SPSS
Mood:  blue
Topic: Work
Bosses are in China right now. We are not required to report to the office this week. However, our reports are due on their arrival this coming May 15th, so is the start of our new task.

I have been working on these write-ups for the past week. Although I have plenty of spare time to do them, I am having problems with analysis. It is not because I find it very difficult to do but because their method of analysis was against (not really "against" against-but you have to really justify its use) what I was taught in school.

As an intern, I actually do not know how to deal with things like these (voicing out opinions/suggestions that you think might help). The first time I saw their questionnaire--along with the answers from the participants--I thought that there was a need for some minor revisions to get the most from their respondents. I knew I had to say something. Knowing that they have used the same questionnaire for the longest time, however, made me think twice. Well, eventually we did tell Dr. Mercado our concern.

One reason I am having second thoughts about telling Dr. Mercado about this is because they have used the same method of analysis for the longest time. Using a different method will prohibit a standard basis for comparison with their past evaluation reports. But being just an intern, and a student, I am yet to learn more things about my field. I do not want to be the mr-know-it-all type. I guess it is the purpose that matters. I have seen other people do that type of analysis anyway.

It is just a good thing their instrument is not part of an academic research paper or else they need to revise it over and over again--like CommRes 115.

Project Management Session at DCAAP
Mood:  a-ok
Topic: Work
The battleground in the realm of ideas within me had just expanded. Not only it has confined itself to ideas in the academe but it has also come to include the professional world (oftentimes called "real world", where most of our parents actually reside). Although I don't think I am new to working environments, plenty of events this summer has got me thinking about the never-ending issue between practicality and idealism. Probably because the crossover from the ideal-rearing world of the university to the practicality-run world of "real world" is getting near. I can slightly feel it with my internship this summer and I am realizing its proximity the moment I passed my resume to Media Meter.


Earlier today, we had a session about Project Management. Unlike the last training we attended, we were the "stars" of this session. We were the actual participants this time--no need to run errands, photocopy stuff and sit at the back without the liberty to ask for clarifications and questions. Although I was a day late (I missed the first one for a date with data processing), Mr. Mercado was kind enough to give as a review of yesterday's lesson (after talking to me about the pending issue I had with one of their employees). I did not miss much though. It was just a modified version of my management class last semester under Sir Mamaclay with emphasis on research and human development.

Development Center for Asia Africa Pacific (DCAAP, the company I am working for) stresses the importance of human resources development as crucial in nation building. According to his lecture, although our country has plenty of resources compared to our neigbors, we lack a strong workforce to harness them. So he believes that one way of solving this is to target the knowledge, understanding, attitudes, skills and practices of the people through training.


I think that his ideas are very noble, however, our points of view diverged when he said that the training should aim to develop an "entrepreneurial mindset" among Filipinos. Not that everything is wrong with entrepreneurship, but he justified them based on the view that we have to adapt to a globalizing world--a world which I think serves only those in power. I am not saying that we should go against it. I am not too idealistic (or crazy) to believe that something small could actually go against something that is that huge (eep, the practical Stan!). Why not let it be but allow ourselves not to be involved in supporting neocolonialism and imperialism.


After the formal lecture, we had a discussion about the purpose of social and communication research. It was then that I was reminded once more that there is more to research than just finding out facts. Dr. Mercado proposes social/communication researchers to make social innovations and implement them to improve the present condition of our country. He asserts that these social innovations can be used the same way inventions are used. He encourages researchers to take part in that and have the "entrepreneurial mindset" to launch his or her own ideas and invent.

Knowledge is for everybody. Ideas will cease to exist without its predecessors. Innovations would not have come out had the contexts--one of which is in the realm of knowledge--been different.

In short, we both mean well. We just have different ideas about the means of achieving them.

I guess this is proof that I am still resistant to the praticality that the real world requires but I am learning.

Learner-Centered Training Approaches
Mood:  bright
Topic: Work

Today is the final day of DCAAP's Learner-Centered Training Approaches.

/* Do activities to improve the competencies of the individual? Not only confined to games SLE structured learning experience Structure-set of decised activities designe to elicit interactions between individuals in a group Experience - activity or activities that produces the data or information for learning and is considered a method for extracting useful insights necessary for learning. Discussion of the game (soccer} Ricky, the joker bayanihan spirit SLE, Training and education-for organizational development there is no problem with culture, only misuse of it. John Maxwell-has insights about leadershlp */ Consulted Ma'am Umali today.

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Lonely Lunch
Mood:  accident prone
Topic: Work
Aside from processing data, DCAAP's interns are also given the task of assisting in the trainings conducted by the organization. Today is the first day of one of those training sessions.

During our orientation, we were told that we would be giving minimal assistance in the training sessions. I was given the impression that everything was already set so I thought all we had to do is be there in case anything comes up. Within the day that "anything" became "everything". Everything just came up--missing handouts, acetates and flickering overhead projectors. I was annoyed at first because I had to run from one room to another (and sometimes in and out of the building) to photocopy reading materials, get something or say something to other people. I must admit that I was a bit frustrated--not because I did not want to do those tasks but because I had to do them wearing polos, pants and leather shoes. (Yes, I abhor wearing stuff like that especially at this time of the year.) But unlike my co-intern May, I did not think that those were beyond my job as the company's intern. She did and decided to ask Ma'am Umali (our internship adviser) about it.

For one thing, the regular employees would have done our job as "errand people" had they not accepted interns this summer. Another is that what we did was still part of our task which is to "assist" them in conducting their training sessions. I must say, that if it were not for us, the training would not be as successful (Yabang!). For an organization as small as DCAAP (and for most NGOs that I know), multitasking has become integral in their operations. That is probably the reason why I did not think that our tasks were "menial" or our training as researchers was undermined. We did not run errands most of the time anyway. In fact, we sat at the back of the room most of the time drinking FREE coffee, tea or gulaman and listening to the lectures given by the resource person.

But the most remarkable thing today is not part of the lecture nor part of doing nasty perspiration-inducing tasks. I have always pictured myself as a teacher--sharing what I have to other people and helping people achieve more (and part of it because you get to do it your way)--but I what if I landed on a job that resembles that of DCAAP (which I think is not much different from office work)? Will I always be spending lunctime alone? Is it possible for you to share what you know and possibly help other people? Or do I have to live my life following orders from somebody else?

Lonely lunches never fail to make me think.

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