APU Careers Careers & Learning

Where Did You Learn THAT?

self-promo-leadershipDr. Randall Cuthbert
Associate Professor of Emergency & Disaster Management at American Public University

I love a great story, so I give my students plenty of opportunity to tell them. There is method to this madness, as storytelling is one of the oldest known educational pedagogies, predating writing by countless generations. It’s a great technique for learning important skills in any setting, including the workplace.

Our minds are programmed to remember and draw lessons from stories that we can’t retain from just listening to a lecture, watching a video, etc. Stories access entirely different regions of the brain, with really profound results.

I would have you meet one of my students, a lovely lady who is a second-language English speaker, is partially disabled, and lives in Santa Clarita, California. As we have a bad habit of stereotyping people, we might be tempted to jump to the conclusion that this lady would have limited opportunity to impact her community in any meaningful way. That characterization might have been true without online learning.

This lady recently completed my graduate course in crisis action planning. In the course, we study threats to modern society, how to forecast crises that may happen before they do, and how to plan for, respond to, and recover from crises when they do strike.

[Related: Crisis Can Happen Anywhere: Prepare to Work with the Media]

Santa Clarita hasn’t been a fun place to be this summer due to its early and severe fire season. Fires have swept over freeways, burning cars and injuring people trying to escape in the process. Public awareness and education campaigns have been implemented to teach citizens the basics of fire safety and how to be prepared while living in high-risk situations.

My student attended one of these public meetings. As the presenters went through safety recommendations, she began augmenting what they were saying based on what she had learned in the class. She talked about the importance of organized planning based on threat assessments and risk analysis, keeping such things as blankets and jugs of water in cars at all times, and other tips. They all looked at her like: ‘Where did you learn that?’ and she introduced herself as a master’s student in emergency and disaster management at American Public University.

One thing led to another, and she went on to proudly describe how she made, in her words—‘MY FIRST EVER PUBLIC PRESENTATION!’–at the request of a state assemblyman who was present at the meeting. Her presentation, which she acknowledged made her extremely nervous, covered topics such as hacking, kidnapping, floods, explosions, slander, earthquakes, typhoons, wildfires, terrorism, workplace violence, mass shootings, fraud, product tampering, and workplace violence–and the importance of using a systematic process of planning and preparing for all of them.

As a storyteller, it made for a great story. As an educator, it’s a reaffirmation of value with respect to what we do. When I get stories like this, and they’re not that uncommon, I have an extra spring in my step for a few days.

For me, the lesson from this story is that this lady from California could never have learned this critical material from a professor in Kansas unless a university in West Virginia took it upon itself to blow away geographical limitations. This is a testimonial to the value and opportunities that an online education can offer.

But with respect to the topic of online career tips, the message here is about leadership. The online education that this lady attained made her a LEADER—and it could make you a leader too. Attaining leadership skill is unpredictable as to how and when it might happen—but here’s clear testimonial that it DOES happen, and in pursuing your online education, it could happen to you as well.

[Related: 3 Steps to Spark Your Own Leadership Journey]

Onward and upward!

About the Author: Dr. Randall Cuthbert is an Associate Professor of Emergency & Disaster Management. He welcomes comments and suggestions for topics to explore in this forum. He can be reached at randall.cuthbert@mycampus.apus.edu

 

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