3D Google SketchUp model by Simha Bode - Refresh page to play again. See Digiphon in the right column of the Commentary page for details
Designing my process
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Once I had realized what my project was going to be (writing a teachers manual to facilitate an earth oven course), I needed to create a design process that would help me accomplish my goals. I approached the complexity of the multiple layers to this project by using the permaculture principle design from patterns to detail. I established my broad pattern level design-flow for writing the ebook. This mind map broke the ebook project into its three components, see the image below. |
The Process
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Getting it down: I created a rough outline of the course steps by using documents and notes from courses I have taught. To get deeper into this process I decided to simulate going through the steps by building a 3D model on Google Sketchup. Above is an animation I created from screen shots of the model. If you have Google SketchUp or SketchUp Viewer and want to see the full model, it is in the left column of the Supporting evidence page. I purchased a PDF of the 3rd edition of Kiko Denzer's book Build Your Own Earth Oven, knowing it would be an invaluable resource for this project. Using the 3D model, Kiko's book and photos from my previous courses, I wrote a more detailed explanation of the course steps. Once I had the process of each step written out I assessed which images were needed to communicate the more complex or visual aspects of the course. To make the manual illustrations I used the SketchUp model, photos from my courses and my imagination. For further description of this process see the left column of the Supporting evidence page. |
| Formatting: At this point I jumped ahead, because I knew there was a learning curve in learning to build an ebook. After some google searching and fiddling around with various formatting programs I found an online tutorial➚ which worked. For more details and resources on ebook formatting see Annotated resources on the Commentary page. I also felt it would be a good way to present it to my pro-reviewers Kiko and Mark, so they could see a clean presentation including the illustrations. For more details on formatting options see page 1.4 The Manual. |
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1.2 Process by Will Bode is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-Share Alike 3.0 Unported license.
Permissions beyond the scope of this license may be available from Will Bode.
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Getting it good: I had several Skype meetings with Mark to discuss the manual. The meetings with Mark filled in technical details I was missing. I only knew Kiko through his book but fortunately Mark had apprenticed with him and had his contact information. I wrote to Kiko and got a quick response. His response caught me off guard, he said that the manual was more of a build manual than a teacher's guide. We wrote back and forth having a rich dialogue on teaching, he asked me a few great questions that sparked my inspiration, which were:
Though I had touched on some of the hows of teaching, I did not get very deep into the whys. I asked myself why I had left out this more philosophical aspect of the guide. This inquiry showed me that I had avoided this content for several reasons. The community building and empowerment aspects of teaching comes more natural to me than the technical and organizational aspects. I had skewed the manual to my own needs. I was also afraid of imposing my own views on others and wanted to keep the manual objective. Kiko's opinion was again repeated to me in my editors feedback. This feedback made me realize that this was an essential part of the manual and I needed to re-establish my frame of reference. After some deep reflection I dug back into the text adding to it and reorganizing everything. I was very pleased with the outcome of the new manual after implementing this feedback. This experience made it very clear how essential this Getting it good - pro-feedback phase is. The manual was transformed into a pedagogical guide. |
Critical evaluation
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The most important actions which made this project successful:
The most important ingredients to the success of this project:
Below are some of the shortcomings:
During a guild meeting on Google hangout I was introduced to Scrivener➚, a writing software. Scrivener looks like it would have made the process of editing the manual much easier. See a video of the hangout discussion on Scrivener in the right column of the Supporting evidence page. I feel the ideal way to write a pedagogical manual is to actually have a co-teacher (apprentice) who is learning from you. A co-teacher can provide you with real-time feedback. I saw Teaching a course, with the lens of teaching to facilitate, as the next best thing to having a co-teacher. My failure to setup and teach a course was a learning experience. Next time I will engage more than one possible host into the consultation phase, in case one falls through. See more about this attempted course in the right column of the Supporting evidence page. I see this manual as the beginnings of a great accomplishment. As my experience grows each new edition of the manual will improve for future facilitators. |
Interventions
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The search for the project of my OP4 was a series of interventions over a three month period. The intervention that successfully ended my search for this project was having a guild meeting with a peer that has a consistent record of giving me beneficial feedback. I observe that what makes Liam's feedback so beneficial is that he has very strong active listening skills and can produce questions which get at the root of a particular issue. After his active listening he repeats what he hears and expounds on what it means to him, with insights. I can not emphasize enough the benefit of having someone that can give you this type of soundboard-feedback. The second intervention which was critical to the outcome of this project was my pursuit of feedback. People can easily tiptoe around giving critical feedback. Kiko's initial feedback pointed at an issue with my manual but I still did not understand what he was suggesting. It took me pushing into that uncomfortable edge of asking for more clarity. This can be especially difficult when you don't know the person and they are volunteering their time. Fortunately Kiko is dedicated to this topic and provided me with details of how I could improve it. His feedback guided me to expand the section on pedagogy, add a cultural context section and to rearrange content, putting the class schedule first and moving technical details to the end as a reference. I am very pleased with how it turned out. |