Masters in Adult Education

Advanced Certificate in Training of Trainers

Vol. 3, No. 5, April, 2000                                                     A Bi-Monthly Newsletter                                                     Roger Hiemstra, Editor

Spring is Around the Corner!

We have survived another winter. It felt like my Term II Thursday night class had snow or icy driving conditions every week (although we did have a few good nights). On the other hand, Janet and I had better cross-country skiing this season than the last three years combined. A few of you also snuck in a trip to warmer climes some time during the term. I believe one of the reasons we are tested with harsh weather is so we can really appreciate those flowers, butterflies, and other spring delights. Have a great warm weather season!! Rog

Speaking of Spring…

By now you no doubt are making plans for the spring and summer in terms of courses. You have the Spring, 2000, schedule and the summer schedule will soon be at your door. We have a great set of courses in both sites, so contact a faculty member or advisor if you need assistance in choosing correct courses. The web page has scheduling information and syllabi for most courses, including the various pre-reading requirements for our concentrated summer courses.

A Successful AERC Conference

Elmira College was well represented at the Penn State Adult Education Research Conference in March. Students Peg Birmingham, Sue Cotter, and Sherry Spencer, faculty Norb Henry and Rog Hiemstra, Deans Ron Sundberg and Gina Bisagni enjoyed many excellent sessions, good camaraderie, and an opportunity to network. Cold weather did not prevent us experiencing a good conference. A record attendance of 231 made for great dialogue. It always feels good to stimulate the mind and this conference was full of great ideas, new knowledge, and an opportunity to receive inspiration for our own research.

The best of all things is to learn. Money can be lost or stolen, health and strength may fail, but what you have committed to your mind is yours forever. ~ L. L'Amour ~

2nd Annual T/T Dialogue

The second annual Training of Trainer's dialogue and luncheon is April 15. T/T students from both sites gather on campus for a final wrap-up day with faculty members Ted Pietrzak and Barb Walkley. They all attend this luncheon and everyone else is invited to join, too. AED Masters and T/T alum, Jim Henion, Director of Consulting Services, CRI (Co-operative Resources International) is the keynoter. He markets, supervises, and helps provide training/staff development within the company as well as other agriculture-related organizations. One of his specialties is integrating work and life. Jim notes the Masters and T/T certificate were instrumental in his company establishing the consulting services arm of CRI last year and naming him to head it. He will speak about "Staying On--But Building Options." Come celebrate the successes of our T/T completers, hear a great presentation, and network with colleagues. To register for the noon-1:30 luncheon, contact Sue Carboni, Office of Continuing Education (607-735-1825 or continuinged@elmira.edu). Tickets are $10/person for anyone not currently enrolled in T/T courses.

Speaking of Penn State, did you know that state's highest point is lower than Colorado's lowest point?

Tri-State Retreat!

The 2000 adult education Tri-State Retreat will be September 22-24 at Camp Arnot south of Ithaca. A great opportunity to meet Adult Education faculty and graduate students from New York, New Jersey, and Pennsylvania. Great fun, great program, and a relaxing weekend. Put it on your calendar and let's have a big Elmira College contingent.

Hi Tech vs. Hi Touch: Impressions of a Human Learner

(Ed. Note: This is a shorten version of an article by student Holly Haines. To see the full article go to home.twcny.rr.com/hiemstra/holly.html Your articles are always welcome and encouraged.)

In my AED 6000 course, we conducted class via Computer Mediated Conversations (CMC) one week. With ongoing technological advancement and adult education enrollment increases, a union of these two trends seems right. But, resistance lurks below the surface.

CMC can be carried out in many forms. In our class we used email as the vehicle. Many students shared candidly, as did Roger Hiemstra. Here are some pros and cons of our experience.

Pros:

• Everyone was able to contribute to the discussion asynchronously (individually and at their own pace).
• The choice of what and when to contribute was not inhibited by other class discussion or at the mercy of class schedules.
• The depth of discussion varied widely as a result of all students contributing in a manner that was very self-directed.
• The conversation wasn't controlled by those comfortable speaking orally, leaving others less comfortable in the background.
• The energy created was dynamic even if it resulted from resistance to change and gaining comfort with new learning modes.

Cons:

• Many students shared clear learning preferences as depending on personal interactions found in the classroom.
• The organization of materials, student comments, and individual contributions was a difficult, time consuming process for many. This was mainly due to our using normal email, but software exists that enhances discussion and is more organizationally user friendly.
• Responding to comments by others required more thought via CMC than face to face conversation, where appropriate emotions can be seen and not guessed at across telecommunication lines.
• It was evident that many students were visual in learning style. Through email their ability to process their classmates' comments was hindered.
• It is a challenge for some to be succinct at a keyboard. Comments can turn into dissertations.

(Ed. Note: In AED 5220 during Term III, we study CMC in more detail and use regular CMC software).

Offering the pros and cons helps us all think about what the future holds. As adult education enrollments rise, there will be increasing demand for distance education opportunities. Future learners will most likely be more comfortable with technology as a learning tool. The question seems, will we?                Holly Haines

Congratulations & Best Wishes!

• We are all pulling for Vernita Bing who is battling cancer. She is back in classes and still plans to graduate in June. Go girl!!
• Alum Mary Lu Ghezzi is now a Neighborhood Advisor, Corinthian Foundation/ Wagon Wheels in Syracuse. She also is a Volunteer Consultant for Economic Security issues through AARP. Congratulations!
• Joni Koegel was promoted at Carrier to Procurement Card Administrator for handling domestic credit card sales. Okay!!
• Alum Shelagh Cummings retires from BOCES in April and will sell Real Estate with Gallenger Better Homes and Gardens. Keep her in mind in the future.

Let us know your achievements, family news, etc. so we can share in your life happenings.

Tips, Tools, and Techniques

Here are some little gems of possible value:

• MIKEY'S FUNNIES provides almost daily funny ideas or tools that you could use in your presentations, writing efforts, etc. To subscribe see www.MikeysFunnies.com. It is easy to unsubscribe if you don't like it.
• EXECUTIVE BOOK SUMMARIES provides 8-pg. summaries of most books executives might read each year. Contact Soundview (800-521-1277 or www.summary.com).
• Use a modem but only have one line, here is a potentially valuable phone service. Ask your phone company if they have "call forward on busy," a service that calls forward through an 800 no. to an answering machine. The service then rings through your speakers to tell you there is a message and you can listen without going off line.
• Improve your immunity with a daily dose of diary! A study from SMU shows that writing about stressful events may prevent illness by reducing stress. Now you know why many professors recommend journal or diary writing. To read more go to kc.realage.com/kc12340820.3728.0.2150.
• HUMOR YOUR AUDIENCE is a service that provides New Yorker cartoons online at www.Mira.com. Useful for brochures, training materials, etc. Check the web or phone 978-739-9022.

Book Review

Osborn, J. D., & Moran, L. (1999). The new self-directed work teams: Mastering the challenge (2nd Ed.). New York: McGraw-Hill. 385 pages. This is a nice update of their 1990 edition. It is not self-directed learning in quite the same way we study the topic in AED 5250. However, they do provide a good rationale and some very practical information on forming and using productive teams that employ various self-directed principles. Aimed at organizations that readily use high-performance teams, the authors describe such useful issues as the philosophy of teams, successful team environments, and working relationships within teams. In today's rapidly changing workplace, this book helps teams deal with various dynamic situations while providing advice on how to sustain and even improve process and performance improvement. Now if we can just get such authors to fully recognize the value of self-directed learning in the workplace, what a combination that would make as we move into this new century.

• April 9-12, 2000, NYACCE State Conference at the Grand Nevelle Resort, Ellenville, NY. Contact Marilyn Howland, 516-773-1720 for details.
• April 12, 2000, Coalition for Adult and Continuing Education (CACE) breakfast meeting, 7:45-9:30 a.m., LeMoyne College: "Faculty development based on current research that challenges faculty." Email cnyastd@aol.com.
• April 14-16, 2000, Annual International Conference on the Positive Power of Humor and Creativity, Saratoga Springs, NY. See www.humorproject.com.
• April 27-28, 2000, ACHE Region II Conference, Rensselaerville, NY. Contact Sally Parr (607-753-4214 or parrs@cortland.edu).
• April 28-May 1, 2000, DEED2000, The 5th biennial conference on disability, Rochester. See their web site: www.DEED2000.org/deed.
• May 10, 2000, CACE meeting, 7:45-9:30 a.m., LeMoyne College: "Multiple perspectives on the application of seminal lifelong learning readings." Email cnyastd@aol.com.
• June 1-4, 2000, AERC 2000, Adult Education Research Conf., Univ. of British Columbia. See their web site: www.edst.educ.ubc.ca/aerc.
• June 8-10, 2000, 4th Annual ACEware Users' Conference, New Orleans. See www.aceware.com/public/conference1.htm for news.
• June 14-17, 2000, Adult Literacy and Technology Conference 2000, Washington, DC. See www.pbs.org/literacy/alt2000 for information.
• June 22-23, 2000, 2nd World Wide Congress on Self-Learning, Paris. See bose.cnam.fr/autoformation2000/english/page2en.htm.
• August 5-16, 2000, 4th Annual International Study Visit to India. Graduate credits are possible. See www.discover-india.com for news.
• September 22-24, 2000, Annual Tri-State Re-treat, Camp Arnot, near Ithaca, NY. More specific information will be in the next newsletter.
• October 14-17, 2000, 62nd Annual Meeting of ACHE, Myrtle Beach. See www.coastal.edu/learn/ache.
• October 26-28, 2000, 3rd International Transformative Learning Conference, Columbia University Teachers College. See www.TLConference.org/ for more information.
• November 12-18, 2000, National AAACE con-ference, Providence, RI. More news in June.

[Note: Send Roger professional conference or other notices you have so they can be included the next time.]

Megatrends and You!!

Know the best direction for your training efforts? Here are 7 megatrends likely to affect training (from Jo. of Cont. Higher Educ., Winter, 2000, and Training & Development, Nov., 1999):

1. Changing demographics - Our fundamental changes in the aging population, disintegration of the nuclear family, increasing societal diversity, increasing gap between the haves and havenots, etc. all signal a need for continual training and retraining, especially in the workplace.
2. Technology revolution - Technology has become such an essential part of society and created many new business opportunities. Through technology, training can be integrated into the workday, making it more relevant while reducing costs.
3. Globalization - Participating in the global economy is easier today through information technology. However, this means multilingual training is essential.
4. Branding - Companies are building brands through inclusiveness and accessibility. As organizations look to outside training providers, brand recognition becomes a factor in the decision making process.
5. Consolidation - Consolidation and mergers are here to stay. This requires a complete, comprehensive approach to training.
6. Outsourcing and privatization - Many organizations are expanding their network of suppliers, customers, etc. to provide needed competence when necessary. As this focus on core competence rises, training will be increasingly outsourced to high quality solution providers.
7. Training as a mission-critical function - Training is becoming more critical as low unemployment and fewer qualified workers become reality. Training professionals will be asked increasingly to demonstrate the effectiveness of their programs.

Brain Teaser

Here are some brainteasers either for yourself or use in a classroom. To see the answers, use home.twcny.rr.com/hiemstra/answers.html.

1. How can you arrange for two people to stand on the same piece of newspaper and yet be unable to touch each other without stepping off the newspaper?
2. How many 3-cent stamps are there in a dozen?
3. A rope ladder hangs over the side of a ship. The rungs are one foot apart and the ladder is 12 feet long. The tide is rising at 4 inches/hour. How long will it take before the first 4 rungs of the ladder are underwater?
4. Which would you rather have, a trunk full of nickels or a trunk half full of dimes?
5. Steve has 3 piles of sand and Mike has 4 piles of sand. If they put them all together, how many do they have?
6. In which sport are the shoes made entirely of metal?
7. If the United States Vice President should die, who would be president?
8. How can you throw a golf ball with all your might and, without hitting a wall or obstruction, have the ball stop and come right back to you?
9. Find the English word that can be formed from all these letters: PNLLEEEESSSS

It is a good thing to be rich and a good thing to be strong, but it is a better thing to be loved by many friends. ~ Euripdes ~

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AED REPORT is a newsletter for students and faculty involved in the Elmira College Graduate Program of Adult Education. The Editor is Roger Hiemstra. Please send any correspondence to him at 318 Southfield Dr., Fayetteville, NY 13066. His phone is (315) 637-0029; fax is (315) 637-0029. Email is rhiemstra@elmira.edu. The Web Page is http://home.twcny.rr.com/hiemstra or the back-up site is /. Your Elmira College contacts are Dr. Ronald Sundberg, Dean, Assistant Dean Dr. Gina Bisagni, and Graduate Advisor Joan Swanson. Their phone is (607) 735-1825; fax (607) 735-1150; email graduate@elmira.edu; address is Office of Continuing Education, Elmira College, One Park Place, Elmira, NY 14901. This newsletter is YOUR vehicle for networking, news, tips, and information. Its value is enhanced by your active support and involvement in reading it, contributing to it, and critiquing it.

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