The Last Hurrah: Reflections on MSLD 500

Reflect on your perceived value of this course. Include both positive and negative aspects of your experience. What might you have done to improve your learning experience in this course? How might the University or your instructor provide additional support for your learning? Were there topics covered in this course that seem particularly relevant or irrelevant to your experiences and to what you expect to come in future courses?

Graduating from my undergraduate two years ago, I never thought it would take me so long to go back to school. My closest friends all started their Master’s (and some have already completed them) and I felt so far behind. I also felt confused. After straddling two career directions during undergrad and post-graduation, I really was not sure if I could continue to ride both trains or if I needed to put my whole butt in one seat… or if I wanted to try something new. So, in attempting to focus myself, I applied to a ton of grad schools a year ago. I applied to MBA programs, MBA/JD programs, MPA/MBA programs, and one or two creative writing programs; I knew I wanted to get the most degrees in the least amount of time, and I worried of becoming bored through doing only one focused program. Besides, I’d find something to do with one of them, right? I did not want to waste money, accrue new debt or have a degree (or two) worth nada. I also did not want to shift to a focus far out of alignment with my undergraduate degrees, and had worked up arguments for the Master’s transition into all of these programs from my past studies. Though I received some impressive acceptance letters, the money was not there for most of them. I was going to have to work part-time as a TA or GA and go to school full-time; I was unsure if I wanted to eat cup-o-noodles every night for two years.

Before I headed to Arizona to work for ERAU, I was enrolled in a Master’s of Higher Education Leadership program at a large university in the south. I had settled one having a decent amount of debt for a degree I thought I’d probably use. It did not feel right – the place, the time, the balancing act of driving two hours three days a week for classes, working a part-time job on campus to fill the gap my employer refused to, and working full-time to have a place to stay. The opportunity to go to school and work where I lived was my blessing. Though I would have finished a degree by now if I had gone right into grad school, I cannot guarantee the degree I would have would be more than a one-liner on my resume. The opportunity to work on my Master’s through ERAU’s Worldwide Campus has been a grand combination of my needs.

One of the benefits of this course was that I seemed to always be able to incorporate the week’s theme to my everyday work. I loved the fallacies and could have stayed on them longer (it could be a course on its own). Being able to read with them in mind gave me red lights to seek when reviewing departmental paperwork and proposals, talking to my supervisees about their staff’s personal and group concerns and when making appeals of my own (particularly when I do educational advisements [judicial]). One of our papers focusing on personal and professional standards (A500.2.3.RB - Tell Your Story) applied directly to my professional work and how the way my thinking has changed over time. I believe this reflection directly impacts the way I lead and what I stand for. In totality, I believe the course helped me understand myself better as a supervisor.

One of my lowlights for this course was a disconnect between the annotated bibliographies and the Action Research Project. I became lost in whether the project was supposed to be about the Critical Thinking Test or the topic of our Annotated Bibliography research. Alas, this is a setback of the online format, as I times wished that I had face-to-face contact with my classmates. It is much more difficult to pick someone’s brain through email (read: it’s easier to ignore people). Another personal critique is that I did not engage with classmates casually as much as would have liked to. I was surprised at how underutilized the Student Lounge was under Discussions. I planned to engage is lively conversations and debates on current events, as cohorts tend to; though I posted once, I believe I could have put more initiative into striking up conversation. I realize everyone has a life outside of class to attend to but I wanted to know more about how our different environments and backgrounds played into how we interacted on a less formal level.

I appreciated the option of Skyping my professor and the quick responses to emails from the professor. I believe the comments accompanying grading were mostly helpful and my professor’s participation on the class discussion board made me feel like there was an actual conversation taking place.

Great Expectations (for Presentations)

What makes a great presentation great?

As I have witnessed the worse displays of information anyone has ever had to endure (fallacy?), I consider myself an expert on this topic. I have seen over a thousand presentations in my lifetime.

Half have conspired with poor, innocent PowerPoint to commit audio-visual attempted murder. Perhaps a quarter have been without the use of technology. Within the last quarter, half were were so painful, I have wiped them from my memory. I only remember the presenter standing in front of the room, then slow-clapping; everything else is a blur. Of the ones I do remember, however, many had these characteristics:

• Too much information is on the slide
• The presenter reads from the presentation
• The presenter is playing with something (i.e. a pen, a paper, their pocket lint, etc.)
• The dependence on fillers (i.e. "umm", "you know what I mean", things like that", "like", "basically", "so", etc.)
• The presenter is seemingly trapped behind a podium, desk or table
• No new oral information is added to the information on the presentation
• The presenter never makes eye contact with the audience
• Little to no audience participation is integrated
• Too little (boring/hard to read) or too much (seizure-inducing/hard to read) contrasting of slide colors

The other half of this quarter, a staggering eighth of all presentations, have been spectacular. Most of them have been TED Talks.

TED Talks have been the saving grace for the demonstration of public speaking. They are short, usually experienced-based talks on technology, health, cultural diversity, and global issues. I could go into how incredible the mission of TED is, which is to spread ideas worldwide for free and inspire conversations about the world around us. This is not the goal of every presentation, but what if we, as individuals, set this as a goal to reach for? The aspects of TED Talks which make them entertaining (and thus, memorable) are:

• The presenter is always looking at the audience
• The presenters move: they pace, they use their hands, they smile
• The presenters make the audience laugh
• Usually there are no podiums to hide behind
• Presenters are holding nothing more in their hands than a presentation remote (never a paper or 3x5 cards)
• The shots change every 15 seconds
• The slides presenters use are always one-liners, pictures or videos; usually combinations of these are utilized

I believe three of these characteristics are what make most presentations successful: looking at the audience instead of the material, deliberately moving about the presentation space, and using visual aids. Making a PowerPoint is easy; presenting it is difficult. Presenting involves knowing your stuff. It means practicing the approach you will use to connect with your audience.

I have found that my most successful presentations have involved not only moving around myself, but integrating activities to get viewers moving. I connect with them through using short videos which explain an idea better than I can, usually through demonstrating what cannot be demonstrated within the confines of a classroom. As I stated, one of the aspects of TED Talks which keeps them visually interesting is shot transitions. You cannot make the "scene changes" in the classroom easily, which is why I incorporate the audience into the presentation. If they are moving, their viewpoint changes. I also set my PowerPoints to transition automatically; this way, I do not have anything in my hands to play with. I also know when to move on to a new idea. It paces out my presentation and it looks intuitive. 

I do not allow my audience to get bored; I believe they can teach me something as I teach them. I ask them questions. I want them to ask questions, and to comment, throughout the presentation. I also add games (depending on the audience) to my presentations. For example, I will add one small, strange icon throughout the slides which I introduce to the viewers at the beginning. I tell them that whenever they see it, to do whatever the icon is doing. Whoever the first person is gets a piece of candy.

Never underestimate the power of candy. Incentive is a fine reason for doing just about anything; to beg for altruism, even passively, is unrealistic. It sounds strange, but it is a great way for people to stay focused on the presentation instead of falling asleep or playing with their cell phones.

Quantitative Research

Quantitative research is the empirical information gathering process. This mode of research involves the researcher being distant and objective. The researcher knows in advance what they are looking for, and asks specific questions to test a hypothesis they have develop which will gather answers. The main characteristic of quantitative data is the information gathered will be numerical data. The information will be analyzed through mathematical calculations. Basic research designs are experimental, correlational, and survey. In correlational research variables are measured. The purpose is to identify the relationship between the variables. In experimental research, variables are manipulated, and the effects of this manipulation is measured upon the dependent variable. In surveys, researchers ask participants questions about the variable within the study.
When using quantitative research, one must know clearly what needs to be examined. Sometimes quantitative researchers work with large data sets; in contrast, qualitative researchers work with small groups, and sometimes, only one subject. The presence of an independent variable and dependent variable are key qualifications of quantitative research, as qualitative research is about discovery, not testing. An independent variable is the portion of the study the researcher makes a hypothesis on. This variable is the portion manipulated by the researcher. The dependent variables are the factors not manipulated, but should change with the changes in the independent variable.

The considerations of quantitative data are objectivity, type of design chosen, accuracy, feasibility, and validity. We want to be able to control the focus of our study. The review of the literature should be written in the way that the reader can judge and acknowledge the objectivity of the researcher. The eye must be narrow for this type of researcher. The research design purpose gives a plan of what will be studied and how. You increase the control of the research study through being objective, which occurs by being a stoic standby instead of involving oneself with external factors. Accuracy is gained through the theoretical framework and the research review.
Feasibility deals with time, money and people. Is there enough time to complete the study? Is there enough subjects available to researcher? Is the study thoroughly financially sponsored? Is the study based on the researcher's skills and interests? Are steps being taken to secure the safety of the test subjects? A researcher wants to make sure the study participants are given equal study materials (the same information, the same survey, etc.). This is different from qualitative research, for qualitative research can change paths due to information given by a subject.

A researcher needs to reduce the outside variables that would disrupt study results. These extraneous variables are usually unexpected and can come into place through using consistent data collection procedures or a similar data set can reduce this effect. However, when you streamline the data set, you can limit the generality of the study and you limit the ability to use the study for other applications.

Randomization is where each subject in the study has an equal chance of being a part of the control group or the experimental group. Internal validity evaluates whether the independent variable really made a change in the dependent variable, which occurs by eliminating the likelihood of other factors as contrary explanations. History (an event inside or outside of the experiment), maturation (things that operate on or in a person over time outside of the experiment), death of a study subject, and selection bias (from the researcher) are all examples of threats to internal validity. External validity is the point in which study results can apply to other people and can be useful to other studies. The final conclusion of quantitative research involves a comparisons of means, and explaining the statistical significance of one's findings.

References

Brock, Stephen E. Descriptive & Correlational Research. Sacramento : California State University. Accessed at  http://www.csus.edu/indiv/b/brocks/Courses/EDS%20250/EDS%20250/PowerPoint/PDFs/Presentation%207.pdf 
Cohen, L., Manion, L. & Morison, K. (2000). Research Methods in Education, 5th edition. Routledge Falmer.
Johnson, B., & Christensen, L. (2008). Educational research: Quantitative, qualitative, and

 mixed approaches (p. 34). Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage Publications.