. However I was reading on organizational learning done by NASA post Challenger and Columbia accidents and that was DRY! I kept having to refocus on what the words were saying. Mental note: if I ever want ANYONE to read what I write, keep it somewhat easy to follow and ENGAGING!

As far as scheduling, looks like I will never be able to watch TV with Ann again... The reading does take time and it does not help that I am SLOW... I sat down on Thursday night (night after class night) and wrote out everything that I needed to get done, so that I could "enjoy" my time in Colorado next weekend. Yikes! It is a lot! Good news is that I got all of the reading done from the really big, heavy textbooks and now I only have reading to do from smaller paperbacks! Easier to pack and carry on the plane!

I think I may actually be able to do this! I am so excited!

Today is the first day of the rest of your life

I know it is kind of corny... but it is so true! And today (actually tomorrow) really is the first day of the rest of my life. I am finally attending my last, first day of school EVER. Not many people can actually say that - law students, doctoral students, possibly medical students. Really there are not that many "terminal" degrees out there, but let's face it those of us that are crazy enough to pursue a "terminal" degree may choose to complete MORE THAN ONE! No comments J and A!

Anyway, I am very excited. I have completed all of my reading (and have read ahead a little bit). This evening, I punched holes in all of the hand outs from orientation and articles that I printed out from Blackboard (our online learning platform). The ONE 1.5" binder that I purchased is almost full AND I have not had a single class yet. Needless to say, I may have underestimated the number of trees that may fall prey to my pursuit of a doctorate.

Have I picked out the first day of school outfit - NO. However, I am planning on wearing comfy clothes. It will be a 16 hour day folks! Let's be real!

I even know my first homework assignment - to write a one page journal article on theinsights gained from my leadership/ethics class (due every week, so fairly easy to assume we have homework on this one). I guess Thursday night will be my first real study night. Up until now, I have just done a couple pages here and there and just plodded along on my reading and now I will have to actually produce.

I am not a fast reader, and this is a concern for me. My parents, who just left after a six day visit - we had a blast other than we all had a cold - recommending reading every third word. My very intelligent roommate said that she does that as well. She said that she has even read books two and three times not even realizing that she had read them before... Must not be reading the same "third" word every time... Not sure how I will improve my reading speed, but hopefully it will come...

Wish me luck as I venture into the great beyond. Gosh, it is kind of fun thinking of this as an adventure and not just school with homework and papers and stuff...