Online Course Development: Business Communications

I spent most of today working on the content for the business communications workshop. This workshop covers the various patterns of development used in typical business documents, as well as business document formatting.

I wanted to start with a "quick and dirty" introduction to emails. When I couldn't find what I wanted, I decided to create my own. That was possibly a bad decision, since I spent several hours on it. Well, I can use it again...

What do you think?

Another Pause for Station Identification

Helping my students through this strengths exploration process causes me to be more cognizant of my own strengths and how they play out. I think one reason I have enjoyed the creation of this course so much is that it dovetails perfectly with the things I love to do.

My "sticky strength" is Strategic. When I was little, my favorite story was The Snow Queen, where Kay is held prisoner in the Snow Queen's castle unless he can complete an ice puzzle. Day after day, he struggles to arrange the pieces of ice, like a Chinese puzzle, into the word that will make him free. While others perhaps found his dilemma frustrating or cruel, I found it exhilarating... I loved the idea of the challenge of completing the puzzle. I love games of strategy like chess and backgammon. I learned to solve a Rubik's Cube to the point of completing it in only a few minutes. I innately "see" the paths to possible solutions.

Most of my thought processes would look like a giant sliding puzzle - if this moves there, then this can lead to that, which in turn can mean this... I couple this with my Ideation strength to constantly generate new ideas to throw into the puzzle to improve the outcomes. In my ideal world, I wouldn't need sleep but could just lay there all night generating ideas and moving them into plans and processes.

My Learner strength supports this as well. When I am brainstorming solutions or creating new programs, I usually find that I don't know everything I need to know to make it as good as I want it to be. So I immediately seek out the knowledge or information I need. When I look back on my results, it is not unusual for me to have read numerous books or reference materials, learned new software or other systems, and even taken additional courses or training, just to create or improve a specific project. Because I love learning, this is not a hardship but a pleasure.

All of those strengths could easily cause me to get bogged down and endanger actual accomplishments if I didn't have my Activator strength. Activators can't wait to get started... we also tend to become "super producers". Once I decide what I want to do and how I want to proceed, I am off and running. It is not unusual for me to pause only for brief food and sleep breaks while in the middle of a project. Because all my endeavors are puzzles to be solved, the challenge of the work and exhilaration of solutions keep me motivated. Activators believe action is the best device for learning. We make a decision, take action, look at the results and learn. This learning then informs the next action and the next.

This process is then complemented by my final strength - Maximizer. Excellent, not adequate, is my measure. I am good at evaluating my work and figuring out how to make it better. Sometimes people accuse me of being a perfectionist - but that is not really the case. I am always ready to create and put things out there, knowing the flaws will inevitability surface, but confident I can then go back and tweak it to make it better. "Back to the drawing board" is a given and a positive for me.

Maximizers are also fascinated by strengths... their own and others as well. When we find a strength, we are compelled to nurture it, refine it and stretch it towards excellence. I am not much interested in things I don't do well. People sometimes tell me they think I'm good at everything. My response is always quick and honest - of course that's not true, but you usually don't see me do things I am not good at.

My love of maximizing strengths, my own and those of my students, is the foundation of this course. I hope my students will benefit as much as I have from this class!

Online Course Development: First Assignment Review

Today marked a "first" for the class - the first assignment (signifying completion of the first workshop module) was due today. I logged in around 10:30 am to begin the bulk of the review and grading (I had actually already reviewed 5 over the weekend for students who had turned it in early!)

I am always a little worried when I go to the assignment section for grading. I hope they understood the assignment, the deadline, the technology and procedures required and are even still "with me" in the class. I was delighted to see that almost all of the completed assignments were there (the remainders trickled in over the afternoon).

I am always very vigilant in assessing how accurately the students understood and delivered what I wanted. This is how I grade my own work. I learned in my education classes the importance of analyzing your assignments, test questions, etc. after the fact for "good" and "bad/confusing" requirements. After all, what seems perfectly clear to me, might not appear clear to the students. In an "in person" class, I have the opportunity to clarify or explain if necessary. In an online class, I really don't have that option. The standards I must meet for the assignments and work must be much higher, in my opinion.

I also have students from other countries, educational backgrounds and native languages. This creates an even greater need for complete clarity. Believe me, I have dealt in the past with the late night frantic emails from students seeking clarification before the next day's assignment. While sometimes unavoidable, this is NOT a situation I like to repeat.

I was really delighted with the students' introspection and responses to their strengths, evidence and branding plans. I was amused, but not really surprised, at the wide variety of strengths my accounting students bring. Most people tend to think of accountants as a certain "type". It is wonderful to see how all of their varied strengths can supplement each other to form great teams.

I am always humbled by the honesty of their responses and what they choose to share with me. One of the strengths reflections asked them to compile phrases from the strengths feedback that really resonated with them. One student reflected on his combination of competition, and achiever strengths. He somewhat ruefully talked about his belief that even if he did his best, and the results were outstanding, it was still hollow if it wasn't THE best (the "winning isn't everything - it is the only thing" concept).

I was reminded of my oldest daughter's same combination that has helped her achieve things even beyond my wildest expectations. When she was younger, I remember consoling her after she lost a competition with how well she had done, how wonderful to have placed, she would likely be the victor next time, etc. She stopped me cold with "Mom, I know you are trying to help and I will be okay... but THERE IS NO SECOND PLACE."

I also had one student email me with her concerns. She worried that the strengths she possessed weren't the best strengths for accountants and wanted to know how she could instead generate those strengths. One of her strengths she discounted was positivity. Her email was delightfully positive and respectful - she ended with how much she was enjoying the class and how much she was learning. I immediately emailed her back as to what a wonderful quality that was, how important to her teams, bosses and colleagues. I also scheduled a meeting with her so that we could discuss this further in person.

I always try to carefully read through their assignments (even though the real "grade" is only complete/incomplete) and offer individual feedback. I try to use a combination of "I really like your ******* example. Can you go on to quantify, expand, further discuss the results, etc. Here are some suggestions for your **** strength..."

I find that if I work pretty diligently, I can complete each student in 10-15 minutes. So about 5 hours later, I still had time to run to the gym!

Online Course Development: Revisions Already

I opened the course on Sakai on Friday the 8th as planned for the "official" start on Monday the 11th. I was delighted to see that almost half the students logged on early and started some of the materials over the weekend!

I monitored the class all week and did not appear to have any technical issues with the platform or materials (my greatest fear). Everyone appeared to be moving through the materials just fine.

I do have to learn to control the late-night second-guessing of the materials! Darn that Maximizer strength! I was trying to fall asleep last night when I started re-thinking the assignment for the Networking section they start on the 18th. In my regular class, the students conduct a networking activity aimed at connecting with someone for internship contacts or information. Because of the nature and timing of that class, it is a valuable assignment and helps students get started on their internship search.

My accounting students are in different places. Some have already completed their internship and have accepted job offers. Others are really new to the interview process (and even to this country) and are hoping the course will help them connect positively with the recruiters during the interviews and company socials in September. I feel very strongly that the deliverables be valuable and not "busy work" (or even possibly detrimental if done incorrectly).

I started reviewing other possible networking activities on Thursday morning. I went back to the PwC branding workbook to look through their networking section. And there I found it - a link to a neat little widget helping students create their "elevator pitches". I decided this was a nice alternate assignment for those who wanted/needed to expand on the strengths and branding material to better connect it for the upcoming recruiting socials. I could also refer those that seem to need more work on their pitches to their Career Management counselor for individual coaching.

So this workshop now provides the students with a choice of assignments based on their perceived needs. I have never done this before, so I am eager to see the results!

Here is the widget if you want to try it

It's ALIVE!!!

Okay, this is how I felt today! My online class just went live with 27 students enrolled for credit. What a journey so far!

Now I need a few hours off this weekend before the class actually begins on Monday.

Online Course Development: See Sam Says...

My usual online delivery is a voice-over presentation. I have a rather distinctive voice, and people tell me they recognize it immediately. My background in public speaking and theatre help there as well (although perhaps I should have worked harder to mitigate my accent).

People always ask why I don't just record my workshops and use those instead. Surely that would be easier than creating a whole new presentation? Well, that answer is simple... I can't stand to watch myself on video. My "in person" presentation style is very energetic. I move around and gesture... a lot. I don't think this is a problem when you are actually in the room, but watching it on a video is painful... for me at least. I critique my hair, clothing and the occasional (but impossible to eliminate) miscues. I also have to rely on my flip cameras, which don't have the best lighting and technical capabilities.

I decided, however, I needed to include an actual video introduction for this class. Most of these students have never met me. I thought it would be weird for them to work so closely with me for 8-10 weeks and never "see" me.

I picked a "decent hair day" and set up my camera beside my home office. I hit the "record" button and taped a quick test run. And I noticed my other really bad habit that drives me crazy in my videos... I am really "twitchy". Part of this is just a reflection of my "hyper" personality. I am never still. Even when I am sitting reading or working on the computer, I am in constant motion. I also have a bad habit of moving my head around a lot and shifting my eyes. If I were being interrogated for a crime, I am sure they would automatically believe I was guilty!

So I set up the camera again and worked on holding my head still while looking directly into the camera. It felt like my head was in a vise, but the end result was much better. I spoke "off the cuff" for a few minutes to introduce myself, welcome students to the course and briefly talk about the purpose and goals. When I went back to review this first effort, I decided that it was acceptable. While I would have liked it to be stellar, I knew that wasn't going to happen. I also knew I didn't want to go through that again!

Cut! It's a wrap!

Online Course Development: Strengths & Personal Branding

Well, it was time to tackle the first workshop in the online class - Strengths Exploration and Personal Branding. As I wrote earlier, I put this one off for a while since I had already developed some of the materials for the other workshops. In fact, this particular workshop will be new for me this fall in my "in person" class. So I had to figure out exactly what I wanted to cover and then how I wanted to cover it.

In my previous class, we used CareerLeader-College as the required assessment. I am switching to StrengthsQuest this year. The Career Services office is expanding and we now have dedicated staff for our students. Some of the previous class work that was "career development-related" is being funneled out to them. This allows a more unique "professional development" focus for my class.

I was pretty blown away when I took the StrengthsFinder assessment a few years ago. I have rarely taken an assessment that provided so much "ah ha!" I am hoping my students will get a lot out of it as well. I have not enjoyed sending out all of the customized access codes and instructions, however. I will need to find a better way to distribute those in the future!

Students will start out by taking the SQ and reading the online reports. They will then watch a very brief William Arruda video explaining the importance of branding. I also wanted to emphasize how importantly the accounting firms view the strengths exploration/development and personal branding. I emailed my recruiting contact at Ernst & Young for a quote to use. I was thrilled to get back a perfect quote within 20 minutes! PwC gave permission for me to use their Personal Branding eBook as proof of their commitment. I will make that available for ongoing student use.

I finished up a prezi that explains the StrengthsQuest, and I am pretty proud of it. It is quick but hard-hitting. They get to self-click through it, so that hopefully will increase their engagement.

I then alternate reflections with links to some additional Personal Branding videos, including ones on combining StrengthsQuest with branding and 360Reach. William Arruda does such a fabulous job with his videos that there is no reason for me to try and top them! Now that I am certified as a 360Reach Analyst, I am offering to work individually on that with any student who chooses to "go further".

The final assignment will require planning the investment students will make in developing the themes they uncovered in SQ, as well as ways to document their evidence of success. This also forms the basis of their interviews and the required presentation.

Whew, I was glad to get this one behind me!

Just like birthing a baby... sorta

Building a new website has consumed a hefty chunk of my "off" time this week. Each time I would think, "there, I'm done... good enough..." the ole Maximizer theme would kick in and I would scrutinize a little further and think, "well, it could be a bit better..."

I finally decided around 9:00 pm last night that I was DONE! I looked it over one last time and thought, "okay, but it still needs a little oomph." I wanted it to convey professionalism, but I also wanted it to reflect me... just a little zany sometimes. So I grabbed my camera and snapped a quick picture of "command central" (also known as my desk in my home office). Put it on the first page, uploaded the whole thing and AHHHH, IT'S DONE.... for now!