Leadership Challenge #7

Module 13 ldc Steps 1, 2 and 3 on provocative question #7

Provocative Question #7 (LdC)

What does the literature suggest we should do to make our conversations about research meaningful to use as change agents/action researchers? Include Wenger and one other author.

The research suggests that in order to make research meaningful, we need to do a couple of things. First, we need to be working in collaborations and groups (such as communities of practice) in order to gain insight about an issue and be able to ask the right questions. When I think of traditional research, I would identify this as a needs assessment. The other thing that that research suggests is that we remove our previously held biases from the creation and analysis of our research. Another thing that I found quotes about was about legitimacy. Researchers needs to have a level of legitimacy among those they are researching. I think back to when I was in the Peace Corps. I had to meet the village elders and other leaders and have their approval before being able to do anything, including moving in.

Step 1. Prepare for an on-line Conversation

Quote/ideas from the book; applications/instances from your workplace setting	Page number
We don't usually think of the experience of meaning as a duality because the interplay of participation and reification remains largely unproblematic....It is this tightening of reification and participation that makes conversations such a powerful form of communication.	62
Competence may drive experience...Experience may drive competence.	138
...by taking advantage of partiality enabled by mutual engagement and not requiring everyone to share in the understanding of everything; if the worksheet was transparent to only one person to whom others could have access, that was good enough for all.	139
Peripherablity  and legitimacy are achievements that involve both a community and its newcomers and that do no presuppose a generational encounter free of conflicts...this perspective integrates the generational encounter into the processes of negotiation by which a practice evolves.	101
The job of brokering is complex. It involves processes of translation, coordination, and alignment between perspectives.	109
The notion of ownership does not imply that there is a single meaning attached to an event, action, or artifact...implies the plurality of perspectives that are involved in the negotiation of meaning.	201
Since I am beginning my cycle 0 interviews this week, seeking to identify meaningful research is definitely on my mind. I discussed with one person (associate dean, her interview is later this week) about how to ask appropriate questions that will fill a gap or the need for student retention.	Workplace
Since the election this week, I have heard and been a part of many conversations to talk about the future of public health, health sciences, nutrition, and other health related fields. My co-workers are fearful of losing grant monies and opportunities due to lack of funding with the upcoming administration. The talk turned to how to make the most of the funding and thus the research.	Workplace

Step 2. Hold an on-line Conversation

After participating/viewing the “fishbowl” conversation record notes here (below) about your responses to your peers or new thoughts based on their postings.  Be certain your notes here are comprehensive, as were your responses to peers. (If you participate as a “fish,” in the fishbowl your notes, which should be entered below, can be much more succinct.) (This space expands to accommodate your writing.)

William - Focus on communication piece. page 269, if an institutional setting of learning does not offer new forms of ID that is meaningful forms of membership and ownership, it will reinforce outside meanings and ownership. Fullan and Scott, Turnaround, ownership like learning is best created through two way communication, inviting people who will be impacted with focus on results. All members need to claim ownership and engage participation.

Randy - building a team in a student services environment, ensure we are pulling in varying experiences. One would do well to be suspicious of any training scheme that is purely extractive in nature. By this I mean schemes that extract requirements, descriptions, artifacts, and other elements out of practice, transform them out of institutional artifacts such as course, manuals, procedures and the like and then redeploy them...ignores effect on learning. Being thoughtful and intentional with our young people, look at everyone's experiences and look at the research in the context in which we will be doing research. People partially construct their own realities, filter experiences through existing constructs. People come with background biases.

Toya - page 220, What makes information knowledge, what makes it empowering is the way in which it can be integrated within an identity of participation. When information does not build up to an identity of participation, it remains alien, literal, unnegotiable. Her PoP is regarding building teachers' identities and building those up. What is suggests regarding our conversations about research, keep an open mind about it, it becomes more valuable like buy in. Outside quote - Hammond page 171, If universities are to continue to contribute to the education of teachers they need to pursue ideals of practice and truth building, honoring practice with conjunction of research and experience, reach beyond their personal boundaries. Need to be active with our research.

Ruby - making research meaningful, focus and pull what we need, need to share research, try to get them to understand what it means to them. Page 250, with respect to newcomers, it may be better to interspace moments of information sharing with moments of peripheral engagement and practice, download all the constant training and call that learning. How to influence people from intrapersonal to interpersonal dialogues. Giving small tidbits of information

Brennan - page 275, in order to combine engagement, imagination, and alignment, learning communities cannot be isolated. They must use the world around them as a learning resource and be a resource for the world. Our contexts, local and larger, research links these together.
 

Step 3. Determine your Leadership Challenge/new leadership challenge

Based on your own quotes/ideas from Wenger, your workplace experiences, and new insights you developed as you reflected on your peers’ work, what behavior do you want to experiment with/try out for your leadership challenge in the next few days? (Write one sentence.)

 I would like to bring up at the next faculty town hall meeting (lead by my manager for our school, Monday November 14 afternoon) the way in which we can expect our funding may be impacted by the changing of the presidential administration and how we can engage our research.

Step 4. Implement and Reflect

I have brought up my thoughts at the town hall meeting. Quite frankly, it turned into a forum to vent fears, frustrations, and other opinions. I do not know if it necessarily accomplished and went in the direction I was hoping, but I see that it was useful. I think people needed a place to be heard and it formed a lot of bonds between us. We formed more of a community and relationship with each other (building identity and investment). This can be used in the future for other explorations, and even revisiting this topic later on.