Activity 7.1 - reflections on professional values - where do they come from?

I'm sensing that the work of developing a code of ethics or principles for each profession as something that took time.. that it's really a profession's response to ensuring the public good is protected. The need is to meet minimum public expectations of a profession so that as a profession (and as a professional) they gain / maintain the trust and confidence of the public. They bolster their credibility and respect in the eyes of the public.

Keywords - trust / confidence
leading to
Keywords - credibility / respect

A little bit of speculation here but I don't imagine that such trust and confidence for current professions came over night. I imagine a series of occasions / events / even misfortunes where such trust or confidence may have been tested .. and the profession addressed these through the further refinement of their guiding principles and ethics. This was done as a means to protecting the "profession". In other words, defining the public good that each profession seeks to address is key to winning the trust and confidence of the public it seeks to serve. This becomes the means to defining these principles and ethics for each profession.

That may be easier to identify for an engineer or doctor, perhaps more challenging for an educator but I sense much more difficult for an elearning practitioner.. especially when there isn't much of a history to the "profession".

New questions emerge out of this...

What public interest or service is being addressed by elearning "professionals" that the public deems to be important .. that the public needs to be confident in leaving to elearning professionals to address?

• Perhaps efficient, effective, judicious use of technology in realizing learning outcomes .. cause for reflection.

What about defining the public? Is that public broadly defined or more focussed / specialized / specific?

• The public served may be educators, administrators, managers. What expertise are they seeking? .. cause for more reflection.

Reflection - Activity 3.1. My strengths & weaknesses

What have I learned about my strengths and weaknesses?

Weaknesses?
On the whole I'm most vulnerable in a few key areas... researching new developments, issues and academic findings stands out as the most pressing one. When I think about it, I'm more of a "handson" learner .. and thus I tend to avoid it or at the very least only "do" it when something becomes topical enough that it requires learning more about it in formal ways. I'm not one to devote time to do it on a regular basis (and I'm now really curious how others address the same need for it) but the exercise of doing a detailed review of my job description made it pretty obvious that my current strategy won't be enough. I also realized the importance of promoting effective community building - something that I highly value and yet I haven't committed time and resources to learning more on how to effectively realize it in ages and certainly not much in the way of realizing it online.

It's now looking pretty obvious that in addressing these two shortcomings, my game as an Education Technology Specialist is raised .. and it should help feed the other "stronger cards in my hand".

Strengths?
I really wanted to avoid declaring myself an expert of anything. I'm not fond of the term because I don't consider it something that anyone should really be"annointing themselves with. Perhaps with the formal recognition of my peers on the same topic, I would feel more comfortable using the term.. but that hasn't happened anywhere often enough nor with much fanfare for me to do it. I've only learned since being hired how I have a reputation for making and using learning objects effectively. As a result, I managed to convince myself that perhaps I could be bold enough to apply the term "expert" for my effective use of technology / projects in teaching and learning. But only after carefully reviewing it and even still, I'm bound to be brown nosed by someone else out there. My grounds? A now 20 year period of relatively uninterrupted experience with and increased understandng of the use of technology in teaching and learning.

The matter of comparing myself with my peers brought up a number of other interesting problems and unearthed another set of issues. Our rather small department hardly gives me much of anyone to compare myself with and to go outside the University, I'd be hard pressed to know others of our ilke who I could meet to compare notes. Which raises the issue of professional "isolation" and the need to make a conscious effort to overcome this. Thus the only really viable option seems to be online communities. This theme is emerging more and more.

Coaching - Exercise - 20 years forward/ backward

the 20 years forward .. the 20 years looking back
how do you see yourself?

• financially self sufficient
  
• self made person
• learned
• respectful of the needs of others
  

what have you accomplished?

• elearning expert
• good relationship with my wife and children
• a network of face to face and online friends

what are you doing now?

• volunteering in the commuity (gallery guide? small service and maintenance for seniors? educating online?)
• working in the third world (??)
  
• enjoying my accomplishments by sharing my expertise with others
• continuing to nurture my interests & sharing them with others who are interested

what have you learned to be important?

• people are more important than information
• understanding the situation before "reacting" to a situation
• be at peace within yourself - ironically "fight" for the time required to get that peace - running, meditating, reading

what would you want to say to Jim now - 20 years ago?

• continue to commit time to those interests that you have ... but find a balance
  
• time will begin to seem more and more a finite resource
  
• maintaining & protecting one's health may begin to become a higher priority
  
• relax - try to play tennis, ice hockey; try to appreciate the gifts that others have .. and encourage them to explore & share them
• enjoy life more - enjoy others, enjoy with others, smell the rose
• explore - always be open to learning
• value relationships - family, friends, etc.

Coaching - How do I often manifest these CORE VALUES?

building community

• Abu Dhabi falcons work as coach, fund raiser
• creating / sharing resources (i.e. learning objects)
• general respect shown to people of all races, creeds & religions

perserverence

• my studies (formal and informal) in the use of IT
• investing strategies

achievement

• my work meets the needs of others
• my work is perceived as valued by others

Coaching - CORE VALUES identified

Via a telephone conversation with "life coach" Deb MacAdam, I was able to identify what I deem to be my most important values or "core values".

Core values (values that I highly value, appreciate and respect if seen in others)

• building community
  
• perserverence
• achievement

building community is realized through

• identifying / finding a common purpose or need
• serving others
• leading others to address these needs

perserverence is realized through

• not giving up
• being driven by the value / importance of the goal

achievement is realized through

• courage
• love of "not knowing"
• leading from the back