Action and meausurement steps

Hi everyone,

I am frequently focused on the use of diagnosis step in PAR. Today my mind runs instead to the action and measurement steps. How is it that we put out actions towards our goals out in the world in such a way as to let others measure them? More specifically how can the internet help?

A few ideas weave together here: first distributed learning. According to one of my favorite theories, people really learn by cobbling together whatever comes their way that helps them understand and develop the skills they need. This has been called by some distributed learning it may lead to the disintegration of classrooms.

A second idea in this weave is that people love to share -in fact there is a great buzz to putting our ideas out there in cyberspace - hence blogs, moblogs, etc.

The final fiber in this thread is the need for measurement after we take action - we need feedback. As an example, as I write, book proposals, blogs, articles and chapters I need (crave actually) feedback - (if you haven't commented on a blog in a long time then please do so today). As you use PAR for whatever type of reinvention you are working on you need measurement feedback as well - why not consider using the internet to get it?

Below is a list of popular websites where you can upload your ideas/action/etc and then receive feedback - if you are lucky from the general public and (if not so lucky as all that) by emailing family and friends to go have a look. Chances are they will be curious and do so. As an example my first video got 58 views and one comment.

In case you are intrigued you may want to try:

1. Taking pictures of your notes, your actions, your projects in progress and uploading the to www.flickr.com.
2. You may want to start a group of followers on Twitter, each of you watching out to make sure that the others follow through on daily or weekly commitments.
3. You may want to start or join a group on google, yahoo, etc. to allow you to share your interests and ask others to help you measure your relative success.

What I do is use them all - in some sort of mystic rotation as to what I feel like at the moment. As you can tell today I am blogging. Tomorrow I have plans to take another video and see whether and how I can attract more viewers.

What I do know is that the strength of my ideas is directly proportional to the degree I put myself out in the world. Taking action and measuring the consequences of those actions is a major part of the process of growth and development.

I would love to hear that you have made a commitment to focus energy on the action/measurement side of the equation for the next couple of weeks. Just a small bit of time each day will allow you to reap amazing rewards.

All the best,
Alana

Distributed learning - diagnosis step

Hi everyone,

As I prepare to travel to the US to meet people, organize a new retreat and discuss participatory action research (PAR) with doctoral students, I am musing on how the educational side of my life merges with the diagnosis step in our personal PAR work. Bear with me for a minute and let me see if I can make some sense of these ideas and that they might be useful to you.

Let me make a few assumptions:

1. You want to make some changes in your life (let me use the ubiquitous lose weight as an example).
2. The first step is diagnosis (how many who have lost weight feel like you know all about it because you have done it so many times before?)
3. So what you have to do is diagnose what would be new to you? A question you might ask is, "Who is saying something (about your topic) that I have not heard before?

Now the principles of distributed learning come in. The world wide web is a fantastic place, and held among it are nodes (or gathering places) of information. Flickr is a node for pictures (but not just photos, pictures of peoples notes, diagrams for books, all types of things). Slideshow.com is node for presentations, as YouTube is for videos. All the major companies like Google, yahoo, MSN have groups - you can search to see if there are groups in the area you want to research.

All the time what you want on your radar is the new, then when you hear something you follow it up, make your own decisions, craft your own plan.

Before you know it your ideas are re-energized and you are ready to move into some kind of action.

In the last few weeks I have been on a diagnosis binge. Every morning for a couple of hours I found myslef researching what was new in education - this is where I came up with these ideas. But i also came up with an idea for some consulting business I want to do. I put it into action last night as I asked some friends if they were interested in working with me on these ideas. Tomorrow I go see a man who might be a prospective client. We'll see how it goes.

The important factors here are that new information is energizing because it helps us focus on potential and there is something in the human spirit that loves potential.

I hope these ideas inspire and that this finds all of you following your potential.
All the best,
Alana