Program Demo 1

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Tami Grandstaff-Chamberlain commented on Group 7, Cognitive Apprenticeship

Tami Grandstaff-Chamberlain commented on Group 5, African Indigenous Knowledge
Tami Grandstaff-Chamberlain commented on Group 6, Humanist learning

Peer evaluation/self-evaluation is complete.

Joseph Haynes commented on Group 1, Experiential Learning

Joseph Haynes commented on Group 1, Experiential Learning Final Demonstration

Peer evaluation/self-evaluation is complete.

Chris Jones commented on Group 4, Narrative Learning

Chris Jones commented on Group 6, Humanist Way of Learning

Peer evaluation/self-evaluation is complete.

Andrea Blaylock commented on Group 1  Experiential Learning Final Demonstration.

Andrea Blaylock commented on Group 7 Cognitive Apprenticeship

Peer evaluation/self-evaluation is complete.

Dan Ward commented on Group 5: African Indigenous Knowledge

Dan Ward commented on Group 7: Cognitive Apprenticeship

Peer evaluation/self-evaluation is complete.

 
DEMONSTRATION

Contributions of Group 2 - Program Demonstration

Tami Grandstaff-Chamberlain - Group Leader, Office Mix Power Point Add-On slide preparation and narration; Preparation of Outline document for Blog, Development of Website and related materials, Communications hub for group members, Contributions to Summary and Group Reflection.  Final Review.

Joseph Haynes - Co-Leader, suggestions for edits, reviewer, Group Reflection contribution.  Prepared Reference page.  Final Review.

Chris Jones - Supportive role.  Compiled Draft of Summary for edification. Group Reflection contribution.  Contributions for program investigation slide preparation, as well as action plan and activities slides for Office Mix.  Final review.

Andrea Blaylock - Supportive role. Signed on to set up Website link and access.  Group Reflection contribution.  Edited and contributed to website.

Dan Ward - Supportive role.

Summary
 

Project Gold Star is a design team consisting of a group of five graduate students majoring in Adult and Community Education, who are currently enrolled at Ball State University and investigating a program design based upon Spiritual learning. Our country’s first responders and our military service men and women are under attack by an invisible enemy.  It is an enemy that is not yet known or understood by many, but which leaves a path of destruction in the lives of those who face it.  This enemy is called Post Traumatic Stress Disorder, more commonly referred to as PTSD.  It appears in unexpected and various ways, but regardless of its form of attack, it leaves psychological distress, pain and devastation in its wake.  This is the aftermath of what occurs after exposure to traumatic events.  As civilians, we must ask ourselves, what can be done to provide help to those who regularly place their own lives in jeopardy for us as part of their ordinary workday.  When our heroes need help, who is there to help them?  Our focus at Project Gold Star is to guide a spiritual learning journey which will teach and provide a skill-set of coping tools to help the learner to deal with the burdens of daily stressors associated with the demands of the jobs they hold protecting our nation, internationally and within our borders.  Our intent is to equip the learner to achieve a better life experience.  Students will conduct a personal assessment to establish an initial baseline from which to develop.  Participation in groups will foster a trusting environment from which to participate in discussions about health and wellness, stress reduction, and individual and planned group activities.  Journaling will encourage thoughtfulness and mindfulness of the Spiritual learning journey toward Spiritual relationship as each student selects a Spiritual Model to study.  The course will run for 1 ½ hours, once a week, for 16 weeks.  It will be sponsored by the Veterans Administration’s Department of Behavioral Health.  We have learned to apply spiritual learning theory to the subject of trauma and PTSD for healing, re-integration, and community.  In the process, we also educate the educators and the civilian world to help develop a socially supportive foundation for all those who serve, to include their families, and all American Gold Star Children who lose a parent to combat.

Project Gold Star’s logic model asserts that by providing a trusting environment in which to process complicated emotions, invisible wounds can be healed through a channeling process into a meaningful, purposeful life experience intended to create a supportive community in a safe and accepting environment, transforming the individual to achieve a better life experience.  The long-term outcomes of our program will be realized by changes in behaviors, alleviating the burdens which have been historically carried silently, but which affect our nation’s mental health.  The theory of social cognition tells us that communities of practice will both consciously and unconsciously adopt behaviors of the group.  Simulated environments will encourage solving real-world problems helping to develop problem-solving skills.  We will work toward a de-stigmatization of PTSD through educating both military and civilian populations.  PTSD is not a disorder.  It is an invisible wound.

This Program Evaluation is written as a secondary stage in the development of a program designed to implement spiritual learning theory as applied to trauma which aims toward the building of resilience as a coping measure for life events or circumstances beyond our control. Our target populations are Active Duty Military Personnel, Veterans, First Responders, their families, as well as families coping with Special Needs. The Spiritual Learning Journey serves to provide a cathartic experience providing meaning-making intended to replace emotional pain with mental and physical health and wellness through a personal relationship with one’s own concept of a Creator or Higher Power. By studying a Spiritual Model, the learner can participate in an enlightenment to give meaning to one’s own personal sacrifice while discovering their truest and Divine Purpose.

The main highlight of our assignment is the introduction of spirituality into the process of dealing with the emotional wounds of traumatic grief.  The aspect of spirituality is not something normally associated with the healing of trauma and grief, but we feel that guiding the affected person through a process of change primarily through realization of a higher force and spiritual learning will lead to a significant lasting change in their view of not only the traumatic event itself, but of their lives in general. We feel that we have assembled a good database of information and are confident we can develop a program that will accomplish the goals stated above.

We have learned that there are not many current examples of programs that use spiritual learning as the primary method of helping those who suffer from severe trauma and grief. Therefore, we advise that extensive research will have to be performed on this topic. As previously mentioned, we needed to understand the nature of trauma as well as what is being performed currently in healing from this phenomenon to obtain ideas on what we desired to accomplish in our own program. To do this, we recommend having clear duties and objectives outlined for every member in regard to each process, as well as frequent communication, in order to form a working outline of our project within the stated guidelines of the assignment.

We believe the uniqueness of our program is that it looks deeply into the application of Spiritual Learning as a solution that presents with the subject of resilience for problems associated with war-related trauma and traumas experienced by those who brave the lion’s share of civic responsibility beyond ordinary living.  Those who defend and care for trauma-related situations and experience the aftermath of mental and emotional anguish, complicated grief and horror, may find inner peace through a spiritual journey.  When the only solution is to accept the circumstances because they are beyond our control, we can learn resilience through providing meaning making as can be found in a spiritual journey and relationship with God or a Higher Power.

What does thank you for your service mean?  It means acknowledging their stories.  It means that when they return home, we welcome them with compassion and comfort.  Transitioning back to civilian life is difficult because our military is trained to think that the whole is greater than the sum of its parts.  They have sworn allegiance to a cause greater than self.  Our communities can benefit greatly by their patriotism, strong work ethic, commitment, honor, dedication, and loyalty.  They make great leaders, have excellent communication skills, and their teamwork skills are an incredibly valuable asset in business.  In our universities and other learning environments, these skills are reflected in a high level of motivation and powerful sense of purpose.  By recognizing these many strengths and attributes, our service personnel are actually tremendous role models for the rest of us and they are willing to place their lives on the line for each of us, because we ask them to.  The health care system is not able to help everyone who needs help.  There are too many.  We are offering another source of healing through spiritual training. The Social Scientist, George Mead, taught that our entire self-image is based on social interactions so as we move along the continuum, we provide a trusting environment of the socially supportive foundation. It is shown that the highest levels of spiritual development are found in the health sciences and humanities, which further validates Spiritual learning and the value it holds in our lives.

Demonstration Webpage

http://edac635spirituallearning.weebly.com/


Demonstration Office Mix




https://mix.office.com/watch/bcaytq1gcd2i?lcid=1033







For your listening pleasure

https://youtu.be/LKaXY4IdZ40

 https://youtu.be/0IA3ZvCkRkQ


Group Reflection

Highlights

Joseph Haynes shares:  

     I  think an important factor in any process that you are attempting is to hear the positives and negatives about what you are doing.  If you just hear the positives about anything you might tend to lose perspective or become complacent on what could enhance or make better.  You never want to stop learning and if all’s you hear is good job or well done, you won’t be able to grow or exceed expectations.

      
     When you look at our evaluations, we were able to encompass both positive and negative views.  We were able to obtain reputable and professional people that not only gave us positive reviews but were able to give their opinions on what looked wrong, what could be changed or what could be added.  By doing this, it allowed us to review what we had done and make corrections and conclude that we have a better understanding on what they were thinking.

     Another aspect to look at regarding our blog is the fact that it was personal to us and that it had a deeper meaning than just a class project.  By having family members and or friends that have served in the military or who have experienced traumatic events has made this project feel closer to our hearts.  Our blog shows the love and emotion in the hard work and dedication that it took to put it all together.

Tami Grandstaff-Chamberlain shares:

     Some of the highlights were discovery of substantial agency programming currently focusing on the subject of healing through a spiritual process.  Personally, it was very enlightening and validated my own personal life experience of a spiritual learning journey before I ever knew of spiritual learning theory.  It is affirming to know that agencies like the National Institute of Health and Medical Centers acknowledge the importance of spirituality in healing.  I enjoyed the interdisciplinary of this study where medicine meets spirituality, especially having experienced that bridge at significant times in my own life.  Having a father killed in combat, siblings who have survived serious forms of cancer, and giving birth to my first child born with Down syndrome, has led me to call upon my own spirituality as a source of hope, meaning-making and Divine purpose.  I believe that addressing a national epidemic through this process is a very unique use of our education and the technology.

Christopher Jones shares:

     As a firefighter and first responder, I cannot tell you how rewarding it was to learn, research and discover ways that I can minimize my own stressors of the job and keep myself healthy and ready for the call to action on a daily basis.  This is a labor of love and as a firefighter, we see and do things not many people can do or see.  Yet, as a Christian and as a student, I have now learned how to combine the two to maximize my ability to handle the stress I face without opening myself up to the destructiveness of PTSD.  Our program will help the individual to achieve a spiritual peace and relieve symptos of anxiety.  They will benefit by happier relationships with themselves and with others.

Andrea Blaylock shares: 

     One of the most important aspects to adult learning is the inclusions of the experiences of those whom we interact with in our classrooms. Understanding the significance these experiences brings a new level of knowledge and education to the classroom. Many of these experiences which adults bring to the classroom are spiritual in nature. This is why I believe spiritual learning should be a part of the educational process to learning. We live in a world where we are constantly reminded to keep church and state separate in education. However, our program proves that spiritual learning has less to do with “religion” and focuses on the individual on a much higher level of cognition.  Through researching, designing, and developing a program that encompasses spiritual learning, I am more aware of the need in our country for healing and education regarding PTSD and trauma. The passion of the many members in my group, help me to understand that PTSD and trauma is something that cannot and should not be ignored. This was also evident in the responses that we received from our program evaluators.  

In using this program of spiritual learning and discovery, the journey provides...

• Tools such as critical reflection to develop deeper self-awareness, such as the autobiographical re-telling through journaling to develop a spiritual path toward discovering purpose and meaning of the lives of the learner.
• The participants will increase levels of self-esteem and feel valued and respected.
• The learner controls their own level of involvement. 
• The participant will have the opportunity to share in purposeful discussions that will allow the learner to feel empowerment over one’s own life. 
• They must be able to relate to the information being given.
• The learner discovers meaning-making through critical analysis. 
• The participants will work collaboratively and with the instructors toward the best interest of themselves and their comrades.
• Our program must make the participants feel satisfied and immediately be able to   apply the information to their lives.

Process of our Final Demonstration

    The process of developing a program design for spiritual learning is shown through both an Office Mix PowerPoint Add-on and Weebly Website.  Please click onto the links provided to explore our project further.  As instructed in the Syllabus, we demonstrate the main components and basic process, as well as the methods used to design the program.  A review of the links provided by Dr. Chang encouraged a variety of options.

    The lessons and tips I would share are to remain vigilant.  Be willing to commit and set aside the time necessary to see this project through to completion.  I believe that the three (3) multi-media formats used have left no stone unturned.  Each form of media has allowed us to elaborate on different aspects of the program.  The Office Mix PowerPoint Add-on allows for narration, pictures, screenshots, and tables.  The website allows for access to links through the click of a "button." We were able to embed the PowerPoint Add-on into the Weebly website.  The Blog lets us sum it up and encourages engagement with our multi-media presentations, where our work unfolds.

References

Anselm Strauss. (1964). George Herbert Mead on Social Psychology.  Retrieved from http://www.press.uchicago.edu.

  

Lauri Leitch, (2016). A new Vision for Veterans Care.  Retrieved from http://www.eomega.org

Libnscu. (2009). Literature Review: An Overview for Graduate Students.  Retrieved from http://www.youtube.com

Mariah Carey. (2009). Her. Retrieved from http://www.youtube.com

Website. (2016). Omega. Veterans, trauma and resilience. Retrieved from http://www.eomega.org/veterans

Website. (2016). National Institute of Health. US Department of Health and Human Services. Retrieved from http://www.hih.gov

Whitney Houston (2014). When You Believe. Retrieved from http://www.youtube.com