Week 12
Week 12 looks like we are all just going to have to get used to this new reality. Working from home makes the days seem to go by even faster.... maybe that is just me.
My Professional Development project presentation is this week. I have had two meetings to practice and get feedback from Miles Ford and Doug Dillard. They have been really good to work with, and very helpful. I am fortunate to work for a company that allows the education department to spend so much time on a project like mine. While the Google Sheets project is something they want to add to their LinkedIn Learning, a live presentation is not how they will do it. I recorded both practice sessions - I will not bore you with the recording here, but here is a screen shot of the first practice.....
Originally my presentation was going to be to a group of "real" learners - face to face. Since Shaw disallowed employees from making site visits a couple of weeks ago, this all fell through. As I worked through the project with the manager of Instruction and Technology, Miles Ford, it became clear that my project was going to be presented to a group of Shaw employees who were part of the education department. So, instead of being to the end user learners, the education department became the "focus group" for my instruction. Screen shot from the second practice:
Post presentation:
My presentation was yesterday (4/3) afternoon. I am typing this while waiting for my nerves to settle. It was actually harder to present to an online group than face-to-face. I found this interesting, and not what I expected at all. When I practiced the presentation, I felt like I was talking to my computer screen, which was odd, but not unusual for me. When all of the people were logged in - most of which I did not know - it was suddenly different, real. These people had taken time to listen to me present a primer on Google Sheets. The really hard part was the loss of language. Face to face, you (instructor) get to see the body language and that speaks a lot about the attitude of your audience. In the GoToTraining online meeting, that was lost. Everyone muted their microphones, I could not see anyone (like a zoom meeting allows), so when I asked questions, I had to wait for voice or text responses. I have used screen sharing technology for training my customers for years, but this was very different. I think it was due to the group - I usually train single users, but I have had up to five in one online training. My training's are very interactive, and this Professional Development tutorial was more one sided. Here is a screen shot showing the number of attendees....
I recorded my screen and will share the video as a link on my website and here (https://1drv.ms/v/s!AvcbjTEVHctjiRJluRZycteZJ-pw?e=eXyf1B) - in case you need help drifting off to sleep or are that bored from quarantine. I also had a panel of questions that the learners were to fill out after the training. I was not the organizer, so I will have to post those later. I hope I get them back before 11:59 PM Monday.
Still, I am concerned about progressing at this point. My 3rd contact, my own office where I was supposed to do another PD project, shut down all but those employees who have to be physically onsite to do their jobs. I can do my job from anywhere with web access, so I was told not to go into the office until further notice.
My Professional Development project presentation is this week. I have had two meetings to practice and get feedback from Miles Ford and Doug Dillard. They have been really good to work with, and very helpful. I am fortunate to work for a company that allows the education department to spend so much time on a project like mine. While the Google Sheets project is something they want to add to their LinkedIn Learning, a live presentation is not how they will do it. I recorded both practice sessions - I will not bore you with the recording here, but here is a screen shot of the first practice.....
 |
| 1st practice with Doug Dillard - 4/1 |
Originally my presentation was going to be to a group of "real" learners - face to face. Since Shaw disallowed employees from making site visits a couple of weeks ago, this all fell through. As I worked through the project with the manager of Instruction and Technology, Miles Ford, it became clear that my project was going to be presented to a group of Shaw employees who were part of the education department. So, instead of being to the end user learners, the education department became the "focus group" for my instruction. Screen shot from the second practice:
 |
| 2nd practice with Doug Dillard and Miles Ford - 4/2 |
Post presentation:
My presentation was yesterday (4/3) afternoon. I am typing this while waiting for my nerves to settle. It was actually harder to present to an online group than face-to-face. I found this interesting, and not what I expected at all. When I practiced the presentation, I felt like I was talking to my computer screen, which was odd, but not unusual for me. When all of the people were logged in - most of which I did not know - it was suddenly different, real. These people had taken time to listen to me present a primer on Google Sheets. The really hard part was the loss of language. Face to face, you (instructor) get to see the body language and that speaks a lot about the attitude of your audience. In the GoToTraining online meeting, that was lost. Everyone muted their microphones, I could not see anyone (like a zoom meeting allows), so when I asked questions, I had to wait for voice or text responses. I have used screen sharing technology for training my customers for years, but this was very different. I think it was due to the group - I usually train single users, but I have had up to five in one online training. My training's are very interactive, and this Professional Development tutorial was more one sided. Here is a screen shot showing the number of attendees....
 |
| Actual presentation of training: 4/3 |
I recorded my screen and will share the video as a link on my website and here (https://1drv.ms/v/s!AvcbjTEVHctjiRJluRZycteZJ-pw?e=eXyf1B) - in case you need help drifting off to sleep or are that bored from quarantine. I also had a panel of questions that the learners were to fill out after the training. I was not the organizer, so I will have to post those later. I hope I get them back before 11:59 PM Monday.
Still, I am concerned about progressing at this point. My 3rd contact, my own office where I was supposed to do another PD project, shut down all but those employees who have to be physically onsite to do their jobs. I can do my job from anywhere with web access, so I was told not to go into the office until further notice.
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