I just finished presenting my research paper at AHRD 2007. My paper is entitled Do Practitioners Use HRD Research (and Why or Why Not)?, and it met with some really interesting questions that further informed the work my research partner, Sophia Stone, and I did. I will play with these further questions in my mind, and post more about them later.

I just attended a really interesting Innovative Session that Isabel Rimanoczy facilitated at AHRD 2007. In it, she presented and then we discussed the Action Reflection Learning methodology that she works on. This picture is of her summary of the ARL methodology.

Some of the discussions the group had about this involved the theoretical foundations for ARL, what distinguished Action Reflection Learning from Action Learning, the benefits of using a Stop / Reflect in academic as well as corporate settings, the political dimensions of ARL, issues surrounding readiness for action learning, and how reflective practice and (self) narrative influences and can be influenced by this methodology.

One of the interesting take-aways I took from this session, even after knowing and working with Isabel over the past two years, is how LIM's removing the Trademark from Action Reflection Learning (though as of right now it is still present on their website) can finally foster discussion about this process that may in turn enlarge the discussion both in academic as well as in pratitioner environments. It is refreshing that Isabel's book on ARL is finally with the publisher, so when it comes out later this year or early next, the discussion will continue even more then. Who knows where this wider discussion will lead.

I am currently blogging from AHRD 2007, the annual International Research Conference of the Academy of Human Resource Development, which is in Indianapolis. I will be publishing several posts from the three days I will be attending the conference, and will be uploading the pictures I take there on Flickr as jeffreykeefer

So, after regretting that I did not take my computer with me to Northern Voice 2007, I now have a lot of blogging to catch up on–part blogging withdrawal and part wanting to share some of my experiences, and part wanting to implement some of what I learned with and around this social media.

Flying home from Vancouver to Houston to New York, Continental Airlines was kind enough to upgrade me to first class on the crowded flight back to New York's JFK Airport. Who did I end up sitting across the aisle from? Evander Holyfield. He was funny, animated, affable to having his picture taken (by me) and numerous others on the plane, and an overall pleasant gentleman.

I have never met a professional boxer before, and while I have always thought the sport to be a bit rough for me, actually meeting this man and listening to him almost wax philosophically about work and life while speaking with his traveling partner and the flight attendents, I was not only impressed, but I gained a new appreciation for different perspectives. That may in itself be a good take-away from Northern Voice.  

As I mentioned in my reply to Beth's post, What is rapid attention shifting?, I am constantly reminded that the engagement in educational settings is part of good teacher / trainer / instructor / educational preparation. I can want X, Y, and Z from my students, but part of the skill of an educator is the interest and ability to find a way to enable the learners to achieve the learning that they want to achieve, especially with adult students. Hey, whose lives are they, anyway?

I often get so involved in listening to my students' presentations, that I do not always keep the time limits as well as I should. I am looking for a countdown clock that I can bring to class, such as either of these. Most of the ones I see are computer-based, but I need one for the back of the class.

Does anybody know of any other options?

I am taking this fascinating online seminar at SCoPE, described as "an opportunity to share our blogging experiences and to discuss effective strategies for teaching and learning." Michael Griffeth is doing a wonderful job with this, and I want to thank Sylvia Currie for again facilitating a very informative session for all! 

On the cover of yesterday's New York Times, the article Believing Scripture but Playing by Science's Rules raised an interestnig question about the role of faith within the life of a student whose geosciences doctoral dissertation did not include reference to the earth creationist views he holds. Once again, the science vs. religion issue arises, this time with some within the scientific community crying foul over the possible repurcussions of a newly-minted scientific Ph.D. who approaches religion from a fundamentalist and evangelical perspective.

While the academy promotes academic freedom, I find it interesting how this issue is not seen as cutting both ways–from the faculty as well as from the student perspectives. While I cannot understand from this article what Dr. Marcus Ross advocates or believes about his academic or professional or religious work, I do wonder whether academic freedom should not only be from the perspective of those fully entrenched in tenured academic institutions. What kind of freedom is it that this fellow can fulfill all his academic obligations but still be penalized from those with whom he is not "academically free" to disagree? That seems to me what academic freedom is all about.

I was reading the current issue of the Chronicle of Higher Education, and read an interesting article on lifelogging, which is "continually recording images from their vacations, conversations from business meetings, and even intimate confessions to friends." Strange as this sounds, it involves wearing a camera around our necks or a recorder, and recording everything which is done.

According to one of the researchers,

"I fully believe that we will all be wearing this stuff all the time," said Mark T. Bolas, a visiting associate professor in the film school at the University of Southern California, as he hung a digital voice recorder around his neck when we met a few months ago. "The day before you die, your kids are going to look at you, when everybody else is doing this, and say, You mean you didn't record when you were growing up? You're just going to die and all of this is going to go away?"

Sounds interesting, but somewhat unrealistic. Do I really want to sift through every conversation I had at work yesterday? How about the sound of the subway last week? Bathroom sounds? Arguments? Snorring? CLient meetings (yeah, sure they would give permission!). Why would anybody want to record all that? How would it be tagged to find any of it and make use of it? I don't even tag my own blog, much less look at pictures from five years ago or lecture notes from last my college days. There may in fact be some use or functionality with it, but I am not yet convinced.