Workshop

Ashley Pilmore - I commented on Group 2, 3, and 4's Workshop Paper
Deb Howell - I commented on Group 2, 3, and 4's Workshop Paper
Abdulmajeed Alomayri - I commented on Group 2's Workshop Paper
Wafa Alrasheed- I commented on Group __________

Group 1: Workshop Paper

Ashley Pilmore - Group Leader, Community and University Outreach, Presentation Material, Workshop Presenter, Writer

Abdulmajeed Alomayri - Community and University Outreach, Presentation Material, Workshop Photographer/Videographer, Assist Writer with Content

Wafa Alrasheed - Community and University Outreach, Presentation Material, Workshop Assistant, Assist Writer with Content

Deb Howell - Recorder, Community and University Outreach, Presentation Material, Presentation Creator, Workshop Presenter, Assist Writer with Content

Introduction

The overall purpose of the workshop project was to research, prepare, and present a workshop to individuals within the Muncie community; a workshop that primarily focused on the storylines and themes presented in Ray Bradbury’s Fahrenheit 451.  For our workshop, we chose to focus on the book itself, its author, and the added topic of “electronic book burning” or the perceived extinction of hard copy manuscripts in favor of digital ones.  This idea came about after many group brainstorming and research sessions.  These sessions also included a one-on-one interview with Dr. Peggy Rice, Associate Professor of Elementary Education and BY5 initiative associate, who helped our group have a better understanding of how to prepare and put on a literature workshop.  This idea was also inspired by statements made by Dr. Bo Chang, Assistant Professor of Adult and Community Education, in the Ball State University News Center article “NEA grant ignites Muncie-wide reading of ‘Fahrenheit 451’”.  In the article Dr. Chang “points to the seemingly ubiquitous influence of technology, especially social media, which gives users the ability to filter out topics and ideas.  Whether people realize it or not, there are many ways in which idea sharing is on the decline.  That’s not to say technology is evil, but that it should be handled with care” (Renze-Rhodes, 2015, para. 2).  She also discussed her interest in looking at “how technology benefits people but how it can also be harmful” (Renze-Rhodes, 2015, para. 4).  

            Our goals for this project were broken down into goals for our workshop and goals for our workshop paper.  These goals were then broken down further into individual and group goals.  These goals were determined by the project leader, Ashley Pilmore, based on the project rubric and her own expectations for the project as a whole.  The proposed goals were then discussed and agreed upon as a group.  The tables below summarize the proposed and agreed upon goals for both the workshop and workshop paper:

Table 1

Workshop Individual and Group Goals

Individual Goals	Group Goals
•    Contribute to presentation information (all members) •    Create presentation slideshow (Deb) •    Acquire various workshop giveaways	•    Have more than 20 workshop participants •    Ensure that all group member’s workshop ideas and suggestions are respected, taken into consideration, and utilized •    Create a presentation that is hands-on, interactive, fun, interesting, and meets the needs of both TEAMWork and our participants.

Table 2
Workshop Paper Individual and Group Goals

Individual Goals	Group Goals
•    Find and research at least one strategy for recruiting workshop participants •    Find and research at least one strategy for motivating workshop participants to engage in workshop activities •    Provide at least one piece of documentation confirming workshop activities •    Provide at least one story, personal experience, or personal takeaway from the workshop	•    Continue with effective communication among group members •    Ensure that all group member’s ideas, suggestions, and needs are respected, taken into consideration, and utilized •    Continue with equal participation of all group members •    Compile a well-thought out, detailed, and informative workshop paper

Workshop Plan

Our group utilized many strategies to recruit workshop participants as well as motivate our participants to engage in our workshop discussions and activities.  The strategies utilized to recruit workshop participants can be primarily found in our marketing project paper under “Marketing Strategies”.  The strategies used were “target marketing” and “integrated marketing”.  Target marketing is a strategy focused on getting to know the customer and/or audience, while integrated marketing is focused on:

Creating a unified and seamless experience for consumers to interact with the brand/enterprise; it attempts to mold all aspects of marketing communication such as advertising, sales promotion, public relations, direct marketing, and social media, through their respective mix of tactics, methods, channels, media, and activities, so that all work together as a unified force” (Integrated, 2015, para. 1). 

It was our hope that the colorful, eye-catching flyers, newspaper article, social media hype, and our interesting topic of choice would encourage a wide array of individuals to attend our workshop.  For more detailed information about these strategies and their corresponding activities, please visit our Marketing page at http://edac632groupone.blogspot.com/p/marketing.htm.  We also utilized the “personal approach strategy” (not mentioned in our marketing paper) which is a strategy focused on face-to face communication and is essential in relationship marketing (Evans & MacDougall, 1997, p. 25).  Corresponding activities included verbally sharing the details of our workshop with coworkers, friends, family, Ball State employees, and students.  We also personally met with the leaders of TEAMWork to discuss their goals for and expectations of our workshop.  Deb Howell felt that these face-to-face meetings were necessary since they were our community partner and the reason for our many participants.

The strategies utilized to motivate our participants to engage in our workshop discussions and activities were the “active learning strategy” and the “incentive scheme strategy”.  The active learning strategy is a strategy focused on encouraging the learner to be “active participants in the [learning] process” and “typically involves doing something” such reading, problem-solving, discussing, or reflecting (Barkley, 2015, p. 11).   This was achieved by facilitating a group discussion at the end of the presentation.  This discussion allowed participants to engaged in an open discussion with one another as well as share their thoughts about the information and ideas presented.  Our group chose to present questions that were open-ended because they promote “critical thinking” and eliminate the “fear of answering incorrectly” (Reeve, 1992, p. 35).  The incentive scheme strategy is a strategy designed to encourage individual commitment to achieving a worthwhile objective (Incentive, 2015, para. 1).  This was achieved by sharing with the participants, prior to the start of the workshop, that their hard work and active engagement throughout the entirety of the workshop would be rewarded with a fun and exciting raffle at the very end.  This caused a great deal of excitement amongst our participants.

Budget and Logistics

For this portion of the project, our group was given a total of $50.00 for workshop expenses.  This amount was then increased to a total of $100.00 because the original $50.00 funding from our marketing project was never utilized.  Similar to that of our marketing project, funds were not utilized or dispersed to group members without consent from the majority of the group.  The table below summarizes the agreed upon budget for our workshop project:

Table 3
Workshop Project Budget

Item (Donated or Purchased)	Acquired By and From	Budget Amount Utilized
$20.00 Walmart Gift Card (Donated by Ashley Pilmore)	•    Ashley Pilmore from Walmart	$0.00
Teachers College Travel Mug (Donated)	•    Ashley Pilmore from Teachers College (BSU)	$0.00
1 Case of Water (Purchased) 6-12 Packs of Soda (Purchased)	•    Deb Howell from Meijer	$24.19
4 Packages of Cookies (Purchased)	•    Deb Howell from Concannon’s Bakery & Café	$18.96
3 T-Shirts (Donated) 55 Pens (Donated) Jar of Weeble Toys (Donated)	•    Deb Howell from The Office of Information Security Services (BSU)	$0.00
4 Dozen Doughnuts (Donated by Deb Howell) 3 Dozen Cookies (Donated by Deb Howell)	•    Deb Howell from Concannon’s Bakery & Café	$0.00
50 Treat Boxes (Donated by Deb Howell) 1 Cell Phone Power Bank (Donated by Deb Howell)	•    Deb Howell	$0.00
2 T-Shirts (Donated)	•    Wafa Alrasheed from T.I.S College Bookstore	$0.00
3 T-Shirts (Donated) 2 Laptop Covers (Donated) 1 Ball State University Padfolio (Donated)	•    Wafa Alrasheed from Ball State University Bookstore	$0.00
Workshop Photography and Videography (Donated by Abdulmajeed Alomayri)	•    Abdulmajeed Alomayri	$0.00
Workshop Photography and Volunteer (Donated by Chloe Sturdivant)	•    Ashley Pilmore from Chloe Sturdivant, BSU Marketing and Communications Undergraduate Student	$0.00
TOTAL WORKSHOP BUDGET AMOUNT UTILIZED:		$43.15

            Our workshop was presented at the First Baptist Church on Thursday, October 22, 2015 at 6:45 p.m.  Dinner was provided by a third-party contribution.  Over 100 people attended that evening.  The workshop included people varying in age, race, and socioeconomic backgrounds.

 

Workshop Activities and Results

            The following tables summarize the activities and results of our group workshop project.  

Workshop Presentation Schedule

•    6:00-6:45 p.m. – Begin setting up for presentation •    6:45-6:50 p.m. – Opening and group introductions •    6:50-7:05 p.m. – “Ray Bradbury and Fahrenheit 451” (presented by Ashley Pilmore) •    7:05-7:25 p.m. – “Electronic Book Burning” (presented by Deb Howell) •    7:25-7:40 p.m. – Open discussion (lead by Group 1) •    7:40-7:50 p.m. – Workshop raffle •    7:50-8:00 p.m. – Closing and TEAMWork announcements

                                                             Note.  Schedule times are approximate

Table 4
Workshop Participant Evaluations of Presentation

Evaluation Presentation Question	Total Points Earned	Total Points Possible
1.     Overall, how would you rate the quality of the workshop?	133	155 Grade: 86%
2.     Overall, how would you rate the information that was provided?	140	155 Grade: 90%
3.     Overall, how would you rate the quality of the presenters?	135	155 Grade: 87%
4.     I found this workshop to be interesting and informative.	138	155 Grade: 89%
5.     I enjoyed this workshop.	136	155 Grade: 88%
6.     This workshop really highlighted the importance of books and reading.	140	155 Grade: 90%
GRAND TOTAL:	822	930 Grade: 88%

Figure 1.   This table shows the break down of the results from the table above.  It highlights how each participant (P) rated each question (Q) on the survey.  The ratings ranged from 1 (very poor) to 5 (excellent).

            There was a number of guests that wished to remain anonymous and unidentified at the event, but there were some individuals that agreed to complete a short survey about the presentation.   Participants were asked to rate each question honestly using a rating scale that ranged from 1 (very poor) to 5 (excellent).  Participants were also encouraged to note any comments that they had in regards to the presentation.  The participant's answers were recorded anonymously.  Participant comments can be found below:

·      “Thanks for agreeing to come and share!!!”

·      “Great presentation!”

·      “A good job was done in putting together the material presented and in producing the media show to present it.  The Q&A session/discussion went very well, too.”

·      “Audio issues. :-(”

·      “Interesting discussion on things I’ve not given much thought to before this.”

·      “It [was a] great workshop.  I change[d] some of my thinking when I heard some info about this.  By the way it is nice.”

·      “It was helpful.”

·      “The presenter may be better if she spoke more [authoritatively] and not end sentences so much on a rising note.”

·      “Thanks so much!”

            After looking over the workshop results and comments, our group concluded that we had put together and executed a fairly successful workshop.  We had met many of our workshop goals including exceeding 20 workshop participants and creating a presentation that was interactive, informative, and resonated with our participants.  When reflecting on the aspects of our presentation that required improvement, we focused on the technical set-up and audience.  Since many of the issues that we experienced were technical in nature (video and audio), we felt that a more successful do-over would require that we research the location and its technical abilities prior to the presentation.  This would include physically visiting the location and testing out its technical abilities to see if additional audio and video equipment are required.  In regards to our workshop audience, many of them members of TEAMWork, we felt that it would have been in our best interest to have researched this audience prior to our presentation, and even go as far as attending one of their meetings.  This would have provided us with a better, more accurate picture of the audience to which we were presenting.

Workshop Video
For more information on the videos taken at the workshop event visit our Photos and Video page.

Reflection

            When reflecting on our overall successes and failures associated with this project, we are left feeling quite satisfied with the results as well as the many important takeaways.  Some of these takeaways include a respect and appreciation for the individuals who run the TEAMWork organization and their unfailing dedication to providing the Muncie Community with a “hand up, not a hand out” as Ms. Dorica says.  We also once again learned the importance of shared group efforts and support in an effort to meet a common goal.  Our group member Wafa Alrasheed, cleverly stated that, “More hands make for lighter work.”  She also shared with us that despite her quiet and shy nature, she felt that being a part of our group and this project had changed her in many ways.  This alone was a big milestone for our group and one that we celebrate.  Below are some individual group member memories and experiences from the workshop:

            Our group member Deb Howell expressed the joys of participating in such a project and her appreciation for the individuals that she met during her time at the First Baptist Church.  She talked about how this workshop was more than just an educational experience for the participants, it was a rare opportunity for us to submerge ourselves in the TEAMWork culture; a culture that willingly welcomed us with open arms.  She also stated that one of her favorite memories was of the two girls pictured above.  They had stopped by the giveaway table asking about the Weeble toys.  Deb told them that if they cleared their dinner plate, she would give each of them a Weeble.  Sure enough both girls returned with clean plates and ready for their Weebles.

            Group members Abdulmajeed Alomayri and Ashley Pilmore focused on their memories of the gentleman pictured above.  Both members recalled how this gentleman was one of the most active and opinionated workshop participants, a participant with some very interesting ideas.  This gentleman and his wife had acquired hundreds and hundreds of books during their lifetime and both were very opened to the idea of moving over to digital manuscripts, simply for the sake of bookshelf and backpack space.  One participant argued that with the threat of electronic book burning, how could we as a society ensure that these digitalized pieces of literature do not become extinct?  The gentleman immediately responded by providing an interesting alternative.  He explained that the Vatican has a library that houses hundreds and hundreds of books, some of them the only copy in existence.  He proposed that our society do the same by erecting a library that contains a single, unrevised copy of each piece of literature in existence.  This would allow our society to utilize digital texts without worry of the texts extinction.  

	Workshop Paper Summary
1	Purpose	The overall purpose of the workshop project was to research, prepare, and present a workshop to individuals within the Muncie community; a workshop that primarily focused on the storylines and themes presented in Ray Bradbury’s Fahrenheit 451.
2	Goals	Group Goals •    Have more than 20 workshop participants •    Ensure that all group member’s workshop ideas and suggestions are respected, taken into consideration, and utilized •    Create a presentation that is hands-on, interactive, fun, interesting, and meets the needs of both TEAMWork and our participants. •    Continue with effective communication among group members •    Continue with equal participation of all group members •    Compile a well-thought out, detailed, and informative workshop paper Individual Goals •    Contribute to presentation information (all members) •    Create presentation slideshow (Deb) •    Acquire various workshop giveaways •    Find and research at least one strategy for recruiting workshop participants •    Find and research at least one strategy for motivating workshop participants to engage in workshop activities •    Provide at least one piece of documentation confirming workshop activities •    Provide at least one story, personal experience, or personal takeaway from the workshop
3	Workshop Plan	Strategies for Recruiting Workshop Participants •  Target Marketing •  Integrated Marketing •  Personal Approach Strategy Strategies for Motivating Workshop Participants •  Active Learning Strategy •  Incentive Scheme Strategy
4	Workshop Activities	1.    Workshop Presentation 2.    Open Group Discussion 3.    Participant Presentation Evaluation 4.    Review and Analyze Workshop Results
5	Workshop Results	32+ Workshop Participants Workshop Grade: 88% (retrieved from evaluations)
6	Budget	1 case of water and 6-12 packs of soda = $24.19  4 packages of cookies = $18.96 $43.15 of the workshop budget was spent

Appendix
My Big Read Take-Away
Written by: Chloe Sturdivant
(unedited) 

            I attended “The Big Read” workshop on October 22, 2015, to assist the team members representing EDAC 632 group one, document the evening’s presentation and discussion by taking photographs throughout the night. I did not anticipate the level of impact that I experienced prior to attending the event, and am grateful for the opportunities and perspective I obtained for merely showing up and snapping some pictures. The attending audience represented a diverse sample of individuals, varying in age, race, gender, profession, and several other aspects pertaining to their walk in life. Many spectators came from devastating poverty and other misfortunate social arrangements, some were elderly, a handful were members of the church the event was hosted in, and some were breast cancer survivors. Despite the difference in backgrounds, everyone came together for a single cause, the value in which they placed on education, particularly the importance of literacy in society, and what it means to be an efficient consumer of information.

            Group one did a fantastic job engaging the audience during the presentation, as well as facilitating a productive Socratic style discussion, which encouraged members from the audience to share their take away from the book and the group’s interpretation of it. It was interesting to witness how different age groups felt in regards to “electronic book burning”, and its potential impact on society’s relationship with the historical seedlings rooted in classical literature. I also would like to applaud the group on their ability to communicate their message to such a diverse audience, especially considering the subject matter at hand.

            By taking a skeptical approach towards the negative impact of technology on modern society, the group displayed great confidence and emphasized the importance of the subject matter, as it opposes the progressive mindset we’ve adapted in relation to technology over the past decade. Opening the floor for audience interaction is a bold move, as it opens the door for counter arguments to be presented the presenters are not necessarily anticipating. It is evident that the presenters had done their research, given their ability to offer thoughtful feedback to critical audience members without hesitation, which was detrimental in upholding their credibility, colloquially gaining the audience’s compliance.

            I am personally not sold on Bradberry’s ideology that the written word could potentially be eliminated through the electronic burning of books on the obtuse scale he represents in his work. However, that being said, the use of hyperbolic examples, which paint the worst case scenario generates awareness and creates a need to take a closer look at what’s under the surface of innovation. The various mediums we are exposed to, are the very bricks by which we form meaning and generate the lenses through which we view the world at large. Fahrenheit 451, paints a Utopian world that possesses the perfect conditions for a storm of government corruption to sweep in, and rob humanity from their basic rights, such as privacy and access to historical information housed in classical literature. As an enthusiast of rhetoric and a critical consumer of information presented by the media, I can’t help but wonder if the scene Bradberry paints in his book is merely an allegory, representing deeper levels of government corruption projected onto society.

            On a personal note, the environment and several audience members attending the event who are members of Teamwork for Quality Living, a program run by members of the Muncie community, which takes an innovative and grassroots approach to tackling poverty, had the greatest impact on me that evening. As a social justice enthusiast, I was moved by the humanity possessed by the leaders and volunteers of this association, and the passion I also share for empowering marginalized people. Following the presentation, I felt inclined to find a way that I could become a part of this progressive approach to fighting economic oppression through sustainability, and after speaking with one of the leaders involved, I’ve been offered the opportunity to do just that.

            Education and literacy extend beyond the classroom, and are not exclusive to the core subjects we are conditioned to memorize, learn, or regurgitate on an exam. It is not enough to obtain a level of literacy that allows us to read the words on the pages, instead we must strive to develop a level of understanding, so we can forge meaning between the lines, regardless if they are located on paper or a screen. It is imperative that as a society we stop perceiving difference as damnation, because it only allows room to substitute problems for people.

            Not unlike the scene set by Ray Bradberry, where characters are limited to a single source for information, if we do not extend our pool of knowledge beyond our comfort zones, political parties, religious ideologies, generation, etc. we will always be able to respond to the “what?”, but never to the “why?”. Self censoring through selective exposure of information, is just as detrimental as the government censorship presented in the reading. Burning books doesn’t only destroy what’s written on paper, it reduces history to ashes, and ultimately removes the stories told from the individual they’re attached to. Perhaps a better question to propose is, are we electronically burning people by only observing the mainstream media, and not reading their hard copy stories?

Resources

Barkley, E. (2010). Tips and strategies for promoting active learning. Student engagement

techniques: A handbook for college faculty. San Francisco, California: Jossey-Bass.

Incentive Scheme. (2015). BusinessDictionary.com. Retrieve from

http://www.businessdictionary.com/definition/incentive-scheme.html.

Evans, M. & MacDougall, J. (1997). Charities and Voluntary Organization. Marketing in the

Not-for-Profit Sector (1st ed.). Oxford: Butterworth-Heinemann. 

Integrated Marketing Definitions. (2015). The DMA. Retrieved from http://thedma.org/

            integrated-marketing-community/integrated-marketing-definitions/.

Reeve, M.R. (1992). Communication Handbook for Teachers. Hanover, NH: Dartmouth College.

Rhenze-Rhodes, L. (2015). NEA grant ignites Muncie-wide reading of ‘Fahrenheit 451’.

Retrieved from http://cms.bsu.edu/news/articles/2015/7/nea-grant-ignites-muncie-wide-reading-of-fahrenheit-451.

   ***********************************************************************************

 Workshop Event.
Our workshop has past.  Ann article was posted about our event in The Star Press. They published our workshop title, "Fahrenheit 451: Are We Electronically Burning Books?" http://www.thestarpress.com/story/news/local/2015/10/19/big-read-discuss-book-burning/74232382/.

We had 92+ attendees, including the food servers and children, at the event so it was difficult to get pictures.  We were unable to set up our dessert and treat boxes due to the size of the group.  The partnering organization asked that we not set-up the treats so the children would not see them.  They were dispersed to the children based upon behavior at the end of the workshop.  

We did experience technical difficulties.  Our partner organization thought the screen was there and forgot the speakers.  They wanted to go get the speakers, but it was so busy they were unable to.  We did fine without them.  It just would have been better if we had the speakers and screen.

Although we were unable to get gather surveys from 20+ individuals we were able to gather 32.  We received some very positive reviews.  

Overall I think this was a great experience for us and them.  We hope to post pictures soon. 




MEETING NOTES - 10/16/2015

Team,

Workshop is in less than one week.  Please post hours you are available after 4pm Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday.  On Wednesday we will be doing a mock presentation so we must all find a time we can work together.

Presentation Notes:

Our presentation is segmented into 3 sections:

Section One: (Wafa and Ashley)

•         Introduction

•         Briefly talk about Fahrenheit 451

•         What inspired the book

•         Consider the time period it was written

Section Two: (Abdul and Deb)

•         Discuss the idea of electronic book burning

•         Article on book burning

•         Opposing ideas that electronic books are great

Section Three:

• Discussion and/or Activity 
• We are all tasked with coming up with an activity and sharing with one another

 Timeline:

• Provide all presentation slide information to Deb by Tuesday 20^th, 11:59pm
• Mock run of presentation on Wednesday (Time to be determined)

 Other Items:

• Request equipment for powerpoint presentation with Dorica
• Pinpoint the opening & conclusion from organization
• Consider what do we want our participants to get from this presentation and incorporate that in our slides 
• Is this a method of self-expression? 
• How can one book affect us as individuals & community?
• Discuss with Dorica sitting arrangement for presentation
• Deb will pick up 3 gallons of lemonade
• Deb will pick contribution from Concannons on Thursday before meeting
• Someone will need to pick up Wall-Mart Gift Cards 
• Ashley donating $20 gift card 
• 4  - $20  (KEEP RECEIPT)
• Deb will get raffle tickets
• Deb has donated 35 Fahrenheit 451 books
• Wafa and Abdul has a class on Thursday night 
• Abdul’s class ends early so he may be able to attend 
• Wafa will only be able to attend if she can be excused 
• If they are unable to attend they will be tasked more work when it comes to gathering information for our Workshop paper
• The Immersive Learning photographer is unable to attend our event so an undergraduate marketing student, Chloe, has agreed to come and take pictures.

Raffle Items:

• 5 Ball State t-shirts
• 2 Laptop covers
• 1 Notebook
• 1 Teacher’s College Travel Mug
• Minimum 2 Information Security t-shirts
• Office of Information Security Services Pens
• 5 - $20 Wal-Mart Gift Cards

PLEASE REVIEW AND POST ADDITIONAL CONTENT IF I HAVE LEFT SOMETHING OUT.
Thank you-DEB