Instructional Design Consulting: Teaching the How and Not Just What

[This blog is going to be my backup blog from today onwards, and contains the blogpost from my Wordpress site.]

Scene: Dental Clinic
Not one to enjoy dental trips, my anxiety grew as I waited to be worked on. The dental assistant had me x-rayed (again, to ensure the insurance company would pay for it) and inserted a tent-like contraption into my mouth. The dentist arrived, injected the gums near my ailing tooth with novocaine, and proceeded to drill and probe while her assistant poked different pieces of equipment into my mouth. Gosh, how could one’s mouth hold up to so much prodding and stretching? Overwhelmed, I raised my left hand to signal to them I had trouble swallowing and breathing at times with all the prodding in my mouth.

That’s when the dentist stopped and raised her voice:

“I do this everyday!”

I looked at her and tried to mumble:

“But I don’t do this everyday!”
Obviously, there was a lack of empathy, perhaps on both sides. But as the patient, I felt that I was not being heard and was thus traumatized. Meanwhile, she was trying to force me to do as she says except I was overwhelmed and unable to live up to her expectations. If she had explained her every step and what she was about to do, I would find the whole process more meaningful.

After this incident, I thought about our exchange and how it would transfer over to my professional context.

When it comes to instructional design consulting for online course development, I would never ever tell an instructor that “I do this everyday!” In my ID language, it would translate to something like this:

“I’m the expert, you need to listen to me and do as I say!”

That would get me fired!

In many fields and disciplines, we spend a large chunk of time covering content on the what, but little or no time on the how and the application of the what. When it comes to job-hunting and crucial conversations (Patterson, Grenny, McMillan, Switzler, 2012), many new and novice instructional designers don’t know how to clinch interviews because they have not learned essential skills on how — how to relate with clients, how to share and apply their expertise without putting down their clients or supervisors, how to “show their work” without coming across as bragging.

In short, we don’t have the skills to hold a dialogue. Of course, it takes time to develop these skills of communication and negotiation, maybe a whole professional lifetime to refine them. But they need to be explicitly taught and new ID students need to made aware of the need to develop these skills. Over the years, I’ve talked to quite a few new ID graduates and find that they are lacking in consulting and negotiation skills. Our ID programs should not say that these are left to the students themselves to develop. Many ID graduates don’t have the opportunity to apply these consulting skills before they are hurled into the real world of ID jobhunting. At this late stage, they may have to wait quite long to find a job if they have limited experience in consulting and communicating with clients.

Here are some final words from Patterson et al (2012):

Every time we find ourselves arguing, debating, running away, or otherwise acting in an ineffective way, it’s because we don’t know how to share meaning. Instead of engaging in healthy dialogue, we play silly and costly games.

So true.

This is How I Work

My Office View 

[Questions: LifeHacker]

Current Gig: 

Learning Innovation Design Specialist at VCU ALT Lab. 

One word that best describes how you work:

INTENSE.

Current mobile device: 

Samsung Galaxy S6 for most of my on-the-go stuff, blue-tooth streaming of playlists, long-distance communication on Whatsapp, spontaneous photo capture of special moments. Samsung Galaxy Tab 4 (8 inch) for reading Kindle books, and other web resources. I had an old MacBook Pro for consulting with clients but have recently upgraded to a Dell XPS 13 Touch which is much lighter and syncs with my Android devices. I had an old iPad 2 which I've set aside since acquiring the Samsung Tab 4. It's much lighter and more portable than the iPad.

Current computer: 

At work, I have an iMac and an Apple Thunderbolt display monitor. My home machine is a Dell XPS 8300 desktop which runs on Windows 7 Pro. It was easier for me to use a Windows PC when I was doing intensive research data analysis and most research software are compatible with a PC, like Access. I also used to create Adobe Captivate tutorials which previously only ran on a PC.

2 Monitors

What apps, software, and tools can’t you live without?

Whatsapp connects me to family and childhood friends that go way back, people who have known me since I was 6 and know what I'm truly capable of achieving, ;-). It also connects me to many new international friends and ex-students. Kindle app, without which my life would be dull. Google products like Gmail, Docs, Drive, Calendar and Play for music streaming with my portable bluetooth speaker, Soundfreaq Sound Kick.

Two Adobe products I use regularly are Photoshop and Acrobat. Coming in close, for quick image editing, is PicMonkey, which replaced Picnik when it got bought over.

For work and professional development, Twitter, Diigo and Blogger (for personal reflections) are major spaces I participate in. I'm increasing my use of Rampages, our VCU hosting of WordPress sites for courses and eportfolios. And also of hypothes.is as I am getting more fascinated by annotations for learning interactions with authors.

What’s your workspace setup like?

I like to surround myself with beautiful things -- beauty as defined by me, myself -- artwork, books, and interesting artifacts, quotations, memories of life and people. The computers and mobile devices are there unavoidably, but I like to make my workspace look more human and home-like. I believe the environment is the third teacher and that walls speak of life experiences I've been through. So I decorate my workspace with stimulating ideas and color.

My Office View 2

What’s your fave time-saving shortcut?

Are there true short-cuts in life? I'm not sure, although I've digitized a lot of stuff in my life, I still like to draw and paint by hand. Nothing replaces a pencil, pen or brush, to me. For work, I appreciate being able to import or export data from one app to another, and being able to store files in the cloud that are accessible wherever I go.

What’s your fave to-do list manager?

I don't have any that's digital. I write stuff on a notebook I carry around with me, to jot down ideas and to doodle. I use Evernote sometimes, but not in a huge way.

Besides your phone and computer, what gadget can’t you live without and why?

No gadget is indispensable. I like to practice to a greater extent the philosophy of minimalism.

What do you listen to while you work?

Vocal quality and lyricism are important elements in music I listen to. I can listen to background music that is soothing and meditative if I'm doing something that requires some cognitive load. Otherwise, for heavyweight cognitive stuff, absolutely no music or sound when I'm writing and synthesizing elements to craft something new, like a dissertation, proposal, article or blog post. I get irritated and distracted when I'm overloaded with adrenalin.

When I'm drawing or painting, I can tolerate more lively music, but still nothing loud or jarring. I listen to Broadway, R & B, folk, instrumental and foreign language music. French and Italian songs are very lyrical to me, Mandarin and Cantonese songs connect me to my cultural roots.

What are you currently reading?

Too many books that I read in chunks and try to finish when I have some time. I'll list the top 3. Metaphors We Live By by George Lakoff and Mark Johnson. I'm a fan of metaphorical thinking and writing, so I'm inspired by Lakoff and Johnson. Everyone Communicates but Few Connect by John Maxwell is another book I'm reading for tips on how to truly connect and not just communicate with a lot of noise signifying nothing. Creativity Inc by Edwin Catmull is intriguing for me, as with any book on creativity, which I'd once wanted to explore as a dissertation topic. I read mostly non-fiction books these days, unfortunately.

Are you more of an introvert or an extrovert? 

I want to say I'm more of an introvert but I'm finding this to be a cultural and contextual perception because in Singapore, I'm perceived to be more extroverted and "louder" to most people than in the USA. Many of us are familiar with Susan Cain's book Quiet: The Power of Introverts in a World That Can't Stop Talking, and I feel with her that there's some common association of quietness and introversion with pathology in American culture. I very much appreciate and admire individuals with a quiet confidence and gentle humility. Maybe I'm familiar with being in a Deaf community and am used to people not talking but gesturing.

How do you recharge?

I retreat to some quiet place to be alone by myself, meditate, read, listen to music, go to a musical, go outdoors, write, draw, be close to the sea or some reasonably large pool of water. I have to be in touch with the spiritual dimension of my life.

What’s your sleep routine like?

I try to get to bed early but somehow end up sleeping late like at midnight or later, because I seem to have so many things to do before I lie down. Most of the time, that is when I call family in Singapore. I like to read and reflect a bit before I sleep. I get up about 6 to 7 AM for work, but really I need 8 hours of sleep to function well.

What’s the best advice you’ve ever received?

Not directly aimed at me but Bronnie Ware's blogpost on the Top 5 Regrets of the Dying resonated with me since I read it in 2012 (?). While struggling emotionally with dissertation writing, I read the blogpost and was able to move on to finish it, without obsessing more over it. I could have done this or that, but in the end, I wasn't going to bring my dissertation with me to the grave. And so I moved on and decided I had worked hard enough on it (Ware's #2 wish).

Is there anything interesting you’d like to add?

“I have looked in the mirror every morning and asked myself: ‘If today were the last day of my life, would I want to do what I am about to do today?’ And whenever the answer has been ‘No’ for too many days in a row, I know I need to change something.” Steve Jobs 

“You can only become truly accomplished at something you love. Don’t make money your goal. Instead pursue the things you love doing and then do them so well that people can’t take their eyes off of you.” Maya Angelou

Dancing in the Rain

Reentering blogosphere with a happy song and a feel-good story about the impact of YouTube.

Bethany Mota was a victim of cyberbullying as a younger teen (she's 18 now!). Instead of moping, she turned to YouTube to find her voice. Bethany is now a social media star with nearly 7.5 million subscribers to her channel, and dances with talented dance pro, Derek Hough, on Dancing with the Stars. Last night, she shared these stories in her Most Memorable Year of Her Life dance. To the tune of Colbie Caillat's Try, Bethany shows how social media can sometimes be abused, but she chose to flip the negativity into something positive. She thrived.

Here's the other happy song I was talking about!

The Canvas Babe

Once, there was a little girl who slept on a white canvas bed with wooden legs.

Every morning, she woke up and made her own bed.

She folded the white canvas bed and leaned it against the bedroom wall.

She also liked to sing and dance.

One day, she came home from dancing in a school concert. Her teacher had made up her face with some pretty colors -- blue on her eyelids, orange on her cheeks and red on her lips.

This image is a black-and-white drawing. It shows a picture of a girl
hiding behind a couch and 2 men talking to each other.

She saw papa talking to a man she had never met. She went to hide behind the wooden couch papa made. The man saw her.

He asked papa, "Why is your child's face all made up?" She kept this memory in her heart. She learned that Ah Tee was papa's supervisor. 

When she was about ten, she heard papa talking sadly to mama one night.

This image is a black-and-white drawing. It shows a girl sleeping
on a canvas bed, a couple talking and the canvas bed being folded up.

"Ah Tee said, no matter how bright she is, we'll never be able to send her to college!"

She didn't understand what those words meant.

Many many years have passed.

On May 9th, 2014, that "little girl" was hooded by her advisor at a doctoral hooding ceremony in Syracuse University.

Education fulfilled its promise in her life.

Yin Wah Kreher, doctoral hooding, 5/9/2014

Yin Wah Kreher with Marjorie DeVault, 5/9/2014

爸妈，虽然当天你们无法在场，我想您俩一定会很开心看到这些照片, 也希望在远方的你们会藉此感到骄傲. 我想要你们知道，你们永远在我心中是最重要的。感谢你们这么多年来，这么辛苦地养育我，培养我，默默地支持我。我只能说，在这一刻，我无法找到恰当的词汇来表达我对你们深深的感谢和爱。我会永远的感激你们和思念你们。女儿，燕华。

Smiles of a Summer Day

[Blog title inspired by Stephen Sondheim's A Little Night Music, adapted from Ingmar Bergman's Smiles of a Summer Night]

Cellphone Shot by Yin Wah Kreher along Pennsylvania highway, May 10, 2014.
This image shows a young man playing a saxophone, seated on a bench on a woody rest-stop
along the Pennsylvania highway.

Moments of beauty and curiosity have ways of showing up when they are the least likely qualities I'm holding in my heart. Driving home from Syracuse University, we stopped to unfurl(?) -- our folded bodies contorted within our sedan for some hours and to have a bite. Walking into the woody rest area, I espied a saxophone player. As the music notes floated out into the woods, I was thankful -- for this time of refreshing at a highway rest-stop.

Curiosity, yes (What a story one could write using this picture prompt!). But more so, gratitude.

What's normal?

Source: http://exercisebeforeknitting.com/

"Normal is nothing more than a cycle on a washing machine." -Whoopi Goldberg

Mere Mortals

I heard from a friend that a reputable researcher was gravely ill. We came to the same conclusion, "So what is the point of striving?" :) We can say his research will live on and impact the lives of those who follow in his footsteps. Watching a loved one vanish through Alzheimer's over time taught me how important it is to keep a work-life balance and to see life as a series of cherished experiences. Whatever I spend a lot of time on must be something that matters. As my diss chair says, why do a dissertation just because you have to do something for the three letters? Do what you love and love what you do (for the most part) or move on. Hugs to my friends reading this! Be well.

Next Steps in Arts Think Tank: A Milestone Part 1

I had an enriching time at Milwaukee, learning and soaking in the experience of watching something profound unfold and transform everyone present -- both the actors and the audience. Several people wept just talking about it. A-ma-zing. I'm grateful to be a part of history in the making. Yes, I do believe Dr. Basting's research will mark a turning point in the use of arts for public health issues. This experience also marks a turning point in my doctoral journey. It's a confirmation, a feeling I get that my dissertation topic is going to lead me to a future career where I can make a difference in society.

I thank my project team for giving me the privilege to be there. I don't recall mentioning how my committee has played a major role in my growth as a doctoral/research student. M has taught me much about qualitative research. R shares resources and advice on my dissertation writing. Mi is a model of talent and perseverance. All three of them, M, R and Mi have by their examples, modeled for me a sterling example of authentic collaborative research. The project team chipped in for this trip, together with the UWM Foundation. I'm also sponsored for the ASL course. I don't look back at what I don't have but what I have. What do I have? A supportive committee and another stab at a fulfilling and meaningful dissertation.

I had been reading Dr. Catherine Jordan's article on community-based research for awhile and didn't realize I was in her presence until the morning of my departure. I'm so privileged to have had the opportunity to talk to her on the way to Luther Manor. She sat next to me and chatted with me so patiently. She said she has been a speaker at AEA. The first night before dinner, she had asked if I would be interested in going to Whole Foods to get snacks. But it was too near closing time when we were done with dinner.  I'm glad we had the chance to talk on the bus.

Dr. Randolph Rowe also talked to me and shared with me his wisdom, having guided many a student in doctoral dissertations. He also sent me some articles that will be relevant for my dissertation. Thank you, Randy!

Resilience

Source: Amazon.com

In an interview with Elizabeth Edwards, Matt Lauer read the last paragraph in Edwards’ book aloud:

“I have said before that I do not know what the most important lesson is that I will ever teach my children, Cate and Emma Claire and Jack. I do know that when they are older and telling their own children about their grandmother, they will be able to say that she stood in the storm, and when the wind did not go her way — and surely it has not — she adjusted her sails.”

He asked her if that’s still the message she hopes people come away with.

“It is,” she said. “I hope that it is when bad things happen, you have the strength to face them.”

Beautiful. Edwards' Book is entitled: Resilience: Reflections on the Burdens and Gifts of Facing Life’s Adversities.