I'll Have an Epiphany with that Peak Experience!

In the last blog I reminded of the importance of peak experiences, and how epiphanies help foster the attainment and retaining of knowledge. Providing your students the opportunity to experience epiphanies associated with higher learning comes from presenting questions that cause the student to explore and synthesize new concepts. The process of attainment also comes in the evaluation of the material, and having an ability to ask questions in the classroom when not certain of the material.

Some students however are shy and do not like to speak up or share in the discussions. Some even feel intimidated by the professor or other students who are comfortable in their openness. Increasing participation comes from each student knowing you genuinely care about their success. They will discover your authentic qualities through the manner their questions are addressed, and in the encouragement you send their way.

I can sure testify that I did not have the capacity to define epiphanies before I started back to college ten years ago. Life just kind of did its thing, unfolding day by day as I busied myself as a military wife and mother of five. I was a mere life spectator that understood how to get high on life through experiences that meant something personal to me. But an epiphany? What was that?? Well, that was an angle I had to learn! Now that I have grasped the essence of what an epiphany brings into my life, I am eager to experience more, for an epiphany brings about new revelation or truth to some concept about one’s world. Allow me to share the most powerful epiphany that I have ever experienced related to higher academia.

In graduate school while I was studying Counseling, students were expected to find a theory that they were really wild about and take the principles of that theory as their own, and operate under those principles while counseling. When we can find a theory that is most like us and how we perceive the world, we become better counselors. For instance, if I were to believe that irrational behaviors are personal choices and not a condition of someone else causing me to behave irrationally, I might want to embrace Cognitive Behavioral Therapy techniques that focus on think, feel and do. Well I was having one heck of a time finding *my* theory. I started getting nervous during that semester as I began hearing classmates speak excitedly that they had found *their* theory. The problem I was having was that I liked ALL the theories I was reading about!

I remember that first day of theory class with Dr. David Fenell. As we all sat awaiting his arrival, classmates nervously chatted with each other not knowing what to expect. Finally the door opened and in strode a tall, lanky grey haired professor in a bow tie and a motorcycle helmet under his arm! A bow tie!? I kind of laughed to myself as this was quite a surprise to see someone of his stature in the 21st Century teaching in such an accessory. After listening to his direct instructions, I instantly picked up the tone of military service, sensing an intimidating presence of this professor. As the semester went on, we discovered that Dr. Fenell was indeed a soldier, a Colonel in the US Army Reserves who served in Iraq as a counselor, teaching counseling skills and offering mental health assistance on many levels. He was a war hero I came to respect very, very much, as a professor and a world renowned Marriage and Family Therapist.

I have always appreciated theory and the underpinnings related to the vast information theorists leave behind for us to discover. It is my view that theorists bestow a legacy of knowledge for future generations to comb through so that we may grasp why things happen as they do without starting the investigative process all over again. I remember absorbing each chapter of the book for Fenell’s class, all the while asking myself if each theory I was exploring would be my eventual theoretical orientation. Chapters on Carl Rogers and Alfred Adler made sense and I embraced their ideologies. Then I read Viktor Frankl and Rollo May’s contributions to existentialism. I embraced every word. I felt myself connect with the philosophical and techniqueless purpose of existentialism—helping people find meaning in life…until I hit the one sentence which stated, “You are responsible for your situation.” What?! Struggling with one particular piece, I questioned how children are responsible for being beaten. How is it that abused women are responsible for being beaten or emotionally traumatized in abusive relationships? How were the Holocaust victims responsible for their demise? Oh how I agonized over this theory! This statement!

As I sat in Fenell’s class the following week, that persecuting sentence mulled around in my head to the point I could not listen to the lecture on the existential chapter. I remember how I needed to sum up the courage to question Fenell on this matter, for raising my hand in his class made me very uncomfortable. Dr. Fenell was so intimidating! Finally, I challenged myself to raise my arm and question the validity of this skewed existential premise of personal responsibility. It was the decision to ask that changed my life. All the pieces fell into place and I had the answer to so much of what my quest had been about through years of higher learning. “Dr. Fenell, how is it that victims of abuse are responsible for what they went through?” Fenell paused. He looked at me, cocked his head, took a giant step to his right and pointing his hands at me said, “You are responsible for the way you feel about your situation.” I felt the world tilt on its axis as Fenells’ translation impacted my knowledge.

This is the defining moment of discovery I will never forget. Suddenly for me, victim actions and victim response made sense. I instantly found my theoretical orientation and accidentally exposed within myself what spawned resiliency in my life…because I had taken the responsibility to feel indifferent about my own youth, I took action to change it! I now had words and the definiendum of who I had always been, to illuminate the direction I had come from, and a purpose of growing even more toward self-actualization. Now I envision myself not as a wounded healer, but a very empathetic individual that truly seeks to assist others in finding their own unique defining moments of epiphany. How will you inspire student epiphanies? Bring on the epiphanies!!

Epiphanies & Peak Experiences

As professors, we have the power to shape the learning environment of our students to create an abundant opportunity for discovery. Discovery facilitates epiphanies. Epiphanies help solidify new concepts. We each have the power to make our learning milieu a place where students share ideas and enjoy participating in the online classroom experience. We also have the power to turn students off if we are not attentive to the classroom the same as a face to face class. Great instructors check in daily, answer more threads than the average, and are those who never forget what it was like to be a student. Great instructors also remember what it was like to have a not so great instructor or classroom experience. Sometimes, as individuals, we need to relearn how to de-stress, grab life by the horns, and recharge our life expectation before we can effectively profess knowledge. As the airline attendant instructs the adult to place the O2 mask on first before the child, the instructor must take care of the self before (s)he can take effectively profess to others.

We have all heard of the old saying, “Stop and smell the roses.” This phrase is exactly what Abraham Maslow was trying to convey to those who took interest in his Theory of Needs. In order to have a Peak Experience [PE], an individual must have the capacity to recognize one. Peak experiences are moments that occur in life that bring epiphanies or goose bumps or make the hair on the back of your neck prickle. Peak experiences can be visual, physical, or auditory. They may be experiences that brand our memory with delightful remembrances of special moments or achievements of ourselves or others. Such experiences bring warm, internal feelings of elation. They also have a positive impact on our physiological state, which in turn, brings responses similar to adrenaline rushes.

The most obvious kind of experiences are as in the birth of a child, a graduation or a special Christmas morning after discovering a most coveted toy. Births are essentially easiest to relate to when explaining what a PE consists of. When a child enters the world we are so excited to meet this tiny little being—to inspect the delicate fingers and toes, and to see who the child most resembles. The entire birth experience becomes one that will never be forgotten, especially for the mother. For most, meeting a newborn the first time brings elation, a summation of nine long months of anticipation. While staring into the face of this new little being, we savor the moment with endless hopes for the future.

The more positive life experiences we are able to feel, the more likely we are to seek out choices time and time again that reward us with more PEs. A most notable PE includes earning a diploma—an uplifting experience, which brings promise and hope of a new direction in life. Getting an A in a class that was extremely challenging brings a realization that hard work is justly rewarded. Creating a beautiful piece of furniture brings hope that the craftsmanship will be of such quality that the article will generate years of appreciation by the owner, or a beloved pet accepting us into their quality world accentuates the meaning of unconditional love for us is deeply realized. Upholding family values or morals enhance individual integrity, and provide us with a sense of pride. These are just brief samples of efforts that not only create a PE in the moment, but are of such concentration that they continue to reward through the fond memories we recall throughout our lives.

Many PEs require a more in-depth concentration or attuned vulnerability to everyday life. One has to be open to experiencing warm fuzzies without the tendency of dismissing meaningful occurrences as nothing. Little PEs can be magnified when the person allows themselves to feel the impact of their message. There is no denying that a first kiss sparks warm, wonderful feelings of joy. But there are more subtle experiences such as attending a Symphony concert and absorbing the sweet sounds of string instruments enveloping the mind and the soul. Witnessing an individual you care about being awarded for their achievements, or watching a foal struggle to its feet shortly after birth brings warmth to the heart. Hearing a song that brings reminiscence of an old flame or beloved long gone ancestor assists with recall of beautiful life memories that were excellent teachers of life.

Recognizing PEs enables the individual to maintain homeostasis [balance] in the mind and soul. Physiologically, PEs provide us with the antioxidants that help promote good health, which in turn counterbalances stress. Let’s face it…what is better for us? Getting High on Life or succumbing to the many stressors life provides us with in abundance? When we are able to naturally uplift our spirits through positive life occurrences, we are better able to maintain our mental health—a feeder to how we respond to life.

If you need practice on how to identify PEs, sit in a quiet place, close your eyes and start with remembering how you felt when your eyes locked with your spouse on your wedding day at the start of the ceremony, or how you felt seeing your newborn the first time, or the first time you fell into love. What did it feel like to finally have your first driver’s license or to cash your first paycheck? How about going on your first date or attending your first prom? How about seeing the joy on your toddlers face first thing in the morning when you peek at them in their crib? The goal here with PEs is to try to have at least one a day. If you are able to achieve more than one a day, more power to you! Remember, the body is the best natural medicine cabinet on the planet. If we pay attention to our feelings and CHOOSE to pursue optimism, PEs, a well rounded quality world and genuine, loving relationships—what more could we ever want in life? How will this realization affect our teaching? Through recognizing the definition of PEs, you are able to sample the true meaning of life. So, how peak are your experiences?

Brick Walls Part I

Randy Pausch is a name you probably are not familiar with. Until the fall of 2007, I too had never heard of his name. But over the course of 2008 I had taken a vested interest in what Randy had to say about life. In fact, something that I heard him once say is one of the most powerful quotes I have ever come across, “…brick walls are not there to keep us out, the brick walls are there to show us how badly we want something. The brick walls are there to keep those out who don’t want it bad enough.” Wow! Talk about profound! This Carnegie Mellon University computer science Professor was wise beyond his years.

Just what is a brick wall? To each of us brick walls come in different sizes, made with different material strengths. We each face life with different levels of tolerances, some of us are more capable of knocking down life obstacles than others. When life shouts “NO” at us we have a choice or two. The barrier in our way may be so solidified that we cannot find a way to push past. Racism and discrimination ring a bell? Some of us scratch our heads and develop strategies to get what we want out of life when we are told no. We either go over the barrier, around the obstacle or dig a path beneath it to reach the other side when we cannot push past. When someone tells us that we cannot: advance in our career; be elected into a club office; become a doctor; graduate high school or college; raft down the Nile; ever be in shape enough to climb Pikes Peak or even lose weight—WE are the ones that have the power to make other people’s negative prophesying our own. Or, we develop unique ways to get to the other side.

Yes there are gate keepers in life that are in place to tempt us to turn around when we meet resistance to a grand goal or idea we have. Gate keepers can serve a positive purpose in that they cause us to reflect the situation at hand. Remember how Randy said that the walls keep those out who really do not want “it” bad enough (whatever *it* is)? After a period of self-reflection we decide if we really want what we were going after in the first place. Once that door of “no” slams in our face or on our foot, we have a decision to make—to either turn around with our tail between our legs in defeat, or to regroup and try a different path towards that goal.

We are sometimes fortunate in life to come across people that somehow touch our life so deeply that we are changed forever. This is how I feel about Randy Pausch. Though I have never personally met Randy, we were colleagues in academia, as well as co-conspirators, often reflecting the meaning of life in words we share with others. Though I will never physically meet Randy now, his wisdom, insight and purpose have left me forever moved. Unfortunately, in 2008 on July 25th, Randy lost his valiant battle to pancreatic cancer. He left behind a loving, dedicated wife and three young children under the age of six, to morn his loss, yet celebrate his existence…

Brick Walls Part II

There is a lot to be said of facing one’s deepest fear…death, and not rolling over in defeat upon a fatal diagnosis. Randy did the opposite. After being told he only had a few months to live, he grabbed his remaining hours of life with vigor and sincerity, setting out to leave behind a legacy of meaning so that his young children would always know who he was as a person and a father. Randy wanted, no—he needed to be sure that his family would be o.k. after he died. Every waking minute was spent in some facet in seeking treatments that would extend his time or on planning for his family. After leaving Carnegie Mellon shortly after his diagnosis, he returned to a standing room only crowd in order to deliver an extremely moving speech he called, “The Last Lecture.” Thankfully for all of us, Carnegie Mellon University captured this lecture on video. What was originally intended to be filmed for Randy’s young children, someone on the inside saw the important qualities of his message for all of us, prompting that feed to be put on the Internet. You can find his lecture easily by searching for Randy Pausch on Google. Grab some quiet space and a few tissues, and watch in duration what Randy’s legacy bestows in the hour plus video. It is worth every minute.

For those of you who are not plugged into the Internet, there is good news. Last year, while shopping in Sam’s, I rounded the book aisle and pleasantly discovered that “The Last Lecture” was now available in book form. After watching the lecture and reading the book, I highly recommend that one experiences both forms of media. As we all know, book form is always better, longer and full of more information than any film. It is important to note that Randy hired a writer to transform his lecture into a book so as not to take precious time away from his family. The written version will tear you up, but leave you feeling so very fortunate to have been given an opportunity to know this man--a colleague, and his rich insight on life. What’s more is that we can be sure that the purchase of this book will help maintain the future of his children on a course of stability.

Without giving away his message, I will tell you a few things that he has left me with. Randy would profess that it is never too late to embrace life, and encourages each of us to extract life’s greatest gifts—spending time with those you love and living out your dreams. To dream of becoming or doing, is possible to achieve. Randy would insist that dreams are not and should not remain merely imaginative, but goals worth pursuing. Randy demonstrates to us that children are not entities with expendable feelings. They are precious, impressionable beings that soak up everything around them—for it is through experiences with others that they find pieces of who they will become. These are only a few of the many enlightening messages Randy passes on. He wants us to get it so that we can live a more fulfilling life.

What brick walls do your students face in life? With the economy doing so poorly, stress is surely holding the reins of many lives right now. Not to mention that America is in two wars simultaneously. Times are not easy here in America. Many people have lost their jobs, homes have gone into foreclosure, and jobless people are hard pressed to find work. For many of our students, returning to school was an option that helped make ends meet thanks to financial aid and student loans. So, when a student comes to you and states that things are really tough in life, you have a choice: to listen and help the student succeed, or to stick to the rules and say, “I’m sorry, but rules are rules.” Sometimes brick walls are manned by people who have the power to make them scalable…how high are the brick walls in your classroom?

I highly recommend that you investigate why so many people have followed Randy’s progress in the past year. Get to know him. Laugh. Cry. Question his profundity. But most of all, learn. Randy lived in example. He walked the walk and talked the talk. Thank you to his wife Jai for sharing with us something in life that made each day more meaningful.

What Do Your Students Know About You?

Socrates, Plato, Descartes, Kierkegaard, Mead, Piaget, Cooley or Erikson. Have you ever wondered as you were studying throughout your education what certain theorists looked like? How is it that we are able to consider the words of great instructors of the past with importance while they remain faceless entities tied to great instructional ideals? For those of us who have seen the rendered faces of many great theorists, did we feel a deeper connection to their knowledge?

Some people are private unwilling to share anything about who they are, while others do not mind shedding some light on the person behind the acronyms. Online learning is much different that face to face, an impersonal forum that can strip meaning from the learning process. There are so many students who do not like the online environment because of the depersonalization that can overshadow the many positives online learning presents. First impressions can make a huge difference in whether a student stays with the class or drops. Sharing a bit about yourself as an instructor can very well be the hook that creates a connection with the student.

Students appreciate learning about their instructors academic success, as well as what led them into the profession they work in outside of the teaching realm. The instructor that can share a bit about their degrees is an instructor that can underscore the importance of academic success and goal achievement through example. Students often ask questions about the process of higher education and how graduate degrees help to obtain specific occupations. Interactive communication is the foundation to building a stable student teacher relationship.

Humans are very social creatures. We are conditioned from youth to incorporate specific elements of communicative dyad's or tryad's into the translation of conversation. Eye contact is a huge part of human conversation, as is looking at faces. Posting a photograph and an instructor biography is an essential investment that helps bridge the gap between impersonalized contact and humanizing the online learning experience. When the student knows what their instructor looks like instruction then seems less robotic and disconnected, and more personalized. Removing the facelessness of online learning helps the learner connect to the classroom and to become more trusting of the professional wisdom of the instructor...

Greetings colleagues! How about that Super Bowl!? Go Saints! What a wonderful feeling that must be reverberating through New Orleans. After all the community has been through, they now have a reason to start the Mardi Gras a week early!

Here we are heading into week three of the Fall semester. Time sure does fly when we are busy having fun doing what we love-teaching! Speaking of teaching, one of the many highlights of the semester comes in getting to know the students in the first few weeks through introductions. Discovering where students are from, hearing their academic goals, and making personal connection between you and the student lays the foundation for the class to build on. When I discover students who serve in the military, I always thank them for their sacrifices and dedication to our country. If it were not for the freedoms we enjoy in this country, many of us would not be able to freely teach the subjects that we do.

We cannot forget the military family members and the sacrifices they make to support their military loved ones. Many of our students are military spouses separated from their service member loved one by war assignments or lenghtly training stints. Military families are often left behind without extended family nearby for support during trying times of long separation. Tending to family responsibilities, household duties, and the worries about the safety of those serving this country surely impact daily functions. We know that the military members do not join the service for the low pay they receive, but to serve our country with pride and purpose.

Many students who are connected to the military would benefit from encouragement throughout the semester to continue reaching for goals in higher academia. Not only does a college education help those in the military attain higher rank, college classes nurture discovery in a world broader than the military platform. Education helps service members and their families plan for more enriching tomorrow. So if you identify a military connection in students in your class, don't forget the extraordinary load they carry beyond being *just a student* :o)

New Instructors~Welcome to Teaching at CCCOnline!

Today marks the beginning of week two in D2L. By now we have each become more familiar with D2L and how it operates--some of us have even made a few mistakes, or taken some wrong turns within D2L, becoming lost for a moment. For those of you who have taught in Vista or other platforms, I believe we can safely say we have become a bit spoiled at the manuvering speed this new platform affords us. We will save so much time just on the loading and opening times alone, which will in turn bring some stress relief! With that said, there are sure to be very frustrating times when we cannot remember exactly how to perform a specific operation in D2L, or when we cannot remember where a specific tool is that we need to correct a link, upload, or other to assist with other tasks. Just know that you are not alone. Learning how to function in a new environment while juggling the duties of teaching and the needs of each student can feel overwhelming at times. Hang in there! We all will be master's at the D2L process before too long. Know that your colleagues are always willing to help you. Welcome to the wonderful CCCOnline community!