the four-leaf clover

The title of my post may seem a bit corny, but it rings true to how I feel about program planning, this past semester and what I hope to continue learning in the future.

The end of the beginning…. the end of ADLT 602 and Wednesday night class, but the beginning of a new outlook on program planning and adults as learners.

This semester helped me realize I’m smarter that I thought I was. I have more knowledge of adults as learners and program planning than I originally thought at the beginning of the semester. It was easy to feel engaged during our class discussions, and even though I didn’t have as much experience as some others, I never felt out of the loop. I’ve been lucky enough to have had work experiences, internships and involvement in school activities that have helped me with my own learning this semester. I mentioned in class last week how I want to try to take what I’ve learned and what I’m learning about adults and bring it into my workplace now. It’s my own personal goal to find little ways to do this.

I also learned over this semester what makes an effective program and what doesn’t. Over the years I’ve been a part of programs within work and school that really impacted me and others that I could have done without. I think having these experiences helped me plan my HRD internship program, because I tried to imagine if I were a student involved in it.

On another note, I am holding on to Caffarella’s program planning book. I have most of my text’s over the years, but this is one that I know I’ll go back to over and over again. It was wonderful having her input through the “real life” scenarios at the beginning of the chapters. The interactive model helped me relate back to and match up my program planning knowledge and ideas. To find out that planning a program has steps that can be intertwined was also quite helpful.

I’m glad this semester has come to an end because I’m ready for a “learning” break, but it’s nice to say that I can use the knowledge of this course in the future. It has also been a great learning experience reading the blogs of my classmates and even others within the program. Getting new ideas and engaging in the experiences of others helps me learn tremendously.

I will hopefully fill in a few posts over break… who knows what may happen that will make me think about program planning! Have a great holiday everyone and look forward to seeing you all next semester!

In the last chapter of the text, Caffarella takes us back to revisit the interactive model of program planning. In this chapter she relates swimming in the ocean to planning programs for adults… sometimes planners choose to be dolphins, sometimes sharks, and maybe some occasionally like to just lie on the beach. Caffarella states, “program planners need to take the time to listen and feel what is around them, and discover new things about their practice as planners and the environments in which they work.”

I enjoyed the way Caffarella summed up the chapters of program planning and the model. The extra little examples and scenarios she provides help a person like me, who has limited program planning experience, not feel so lost. I’m sitting here in the library this morning finishing up the final touches on my program plan and this model has really helped me stay on track. I believe that even a person with little or no experience could use this text and not feel so “lost in the ocean” if they had to plan their own program.