Advanced Communication
Technology is just a tool. In terms of getting the kids working together and motivating them, the teacher is the most important. - Bill Gates
Oral Speaking/Presenting
I have done a lot of speaking and presenting since beginning my field work in the Masters of Global Community Development (MGCD) program. I worked with World Vision in Mtito Andei, Kenya doing several proposal writing trainings to help local Community Based Organization (CBO). In this video, I worked with a world vision employ and interpreter to train community members how to train others to do proposal writing – this is also known as a Training of Trainers (TOT).
I also conducted an Appreciative Inquiry (AI) assessment with a large group of students and community leaders in Mtito Andei, Kenya at a child protection advocacy event.
During my internship at Walla Walla University, I did several presentations to promote the new Global Humanitarian Engineering Emphasis [GHEE] program at the Edward E. Cross School of Engineering. I was able to improve this presentation more and more each time. This ultimately helped to recruit over 19 new students into the GHEE program which was a huge win for the program.
I also had the opportunity to help teach several GHEE classes. I was invited to lead an entire class period about the philosophy of development work. My training in the MGCD program equipped me with knowledge about certain “soft-skills” that were lacking in the mostly technical field of engineering. I’ve helped teach this same lesson two years in a row now and my presentation skills along with my Power Point have improved with each iteration.
Last quarter (Winter, 2017) at Walla Walla University, I was offered a rare teaching opportunity. My undergraduate degree is in mathematics and the math department was overwhelmed with calculus students so I was asked to teach Math 105 – finite math. This is perhaps the most challenging thing I have ever done. I under-estimated how much work goes into teaching what I consider to be an easy math class. This experience pushed my oral communication and presentation skills to new heights. Within a few weeks, I realized that I would not be able to present all the concepts that needed to be presented properly within the limited time-frame each morning. After speaking with the IT department, I learned how to use their new state-of-the-art video/audio recording system. From then on, I recorded every class session and made extra supplementary videos to cover the things I didn’t have a chance to cover in class. The students were very grateful for the extra time and effort I put into helping them understand the concepts. Here’s one of many Math-105 class sessions that I recorded.
Here’s a supplementary video I recorded in my office to help students prepare for an exam. Students loved it when I helped them with these types of videos. I based my problem-solving demonstrations on the techniques used by the most highly rated math tutors on youtube (millions of views).
Technical Writing (Proposals & Reports)
I have done a lot of technical writing throughout the MGCD program – especially proposal writing. During rotation 2, while working with World Vision in Mtito Andei, Kenya, my partner Mark Mutai and I helped Community Based Organizations (CBOs) write proposals for various projects they wanted to implement. We applied the principles of transformational development by encouraging them to write their own proposals. At first, the groups struggled to articulate their desires in writing but with a little guidance and the collaborative efforts of their peers, they were able to put together their own proposals. Here are the proposals for the following CBOs.
We conducted proposal writing workshops to help them write the proposals. Here’s a report outlining our training: Proposal training report (small grants less than $5000)
We created the following technical guides to help them with the proposal writing process. We tried to streamline the process for the CBOs as much as possible.
During my internship at Walla Walla University I helped write a grant proposal for an EWB solar energy project in Peru. We were able to secure $5000 of funding from the Boeing corporation! This money has been put to good use on a recent implementation trip to Peru. In addition, I’ve worked with EWB students to compile many different project reports as required by EWB’s extensive reporting guidelines.
Cross Cultural Sensitivity
My cross cultural sensitivity training started from when I was very young. My family immigrated from the Ukraine (still part of the Soviet Union at the time) to the United States when I was 6 years old. My brothers and I had to quickly adapt to the new world we were put in. Being between stuck between two cultures has given me a unique perspective into how different people can see the same things in completely different ways.
When I was in East Africa, I ran into a number of unique cultural differences from how things are in the United States. I remember buying food for myself but keeping it in a fridge in the common area. At first I was a little upset that other people were “stealing” my food. Fortunately, it was explained to me by another member of the team that food was shared in this way in that part of Africa. I could understand this perspective because the Ukrainian culture has similar rules about sharing food. In fact, I had noticed that East Africans were very generous with their food (counter to how the media often portrays Africans). After the clarification, I started buying food and encouraging other members of the team to take as much as they wanted for themselves. Men who are very close friends will also hold hands in that particular part of Africa and this is also something I could relate to. When my cousins emigrated from the Ukraine after we had lived in the U.S. for several years, they would also try to hold our hands. We were very startled by this behavior at first until my parents explained it to us.
At the end of my rotation 2 in Kenya (December 2015), I was invited to join the World Vision staff I had been working with to a retreat in Malindi – a beautiful coastal town near Mombasa. I was asked to lead a team building exercise. Here’s a video of one of the exercises I lead out in which the team had to work together in complex ways to solve a simple task.
Towards the end of the retreat, the team opened up to me about how they were uncertain about me at first because I didn’t seem very friendly. I was polite in my introduction but I didn’t take the time to talk with them in depth and ask them questions about their family, etc. Over time, as I loosened up and began to accept the slower pace of life where relationships come first, I began to adapt to the culture. I was so task-oriented in my Western mentality where productivity trumps sociability that I failed to connect with the local team. Over time, as I bonded with the team over teatime in the mornings and as we developed many inside jokes together, the team came to like me more and more. In the end, we became very close and it was difficult to say goodbye. I still miss them and every once in a while we connect on social media.
When I returned to the states, I experienced a sort of reverse culture shock. I had grown accustomed to the having long conversations with colleagues but in the states this led to some awkward moments. People were busy and task oriented and I would just keep talking and talking without picking up on subtle cues that they wanted to leave the conversation and return to work. It took a few months to fully readjust. Life in academia also has its own social norms and so this was an additional culture I had to adapt to when I returned.
At Walla Walla University, I help teach a Global Humanitarian Engineer Emphasis (GHEE) class called Engineering in a Global Context (Engr-390). Part of that class involves preparing students for international work through cross cultural sensitivity training. I shared my East African experience with students and we also had a number of guest lectures come in and share their experiences. We learned about Arab Cultural differences from Dr. Sharon Pittman’s visit and also from Dr. Doug Logan (Dean of the Engineering Department). Sharon Pittman has a goldmine of experience that she shared with us during those lectures. Dr. Logan’s global engineering lecture about his time working as a consultant in Saudi Arabian was also very informative. Dr. Logan also spoke about his experience working in Russia for USAID in the 90’s after the Cold War.
Productivity Promoting
Taking part in meetings and writing minutes of meetings during my time with World Vision Kenya helped me prepare for GHEE meetings at Walla Walla University.
Learning to be productive in a more efficient way is one of my main areas of interest. I read numerous articles on the subject in my spare time and I’m willing to try all kinds of new technology if it is helpful. I watched videos on how to best use Microsoft outlook. I learned how to create a detailed schedule in outlook calendar, how to program reminders and color code each block of time by theme (GHEE, EWB, lunch, Exercise, etc). I also learned how to send out invitations through Outlook to students and faculty to large events such as GHEE brunches and EWB meetings. I’ve also learned how to send out mass emails to people and how to import email lists from PeopleSoft to help manage my Math-105 class.
I’ve also helped the Engineers Without Borders (EWB) club organize their online content in google docs. Having an organized record of EWB reports and design files has proved invaluable in the project planning and maintenance process. The engineering students at Walla Walla University have also introduced me to new and interesting productivity apps such as doodle.