Month: March 2010
Jeffrey’s Twitter Updates for 2010-03-27
- Just arrived in #Edinburgh. #
- The residential just ended, with a wonderfully unstructured period of time and some general questions to engage us in an excellent debrief. #
- We are discussing how the supervisor and doctoral student relationship is managed. How do people handle this?!?!?! #
- We are nearing the end of our cohort residential week, and we are discussing open questions and clarifications. #
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Jeffrey’s Twitter Updates for 2010-03-26
- Listening to my cohort colleagues discuss their initial research proposal ideas. Fascinating. #
- Now, the focus is considering the Confirmation Document, which is due in a year and comes after our final 2 content-based modules. #
- We are watching a video conference (via Skype) of a current doctoral student and what his experience is like at this point. #
- We had a wonderful discussion in our cohort about the process of submitting the doctoral proposal, and I now have the language to discuss it #
- We just had a great discussion with the faculty about the doctoral thesis proposal and work that begins next January. #
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Proposal to Discuss in Class
So, time to present my idea (ready or not) in 15 minutes, so no better time than the present to summarize it. Wonder what my colleagues will think when they see my blog, especially with some of the outdated content? Perhaps they will not notice . . . I really need to focus on the task at hand.
I have been processing the potential proposal idea for some time now, and here is where I am.
Interests and Context
I am interested in identity development and how people experience transformative experiences, especially when they struggle through troublesome knowledge. I am interested in how people share this online, through blogs or Twitter. I am interested in how people engage in this as a result of higher education, whether this involves online / distance education or through more traditional face-to-face studies. I am interested in how these experiences change their worldviews, or paradigms, for how they see and make sense of the world (ontological changes). I am interested in how people develop as researchers, how they experience this related to communities of practice, and how this can be expressed through autoethnographic inquiry. I am especially interested in exploring how these experiences affecttheir practice of education, especially with their own current and future students.
Research Questions:
What is the experience of developing researchers engaged in doctoral studies who experience troublesome knowledge and, as a result, experience perspective transformation? How do they express and make sense of this online? What effect does this have on their studies, research direction, and teaching?
Methodology:
I like the possibilities of narrative inquiry to tell an engaging story, but I think I should wait until I attend a workshop on grounded theory that I am scheduled to attend in late May before I really settle on the specific methodologies. The population I hope to study can be in any of the areas of the social sciences (education, technology-enhanced learning, nursing, sociology, and the like), and I will identify this population by requesting participants on email distribution lists and via direct email and Tweeted requests to friends and colleagues.
I am now looking for some feedback on this . . .
Proposal Clarifications, Again
I was up late last night thinking about my research proposal yet again, and have to discuss it later this afternoon. Each time I think I am ready for it, I get a new idea or, better yet, think about something that I thought was clear, but upon further reflection realize it is not as clear as it seemed.
It seems this is part of the natural process, and while I am focusing my attention on this being a learning experience, I am trying to not doubt my abilities, ideas, qualifications, or confidence. I fear lunch will be my opportunity for my final thrust.
Ready or not, 14.30 is coming quickly.