Eyes in the Boat

Last week's readings from both Reiser & Dempsey and the Course Documents gave me a lot to think about. Since it was more focused on adult learning it was "right down my alley". The article by Fred Nichols really set me to thinking about what it means to improve performance in a "knowledge-based" workplace. Rewarding "contribution" and not just work is a challenge to implement. I know there was a program at Western Electric years ago that actually gave the contributor a portion of the annual savings amount for any cost-saving suggestions. They had one earlier at AT&T but they had to exclude anyone in the data processing field. They found that we regularly found huge savings potentials and would be entitled under the plan to receive large bonuses. They decided, instead, that this was just a part of our job. No bonuses for the people who could most affect the bottom-line -- go figure!

Adult learners, unlike most students, have multiple areas vying for brain-share -- family, bills, car maintenance and repair, financial planning. And that is when there isn't an immediate emergency. The phrase often voiced is Balance. Balancing all the responsibilities. Corporations have found that it is often necessary to remove learners from their day-to-day environment in order to give them "space" to concentrate on the material to be learned. This can be very expensive. It has also been shown to be less effective than training in the learners work environment. But the challenge is to motivate the employee to desire to learn and then to give them the time and space to gain the desired knowledge.

On another note: I am finding that I can't be distracted by what others in the class are saying and doing. Most of those in the class are in a K-12 setting. I've been there and don't want to go back. I have some strong opinions about our public education system but that isn't where I'm going and I am not in the position to affect change there. It concerns me that graduate students in the field of education do not use the proper grammar and often misspell words. I have to get past that. I began college at the US Coast Guard Academy. As "swabs" (freshmen) we were required to always have “our eyes in the boat,” looking straight ahead. Any movement of our eyeball away from that fixed position was considered a lack of bearing and discipline and we were punished by running through the halls yelling "My eyes are left, my eyes are right, my eyes are in the boat, sir." I feel like I need to "keep my eyes in the boat". For me that means seeing how the knowledge that I am aquiring in this course can be applied to my career in adult education and not looking "outside the boat" at how others are doing.