This is a new paper from the Greater Manchester Public Health Practice Unit. The paper aims to give commissioners and service providers a framework to enable a more efficient method of carrying out evaluation. It explains the purpose of evaluation, types of evaluation with examples, and discusses service user involvement and engagement.

Published October 2009, 16 pages

Coaching in the business and corporate environment has to produce a return on investment, busy people expect rapid results. These are a selection of comments from clients; most of these are after just one session.

This coachee benefitted personally:

‘Just a quick feedback on the session that I had with you a couple of weeks ago.  I did really enjoy it, and it provided a new perspective for the direction of my thinking, so thank you!’

An initial session can be intense, and breakthroughs and change are regular achievements:

‘Thanks again for today – I drove back [to the office] with a smile on my face and a feeling of inner calm – but as you said I would, I’m feeling exhausted now!’

In this case, after 2 sessions the coachee was making profound changes in their leadership style:

‘I did want to thank you for the 2 session I had that I found v useful and did shift my approach to managing my team and  made me think about my leadership style. I am really glad.’

Sometimes the sessions can go to places that have are very private or hidden:

‘Generating the first-cut mindmap exposing the “guilt” issue have really made a difference in terms of removing my feelings of self-conflict and I’m feeling considerably more energetic and motivated than before our conversation. Thank you.’

And the impact is wider than just the workplace:

‘Thank you for your time during my coaching session last week. I found the session incredibly beneficial and as a start it has already given me a greater sense of belief in my own abilities and more confidence to challenge and develop myself both personally and at work..’

This feedback also came after just one session. For their career to date this experienced manager had struggled with a repeating pattern of behaviour: And these themes are frequently discussed in coaching sessions:

‘This email is to thank you for some fantastic coaching yesterday.’

‘I came with a very specific agenda which was about being overwhelmed by my work load, constantly stressed and lurching from one thing to another without doing anything properly.  As a result I was feeling very dissatisfied with my job and the only solution that I could think of was [of limited and contrasting options and problem avoidance].’

It’s not unusual that in a difficult situation people will limit their choices; it seems that this can help to bring some certainty, but obviously can close down options that could be appropriate. Deeper insight was required:

‘We talked around things and you helped me to see that my career to date had been unplanned and a matter of moving from one place to another, mainly to get away from things rather than making conscious positive life decisions – [this] was going to be another one of those decisions.’

Trust and Confidentiality, Objectivity and Challenge all play their part in effective coaching, helping the individual to see for themselves and take ownership of the solution:

‘We discussed my current role and I realised that I took on too much because I wasn’t sufficiently clear about the parameters of my job or my real priorities.  We also talked about what it was to be’ strategic’, a concept that I have always struggled with.  By looking at the behaviours of someone I admired who was clearly strategic – I was able to see what I needed to do and how I needed to be, to work more strategically and to stop being so hands-on, running around doing everything!’

Finally focusing the session’s outcomes down to clear actions the coachee reported:

‘I came away with 3 key themes to work on:  Being more courageous, having clarity of purpose and making choices about the work I took on based around my values (fun, satisfaction, making a difference).’

‘I really enjoyed being coached by you – and hope that we can have some follow up sessions to keep me on track!’

Blog post at Walking Paper raises the question — what are the best statistics for measuring libraries? Points out that circulation statistics, while heavily used, are limited and limiting.

Not sure what I make of his approach — seems to conflate “statistics you show to the general public” and “statistics you show to oversight bodies” while being biased toward the former — but it’s a good question.

What statistics would you use to measure library performance?

(h/t Librarian in Black)

Let’s take a look at an approach to creating a successful Triple-A game.

1.Write Design Document
2.Give Design Document to Coder
3.Triple-A Success

It didn’t work out for you like that? Don’t worry, it didn’t for most of those Triple-A studios out there, either.
So how did they do it, if creating a great game from scratch is so difficult? Well, creating Man from a puddle of proteins is even more difficult, yet somehow Evolution happened. The secret sauce is “Iteration”.

Iteration can be boiled down into the following important concepts, which are the phases of the iteration cycle:

1.Testing
Check which of the requirements the product fulfills and which not
2.Evaluation
Determine what improved since the last cycle, and what got worse.
3.Analysis
Find out why that is.
4.Re-Design
Determine what changes might further improve the situation.
5.Implementation
Implement those changes.
6.Iterate
Repeat! Go back to 1.

I won’t go deeper into evolution theory, but I’d like to point out the one major difference between natural iteration and our iteration:

Nature has a pretty weak Evaluation and Re-Design phases and does not feature Analysis at all. It makes up for that with extremely rigorous Testing and brute force parallelization in Implementation.

Since we DO have access to Evaluation, Analysis and Re-Design and usually seriously lack time and other resources, I suggest giving those a chance.

Regardless of the differences, there are lots of important concepts to be found in Evolution that we can learn from in order to improve our iterative process.

Focus
Evolution has a very tight focus– it can be roughly described as “achieve maximum possible spread of the pattern that is life”. Whenever another point is added to that list, species might split up into sub-variants. (That’s why you rarely see camouflage-colored predators with beautiful tails.)

Make sure you have ONE single list of requirements. You know, the thing where it usually says “Game should be fun to play” at the top. And keep it short. Otherwise you might end up with conflicting features, resulting in either a bad game or lots of team drama when they are cut.

Environmental Changes
Sometimes things change. Polar caps melt, meteors strike, volcanoes erupt, or new predator is in town, you name it. The species requirements list just got updated. Now here’s the choice: adaption or extinction.
In game development, thankfully, consequences aren’t that deadly. Nonetheless be sure to keep an eye on that list, and regularly check if it still makes sense.
There’s not much use in releasing a PC hack&slay game 3 weeks after Diablo 3 hits the streets, no matter if it’s fun. (I’d rather have the meteor, thanks.)

Fail Early
Evolution does not reward potential. A species that is somewhat unfit right now, but might be very successful 5 generations down the line, is a dead one.
On the up-side, though, Evolution also does not reward bad design. In fact, if something doesn’t work, it’s gone in no time. It fails as early as possible, saving precious resources.
That’s something you want as well. Try getting something playable out as soon as possible. After all, without Testing, there’s no iteration.

Parallelization
Have you checked the reproduction rates of most species lately? What Evolution doesn’t have in terms of the more sophisticated iteration phases, it makes up for with truly massive parallelization. The more offspring there is, the more chances there are for one of the “Re-Designs” to be a successful one.
If there’s a way to create and check several possible re-designs without ramping up the necessary resources in a similar manner, by all means do that. Quite often that is possible by keeping things relatively data-driven.

Backtracking
Evolution doesn’t backtrack without the requirement list changing (and then it’s not backtracking anymore). This is because it does not reward potential – the potential there might be in going down a different path.
Backtracking can be of great use if used correctly, though. Just be sure to remember that it takes conscious effort to do so. It won’t happen on its own.

Culling
If something does not meet the requirements, or simply isn’t as good as it could be, Nature will make sure it is replaced by something that does or is. (It’s kind of “for the greater good” – living beings might get harmed in the process!)
So might be your most favorite design. If something doesn’t live up to the game’s full potential, it might be worth to cut it. Better don’t grow too attached to it.

Feature Creep
There’s no feature creep in Nature. Either the feature has a purpose that justifies its cost, or it does not – and everything has a cost. It’s just pretty well hidden in some cases.
It’s good to keep that in mind when adding features to a game. As an example, an RTS game might not need a photo album or an in-game web browser, no matter if they came for free or not. The player’s time, and especially his attention, is the most valuable resource there is. Spend it carefully.

Book Reflection:  Mallison, John. Creative Ideas for Small Groups in the Christian Community, 250 pages.

Brief outline

            Mallison focuses on quality methodologies and activities that nurture discipleship growth and communal learning for active or non-participative members in small groups. He presents practical small groups guidelines and resources for readers committed in growing vital relationship with Jesus Christ. He describes small groups have the purpose of engaging disciples with God, one another and community at large. Mallison specifies disciples must explore the relevance of their faith that results in action. He acknowledges small groups are potential settings for learning process to take place. Members renew their mindsets through self-discovery, quality Bible studies and prayers that produce transformational lifestyles.

            The resources are categorized into three main areas that examine the variety of flexible strategies that are applicable within small groups structures. Mallison emphasizes Holy Spirit presence is vital in every small groups gathering. In addition, he provides meaningful Bible studies, prayers and small group relationships study aids accumulated from his pastoral experiences. Creative ideas based on biblical principles make this an ideal reference manual for renewal and maximising small groups dynamics. This book is a practical guide for small groups facilitators who in preparation for spiritual growth, seek greater knowledge and understanding of equipped service for small groups ministry.

Points of Interaction

            After reading this book, I wished I had read this book before starting out as a small group facilitator. It is specific and has practical information useful for any inexperienced cell facilitator without being theologically heavy right from the beginning. The receiving of revealed knowledge does determine how much heavenly power is released on earth. Hence when a facilitator is equipped with ever increasing knowledge, the likelihood of stronger discipleship of small group members is likely to emerge. I find what Mallison wrote on ‘Prayer in Small Groups’ is powerful, especially on the role of the Holy Spirit in individual and corporate prayers. He was spot-on when stating there is no activity of prayer when Holy Spirit is absent from the heart of prayers. This is a timely reminder vain prayers are not heard when Small Group members are not praying in the Spirit or according to His will as found in Scriptures.

            It is common knowledge Singapore Church authority fails in mobilizing all small groups attend prayer services and also be active participants in Small Groups ministry. The Bible Society of Singapore 2008 survey statistics have shown daily bible reading is on the decline. This dangerous outcome is indicative a majority of disciples have little discipline in exercising an allotted personal Bible study and living out a prayerful lifestyle. Through personal observation, local Small Groups programmes are not in full maturity as many churches cannot capture most church attendees in attending Small Groups.

            Mallison have creative ideas that were accumulated through his years as a Christian educator and prominent Small Groups advocate. He influenced local churches with the Small Groups movement that swept across Australia. Looking at his respected portfolio, perhaps Singapore churches can form a Small Groups Council that consolidates practical Small Groups strategies that are workable in local community. A Small Groups movement may just be the next good thing in place that is impactful and gather loosely ‘cell groups’ with varied teachings across Singapore as a stronger Church community in one unity. In short, this committee may even need to ‘sell’ small groups ministry using slick communication that draws in the ever time-pressed, stressful, defeatist average Singaporean church crowd to be participative. At the core of these activities, the Church authority must be able to deliver the needed pastoral care and restore the sheep already in malnourished spiritual condition. Otherwise, the sheep continue wandering and stay distracted with the wiles of this world.

            There are existing specific ministries and centers across many nations that bring disciples with a heart for missions, evangelistic, prayer, small groups, prophecies gather together. With these establishments, every disciple has a place and resource center they can turn to or serve in these ministries regardless serving online ministries or be physically present in ministry centres. In Singapore, Prayer and Small Groups dedicated ministries are sorely absent. Prayer meetings and Small Group meetings are inwardly focused that happens mainly inside their own churches. There is no sense of a household name or branding of particular nationwide church events that is like an accepted fact all Christians must-know.

            In fact, national events, the latest fads, and tabloids spread like wildfire faster than the usual ‘not to be missed’ nationwide church events. Something is very wrong at the core how churches authorities interact with members and communicate in getting things done. The sad fact is, the Singapore government, a secular government prove to be more effective in garnering votes than the pathetic less than 100 percent votes garnered in a usual Annual Business Meeting (ABM) as organised by the heavenly governing church authority. Although there may be Global Day of Prayers (GDOP) or Global Leadership Summit (GLS) events per year, they are movements brought in. There is always a difference in the impact of imported faith movements and locally pioneer faith movements. There is also a tradition where Singapore churches rely heavily on adapted overseas biblical materials that do not necessarily address major local Christian issues.

            Personally, I find large scale Small Groups ministry and Prayer meetings a Kingdom culture that requires much wisdom, specialized knowledge and planning that can happen. A local Christian governing body called ‘Ministry of Prayer Affairs’ service arm that represents the heavenly kingdom can possibly be established here. This Prayer center acts as a meeting point that rally all varied churches ‘tribes’ worship as one ‘House of Prayer’ and not as many houses of prayers. This is a radical dream that is not impossible since it has been done and thriving in another nation. Singaporeans are well-known to copy and develop a better prototype of success. This is no problem for Christians here in making this dream materialize. If need be, technologies such as teleconferencing or skype can be used to televised important decision-making council events to develop a sense of togetherness and family in the Body. Men spend more time watching commercials and participating in nonsensical things. The Church need the kind of pioneering Spirit to capture and divert churchgoers’ attention to important Church affairs using the available strategies the world employ in getting God’s people attention to their own advantage. I find somehow most churchgoers do not know what is happening in Church events or Small Groups because matters are not communicated properly and not because they do not wish to be involved.

            The local Muslims have a prayerful mini-kingdom culture that deserves observation. Christians must set aside time, resources and lay down their pride in evaluating what makes such a tradition thrive in Muslim homes and mosques. This is not adding tradition and religious weights on the Christian faith but explore what biblical values have been incorporated into this religion that makes their prayer culture so successful. The Majlis Ugama Islam Singapura (MUIS) website has prayer times set for their religious activities and Muslims are ‘summoned’ to be organized for Friday prayers at one accord. In contrast, local churches have prayer times but Christians and small groups are scattered for Friday corporate prayers. This is a tough issue local churches must be of one accord and cooperatively resolve it with biblical means.

The European Union is made of 27 members states and has no less than 23 official languages…  That means that languages are an important matter for the European Institutions.

Measuring the language skills of their public servants is also a matter of importance as they have to cope with so many complex topics in so many languages.

So the European institutions have created DIALANG in order to help trainers, trainees and institutions to evaluate and adapt the level of language knowledge.

These tools help professional to create language learning courses.  But some of them, like the DIALANG Self Assessment Statements help you to evaluate your own command of a language.

European Language and Job Search Training and Coaching

The Lingua Franca Academy is preparing a series of language courses as well as specialized Job Coaching for people who aim to work in the European Institutions. Some of these courses will be on site learning courses and some will be online packages.

In order to help you to assess yourself your command of a language, we publish here two free tools that you can download and use to evaluate your command of any language.  It is not a test, but an evaluation tool, a series of assessemnt you make yourself regarding your skills in a language.

Be honest : don’t try to trick yourself and, at the end of the process, you’ll get a clear and complete image of your command of this language.

Téléchargez en français

Download in English

In the “Clinician’s Digest” section of the November/December 2009 issue of Psychotherapy http://psychcentral.com/psychotherapy/ Networker, Garry Cooper discusses a study led by psychiatrist Jakob Koch of Christian-Albrechts University in Kiel, Germany suggesting that “effective psychotherapy with depressed clients is associated with changes at the brain’s cellular level,” increasing the production of a key brain protein that assists in creating neural pathways. In this study they used Interpersonal Psychotherapy (IPT) which looks through the lens of both cognitive and interpersonal issues. It would be interesting to know how other theoretical orientations would fare.

There is a lot known about the power of oxytocin (the hormone of love) to bond people together but oxytocin can also be an ally to encourage therapeutic change. According to Linda Graham, MFT and trainer on the integration of relational psychology, mindfulness and neuroscience, it is “the neurochemical basis of the sense of safety and trust that allows clients to become open to therapeutic change.” It was a class I recently took with Linda, “The Neuroscience of Attachment,” that left me feeling so inspired about the implications of this in my practice. As a therapist, it’s nice to have something solid and research-based to hang my hat on.

Daniel Siegel, MD, one of the pioneers in this field has been saying for years that there is potential for the growth of new brain cells via relationships. I remember seeing him speak at a conference about five years ago but got derailed somehow and didn’t follow up on any further research on the matter. I’m glad to have made my way back to these concepts so I can further learn how to provide the most fertile soil possible for therapeutic change within the four walls of my own psychotherapy office.

The power of the “relationship” is not to be underestimated. Important relationships can do monumental damage – or they can facilitate profound healing. Many psychotherapists have known that the therapeutic relationship is one that can provide a “safe container” for emotional and psychological healing. Many of us believe that by providing a stable, nurturing model of something “different,” there is the potential for a corrective experience that the client can integrate into his life.

Now we know there is the potential for changes within the brain as well — which is only more encouragement for the lasting, deep shifts that we hope for our clients — and they hope for themselves. Perhaps the commonly held belief that “people can’t change” will finally, truly be a thing of the past.

Learning Opportunities at InsuranceLeads.com

The National Association of Insurance Commissioners has posted a discussion draft outlining the economic assumptions regulators will use to reevaluate residential mortgage backed securities.

NAIC?s draft summarizes a presentation made by PIMCO and the NAIC Securities Valuation Office to the Valuation of Securities Task Force.

PIMCO was selected by NAIC Nov. 17 as a third party financial modeler to assist state regulators as they establish a new methodology that will ultimately determine the risk-based capital (RBC) requirements for more than 18,000 RMBS securities owned by U.S. insurers at the end of 2009.

NAIC moved for a reassessment of RMBS values after life insurers complained that the major nationally recognized securities ratings firms put too low a value on their holdings requiring them to maintain excessive capital reserves.

The financial details of PIMCO?s winning bid was not disclosed by the NAIC, nor were the other bidders, although the NAIC said it received more than 20 responses to its RFP.

A New York State Insurance Department representative said on Oct. 8 that BlackRock, Inc. was one of the firms.

PIMCO?s new model, the NAIC said, will calculate expected carrying value for each RMBS security held by insurers. Insurers will be able to map these values to the appropriate NAIC designation and accompanying risk-based capital (RBC) requirements.

The draft released today, according to the NAIC, ?presents the analytical framework and economic assumptions for use in PIMCO’s models for the new designation process for RMBS.?

It discusses the use of home price appreciation (HPA) and projected interest rates as key variables. The NAIC said it will evaluate each security using a set of HPA projections representing moderate (or base), aggressive and conservative expectations.

According to the draft, ?Valuations are calculated under multiple scenarios because many bonds are highly non-linear and may have low or zero losses under the median scenario but suffer large losses under a more stressful scenario.?

The draft states that the planned ?multiple scenario approach? calculates the present value of losses under each HPA scenario (aggressive, moderate and conservative). The final valuation, which will be used to map securities to the current RBC process, will be the probability weighted average of the present values of losses under each projection, notes the draft.

?This is a critical step in developing the new designation methodology,? said Roger Sevigny, NAIC president and New Hampshire Insurance Commissioner. ?We are acting carefully to make sure insurers hold adequate capital to meet their obligations to consumers, while moving quickly and openly to address an issue at the core of the financial meltdown.?

The NAIC Valuation of Securities Task Force will discuss the draft during a conference call, open to the public, on Nov. 30, at 11:00 a.m. The draft may be viewed at http://www.naic.org/documents/committees_e_vos_rmbsassumptions.pdf.

The NAIC said regulators plan to finalize designations and RBC price ranges by year-end. Companies will be able to report their 2009 annual statement results due March 1, 2010, using the appropriate, new designations.

© Copyright 2009 National Underwriter Property & Casualty. A Summit Business Media publication. All Rights Reserved.

US insurance group moves ahead with new rating planP&C Insurers Report Slight Underwriting Gain in Q3

Bibliographic Data

            Icenogle, Gareth Weldon. Biblical Foundations for Small Group Ministry: An Integrated Approach. Downers Grove, Illinois: InterVarsity Press, 1994. 396 pages. 

 Author

            Gareth Weldon Icenogle (D.Min., Fuller Theological Seminary) is the senior pastor of West Side Presbyterian Church in Ridgewood, New Jersey. He teaches the Doctor of Ministry course in small groups at Fuller and speaks on small group ministry across the United States and internationally[1].

Summary

            Icenogle reviews the small groups transition from Old to New Testament periods with an investigation of its origin and implications within the Christian community. He states the beginning and continuation of small groups ministry flows out from God’s nature and character. Based on present observations of small group ministry developments, he attempts with explanations and analysis to validate the necessity of small groups as a critical ministry arm within the Church and community at large.

            Icenogle integrates biblical precepts, sociological and theological insights that add clarity to the nature, purpose and role of small group ministry. He recommends practical methods that purport spiritual growth and relationship dynamics within small group members and with God. A few case studies of present small group models were provided for comparative purposes, included with highlighted radical principles and values Jesus had shown in his ‘small group’ ministry model. The discussion of returning back to biblical roots for small groups serves as an educative guideline that enlighten readers the fundamental strategies Jesus modelled through his discipleship of believers. He explores informative truths that were intentionally practised in the early church which in turn spawns off explosive small groups growth.

            He asserts small groups formation and gathering as one large Church community that must be centred in the presence of God as this fulfils the expression as His image. Icenogle presents communal participation in God’s purpose, His resurrected life and spiritual maturity means gracious acceptance of restored position of peace with Him and the Church community. Regardless of the historical, traditional, psychological and cultural intrusion of this spiritual expression, he emphasizes God uses small groups ministry as the agent in bringing transformative and redefined new changes in the world. He reiterates sustaining small groups forms is in fact a prelude of spending eternal reality with God and a vehicle that accomplishes His redemptive plan.

            This book is written targeting pastors, parachurch leaders, lay leaders, consultants, teachers and seminary professors who may inspire and help God’s people to practice intentional small group ministry.

Evaluation

            In Chapter 2, Icenogle stated in small group family systems, the sick small group or family system leads to degenerative sick systems in members. He uses the conflicts and brokenness between Cain and Abel as a comparative illustration with inter-relationships of small group members. This approach does not invite understanding as kinship since birth is entirely different from brotherhood as formed by one Spirit. The comparative conditions of these two types of relationship quality cannot be established on the same level. There is another assumption that being borne as a babe into the Adamic family that has dead spiritual life is similar to a disciple who is reborn into a spiritual community regardless of age.

            As such, clumping up a narrow definition of family systems as aligned with small groups systems on the same par is neither convincing nor scriptural.  The dysfunctional sinful complexity in Man begun since the Fall and spiritual death is present in the first family of Adam and Eve.  The Holy Spirit was not in Adam and Eve although he witnessed Man’s Fall. Man no longer continued intimate relationship with God after the sinful act and brokenness came in. This is the first example of conflict that broke the harmonious relationship between God and Man. Icenogle could have approached the biblical foundations of small groups as a means of restoring members first to God, then the spiritual family and next, their own families. A closer examination and integration of the family ministry with small groups ministry in biblical foundations may prove to be a more successful relationship reconciliation model.

            He states small groups are stuck in a paradox where there is a hunger for intimacy and fear of intimacy. A clear perimeter of the types and stages of intimacy can be further explored in detail how this is fulfilled in the person of Jesus Christ who sets the standard of intimacy. Present day definition of intimacy keeps evolving and the Christian circle has been associating intimacy much in relation to marriage. The chart[2] below states intimacy is no longer contained as a face to face setting among a number of small group members. Icenogle did not address the e-environment such as many online churches and small groups communities.

           The reality check of where two or more persons come together in the presence of God (Matthew 18:20) is mainly restricted to the physical settings he described that does not tackle the borderless impact of such groupings. The intimacy formed even when apart from the same physical environment is present. As we examine Paul’s life, his ministry impact at a place is combined with letter writing that is still weighty in many communities made up of small groups. The intimacy established between Paul and the churches he planted was sustainable as he seeks to invest in their lives even when he is not physically present with them. The intimacy paradox of ‘hunger and fear’ is overrated without substantial evidence provided. The mutual choice of depth in a relationship can never be forced but encouraged to grow.

            There is another perspective that had been overlooked. Icenogle states the purpose of the coming of Christ and the calling of the Twelve is to make God’s full nature, character and purpose visible and active “on earth as it is in heaven” is partially true. He addressed Jesus as the leader of the Small Group but fails to address His identity as a King, Lord Jesus. A King is here to rule and as Jesus Christ walked with the disciples, He also revealed to His chosen subjects, that is the disciples, the heavenly kingdom. He is the King of kings who walked on earth and authentically recognizedHis rulership by all men about His rulership over all dominions. This is a common theology flaw where small groups are taught to view Jesus Christ as the Leader but fails to see Him as the King of the small groups who demands total obedience from His subjects.

Recommendation

            This book captures essential biblical teachings and major small group concerns that interacts the dialogue of the Trinity, especially Jesus Christ with the small groups and Church community. Icenogle presented many evidences in bible history how God executes out His will powerfully through group vessels and changed human history with the formation of small groups.           

           I find he has achieved the aim of providing a “why” book of small groups. This is a suitable introductory book for any believers exploring deeper theological and biblical foundations of Small Group ministry. The writing is clear, persuasive in promoting the benefits and need for all be inclusive in this ministry for direction, personal spiritual growth and edification as a fruitful community that God so desires.

 [2] Vijay. ^“Ten levels of intimacy in communication, September 03, 2009,” under “Vijay for Victory ,” http://www.vijayforvictory.com/technology/ten-levels-of-intimacy-in-communication/2259/ (accessed November 14, 2009).

Tonight’s Friday Night Flood had a different feel to it. It was a really great night on a lot of different levels. I personally got to have a handful of good conversations (one of which took place as  I dropped a student off at his house. He had a friendship break up over something trivial and needed to talk/vent). We had another student share her testimony. I have seen her go through several major ups and downs since moving into town, some good choices, and some bad. But in the end, she has turned back to God to direct her path, and even though her choices have not always been the greatest, she does realize that she needs to be under His guidance. (I may have video of this on Monday evening. I really hope to, but I told her if she is uncomfortable sharing it on the web that I will not post it).

On the negative side of things, we had a couple of teens who had a little too much sugar and were a bit rambunctious. But the gym being open finally helped out with that. There was a small group of teens who would rather stand outside in the cold than help put a few tables and chairs back up before they left. (This always seems to be a problem). But the gym being open did diminish the cafe atmosphere we have been running the past several weeks. We also had to have a student leave for the hospital with some medical issues. Nothing life-threatening, but serious enough to warrant the trip.

But more positives from the evening. We welcomed a possible new addition to our adult leadership corps. He has a passion for working with teens to young adults, and really seemed to fit in right away. He’s already committed to plugging in next week!

All in all, a good, solid night of ministry. I am looking forward to next week already…

BONUS: Here’s a quick little video of the challenge tonight that I took with my BlackBerry. Oatmeal, Pantyhose, and spoons. What more do you need?

A few weeks ago I posted some information regarding advocacy evaluation, and Ms. Julia Coffman, one of the people bringing new ideas into the field on this topic.

I am happy to say that one of my students in a Program Evaluation class took on the challenge of using this new information to create an evaluation plan for an advocacy organization. Because of the brevity of the class (only 4 months long) this student couldn’t actually conduct the evaluation she planned, but she did a great job in terms of laying out what could be done, including both evaluating the process of the advocacy training program and the possible results of advocacy efforts.

Potential process outcomes she pinpointed include: # of volunteers trained, number of contacts with elected officials, and # of coalition partners.

The short-term outcomes she described include knowledge level of volunteer advocates, level of knowledge on part of policy makers, amount of media coverage (in local media where chapters are).

Longer term outcomes include increased appropriations and amendments to current law.

I’d love to mention my student by name, because it is an outstanding paper, but I don’t feel comfortable doing so without her permission. At any rate, the paper demonstrates that the work Julia Coffman is doing can be transferred from “theoretical” to “practical” by people in the field.

Using knowledge for success,

Dr. Rick Hoefer

Reference:
Coffman, J. (2009). A user’s guide to advocacy evaluation planning. Harvard Family Researach Project, 1-22, Cambridge: MA.

For this brief, we had to write a personal manifest, publish it on twitter and then visualise it. I chose as my manifesto: “Play with Fire”. I wanted to emphasise the fact that designers shouldn’t be afraid to take risks.

My first idea was that I wanted to present fire as something beautiful. I wanted to get the message across that taking risks can provide us with something beautiful we prehaps wouldn’t have had before. I researched fire art and also Chinese sky lanterns and floating lanterns.

I experimented making floating lanterns with polystyrene and tissue paper. Although they looked quite pretty, I didn’t think they really conveyed the message unless I was to actually write my manifesto somewhere on the lantern. I did this but it was difficult to read and I wasn’t really happy with the result.

My next idea was to burn my manifesto on to toast. I tried a couple of different ways of doing this: the first was to cut out a template of the words with foil and place it on the toast as it cooked under the grill; the second was to burn the message into the toast with a soldering iron. I burnt several pieces of toast with varying degrees of success. Again, I wasn’t totally satisfied with this solution.

After a couple more unsuccessful experiments, I decided I wanted to focus more on the element of danger. I considered what things were associated with danger and eventually came up with the idea of using fireworks. Using a teddy to model a human, I took a rocket and placed it in different ‘play’ situations as a substitute for the usual tools or implements we would use.

I had a lot of fun with this brief. I came to the conclusion that actual fire is a fun thing to play with and one of the best ways for designers to take risks! As with my last brief, I feel I could have pushed ideas further and got more out of them than I actually did. I looked more this time at the work of relevant designers although I’m sure there is more I could have explored.

I got Grey’s first formal evaluation from preschool today. I suppose that ranks right up there with first tooth and first words, eh? I hope you enjoyed the hiatus, son, because you’ll be evaluated for the rest of your life. (Like next Friday, when I take you in for our town’s preschool screening. Mauahahah!)

They did not measure his equestrian skills

I can’t claim that his evaluation holds any huge surprises. Let’s see. He does exceptionally well counting. They only attempt up to 20, and I’ve heard him count to 70 before he gets bored. He can count to 10 in three languages (English, Spanish and Japanese — thank you aikido). He is at “mastered” for shapes, colors, sorting, “one to one correspondence” — what is that?, mathematical concepts and puzzles. With letters, he has the “mastered or exceeds” letter names (exceeds – there are only 26 of them!), speaking clearly, expressing verbal needs, recognizing his own name (which one?), concepts like “more/less, big small”, body parts, repeating rhymes, complete sentences and interest in books. He has “exceeds” in copying letters, knowing letter sounds and printing name. He is at expectations in class discussions, relating sequential events (since he starts nearly every conversation these days with “When I was 2″ I’m surprised he did that well), and using sentences to describe a picture.

For fine motor and gross motor skills, he has top marks for all areas analyzed.

With emotional development we have a long list of top marks for the first bit, with stuff like: is confident, is able to wait his/her turn (really?!), uses bathroom independently, has appropriate control over feelings (again, really?!?!), table manners, and has a good self image. Then at the bottom of the page we finally get to Grey’s achilles heel.

Does not disturb others while working: NEVER. That’s a big fat 0 folks.

I can see it now. Everyone is happily tracing their letters and Grey is happily trying to distract each and every one of them. Yup, that rings true. He also gets low marks for “Responds appropriately to discipline”. Wilmary said that he cries every time he’s thwarted. And that he doesn’t sit still for circle time (which jives with his statement that he hates preschool because there’s circle time).

Practicing table manners and social skills at Thanksgiving

Finally, they list their goals for him. They include:
1) We’re going to work on how to work during circle time with his classmates.
2) We will be working on reading simple words (Note: he’s already doing this, but it’s good to do it at preschool too)

On the whole, I think this is a pretty accurate evaluation of young Master Grey. And it certainly brings up some areas where his teachers and parents need to focus attention. That’s what an evaluation is supposed to do.

Just one problem. How do you teach your child not to disrupt other people? Especially, how do we teach him that skill at home? I think that his bounciness and distractability is pretty normal for a four year old boy, so I’m not upset about it. But I don’t really know how to teach this very important ability. (And may I add that it would be nice for my home life if Grey was a little less talky at inappropriate times, such as in the morning before it’s time to get up and he’s snuggling.)

Gross motor skills with dad

In Requirements Prototyping, when a designer creates an initial prototype design for a customer, it becomes the starting point for a cycle of evaluations and feedback sessions.  These sessions can (and should) involve both the users who will work with the final system, and project stakeholders.  Though not necessarily at the same time.

What I’d like to touch on is this little dance of ‘build a design:evaluate’ – in many ways it’s one of the most fundamental cogs in the wholeprocess of requirements prototyping-led software projects.  We need to getit right and understand it so that it delivers real value.

In an ideal world of infinite resources and time, we would repeat this little dance as often as it takes until we had the perfect design.

However, this utopian world just doesn’t exist so we need to consider how to organise our evaluations so that we can get as much out of them as possible.  We need to think about the actual organisatinal cost of getting people together for feedback sessions, and make sure that we don’t just include everyone for the sake of it.

Jakob Nielsen has suggested that five is an optimal number for testing a design.  His arguments are that the majority of usability concerns are identified by the first few participants, and thereafter most new participants tend to repeat observations with the odd exception.  His suggestion is that, rather than blow the entire budget in getting everybody to test a design in one phase, it is better to have a number of smaller test phases and an iterative refinement of that design between them.  This is precisely what we should be doing when running feedback sessions with users.

What’s different about feedback sessions as opposed to Nielsen’s usability testing is the fact that feedback sessions are generally:

• Collaborative: we’re not looking for individual isolated reports, but engaging discussion about the general design;
• Objective-led: we’re not specifically testing the usability of a design, rather its suitability to meet the objectives set out at the outset;
• Cross-disciplinary: not restricted of any one type of person, feedback sessions are most usually composed of a cross-section of interested parties, including users and business stakeholders.

The objective is different as well – usability being, well, about how usable a design is, as compared to general feedback which aims to help steer and shape the direction of an ongoing design effort.  Different beasts.

That said, restricting any feedback group to a smaller number of participants helps with focus and coordination, and it’s also much easier to find a time to get everyone together and a place to meet when the group is a fraction of the size.

So, a recommendation here is to keep the numbers low – perhaps with a representative from each section of the project: sponsor, business domain expert, designer, manager, user.  Ensure that everyone actually understands what it’s all about and is willing to make an effort to be there; there’s absolutely no point in forcing someone to get involved in this process against their wishes.

Each feedback session should set out with the stated objectives and try to assess the latest design proposal or prototype against those objectives.

Previous efforts should be used as yardsticks to gauge progress and to ensure that things don’t end up moving away from what’s required.  Nominate a chair for these sessions, someone who will be responsible for maintaining control and ensuring that the session is focused and organised.

What we need to get out of each session is a clear picture of how well the latest design meets the objectives, and whether further refinement is required.  It’s about proving the suitability of a design from different perspectives.  It’s also a good progress indicator, something which can be fed back into the project plan.

The next thing is to try to ensure that these feedback sessions are reasonably regular – say, once every other day or once a week – whatever works for the project.  Of course, how often depends on how much design change is going on, and it’s reasonable to expect the amount of that change to decrease as the design firms up.

In the next instalment we’ll look at what constitutes a good feedback session, how best to organise it, what outputs to expect from it and how to feed those into the next iteration and into a project plan.

World Cup draw this evening. My prediction: England, Mexico, Algeria, France. I could have been far more pessimistic.

Period 1: Year 9, Lead Teach, Observed, Lesson Evaluation.

Lesson Objective and Intended Learning Outcome:
Objective stated to the group, outcome achieved, assessed through general circulation of room and 1:1 support.

Planning:
Little planning required as this was a continuation lesson from previously. Lesson plan provided me with basic structure and learning outcomes for the lesson.

Management/Teaching Strategies:
Starter activity was a walk-through of how to hyperlink buttons. This went well, I was confident in my delivery of this, and from observation notes, “Good positive listening skills evident”.

Resources:
Pointed students to relevant image sources where necessary.

Student Learning:
Students created linked buttons from my instructions, and most very closely followed their house style. Student learning was assessed through individual support and “fly-by” observations of work being created.

Extension/Differentiation:
This is a Set 1 group. Differentiation used was based on more individual support time to those that required it.

Homework:
Students asked to read the PowerPoint presentations on the VLE in relation to their current working project.

Period 4: Year 9, Lead Teach, Notes from Lesson Evaluation.

Productive lesson, students keen to complete work when informed of deadline.

Visit from headteacher in lesson – students found with non-school uniform and headphones, which I had failed to notice. In future I must be aware of individuals non-conformation to school policy.

Some students keen to complete work in own time.

Good pace. Could have finished earlier to have a more substantial plenary.

I’ve enrolled in a FOLIOz course on Maximising the impact of your service which runs over the next few weeks http://foliozmaxim.pbworks.com/

From the course wiki:

Course Aim…
This course aims to equip you with the skills and knowledge required to successfully maximise the impact of your service and to effectively evaluate this impact.

 Course Objectives…
By the end of this course participants will be able to:

• Define the concept of maximising impact as it relates to delivery of information and library services.
• Identify key user groups.
• Assess and evaluate the needs of users.
• Identify and measure the value of their service.
• Present impact data.

It involves reading through briefings each week (and there are loads of other references provided) and completing a portfolio. Template is here http://foliozmaxim.pbwiki.com/f/groupportfolio.doc I’ve currently saved this to my flash drive so I can work on it between home and work.

Professional Studies: An insight into the legal framework and expectations of an NQT. I was struck by the similarity to the GTP year, in that each NQT has a mentor, a weekly meeting to check if they are working to the right level and hitting the right standards, keeping a journal, being observed (admittedly alot less), and providing end of term reports. It will be interesting to see if the NQT year is more/less intense that my current training year.

Period 2: Year 7, Lead Teach, Observed (informally) by cover, Notes from Lesson Evaluation

Tried different tactics of behaviour management in this lesson. I kept students behind for 5 minutes at break, will see if this has an impact next week.

Students provided interesting feedback to the ‘Thinking Hats’ concept. Resources for this worked well, although activity could have been shorter, some students became bored and wandered off task.

Better timings in this lesson.

Set List: Days of Elijah (Robin Mark), Shadows (David Crowder*Band) was planned, but I broke a string so couldn’t finish the set.

Prepwork For the Evening: Prepared EasyWorship schedule, PowerPoint slides, created H20 Action News, prayed, chose topics, recorded and posted videos of leftover topics.

Lesson Topic: Hot Topic Evening: Why do people think Christians are perfect and what can we do to change that? Is purple (Physical Affection) bad or is it good?

Scripture Used: 1 Peter 1.13-16; 1 Thessalonians 4.3-7; 2 Timothy 2.22; Philippians 4.8

Positives From the Evening: Conversations really flowed tonight, for both groups. The girls group had a rabbit trail that led them to some really deep conversation about broken homes and the success (or lack of success) in their parents’ marriages. The guys had some interesting conversation, even going off on the tangent of whether or not one can lust after their wife. There were a couple of new faces tonight and one of them was not afraid to share her groups findings at the end of the evening. At least 50% of our teens present tonight come from (what I can determine) are largely un-churched backgrounds.

Negatives From the Evening: The guitar string breaking during Days of Elijah was a problem. We always seem to need more time for discussion. We could use another leader or two present.

Results From the Evening: I really love these discussion nights. It gives our teens a voice and allows them to discover things for themselves. The side tangents, though potentially distracting, are where the real heart came out (especially in the girls’ group), which has led to some discussion between Kelly and I about what we can do to show some of our teens from broken homes some tangible love, and how we can invest into them in solid ways.

Student Involvement: Students participated in discussion, ran EasyWorship, ran the video camera and shared at the end (effectively teaching the group).

Next Week: Something interesting that I am working on for Advent.

Bonus: Check out the four remaining videos from the Hot Topic Box and weigh in with your thoughts on YouTube.

yeah!

I’m excited to share the first bit of feedback about class e-portfolios in the form of blogs (remember my confused and enthusiastic brainstorming?). Tammy Ingram, Professor of History, has graciously shared her thoughts on our work this semester.

I asked her to consider the following questions:

• Did the blog enhance your teaching? If so, how?
• Did the blog change your teaching? If so, how?
• What were the challenges of using a blog and if/how were they overcome?
• What was the impact the blog had on student writing and participation in class, if any?
• As the course tutor, was I helpful? How could I be more helpful?
• Is it a good idea to have the course tutor help manage the blog?
• What are your thoughts on using WordPress as the host (possibly compared to the Moodle blog function, if you’re familiar with it)?

Her thoughtful response:

Re: the blog . . .I think it’s a great tool and I plan to use it again.  Because this was the first time I had ever used a class blog, I think it was far from perfect.  But it was a more reliable, more aesthetically pleasing, and simpler medium through which students could share their work and comment on other people’s work.  If anything, I didn’t use it enough in class.  It has occurred to me that I might like to pull up the blog on the overhead and actually use the work students have posted on the blog to organize our class discussions.  That would require a bit of rethinking of assignments for this particular course, but I think I could use it very effectively in my seminars, in which I generally have students submit weekly discussion questions (and answers) to guide the second class meeting every week.

I think it’s difficult to measure how (or whether) the blog had an impact on student writing, but I strongly believe that students edit more carefully if they know their peers are reading their work.  In order to emphasize this aspect of the blog’s usefulness in the future, I think I’d like to pick one or two student contributions each week and highlight them.  That way they’re rewarded for good work, and students are made more aware of the fact that everyone’s reading their work closely.  I could tell some students were reading the blog in class discussions, but there need to be more consequences for not reading it regularly.  I will have to work on this, but it’s part of the larger goal of better integrating the blog into the class.  I intend to use WordPress blogs in place of Moodle next semester in both of my seminars, and I’m thinking about how to tie assignments and grades more closely to the work students submit (and respond to) on the blog.

You did a great job of setting up the blog and organizing it, and I think it was critical to the course. Given the demands on my time this semester, I don’t think I could have used the blog at all without your help setting it up and refining it throughout the semester.  Because course tutors are so rare, it’s certainly important that professors themselves learn how to manage the blogs, but the FYS courses are great ways of introducing students and professors to blogs. I’d encourage tutors to volunteer to run the blogs themselves if professors don’t want to participate, and perhaps if they’re done well more professors will try to incorporate them into their classes in the future.  As far as what tutors should contribute, however, I think it’s critical to take the time before the semester begins to figure out how to organize assignments on the blog. We obviously didn’t do that, because this was new to us both, but it would have gotten students off to a better start using the blog.  It seemed too experimental the way we approached it, and I think that influenced the rather casual attitude many students had towards using it.  I also think having tutors provide consistent feedback to students’ writing is very helpful.  Because you met with more of them in your office hours than I did, you knew their work more intimately in many ways and could comment more accurately on what they were doing well or what they had made significant improvements on.  However, I think it’s important that the tutor’s role be clearly defined (she comments on 5-7 posts a week; checks the blog a couple of times a week to make sure posts are organized properly and fixes them if they’re not, etc) or this could turn into a huge workload.  The students are really the ones who should be managing the blog, not tutors or instructors. I see us as administrators.

I agree that the blog should be incorporated more into class assignments. If the blog is used in this way, it will not only demonstrate learning, but enhance it. I also like the idea of using the blog to reward students for strong work… I certainly would have been motivated by this as a student! I also love that we’re beginning discussions about ways tutors may use blogs. The writing center has been so booked this semester that now may be the time to consider how blogs can help both tutors and students, especially in first-year seminars and ENG 110.

Tammy and I are chatting next week about how she may use blogs in two seminars next semester. Yay for the journey continuing!

The process of creating the media product in 72 hours was at times difficult, with ideas not working as planned, indecisiveness and group conflicts all contributing to the disappointing final product.

The first thing the group did after being issued the task was to meet up and discuss ideas. As the brief was very loose, it allowed the group to think freely about the kind of product we wanted to produce. My initial idea was to use the variety in the group to make something that I personally hadn’t done before, such as an advert using the expertise of the advertising media members of our group or doing a documentary or news style product using the skills of the journalist. I thought this could be a good idea because our group had three media production students, who could focus entirely on the actual making of the product and allow the other members to come up the idea and theory behind the film, creating roles for each of us to play in the group, instead of everybody trying to do everything.

However, it was quickly agreed that we would do a fictional film of some sort. We considered doing a comedy, but the group didn’t feel confident enough to make jokes that would appeal to the mass. Then the subject of horror came up and almost instantly we decided that it was the right genre to do. A number of the group particularly enjoyed watching horrors and had lots of ideas and inspirations to work from. The initial stages of pre-production moved very fast, with ideas being decided on almost instantly. It wasn’t until the details had to be finalised that conflicts started to arise. Using the resources we had available to us, a horror film based on students in Coventry Cathedral seemed the most obvious and easiest to film.

Our inspirations came from the recently released “Paranormal Activities” and “The Blair Witch Project”, two films which use handheld cameras to establish a more eerie atmosphere than just using regular film cameras. Both films also use unseen ghosts or demons to create fear, which we felt was something that would benefit us because we wouldn’t need to use effects to make a ghost, we could simply rely on the unknown to generate fear. As we began to discuss more of the film, it became much more difficult to come up with a worthwhile ending, which became the predominant cause of conflict in the group. Some members didn’t like some of the ideas and that became an issue when other members mistook the disliking of their ideas as a personal attack, because no counter ideas were being put forward. This greatly slowed down the brainstorming process because every time an idea would be discussed, we would have to go through the process of convincing the group member why the idea wouldn’t work and why it wasn’t anything to do with personal feelings. Unfortunately, this became the main focus of the discussion, taking concentration away from the project, and its this, which I feel, is the overriding reason for why I consider our 72-hour product a failure. The most basic point of our video suffered because of this, as we couldn’t decide if it was to be a film trailer or an advert, meaning that when it came to filming, it became a case of just filming what we could and creating an actual product later on.

Location scouting was easy, as we knew we wanted to film in the cathedral. The only cause for concern was in getting permission to film there, however that was solved quickly as I phoned the head offices and arranged a short meeting to sign a permission form.

The day shoot was easier than anticipated. As intended I stayed behind the camera working on production with another media production student whilst the rest of the group were our group of students on a tour of the old Cathedral ruins. There was difficulty when filming the group walking, particularly when trying to get more than one angle, because it was near impossible for the group to walk in the exact same positions every time. This is something that would have to be overcome in editing. Not having a script also didn’t really hinder our progress, as the other members of the group acted and reacted very naturally to each other, which I feel gave our final product a more authentic feel in terms of dialogue.

There were production difficulties on the shoot however. When we looked at locations the previous evening, the lighting from street lamps seemed suitable. When it was on camera on the other hand it was incredibly difficult to make out any detail of the characters. The group made the decision to film in night vision as opposed to adding it in post-production, which was the original idea because then it wouldn’t lock us into having to have it in night vision. However we felt it was more important to get footage we could see than keep our options open with footage that is useless.

The editing also went quite well, but it did become apparent that we had a lot of footage that would not be able to be used otherwise we would greatly go over the allowed time. There were also some issues with making the footage we had work, as continuity became a big problem. Having only used Avid a few times the editing took a long time, but gladly we got it done in the time we had. I took control in the editing, again because I have a media production background, and I consulted the group when larger decisions needed to be made. The biggest decision to be made was whether we would use the footage to create a trailer or an opening, and this was a decision we would go backwards and forwards on more than once. Finally, we decided to do a trailer, which used a small clip of the film to promote it, instead of a traditional trailer, which uses lots of very short clips pieced together from the entire movie.

Overall, I wasn’t happy with the finished product. Even though the filming and editing went well, the first group meeting where decisions weren’t made was the reason for the final product not turning out how I personally wanted it to. Far too much time was lost discussing what wouldn’t be done instead of talking about what would be done, and how we could make a viable, believable ending to our product. I really believe if we could make it again then it would be a better product, because, learning from our mistake, we could really hone in on what went wrong and go into the actual production with a much clearer idea of what we were looking to produce.

I’m not going to beat myself up about today. I didn’t enjoy it, but there is always a positive to take.

Period 5: Lead Teach, Year 9, Observed, Notes from Lesson Evaluation.

Students have access to Office 2003, not 2007 which the lesson was planned on. Next time check what version of software students have.

Lesson started well, but I needed the intervention of my mentor to continue the lesson when I hit a snag on the difference between master slide layout on 2003.

Until required intervention, I felt students followed instructions well and listened when asked.

Not enough pace at the beginning. Need to find a balance, and understand the differences between Set 1 and Set 2.

Stayed on for Digital Media and Games Club. Had a great time, and was also pleased a set 2 student joined me after college to finish some incomplete work.

Gonna work for a bit this evening, catch up on some filing,  have a glass of wine, and watch The Thick of It. I am gaining inspiration (very strong language) from Peter Capaldi’s character Malcolm Tucker, but without the swearing in the classroom.

I might be odd, but I actually enjoy being evaluated.  I think this is partly because I’m usually my harshest critic, so the critiques that other people bring are rarely surprising.  When people evaluate me highly, however, it’s pleasantly surprising.  I am used, however, to being evaluated on things like, “What did you do for continuing education this past year?”  It’s very likely that I’d resent being evaluated on topics like, “How much money did you raise for us last year?”  Both are specific questions, and both are quantifiable, but the latter treats me like a balance sheet rather than a human-being.

Thankfully, I’ve never been publicly evaluated that way – my psyche would have broken.

Today, I had my annual staff evaluation for ABCNJ, which I found to be an affirming experience.  I typically look at what I failed to accomplish, but the folks doing my evaluation kept pointing out what I managed to accomplish in what amounts to be a side-job.  This was good for me to hear.  The other thing they did was to encourage my creativity (i.e. “playing with toys”) because they’d seen good ideas for ministry come out of that, several of which have already impacted that way we do ministry as a region in ABCNJ.  I thrive on encouragement like that, not because I need to be patted on the back, but because the affirmation of freedom in experimentation, movement, and learning allows me to tie the canvas of things I enjoy together into the type of creative super-ball that makes me excited to try out new things.  I have to say, people are lucky to find one place in their lives that gives them that freedom.  I’m currently in TWO places that afford me that privilege in ABCNJ and Central Baptist – and my greatest boss of all time back at Miles River Middle School gave me that same luxury (hi Judy).  In that, folks, I’m blessed.

So, I’ve been affirmed, encouraged, and told to stop beating myself (which I won’t do, but it’s nice to be told that).  Oh, and I also showed more patience among the less tech-saavy people in the region this year than last – so that’s a nice sign of positive growth (though I do think that has a negative impact on my geek-status, I need to check with the geek lore-masters on that).

So, look out 2010, here I come.