The final grades came back from this last class. Despite all the trouble and apathy I earned a strong B in the course moving my on, officially, to the rest and final part of my doctoral journey.

I was thinking about this last course throughout the night and this morning. My final postings showed my apathy for the content, curriculum, and instruction very clearly. I’m certainly not apologetic for being apathetic or showing it. It does lead me to wonder about apathy and engagement though.

I’ve always found that apathy from students can be headed off using some instructional and curricular techniques. In curriculum, I found that making the content relevant, applicable to performance, and entertaining was a magic combination for staving off apathy and boredom. For example, I created an information security training program once set to a wild west and bandits theme, linked in some important data and facts about the subject, and included some mocked up skits and games to keep the participants engaged in a rather dull topic.

Instruction requires both content knowledge and knowledge of facilitation. Finding ways to learn about the participants and their interest and link that knowledge to the course content in ways that are interesting and meaningful instead of obvious and dull. For example, in my information security training, IT professionals were required to go through the intervention too. This was an audience that clearly was inundated with security knowledge, data, and practices. By most accounts, the program I delivered was elementary to them. So I took the opportunity to ask them questions in the courses that allowed them to show off, stretch their application of knowledge, and provide more rationale for the rest of the class. This put that group in a different class of participant and also added to the value of the class for others. In fact, many people from those classes with IT professionals in them reported learning so much about protecting the company and themselves. A win-win-win for the stakeholders.

My point of this is to say, I was apathetic and felt that the content and curriculum lacked a certain entertainment and relevance value. More importantly, it lacked sufficient clarity to make the content even appear alive much less interesting. The instructor did try to engage me but did so in a way that I was singled out negatively and in ways that clearly violate my employee agreement with my employer, something instructors need to understand. The instructor’s feedback was also elementary and lacked sufficient content to provide information needed for subsequent assignments; further hampering my ability to engage the content in the most basic of ways-for the grade. I suspect that was not intentional with so many participants in class and all developing 20, 30, and 40 page papers but it is what came through.

My apathy led to disengagement on many levels. I was able to find distractions more readily and even seek them out when the thought of going to class was so unappealing that I couldn’t even log into the classroom space. I am disappointed with this last class and have expressed my disappointment to my academic team so they can work with the instructor and designers to make needed improvements to this course. My hope is that future students don’t suffer through this abysmal example of higher education.

As I stated earlier, I am eager to get onto my dissertation phase and will be making some prep for that course over the next few weeks. I will continue to blog my responses and reflections on that process. By this weekend I should have reviewed my drafted proposal and checklists again and have something more concrete to deal with regarding that process and set of items.

A long day of work is done. I found my proposal draft and realized it was woefully inadequate. So, I printed it out on the few sheets of paper it required and did some searching. I searched, and found, other documents like checklists, change trackers, IRB/ARB submission guidelines and forms, and some internal research request forms.

At the end of the searching and printing, I had a noble stack of paper to sift through this weekend. Yes, this weekend. I know I seem gung-ho about getting this on track but I have to prioritize this final class. A class, I might add, that holds no interest or value for me (dare I say any student…I dare not. Let them have their own blog and feelings about this awful class).

So tonight and tomorrow are dedicated to re-writing a paper I’ve already written based on the feedback from my professor and learning team members. I also get the joy of writing up a plan for how I will or won’t incorporate feedback for this round and potential rounds. I can assure you that this final part will be completely conjecture and will never leave this classroom space and be applied in my real world. If you were ever baffled why public K-12 schooling was onerous and complicated take a few classes and realize that this is a group of professionals that just over-think everything. If there is a silver lining it is that I am more prepared to fight for my child(ren)’s education than ever before. /rant

Okay, where was I?

Right, there it is. So having found my proposal and gathered some other forms needed to submit a qualified proposal to my committee I need to make a plan for the weekend. First, re-read and make notes on my proposal draft. I think this will provide me some insights and reflection on my work and thinking around it. Second, start making a plan for completing the proposal using the guidelines and forms as my checkpoint and ruler. That should take most of the weekend.

Once I’ve finished with this, I think putting some writing in place daily will really help get me going. I begin my next session with my committee chair on March 16th and want to have a finished draft ready to go by the time I’ve hit that starting point with her.

This course in my doctoral program is all about me working with my mentor to get things in line for my proposal. Alas, I’ve not been to active in class. Evidence of this came last night with a stern message from my Academic Counselor that cautioned me to post in class or risk being auto-dropped.

Why the inactivity? A few reasons actually but none enough to warrant my lack of activity. First, I’ve been reading a lot about my revised topic and problem statement. Second, I’ve been reading and writing a new employee onboarding program which has had the deadline moved up 4 weeks and been given no additional resources of staff to make this happen with the same quality. Third, I have a big idea (not something I want to share yet) about a potential business and have been doing the market trend research on that idea.

At some point this week I need to stop reading and start writing. Which is not to say, stop reading. It is to say start turning that reading into some activity. Start processing all the journals and all the knowledge into something valuable for my process as a doctoral student. This happened once before, I get paralyzed in wanting to know all there is to know about a subject and before long I am down the rat hole on topics I either don’t know or don’t need to know that much about.

Last night’s plane ride to Kansas City gave me the time to reflect on that behavior and I came to realize that my quality standards drive my wanting to know it all behavior. At some point, I need to take that quality standard aspect and turn it over into a quality of writing attitude. Blogging has been helping me move forward, just writing keeps the wheels greased so writer’s block does not set in.

Writing is important enough to my dissertation that I need to make this a priority today. Not only that but I was listening to Jeffrey Gitomer‘s How to not Suck at Sales audiobook on the plane and was reminded about how important writing is to the career of a knowledge worker. So, I am writing, this post and then my proposal. Look for something to be posted here as I get things re-written. I’ll caution you ahead of time that academic writing is boring on the highest order, but I’ll add some stuff that keeps you engaged; I promise.

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I begin DOC/733 today, it is the second course with my mentor and one that I’ve been looking forward to completing for some time now. I had to delay the start due to some unexpected circumstances and bills. The purpose of the class is to prepare the proposal or Chapters 1, 2, and 3. This is a monumental undertaking for me. As most of you know, I stepped back on my research to focus solely on podcasted training and the learning impact of using podcasts.

This narrowing of focus should help my research but it does require me to get going and flesh out the research. I also need to get my research methods in order and secure an study group. Apart from that, I need to find a committee in the next few weeks so that my proposal can be thoroughly guided and built. There is a lot to do. Perhaps it is a good thing that I am being certified in FranklinCovey’s Focus Time Management series. I can use all the help I can get.

It feels like I am beginning again. It has been some time since my last class and the bad habits have snuck back in on me. I am breaking them now and it hurts. I know the road ahead is going to be a rough one but no doctoral program would be complete without these rites of passage. There are times that I wish I could be in a physical community of doctoral learners to keep the momentum. I realize, though, that would breed unhealthy competition for favor and attention from faculty. I also know that would mean being apart from my work and family; two things I am not willing to part with right now.

As I look ahead to the next 8, and likely 16, weeks I see clarification beginning to happen and a new sharpness and professionalism coming to this research. I know a lot of people are interested in the outcomes, so am I.

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Rigor is one of those things that gets brought up a lot when talking about doctoral level programs and classes. I hear and read about the academic or scholarly rigor of a program as the mark of quality. As you can imagine there are many shots taken at University of Phoenix’s online doctoral programs as not as rigorous due to the eLearning element of the program.

By and large, I find the program as rigorous or more so than other terminal degree programs. The very fact that the programs and schools need to pass the muster of accreditation means that the program is as rigorous as others under the same standards. It is more rigorous in that I work full time, have a full time home life, and attend school full time. It is possible and I do need to dedicate all my attention to all things. There is no loss or glossing over of any one things when my attention is needed in 3 areas.

That said, I am seeing some changes in the curriculum structure that are not so appealing to my need for a rigorous program. The last class, one on assessment in education, used some alternative assignments to achieve the class goals. I am all for alternative assessment devices and felt these missed the mark. Frankly, interviews with learning leaders, position papers, and lists of assessment questions don’t meet my demand for rigor. These assignments felt a little elementary and as such I couldn’t get motivated to participate in the course completely.

Again, by and large, I find the program rigrous and worthy of my time and attention. These last few classes and particularly this latest one just didn’t make the grade for me. What does this mean for the student experience? In my case, it diminishes my interest in the class, the conversations, the assignments, the experience. So I find my attention spent in areas that are more demanding and worthy of my concerted effort and focus. Sure it seems counterproductive but it is the reality of the situation. There are some that will say, “Easy A”. No. Easy A is not in my vocabulary. I want to earn it and I want the course demand I earn it.

My next course is one with my mentor. I fully expect it to meet my demands for rigor. I’ve got a lot of work to do on my proposal and I will need to focus completely on the demands of the curriculum and my mentor. I’m looking to it.

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Sometime overnight, the server that my classroom resided one ended its life, at least this is what tech support told me. They had hoped to rebuild the server in less time but as of Sunday afternoon things were still down. When class isn’t available on weekends things get dicey. All of a sudden, I had last minute questions about the assignment that I knew could be resolved in class postings. All of a sudden, I wanted to check my professor’s notes and lectures. All of a sudden, I wanted to take advantage of the class materials.

It was a frustrating weekend, school-wise, for sure.

Some might say this has to do with the switch to a web-based classroom environment. It might, but the server being down would have impacted the Outlook Express environment too. Although, is OE the older posts would be available offline, making accessing the materials more readily accessible. Still, the new web interface is not the issue. The issue is redundancy. I am sure there are backups somewhere but the IT failure is no doubt giving rise to a series of conversations that ensure up time.

Perhaps most frustrating was that the server meltdown came at the end of CUR/722. I’ve had contentions with this class in the past few weeks and none of them were adeqautely resolved. I still feel as though the assignments and discussion were at Bachelor or Master levels and did not adequately stretch to doctoral level leadership discussions or work. The class being done now, I have little left to harp on. So, it is enough that I have voiced my concern through the end-of-course survey (and here I suppose).

I completed my assignment and like a seasoned UOP student, I emailed it to the professor to make sure the paper got counted. I hope my classmates did the same.

The classroom did come back up on Monday afternoon. It was empty of all earlier posts and materials. A message assuring students the earlier posts would be restored gave little comfort. The class was ending, what do I care if the older materials appear somewhere down the line. Truth be told, the classrooms dissappear after a few weeks, making accessing all older materials impossible.

Just as one class ends, another begins. I am preparing for Year 3 residency. I have a lot to do in terms of drafting chapters 1-3 and I will be buckled down after a short break here.

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I’ve made no secret that my current class has brought trials and tribulations. The latest round of thought-provoking actions revolve around the discussions in class. Each week, as most of you know, a lecture, readings, and assignments lead to discussion questions and hopefully discussions that steer learners toward a higher leadership goal.

Sadly, I’ve felt the discussion questions, as of late, in this class fit one of two categories. First is the assignment category. These are questions that seem more like assignments and don’t generate discussion because they are not questions. For example, find 3 articles on differentiated instruction and provide an annotated bibliography. I don’t see the question. Further, I don’t see where an article summary could lead to much discussion outside of comments about how interesting the article seems. Second, questions that talk about classroom management vs. educational leadership. I understand that classroom management is an essential part of teaching, regardless of level, and I also know this is something that fits into Bachelor programs and professional development courses. At the doctoral level we should be setting the sights towards leading classroom management of other teachers (at the very least).

These, of course, are my personal opinions about the class and I know that there are those out there that would quickly come to the defense of the instruction or professor for putting these discussion questions out to the class. In fact, in class, some already have come to the defense. I understand that, my own experience with K-12 teachers is that of a wall of defense rather than a thoughtful discussion of alternatives and improvements. In class, I was given a referenced discussion that talked about an educational apprach to justify the low level of scholarship I feel is present.

So, what to do? Well, I think the end of course survey gives some ventilation to the issue but does not resolve what I feel is a failing. In class, I am taking the stance of changing the question and seeking a higher order of response. We need to push the envelope not seal it. Owning one’s learning is about using what is there and pushing oneself with it, regardless of how weak it seems.

I am shooting for educational leadership. The rest of you can do what you feel is right for yourself and your investment in your learning. If rehashing what you know gives you benefit and justifies the cost, go for it. If you want real value for your investment, let’s engage in leadership discussion and push the envelope together.

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A recent incident in class where I was blatantly and openly attacked has given inspiration for a posting about how to manage this type of behavior. Disclaimer: This very rarely happens. This is the first time in several years of being an online student that I was attacked. In fact, the first time ever. The attack was both personal and professional.

Sure, there are flame wars, tough exchanges, and sometimes commanding arguments. That should be expected in an free environment that is designed to generate knowledge and grow people. Mountains are not built without earthquakes. That said, attacks from other students are not part of that growth experience and need to be handled carefully. So here is how:

1. Contact your professor and seek corrective action
2. Consult the Student Code of Conduct for violations and work with the professor on it
3. Work with the professor to separate the perpetrator from your learning experience
4. Find ways to complete the work without interaction of the attacker
5. Always keep your Academic Adviser in the loop

Bear in mind that most professors despise any ugliness in a classroom. This includes resolving the matter where disruption or difficult corrective action might be the right solution. In any case you feel as though you, the victim, are being punished or unfairly treated in the solution; choose your battle. Is this solution so awful that you cannot bear it? If so, say something. Is the solution mildly inconvenient? You might choose to move forward with some pain but move forward none the less.

Regardless of the outcome, always consult your Academic Adviser.

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A recent class discussion highlights some disparity in the University of Phoenix student body in terms of software and intended use. The discussion was around some folks continuing to use Outlook Express because of early problems with the new web-based class platform. Many moons ago doctoral students switched to the web-based Online Learning System.

Outlook Express went away because it is wildly unsafe and unreliable. I loved it, loved it, loved it. I was sad to see it go and since then become a big fan of the web-based classroom. Of particular issue in this discussion is the ability for users of OE to copy eMails of students, etc. The issue is that a student is copying students on posts and the replies are not coming into the web-based forums. Thus creating the chance that important thoughts, comments, and discussions get misplaced and are not tracked in the classroom. Why is this important?

Well, the first is that students can remain focused without having to jumping around between the classroom and eMail systems. Secondly, if eMail conversations include important information it can be lost readily. Thirdly, if you need to track down a conversation item, digging through eMail is much tougher than using the forum.

I had no idea the discussion would become as important to the holdouts using Outlook Express. Change is tough for people, I understand. My advice to any University of Phoenix student is to use the web-based OLS (which rocks now) and avoid non-classroom discussions for your own sake. Your life will be easier and more successful at UOP, I promise.

The mechanics of each University of Phoenix course requires learning teams. This is a point of both contention and glee for me. I am fortunate to get good members most of the time and equally fortunate that the professors recognize slackers when I am assigned with not-so-good members.

As my first class in 6-weeks ramps up an issue that hadn’t occurred to me in some time has arisen; that of time zone. Some folks like to have team members in their own time zone. I suspect this relates to the ease of working at the same time, or setting up conference calls/chats as needed. I’ve not given the matter much thought in a number of years, simply because it doesn’t matter much to me. I like to work with folks from just about anywhere. The asynchronous format of UOP and the use of Phoenix-time is good enough to keep people marching to the same deadlines. Sure, it is easier to work with people who all go to bed and awake at roughly the same time, but this is a luxury vs. a requirement for me.

To the issue of conference calls or chats (this includes 1:1 phone calls). I do not entertain such ideas or activities. It is a rare instance where I feel the need to do this, extremely rare. Moreover, University policy requires that all outside of the class activities be heavily documented and transcribed to the team folder (also something I don’t want to do). The interface is robust enough and the pressure to complete projects is present enough that the extraneous phone calling or chatting is not required. In my case, actively discouraged.

A lot of people talk to me about the idea of team learning and the struggles with such things. The reality is that our working world is full of teams (virtually or in-person) and the class format aids in us working together both in the class and outside of the class. Admittedly, because of my experience with university of Phoenix and my general nature I am an adept team player. My style is concise, direct, clear, and professional. I do not engage in tangential discussions or the whining and politics that sometimes attaches itself to team learning or working. As in non-school life, we all have a lot to do for the class, our jobs, and our lives. With the proper planning and implementation combined with diligence of doctoral learners the team experience is both enjoyable and successful.

I am excited to get to know some new folks and work with a different set of styles and skills. The assignments in this class seem to lend themselves to team collaboration, at least superficially; time will tell.

Back in the swing of things.

Entering Week 5 in the Curriculum Development course and feeling like this course is a review of 2 previous courses. Well, maybe not a review but certainly a lighter recap or culmination. The primary project due at the end of the class is a curriculum development plan, which seems a little underwhelming right now.

It might also be that the project is geared towards people that might not have developed instruction or curriculum through a sound process and implemented a process amongst peers. In the corporate learning and performance world this is far more common. Granted there are a lot of trainers out there that are talking heads and do not have the instructional design skills required to be a top-notch professional.

My K-12 classmates might have a different perspective on this class than I do and I am accepting of that. I just keep coming back to my instructional design processes and resources and seem to be doing fine.

Regardless, I need to keep my nose to the grindstone here. I also need to pick up my lit. review again and make the edits needed.

I’ve found this more difficult than I imagined and I am hearkened back to the advice of my good friend Chris. Who asked how we can get people to do things when no deadline is looming?

The deadline is out there for October of December but I need to be working on it now. I know I have a 6 week break coming after this class to make room for some travel this Summer. I can use that time, but would rather use it for the proposal. This too is a deja vu feeling from my DOC 722 class.

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This is the first team project in a while where the team had not explicitly map out the responsibilities of team members. I admit, I am oddly comfortable with this and pleased that 3 people can gather together remotely hand have some sort of intuitive connection that allows them to delegate the tasks and accomplish the goal within prescribed limits. It is like a psychic connection and I like it.

Typically, I find that a detailed task outline and project assignments work the best with the learning team experience. It is not often that learning team members can come together via the learning platform and be immediately on the same page and working consistently to get the project complete on time. Heck, this time one member even had to manage a family crisis (which was completely understandable) and we haven’t lost a beat.

I use the post count as one piece of evidence in effective team communication. The higher the count the more likely things are getting bogged down. It is not always the case, but a red flag that too much time is being given to the project. My team made effective use of posting and we are able to keep the posting to an effective minimum. This also allows us to focus on the more heavily weighted items in the class.

While this is a catchy title, I don’t think it is the usual experience. The next project might still require a little bit more outlining but we’ll see.

For the first time since my Master’s program I am thrilled with my team. I couldn’t be happier.

Image source: A.Currell

The last few days have seen a flurry of activity and I feel confident in telling you that there is now a gusting wind blowing me from the doldrums. While I still am having moments of inactivity and confusion to the enxt step, I remain steadfast at the task to get it accomplished.

I found that accomplishing smaller, more personal, tasks seem to be the momentum builders I needed to get back in gear. Perhaps, as Covey might put it, my saw needed sharpening.

I’ve booked a friend to help me build a promotional video for my speaking engagements. This will become part of a larger marketing project. This is an area I want to explore. I talked about it earlier and now want to see about making it become a reality.

I’ve also been cleaning my workspace and removing old notes, flipcharts, clutter, junk, and nuisance items from the floors, surfaces, and walls. This always makes me feel better.

Some gardening has helped too. I planted my strongest 3 pumpkin plants a few days ago. Two of them have died but one is going strong. All I need it one vine to accomplish my goal here. The hops are coming through the ground and beginning to grow larger, my herbs are about ready to be shifted to a larger window box, and some other seeds are beginning to germinate.

Workwise, things are picking up as well. A few projects are back on track and new things are coming down the pipeline. All good news.

School is getting on track too. Right now I am waiting for a search (or several searches) to complete so I can more readily answer the discussion questions. I am not finding the reserved reading helpful or current, which is a bummer. I’ve also begun to evaluate the syllabus and course materials so they better suit my goals in the program/course. Sadly some of the course materials are superficial while giving the appearance of being more complex. A grading rubric for the final project looks complex (by virtue of the name and appearance) but lacks concrete value that could be used to develop a stronger final outcome for students. It gives 1 criteria and 4 levels of achievement, each defined by lengthy prose about subjective elements of the assignment. I am going to be asking for more clarification from the professor; I know this is not his rubric it is the curriculum designers’ work. I know this professor can add value; he has before and it was spot-on for the course and outcomes.

I feel good about the change this week. Getting out of the doldrums took some task listing, task accomplishment, and fortitude to stick through the stall.

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The doldrums are being stirred by a gentle wind blowing. I took yesterday to accomplish a few projects that could get the momentum moving. Namely, mowing the lawn, cleaning the office, and getting some gardening projects accomplished.

Just doing these few things got enough wind blowing to get my ship underway and I was able to work more diligently on some school projects and work projects.

More importantly, I am remembering to give back to my life. I always find that volunteering for good causes that help people repays me in kind. I don’t volunteer for that reason solely but it does help to get things moving for me.

Today I am headed to a company for a Toastmasters demonstration meeting. This is a meeting where we put on a short Toastmasters meeting in hopes of the company/organization starting a club. I did a lot of these when I first started in Toastmasters and since then have let the activity dwindle. Additionally, I am meeting this week to conduct a Speechcraft (Toastmasters lite) program for the local professional Boy Scouts. This combines my two favorite volunteer activities and builds a stronger set of skills in the professional Scouts.

Class-wise, I am engaged in a project to locate and evaluate a curriculum guide (or set of them) with my team. The project calls for us all to bring a guide to the team, offer a grid-based evaluation, and some comparison/contrasting prose to support our findings. Like many projects at UOP it is the basis for subsequent assignments. Unfortunately, the assignment is worded in such a way that it provides a little confusion, which we worked through. Perhaps there is a lesson in curriculum design within the assignment writeup; simplify the language, be clear about the objectives, and do formative evaluations to make sure the assignment is crystal clear. It is no easy feat designing curriculum for a vastly diverse audience; we still need to find improvements.

So a gentle wind is blowing, today I am hoping it turns into a gale.

Image source: yu+ichiro

I’m not sure what happened over the course of the last few days, but this morning I awoke and my ship was stuck in the doldrums.

The doldrums are also noted for calm periods when the winds disappear altogether, trapping sailing powered boats for periods of days or weeks.

-from Wikipedia

This feeling extends to work and home as well. With projects piling up, it seems hard to pick one and get started. I’ve not even blogged over the last few days…perhaps my ship was heading into the doldrums even last week.

The blog post is forced, just to get my energies moving with the hopes I can work on the class project and my literature review later today.

The doldrums strike from time to time, but in the last few months more often than normal. I am writing a list of projects/tasks down and will work on them today to help get some wind behind me and blow me out of the doldrums.

Wish me luck!

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Class is gearing up for the 6 working weeks of the course and this week our learning team charter is due. Up to this point, I’ve been rehashing the previous versions of the charter and submitting it as the assignment. This class is different. Another member of my team, David, developed an abbreviated version of the charter that hits the main points: contact information, skills inventory, conflict resolution, and ground rules for conduct.

Thanks David!

I am enjoying this lull between class and need to get onto the business of schoolwork including the lit. review rewrite, and the next series of assignments. A shorter charter is the harbinger of a more effective and efficient team.

Here we go!

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My literature review 3rd draft is coming into perspective on my most recent re-read. I’ve added comments throughout that all come down to “I said what?“. It would seem that this academic writing thing can lead us down the path of utter confusion and interrupted reading but the audience for academic writing is academics not the general population.

Jessica Hagy at Indexed, a great blogger that captures wonderful idiosyncratic moments on 3×5 index cards had a post today that gets right to the heart of my feelings on the literature review writing phase, academic writing, and Nigerian spam (I am still waiting for my bank deposit )

The 2nd draft of my review promised many great things that need to be toned down a bit (i.e.: commonly accepted opinions expressed as facts), established the birthright of several people in the field (with copious citations), and did so in a manner that was, sometimes, a bit over the top (language use).

The language needs to be academic and the caliber one would expect from doctoral-level writing but it still needs to be clear. While I would love something more readable to the lay person, my audience is academics at this point. I will take the dissertation and parts of it and put them into general use or industry use formats and publish them. That should be easier to digest.

Thanks Jessica for the index card, I’ve got it printed and on my bulletin board as a reminder to not promise great fortune to untold people of given birth rights or give my banking information to some representative of a distant relative.

I am about to begin the next class, CUR/721 – Curriculum Design, and still must maintain momentum with my literature review and subsequent dissertation proposal. I admit that this last few weeks have seen little in the way of focus on school work.

My schedule has seen a few speaking engagements, with the last one (for a while) coming this weekend. Normally, I don’t sweat speeches but I’ve been trying to talk more about my dissertation topic or closely related topics which forces me to take all that research and contain it to a shortened time frame.  So it is a growing pain, or in team building what we call edgework.

Not to mention that I’ve wanted to take a break from the academic go-go-go routine that consumed my last few months. We took a vacation, I brewed some beer, prepared my garden for this year, and generally worked on some home projects.

All of this is well and good but it does need to stop. The road ahead requires me to work on two academic routines at the same time. The one side of the road is my classwork. The other side of the road is my dissertation. While I am beyond the half way point in my schedule do not think of it as the pinnacle of a mountain. Rather it is a base camp type of half way point.

My road ahead is forked and I need to take both paths in order to be successful. To accomplish this I am setting time aside each morning to blog/journal and work on my literature review revisions. My classwork time is reserved for lunches and evenings. Leaving night times for family and recreation. This schedule should help keep the road ahead smooth.

A related note, I pushed my next class out a few weeks to allow for a trip north this Summer. I will use that time to get ahead on my proposal and hopefully be ready to submit that just after residency this October.

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Some folks do not realize that I homebrew beer. It is a hobby that started after seeing an Emeril Live episode where he showcased craft beers and the homebrewing hobby. A short time later I had a homebrew kit and made my first beer, a Nut Brown Ale; it was wonderful.

Over the years, I’ve made a lot of different beers and never the same one twice. Finally, I settled into a few different styles that I enjoy thoroughly and have returned to the various beers in those styles again and again. My two preferences are Belgian style beers and Pale Ales. I like them for opposing reasons; the Belgians are sweeter and richer than the hoppy Pale Ales which give me a nice citrusy-spicey beer. Even with different styles, I don’t limit myself to brewing in those styles alone.

After a stressful few months with my literature review draft, I needed to return to a hobby that kept my mind sharp and relaxed my spirit. Things have been stressful in other areas too, so it was time to break out the old equipment and restart a hobby that had gone by the wayside.  I’d been letting myself not participate in the hobby for a few years and finding it again was rejuvenating.

As a blogger, my first thought was to start a second blog dedicated to my homebrewing. I even found a nice beer theme for wordpress but no homebrewing plugin to capture the recipe format or brewing data (yes there is data!). I also know that I’ve had other blogs and have not given them the attention needed. As homebrewing is another aspect of my doctoral life, I am talking about in the Doc Blog.

We all need a hobby that is our own. It aids relaxation, enjoyment, and rejuvenation. In the doctoral journey we cannot be singularly focused on the dissertation, classes, or topics. It causes burnout and that leads to being ABD (all but dissertation) a mark of failure to complete a major life goal. So brewing beer is once again my hobby.

This time I made a Belgian Witbier. There is no name yet (I like to name beers) but a few prospects; in  afew weeks when it is ready to drink, I will give it a name.

In the past, I was brewing every week or so and had quite a stock pile of craft beer. I would like to return to this level of forgetting about what styles I have and having wonderful beers available for enjoyment. So next weekend, I am making one for my wife. It is going to be a Mild English Brown Ale. She does not like the spicy hop flavors of Pale Ales. In order to give her something to enjoy and drink with me, I am making something mild and sweeter.

In addition to making beer, I am creating a brewer’s garden (of sorts). I purchased some hop rhizomes for planting and will get them in the ground this week for a late summer harvest. There is a hop shortage due to several arid summers so having a hop supply on hand is important. Not to mention the joys gardening can bring. It, too, is rejuvenating and something I enjoy.

So look for more posts on homebrewing throughout my doctoral adventure. If I get enough posts together, I will create a new blog just for that hobby.

What do you do when you hit a roadblock?

It seems that I’ve been living with roadblocks throughout the course. I began well and had a lot of pre-course work completed, a lot of writing done about the topic, and a clear problem statement. Still when it came to writing during the course I hit roadblocks. These were both mental and physical.

Mental seemed to be getting my thoughts organized into a proper flow and get that flow down in writing. Physical was a series of neuromuscular issues that prevent long bouts of sitting and a more recent flooded basement.

The draft of the literature review is due in a few days and I am working hard to get my final thoughts organized. The funnel technique is working very well. In fact, it is having n unseen benefit in helping to organize my Zotero notes. I’ve taken prior writings in this area and moving them into the literature review, as well as the gap analysis paper. Both are helping to flesh out my ideas.

Over the next day I will put the final touches on my reading. I’ve been painstakingly looking for other resources in the literature. Essentially, there are commonly drawn on sources and I need to incorporate those to give the paper weight and to use primary sources (per APA and UOP wishes).

This weekend is the big push on writing. I’ve prepared my family for the long hours of writing, I have a chiropractor appointment on Saturday AM to better prepare my back for the long sessions of the weekend, and I am cleaning my office up for a stress free environment. There is even some consideration of taking Friday and Monday off to give me more time. On Monday I will have the draft completed and turned in. The roadblocks will be broken and I will await the feedback of my mentor so I can redraft the literature review.

Having completed the gap analysis project, I am now onto drafting the real deal literature review. This is the complete story of my literature review so far, as such this needs to adhere to strict UOP formatting standards. Which, are the same standards as the American Psychological Association or APA.

UOP encourages doc students to look into BOLD-ED software for the dissertation and supporting projects. I’ve purchased these templates and they seem to be okay. For most assignments I’ve completed to this point I’ve used PERRLA software.

There are cons to using templates when writing, the tools are not all encompassing and thus require the student to be very familiar with the required standards. Fortunately, I am very familiar with the APA formatting standards and so PERRLA meets my needs.

PERRLA does a few things I really like:

• Document Formatting
• Headings
• Citations and References
• Keeps track of References in a document level database

For me, this is all I need. It makes my job a lot easier and I get to focus on content more than formatting. Still, PERRLA is not a complete tool. It does not automatically format references beyond the normal periodicals, books, and web-based sources. It also does not format documents for dissertations or supporting projects.

For this, BOLD-ED does seem to have an advantage. However, the BOLD-ED templates do require a ton of manual input. The tool formats the overall documents, provides heading and document formatting macros, and inserts placeholder references for use. The placeholders for references are more comprehensive but force the student to manually clear the placeholder information. This is both tedious and frustrating.

Is there a middle ground? Not really. I am experimenting with PERRLA by changing the document to reflect the dissertation format and continue working with it. I am hopeful this works and that the PERRLA macros don’t push the document back to the original formatting.

Whatever the outcome. I find the use of templates a great advantage when one understands the formatting standards. If you know the standards, check out PERRLA and see if it helps you.

Dan posted a wonderful comment the other day about the gap analysis project. His advice was to think about the discussion as the story thus far. This helped me think about the project in a different way and echoed the advice of my mentor who understands that this literature search is never completed and continually evolving.

Both pieces of wisdom helped me to flesh out the paper more. I am afraid, though, that it is not my best work. The pendulum swung the other way and I had so much story to tell, it was then difficult to get it smaller.  I ended up having about every line cited, which is distracting and shows that I was trying to streamline the paper by eliminating text that could help.

I am confident that telling my story will be easier as I can spend time developing the overall plot and subplots more effectively.

I am thankful today that the project is turned in, for the advice I am being given, and the support to complete this literature review.

Your comments are always welcome.

Just a moment ago I posts about herding the squirrels of my literature to support my gap analysis project. Whatever happened in that blog post helped me to more formally identify the gap and now I thought I’d share the results:

The problem is workplace training is not designed to engage members of the Millennial generation (Galagan, 2006). Training in U.S. workplaces is 49.5% instructor-led and considered least effective by learners in corporate settings today (Sparrow, 2004). The Millennial generation of workers are using computing technology in ways previous generations have not and require learning to be technologically enabled, non-sequential, collaborative, social, and exploratory in nature (Tapscott, 1999). Instructor-led training offers Millennial generation employees a traditional linear style modality of learning that is not adequate to meet the members’ preferences for learning (Tapscott, 1998).

The emergence of collaborative computing technologies like blogs, wikis, and podcasts, provide learners a social, non-sequential, and collaborative learning environment that corporations can use to engage members of the Millennial generation (Beldarrain, 2006). Current literature is limited to qualitative trend analysis focusing on K-12 schooling and higher education with no found examples of quantitative research supporting or denying the premises brought forth in the current literature. With companies adopting collaborative computing technologies as arenas for information and knowledge exchange (Gordon, 2006) quantitative research is required to determine the impacts of these interventions on corporate learning (French, 2006).

References

Beldarrain, Y. (2006). Distance education trends: Integrating new technologies to foster student interaction and collaboration. Distance Education, 27, 139-153. Retrieved February 24, 2008, from EBSCOhost

French, D. P. (2006). iPods: Informative or invasive?. Journal of College Science Teaching, 36, 58-59. Retrieved February 24, 2008, from EBSCOhost

Galagan, P. (2006, August). Engaging generation y: An interview with Marcus Buckingham. T+D, 60, 27-30. Retrieved May 31, 2007, from EBSCOhost

Gordon, S. (2006, March). Rise of the blog [journal-based website].. IEE Review, 52, 32-35. Retrieved February 23, 2008, from EBSCOhost

Sparrow, S. (2004, Nov). Blended is better. T+D, 58, 52-55. Retrieved November 16, 2006, from EBSCOhost

Tapscott, D. (1998). Growing up digital: The rise of the net generation. New York: McGraw-Hill.

Tapscott, D. (1999, Feb). Educating the net generation. Educational Leadership, 56, 6-10. Retrieved September 3, 2006, from EBSCOhost

There must be a form of writer’s block that ionvolves having too much information. It did help move the blockage to write a little here and I am hoping this will help a second time. The problem I am facing is that aside from the excerpt above, I am not sure what to write about.

I identified the gap, cited my sources and even managed to call for the research I want to conduct. Now what?

My mentor advises me that this is not a paper but a discussion. But I cannot help to feel that a discussion would be easier to have versus the paper assignment. I am left wondering about this assignment and the motives for including it in the DOC/722 instruction. Like others assignments in this course, it seems to be built for those that do not have a clear goal in mind for conducting specific research. With my work, the contrary is true, and I am left feeling that this assignment might be a waste of time if left to it’s original intent.

Perhaps looking at this from a different perspective will help. If I use it for a spring board into the full literature review, I could knock this assignment out of the way and be a large part of the way there for the final assignment, the drafted second chapter of my dissertation.

I am trying to get this Gap Analysis assignment going and I just cannot get my mind focused. I’ve got so much literature running through my mind, that pulling it together to support the premise of my gap analysis is like herding squirrels.

The gap is basically that current instructor-led training trends are inadequate for the the millennial generation and that qualitative research shows that tools like blogs, wikis, and podcasts in learning both appeals to millennials and increases retention and learning but that no quantitative research exist supporting or denying those claims. Further, the research is limited to K-12 and higher education but is not continued into corporate learning environments, despite some early adopters using the technology already.

This research could be ground breaking, either in that it confirms or denies the identified trends in corporate learning using these technologies. Some people might say, “so what, we knew that”; others might say, “this is great and we’ll give it a try (or dump it)”. Whatever the outcome, no published scholastic research is being found in my literature search that targets just the area I am looking into.

Still, unless I can take this little writing and expand it into a 2000-word paper, I am not done with my assignment. I need to gather my thoughts and get them running in the same direction. Perhaps this blog post will help that.