Month: May 2011

Jeffrey’s Twitter Updates for 2011-05-26

  • Amazed at how busy the #phdchat tag has been over the past 2 days. Phew; just caught up. #
  • I just saw Spider Man on Sunday; but it sounds better on American Idol now. Perhaps Bono and The Edge should have been there? #
  • Somebody in #phdchat mentioned the book "They Say / I Say" http://amzn.to/mMtlqD today. Was it recommended? #
  • Have to go, but glad to share on #phdchat in real time. Stay well, think much, reflect always, and write often. #
  • I think about critical thinking from the perspective of Stephen Brookfield: the process to uncover and check assumptions #phdchat #
  • I just got Fail Whale again. #wtf #Twitter ! Twice in the same week? What is this, 2008 again? #

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My Page on the Lancaster University Website

My department at Lancaster University, Educational Research, requested that doctoral students consider having a presence on the Graduate School, Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences, website. Now that my doctoral thesis proposal was approved, I thought it was time to list my thesis working title, along with my areas of research interest.

Creating a page on the school’s website in some way shows my current connection to my studies and the university, though it also caused me to do something long-overdue, namely update my CV. Seems like an easy thing to do, but listing my areas of interest, along with the keywords to describe them, is a challenging thing at best, and an seemingly overwhelming excercise for somebody as interdisciplinary (and somewhat postmodern) as I am. I felt a bit paralyzed with something seemingly so simple, as I was concerned I would be specifying myself to the point that I would limit myself and in the process fail to capture how rich I believe my interests are.

Of course, this is in itself one of the challenges with doctoral studies, as that tiny little piece of original work we are expected to do will naturally have to be specific. Any surprise I am interested in threshold concepts as a focal point in my doctoral research itself?

Threshold Concepts Conference 2012: Call for Abstracts

I know that yesterday I mentioned I do not ordinarily mention calls for abstracts, but I think this conference is somewhat different in that it is so very specific and is not widely known about beyond the specific group that often attends (do I sense a trend here?!). As a matter of fact, I have never even attended this, though I hope to do so next year.

The 4th Biennial Threshold Concepts Symposium will be held 27-29 June 2012 at Trinity College, Dublin. The Call for Abstracts may be found here. The most comprehensive online repository of links to nearly everything related to Threshold Concepts is maintained by Mick Flanagan here, and it is a great place to begin for those who want to learn more about them.

Threshold concepts are a-ha moments that are central for learners to grasp or understand when working through some discipline or academic process in order for them to be able to progress or grow in that area. These thresholds are often transformative, troublesome, irreversible, integrative, bounded, discursive, reconstitutive, and linked to a liminal experience.

Threshold concepts are one of the frames I am using in my doctoral thesis, and while it stems from the 2003 work of Jan Meyer and Ray Land that focused around undergraduate education, Threshold Concepts and Troublesome Knowledge: Linkages to Ways of Thinking and Practising within the Disciplines, I am following these insights and application in the area of doctoral research and identity development itself.  

I really hope to attend this conference, as everything I have heard about it makes it seem central to my studies.

Jeffrey’s Twitter Updates for 2011-05-24

  • Amazed at how much work the Invitation to Participate / Consent form was; is essentially a summary of the entire project #phdchat #
  • I just submitted my ethical application to my supervisors for feedback. Phew! #phdchat #
  • Working on my ethical paperwork. Hope to have submitted for Supervisors' review before bed #phdchat #
  • Can anybody help with a PDF? I can open and read on my PC in the office, though with Preview on Mac I can open it but all pages are blank. #
  • Why am I getting the Twitter Fail Whale on thei twitter.com website?! #wtf happened in the world? #
  • Lady at the USPS window yelled at the man for coming to the window without being called. Made him go back to the line and then called him. #
  • I think the US debt is being paid off faster than the line is moving at the Post Office right now. #

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