Week 3 Reading – Art of Possibility Chap 5-8

I am in a season of the year that always comes back to haunt me (not in a bad way), but rather in reminding me how far I have come. Nine years ago on August 14, I was reading from the book “How Now Shall We Live” by Charles Colson. I was finishing up the section dealing with sin and evil with all the questions that are connected to those issues. One of the questions in particular is why would God even make the world if he being all knowing knew that evil and suffering would come into the world. The conclusion the author came to was that God judged that it was better to bring good out of evil then to suffer no evil at all. That the mystery of God wanting to be in relationship with us made it better to endure the pain of redeeming us than to never make us at all. Why would He do that? The only answer! Love. His desire to be in relationship with us was worth it to him to endure the pain of separation and see the suffering we, his created, would go through knowing that he would pay the price for us. After reading that I had to spend time worshipping the God who loves me.

Little did I know that I would have to hold onto that thought because the next morning when my fourth child was born my family and I would be entering into a time of great desperation, pain and suffering. The chapter in “The Art of Possibility” that reminds me of this time the most was “The Way Things Are”. My daughter was born with a heart defect that required surgery but required her to be a month older so that she would have a better chance of surviving due to her strength factor. But we couldn’t wait too long or complications of her condition would then begin to weaken her. We had to work through this balance because that was just the way things are when fighting for her life. The day finally came for her surgery, September 11, 2002, one year after. Oh well, that’s just the way things are. Maybe we could redeem the day. All went well with the surgery and she was in recovery but as we moved into the next day it became evident that her little body wasn’t able to with stand the shock that happen to her. Even though everything was tried, the balances needed inside her body could not be maintained and she died.

How now should we live is the question we faced! It was at this time that all the paths, highlighted in the chapter, one could go down when faced with a desire for wanting things the way they “should” have been or the strong impulse to escape, live in denial or blame started to present themselves. I tried all those but none of them lead me to the exit of my pain and that of my wife and children’s. We were like dry bones in the desert longing for water. Then the battles with second-guessing came. Should we have gone to another doctor even though he was the best (94% success rate with the condition that Sophia had)? Was there something we forgot to do or could have done better? These battles with all the conceptual realities were dangerous. They are a great example of the tension between the calculating self and the central self outlined in the chapter of “The Rule of Six” and elaborated in “The Way Things Are”. Instead of beating myself up with the calculating self by examining all of the endless conceptual realities I should have put my belief in trusting the physical reality of she was just too frail to withstand a shock that severe to her body. That is just the way things are. But the complete release of all that pain didn’t happen until my wife and I would read to each other passages from the bible that would speak deep to deep and soothe the soul because the word would speak to the central self of who we really are and the calculating self would have to take a back seat. One of our favorite passages was Isaiah 35 where it talks about streams in the desert that burst forth and brings the desert to blooming. That thought that answered why God would allow such suffering because he judged it better to bring good out of such pain then to never have had it at all makes me think I would rather have had one month with Sophia then to never had met her at all. I can now understand that kind of love. This is the flower that is blooming out of that is “the way things are” desert.

Week 2 – Free Post Blog – Wimba lessons on copyright

The wimba session for the second week stayed focused on the copy right issues while taking them to a deeper level. Surveying was done to see if recall of the general facts were remembered. Mostly the discussion stayed on the black and white of the concept because going down the road of the grey is really the domain of the lawyers and so often those arguments are so case specific the discussion could last forever. The most pertinent point was that copyright is about permission and not so much about what you do. If you have time to get permission for everything you want to use and it is granted and you pay whatever they might ask for using it and you have that agreement well documented, then you are good. The problem is no one has that kind of time or resource to pull that off. And who is to say you will obtain the permission you are seeking. In some cases you don't have to worry about that permission because you actually buy the permission when you buy the media.

There are also other situations when you can take your chances with the defensible position of fair use. No guarantees, however, if you stick closely to the fair use guidelines you shouldn't have to worry about legal action. Push the boundaries though and you might have to sweat some pressure from legal communication.

Now we all live in the "give it to me now" era so the creative commons solution allows conscientious creators to give the permission to use their work and to what extent by tagging the work with levels of permissions as it is published. This helps speed up the permission process and also relieves the headaches of managing requests of permission. I think it is a good idea and should be promoted by use creators of educational media.

So get ready to publish our AR projects and take our place in the educational leadership efforts to bring the educational institutions into the 21st century.

Week 2 Blog Comment #2 - Heidi Faber

Your blog post is refreshing because it shows how you are working through the reading and applying it to your situations. I had to laugh at your reaction to your neighbors being loud. I have a house full of 4 children ranging from 6 to 20 and I am glad we live in a house far enough from our neighbors due to the decibels that are created by them. So that is why I continue to push their education, challenge them to refinement and try to break them from selfish actions.

I hope the journey you are on right now brings possibilities that will enrich and benefit your life. Many times it is staying on the road less traveled to very end that makes the whole difference.

Heidi Faber’s post

Chapter 1. It's All Invented: How can we think outside the box we live in? What assumptions are we making that we're not aware that we are making? What might we invent that would give us other choices?

Chapter 1 seems to be talking about perspectives and how those perspectives vary from person to person. To answer the question how we can think outside the box we live in, I think a person must first leave their box. To think outside the box calls for a person to look at a situation from different perspectives. You can look at something and get an initial opinion, but to think outside the box you have to but yourself in the place of other people. But in order to look at a situation from another’s perspective, you need to have empathy and understanding of other people, opinions, situations, beliefs, etc… This opinion is demonstrated by the example in the text about the Me’en People who did not understand the purpose of a photograph. They did not have enough experience to understand the purpose from other’s perspectives. When it comes to assumptions, the books example of how even in science we sometimes have to look beyond the current “truth” and look at it from a different perspective to arrive at an all new truth.

When I read the practice questions, my thoughts ran to the people in my apartment complex. The assumptions I am making right now about these people revolve around how uneducated, unrefined, and selfish these people are for how little they care about their neighbors, their complex, and their own apartments. Yet, if I look beyond the fact they were particularly loud tonight, they are probably the same as anyone one else in any other neighborhood. Their habits main just seem worse because we leave so much closer than, say people who have their own homes.

Chapter 2. Stepping into a Universe of Possibility: We live in a world of measurements. The Zanders recommend that when we look at how different things appear we can see them as possibilities. How are your thoughts and actions a reflection of the measurement world?

My thoughts and actions, lately, seem to resemble a choose-your-own-adventure book. This past year, I had to measure my life and my career. I hated my job and where I lived; I wanted out. But, I had to measure the possible outcomes if I quit my job and moved away. I had limited money and no job lined up and no health insurance. The other addition to this equation was that I was single with 2 young kids. So I had to weight the positive and negative impacts of staying or going. Staying meant security with misery and more limited possibilities and leaving meant a whole world of possibilities. A bigger city with more art, culture, and career options, as well as a community with quite different perspectives than my old town could mean more success than I was finding back in Florida or it could wind up being an epic failure. Since choosing to move, and losing my security and giving up the life I hated (but was fairly set and predictable) I don’t know what the future holds, whether it be a year from now or even a week from now. Every new development forces me to measure the good verses the bad. I try to hypothesis possible outcomes of what would happen if I chose this way or that. For me, right now, all my options seem to be like Robert Frost’s less taken road.

Chapter 3. Giving an A: Giving Yourself an A.

The concept of giving student an A right from the start is intriguing and makes sense in certain circumstances, however, in reality the average student in an average public school would do absolutely nothing when told they had already received an A. The students in the example in the text wanted to be in that class and wanted to improve.

I can see how taking the anxiety out of assignments by giving A’s could increase student thought, but what about those that don’t care?

Chapter 4. Being a Contribution: Over the years, I’ve observed how people handle various situations in their lives. People who succeed do not have fewer problems than people who fail. It is how they perceive issues and how they react to situations that makes a difference. The purpose of this chapter was to help us look at how we can contribute in order to make a difference in the lives of others even if it’s only one person. How will I be a contribution today?

I loved this chapter! I have never been one who was on the competitive ladder of success and failure. As I have embarked on my new personal journey across the country in search of a new start, I am not looking for success in money or material possessions. I want to make a difference, a contribution, to my community. That is all I have ever wanted to do. That was why I got into this program. That is why I focus on the passions I do. I want to contribute by enhancing local communities and help bring the together. I loved this chapter because it put a name to what I have been doing most of my life. It is hard to be contributor in a success/failure world.

Week 2 Blog Comment #1 - Edwin Moy

Edwin Moy did a video blog that took him outside his comfort zone. Watch it below by following the link and then read my comments.


http://mindmemoy.blogspot.com/2011/08/wk-2-art-of-possibilities.html

@ Edwin Moy

Good job modeling what you learned. Even though you were outside your comfort zone you were focused on getting right to the important message you had to say. The way you delivered it gave clout to what you were saying. Your video blog stands as an example of finding new ways to push the boundaries of educating our students. When we show ourselves to be vulnerable and uneasy in how we present the course material but are making the statement that we are trying to connect through media they are comfortable with, we will be surprised at how they will be more likely to participate when we ask them to go outside their comfort zone and learn in a new way themselves. Keep stepping out. I think I might follow your lead and try something new on the next blog covering the 5-8 chapters in the “Art of Possibillity”. By the way, I noticed you didn’t have to do any editing. You were able to stream right on through the whole message. I might have to do more editing when I do it.

Week 2 Reading – Art of Possibility Chap 1-4

This book is dangerous! Why? Because, it does an excellent job of defining and inspiring the uses of creative practices. So why is that so dangerous? Well the focus is so much on the practice of creativity and how to do it and do it better that the purpose of creativity is put aside or takes a back seat to just the practice of it. So the danger of this book is its potential to be taken out of context of the bigger picture of life. Let me clarify with an example we EMDT students can understand. We are learning great techniques at Full Sail on how to use state of the art media to improve our delivery of education. The danger of focusing so much on the techniques is that we can miss out of the purpose of why we are educating in the first place and what is it that we want our students to learn. So it is with this book, when the practices of creativity become more of the priority then the purposes, the proper order of approach gets turned around.

For instance, the first chapter “It’s all invented” is a great way to examine your presuppositions to your outlook on life and prepare yourself to change, that which is only your ideas or your culture’s. The danger is that believing “ALL” is invented and treating it as such will undermine the truth of that which is created and the reason for which it was created. Of course the solution to this dilemma is quite simple. Just remember to place the context of this book’s teaching in it proper place as a tool for learning the process of examining our concept of the truth instead of elevating the process as the truth itself. It is in that way we can work with the idea that “It’s all Invented” and protect the truth that some things are created for a purpose.

With this approach it become beneficial to examine the measurement systems we use and determine which are healthy and which need to be removed. That choice can be made having the understanding that some measurement systems are in place for a reason. So when we have the grace to give ourselves and others an A, we can see it is something to live up to and live into, instead of saying I am an A now… I don’t have to do anything since I already have it. From this line of reasoning, we can now make it possible to become contributors to the life we live around us.

Week 1 – Free Post Blog – Wimba lessons

The first wimba session is helpful at presenting the whole course and all that is required. From the copyright issues, Lit review, AR website, abstract and leadership project, the information is very thorough in explaining the extent of the course work. What I took away from the session is that I need to jump on all the assignments very quick because you don't want to get behind in this month. I really liked the explanation of the difference between a research paper and a lit review. I wish it was explained as clearly the first time I heard about it. It would have save me some time with dealing with confusion. I would have had better focus in creating the synthesis early on.

I also like the focus of the leadership project and how it gets us to prepare our AR projects for presentations. This really prepares us for leadership positions in education. Of course the extra step of applying to present also present the challenge of taking it to the farthest point.

The one confusion I did have was the grading break down of percentages within percentages. I wonder if it would be simpler to just work out the percentages for each item as it pertains to the overall grade instead of the subcategories

Week 1 Blog Comment #2 - Christina Schraeder

Your post clearly shows the clash of the cultures with your question of what happens when you put technology into other cultures that don’t see commerce the way we do. The concept of copyright doesn’t settle well with certain cultures and in the end is ignored. Even the concept in this country was to protect people creative work for only a short time and then grew into protecting it into the next generation. I wonder what our country founder’s would think of how copyright has been extended out so far to benefit heirs or people that have even bought the rights. This to me would seem to be a clash of cultures itself only through time. As the world becomes smaller and smaller these clash will become more and more evident. Will this idea of copyright be one that is excepted world wide as the Western culture is sought after in developing countries or will it be lessened with the dominance of a country like China and its culture having a greater influence world wide. Time will tell.

Christina Schraeder’s post

After read-watching the plethora of information about copyright laws, sampling, fair-use policies and creative commons, I was was left with a much better understanding of the arguments au courant, but also a couple of questions of my own.

What happens when you put technology in the hands of cultures for which the concept of sharing and commerce is other than our own? I'm imaging the possible mindset of an individual in the culture that I was previously a part of and trying to empathize. In Papuan Amungme culture, not only do men have as many as 10 wives, but, at one time in their not so distant past, Amungme women lived in honai sharing men and breast-feeding the children of their "sisters". They lived communally in every sense of the word. It would have made no sense to them neither to request a fee for nursing nor to lay claim to a particular man of the tribe. Fast forward to today, when several Dani, 'Me and Komoro (Papuan tribes) are in possession of cellular phones. If someone in the “tribe” has music, then why not share it with everyone? And if for some reason, someone in the "tribe" happens to find a way to extract money from others for their recorded music, then they would be considered to have “good mojo/luck/sorte” and therefore their neighbor would likely open the very same music selling business right next door to them. Soon after, it would not be surprising to find fifteen others who've all set up shop in the same area. However, it is unlikely that any money would be made in the end. In Papuan culture, all distant "brothers" of the shop owner would be allowed to take their recordings for free. You can see how this issue would be compounded when your father may have nine other wives. The aforementioned being one of the reasons that most shops are owned by the settling cultures of Papua. Anyway, this is the way of the “developing world” I’ve had the great fortune to visit. I'm simply trying to empathize and can see that if the Papuan's had the voice that the Pirate Bay was afforded, that they might also be saying, "*&$% off!"

I saw the magnitude of the issue firsthand in the Blok M area of Jakarta and Plaza Azul market in Lima; that is, literally blocks of vendors selling bootleg merchandise. Their culture, not like that of the Amungme, did turn a profit despite the overrun market. This speaks volumes to the demand of cheap available, film and music. So, when I overheard someone in the film Good Copy, Bad Copy say something like, Everyone knows the only ones making any money here are the street vendors, I could totally relate. Furthermore, I concur that there is no easy way to put an end to the flagrant disregard for copyright law in other countries.

Could we charge a flat fee for Internet, mobile, or data plans, accepting that downloading would be happening? Sure, here in the States that might work. In some other countries, like Indonesia, only a few would have enough money to have their own connection and most are unlikely to fork-out the extra for unlimited downloading. So someone would still be sharing via USB swapping or hacking into corporate bandwidth and the problem would continue. Perhaps this is another issue for the gamers mentioned on Jane McGonigal’s Ted Talk titled Gaming can make a better world. If enough hours and minds were thrown at this dilemma, it might be solved. Still it is not an easy fix. "Who can compete with free?"