A Foundation of Shared Values

It's been a couple of weeks since we turned in the New Program Proposal here at the university - the most substantial piece of my practicum (at least so far). :) Now we have to wait and see what happens next! But I've been challenged to consider what I have learned through the practicum experience...

 

First, I have to ask myself:

What did I want to learn through my practicum experience?

There were a number of questions that I set out to research; these changed over the course of the project, and included:

-          Will this degree plan be the most effective way of reaching a European audience?

-          What kind of students can we expect and where will they come from?

-          How can we tailor the degree to fit their needs?

-          What are the barriers between us and the students who we would like to take the program?

-          What’s the most effective way to market a program like this?

-          How are other schools doing it?

-          What organizational connections can we make as we go towards this?

-          How best can we communicate this internally and externally?

I am pretty happy with the answers that we came to, and most are written up now in the 62 page New Program Proposal.

I did also jot down a few larger questions that interest me along the lines of how education can be truly transformational, and serve the needs of the developing world. But in terms of my thesis, the larger question I had for this project was simply “What ought I to be asking?”  I wanted the experience to shape me, and to prompt those larger questions into being in my heart.

So - what did I learn through my practicum?

A lot of what I was doing was trying to absorb Dr. Inslee’s vision for this program well enough to project it authentically in writing. But it also had to be my own vision, and come from my own heart. (Fortunately I wasn’t too far off most of the time.) The most fascinating and puzzling times were when it seemed that we disagreed over some aspect of it, and I had figure out how to press my point, or more often, to ask the right questions so I could really understand the difference.

Strangely, perhaps, I think the most critical thing I learned was the importance of establishing a work/project/enterprise/collaboration/partnership on the basis of shared values. Even within one institution (rather than a partnership) where we can assume that everyone has good and similar values, it may not be worth it to start something new without the assurance that everyone really is on the same page as to why it is being done (shared values). There were times I wanted to skip this foundational step, prove that the program would likely be successful financially, and let it go forward. But I did eventually realize (with help) that just because something is a great vision doesn’t mean that it is worth pursuing without common values and a common commitment to why it's being done. It just isn't a very strategic use of time and energy. Issues will come up later on. It reminds me of Lowell Bakke's answer to my question - a couple years ago - about what the most critical components to a partnership are. "Shared values" was his answer, and now I can see how that works even on an institutional level.