A Possible Application from my OMDE 610 Class

In a discussion at work yesterday I suggested the idea that we establish blogs based on a set of predetermined themes relevant to a segment of our workforce.  Security would be maintained through the permissions feature of blogspot, and highly confidential subjects would be excluded from the topics.  The initial target audience would be the Office of Human Resources and the blogs would be automatically linked to the OHR "family" Facebook page.  I expect to make this recommendation to the communications committee within the next few weeks.

The mission of the U. S. Securities and Exchange Commission is to protect investors, maintain fair, orderly, and efficient markets, and facilitate capital formation. If you are interested in further information about the Commission and its employment opportunities, check out this video produced by SEC University.

I Did It, I Did It!

E-Learning as a Higher Calling

In one of our conference postings this last week there was mention of a fellow student's challenge in managing the interaction between a Palestinian and Israeli participant.  This post caused me to be reminded of an earlier OMDE classmate who had been a recent expatriate from Iran.  This expatriate and I started to build a cyber-based friendship and as a part of our discussions she described the repression of women in Iran.  She went on to talk about some of her challenges as a female in that country, including her difficulty in gaining an education.  E-learning was her only source of education while living in the country and it gave her at least a limited opportunity to learn.  As a white, middle-income white male who grew up in a rather protected suburb of Washington, D.C., I found the challenges she faced both disconcerting and yet also gratifying that should could have at least partially met her learning goals through e-learning programs.  E-learning has both positive and negative attributes, and certainly one of its greatest strengths is its ability to reach many who are underprivileged in our world.  While she provided a powerful testament to the value of e-learning, I recognize its applicability to a far broader range of learners throughout the world. 

In conclusion, I provide here a short video of the challenges Iranian women face today.

Is Theory Ethereal?



I started my first week of study in OMDE 610 with a rather skeptical view of the value of theory to become an e-learning practitioner.  I must admit, I still harbor some of those feelings.  But then I started reviewing the posts as a part of our conference discussions and reading the chapters by Ally and Anderson and began to question my stance.  Could theory actually have value to a practioner, especially in today's society when the expectations for immediate product development are so pressing?  And then I remembered an old story about leadership, and what it actually means when compared to that of a manager.  No, I don't remember the source; but I do remember the story.  It goes something like this:

There once was a manager of men whose job it was to build a road through a deep and inpenitrable jungle.  He worked his men hard, organized all his resources to ensure rapid progress, and within a month had made tremendous mileage through the forest.  One day one of his men came to him and said, but sir, look ahead, what do you see?  What they saw was a mountain range that was in the wrong direction compared to their target for the road project.  They had been productive; but had gone in the totally wrong direction.

While this story illustrates that you can be very productive as a manager, that doesn't necessarily mean that you will be successful.  It takes leadership, the ability to create an accurate vision as well as the fortitude to get others to carry it out that really measures success.

I share this story because of the value theory can bring to the leader as well as the practioner.  Doesn't the study of theory, and especially the understanding of theory and its appropriate application to a particular situation, offer the individual an incredibly important tool?  I think it does.  As my mother used to sometimes say to me when I was a child, "Chris, sometimes you've got to see the forest for the trees."

So have our conference postings helped me better understand the value of theory?  Yes.  The readings have certainly added to my appreciation of theory.  Perhaps as a capstone to this post I'll add this quote from Albert Einstein from our readings, "It is the theory that decides what we can observe." 

OK, OK, I think I'm beginning to get this.  :)