Skills for Professional Development GEN 300 Workshop #2

1. University of PhoenixGeneral Studies 300Skills for Professional DevelopmentJackie A. Giuliano, Ph.D.Instructor

2. "Until one is committed, there is hesitancy, the chance to draw back, always ineffectiveness. Concerning all acts of initiative (and creation), there is one elementary truth, the ignorance of which kills countless ideas and splendid plans: that the moment one definitely commits oneself, then providence moves too. All sorts of things occur to help one that would never otherwise have occurred. A whole stream of events issues from the decision, raising in one's favor all manner of unforeseen incidents and meetings and material assistance, which no [one] could have dreamed would have come [their] way. Whatever you do, or dream you can, begin it. Boldness has genius, power and magic in it. Begin it now." Goethe

3. Skills for Professional DevelopmentGEN 300Workshop #2

4. Workshop 2 Agenda • Analyze and identify personal learning styles. • Research Skills • Utilize online search techniques. • Team Skills • Recognize the team development process. • Written Communication Skills • Identify the steps of the writing process. • Identify writing mechanics. • Demonstrate an understanding of University of Phoenix resources • (e.g., the Writing Lab).

5. Due in Workshop 2 • Read Chapters 5 and 6 in Peak Learning • Complete the learning styles exercises and Learning Style Profile in Chapter 5 of “Peak Learning." • Read “Getting Started” in Tools for Teams • Read “Goal Setting and Time Management” in Keys to Success • Read University of Phoenix materials: “Essay Writing,” “Boolean Basics,” “The Writing Process” • Team Charter • Little, Brown Search Team Activity • The following parts of the Course Paper are due: • a) Outline, b) Preliminary bibliography c) Section 1 Draft

6. Did You Plan Ahead Early? • Most of you expressed “time management” as one of your fears and obstacles • the first step in managing your time is learning to control your time and responsibilities through planning and scheduling. How many of you: • carefully went over the materials to determine what was due next week and budgeted your time accordingly? • planned (using your datebook) when you would do the work? • waited until the weekend and then said “oh my God!”

7. A word of advice • I asked everyone to send me an email in the next day or two checking in and supplying me with your address for class communication • Most of you didn’t do it. I got a few by the weekend. • When an instructor gives you an assignment, DO IT! • Lack of response suggests • Couldn’t care less • Wasn’t / Doesn’t listen

8. How Did You Practice/Apply The Techniques • for school • home • workplace • other • what was your experience?

9. Team Meeting • Turn in Learning Team Logs • Turn in Learning Team Charter. • How did it go? • Location • Dynamics • Roles / Responsibilities

10. Importance of Writing Skills • What do you know about writing? • What do you want to learn about writing?

11. Group Exercise • Interview each of your classmates and find out what they learned about their learning style • Use the Recall Pattern style of note taking • 5 minutes or so per interview and then switch • Then find another classmate • What kind of learner are they? • How are they going to apply what they learned?

12. PAPER Thoroughness of Research Organization Appropriate mix of theory and practice Complexity and Depth appropriate to audience Well reasoned Good use of language PRESENTATION Use of handouts and visual aids Organization and preparation by presenters Adherence to time constraints Complexity and Depth appropriate to audience Allocation of responsibility to group members Paper/Presentation Evaluation Criteria

13. Course Paper THIS ASSIGNMENT REPLACES ALL INDIVIDUAL PAPERS ASSIGNED IN THE COURSE MODULE. • Prepare a 2500 – 3000 word paper on the topic of adult learning for the course. • The work should be based on the textbooks, class discussions, personal experience, and research. You will develop the paper in stages based on the writing process we discuss in class in order to model a process that you can use for all your academic and professional work. • The paper will have four sections: • Reasons for Returning to School and Personal Goals • Personal Strengths, Weaknesses, and Learning Style • Adult Learning Theory • How all of the above contributes to helping you make a difference in the world

14. The Writing Process • Think about what you are going to write • understand the problem thoroughly • brainstorm (mind map or recall pattern) • initial research • more brainstorming • more research • 30% to 40% spent in this stage • Outlining • putting your brainstorming into form • Writing • Reading and Revising • Edit • Publish

15. Characteristics of Good Writing • Good Introduction with clearly stated purpose • Focused • Clearly defined point of view • Clearly stated assumptions • Link between theory and practical experience • Well reasoned • Relevant / Organized • Consider the Reader/Audience • Well researched and referenced • Use of Standard Writing Conventions

16. Learning Team Issues and Challenges • What is the value of diversity in a learning team? • How does the learning team impact the way you learn? • How will your learning team experience be applicable in the workplace? • What are some of the challenges that will surface?

17. It is normal for all newly formed Learning Teams to go through an adjustment process • Forming, storming, norming, and performing • Barriers to the group process • Groupthink • Constructive vs. destructive conflict • Conflict resolution • Task and interpersonal roles • The various roles people play • (mediator, leader, etc.)

18. Discussion Questions • What is your team environment at your workplace? • What role(s) do you typically play within a team? • Will you have to change your style to be effective in your Learning Team, or will your style be useful?

19. Active Learning • Before the learning experience or event • do reading • decide what you want to learn; have goals • develop questions • During the learning activity • be active, not passive • use mind mapping or recall pattern notes • question and discuss • be thinking ahead:“how do I need to use this” • After the learning activity • review your notes; recopy if necessary • what questions do you have • what assignments are due next time

20. Sample Paper Evaluation • Writing Evaluation Scoring Guide

21. Everyone has a different learning style • It is important to understand your own learning style • as well as the styles of others. • Test 1: Peak and valley learning times. • There are three benefits to knowing your peak and valley times for learning and to adjusting your learning efforts accordingly: • You will enjoy learning more when you are in the mood for it. • You will learn faster and more naturally because you will not be fighting your body's resistance due to fatigue or discomfort. • You will make better use of your valley times by doing things other than trying to learn.

22. Test 2: Bottom Up or Top Down? • Bottom up, stringers: • Likes to tackle new topics by first laying a solid foundation. Prefers to master specific details before moving on to more general concepts. • Top down, groupers: • Prefers to gain an overall perspective before filling in the details. Looks for big ideas, basic concepts, and organizing principles.

23. Test 3: Four Learning Quadrants • Style A: • Characteristics include a devotion to identifying the facts, a logical approach to problem solving, an affinity for reducing complex issues into simple decisions, and distrust of intuition and emotion. • Style B: • Characteristics include a reliance on procedure, order, and stability, and an affinity for turning answers into actions rather than into questions and theories as A types do. Style B people are more verbal and intuitive than A types. • Style C: • Characteristics include a sensitivity to moods, atmospheres, and attitudes; an awareness of things as a process rather than pieces of information; and logic and theory taking precedence over feeling and experiencing. • Style D: • Characteristics include a predisposition for originality, ambiguity, and surprise; enjoying challenges; doing well in chaos; and resistance to coming to final decisions.

24. Test 4: Personal Intelligences • Linguistic: • Characteristics include thinking in words, good auditory skills, enjoyment of language, and learning best by hearing and/or seeing the words. • Logical-mathematical: • Characteristics include conceptual thinking, an affinity for relationships and patterns, enjoyment of the computer, and liking brainteasers that require reason. • Spatial: • Characteristics include an affinity for images and pictures, such as puzzles, and an ability to draw and design things accurately.

25. More Multiple Intelligences • Musical: • Characteristics include remembering melodies and liking music in the background while learning. • Bodily-kinesthetic: • Characteristics include processing information through body sensations, communicating through gestures, the need to move to learn, and learning well by association with emotional responses. • Intrapersonal: • Characteristics include shyness in groups, awareness of goals and dreams, and motivation to do well. • Interpersonal: • Characteristics include being a socializer, enjoying games with others, and demonstrating empathy.

26. “New “ Intelligences • Added by Howard Gardner in his 1999 book, • “Intelligence Reframed, Multiple Intelligences for the 21st Century” • Naturalist Intelligence • Expertise in recognizing and classifying many species; extensive knowledge of the living world; talent for interacting subtly with various living creatures. • Spiritual Intelligence • The potential to explore the nature of existence (Cosmologists, religious leaders, philosophers). • Existential Intelligence • The capacity to locate oneself with respect to the furthest reaches of the cosmos and the related capacity to locate oneself with respect to such concepts as the significance of life, the meaning of death, the fate of worlds, love of another, or immersion in art.

27. Online Search Techniques • Search Engines • Boolean searches • Wildcard searches • Discussion Questions • When would a Boolean search be most appropriate? • When would you use a Wildcard search? • How might different learning styles approach online searching differently? • Integrating Question • How do different learning styles come into play with team interaction?

28. Paraphrasing: The author’s thoughts in your words1 • Read the original carefully • Substitute words and rearrange sentences • Ask yourself about precise meanings • Check the meaning of your paraphrase against the original • Identify the source you are paraphrasing • 1Bazerman, Charles, The Informed Writer, Houghton Mifflin Company: Boston, 1989.

29. Example • The original: • “Four score and seven years ago, our fathers brought forth on this continent a new nation, conceived in liberty and dedicated to the proposition that all men are created equal.” A. Lincoln • The paraphrase: replacing synonyms • Eighty-seven years before today, our political and spiritual ancestors created in North America a country that did not exist before, thought of in freedom and devoted to establishing the principle that all people are born with the same rights. • The paraphrase: restructuring the sentence • In creating a country that did not exist before, in North America eighty-seven years before today, our political and spiritual ancestors were thinking of how to make freedom a reality. Their creation was devoted to establishing the principle that all people are born with the same rights.

30. To explain simply To interpret the text To restate the case Exercises Judge not, that ye be not judged (Jesus Christ) Pleasure is brief as a flash of lightning, or like an autumn shower, only for a moment (Buddha) Nothing can harm a good man, either in life or after death (Socrates) We have a terrible confusion about our place in nature (Ynestra King) When to paraphrase

31. Knowledge Is Messy! • You can’t always find what you are looking for. • What you find may be contradictory or confusing. • You may uncover wonderful surprises and find ideas and information you had no idea existed. • When you read one book, it all seems clear. • But when you check out a second author, you have to make sense of the diverse statements you will find.

32. Achieving a Synthesis • Frame the subject • Gather material from varied sources • Fitting the parts together • Unifying the style

33. Due Next Time • Read Chapter 7 in Peak Learning • Read “Critical and Creative Thinking” in Keys to Success • Read “Getting to Results” in Tools for Teams • Research Skills Activity • Note Taking Exercise • Course Paper: • Draft of Section 2/Rewrites of Section 1 • Learning Team Charter • with Dispute Resolution Strategies

34. Recall Pattern

35. Mind Map