I think that it was the fear of failure that got me to buckle down to read and write.  I'll never forget that first night of class when the professor, who I do know and had classes with in the past--including this proposal class that I had to retake--basically cut me down in front of the rest of the class.  I was devastated to hear the way she told the rest of the class that because I was out of the loop for so long that this was a dangerous path for the rest of them to take and that the percentage that actually complete their dissertations and get their degree was low.  

At the end of the class she reinforce it by saying something to the effect of, "If you finish this, you will feel good about getting the degree."  She emphasized the if in such a way that reinforced what she had said in class.

We were assigned nights that we had to lead the seminar, and I was given the first assigned night where I and another person had to talk about research questions and literature reviews.  I survived that evening and at the end of class the professor told me that she knows now that I'll finish.  That felt good.  

I did a lot of reading and reformulating questions over the next six weeks as I was teaching a 8 week class two nights per week along with a graduate level seminar for my TAs on how to teach, a junior/senior level class business communication class, and a special admissions version of the general education class that i supervise.  I was so overwhelmed during that first half that reading, thinking, and spending weekends with ¡Podtástic! were keeping my sanity in check.  

After the 8 week class was finished, I went into writing mode.  I can write once I have the argument in my head, but I did a lot of revamping along the way.  The literature review is the worst, but once I had my dissertation advisor okayed the rough version of Chapter 1, the literature review began to slowly into place.

Together, we'll get through this.  

A friend of mine found this and shared it on her Facebook page.  It's so true.  http://ceejandem.blogspot.com/2010/02/graduate-school-barbie-tm.html

Definitely, let's keep in the loop about our progress!

Tim

How did you manage to get your new proposal drafted so fast?  I found the review of the literature to be extremely work intensive - it took me weeks and weeks.  I thought I would never exhaust all my sources!  My study is quantitative - a causal-comparative, ex post facto study using archival data.  I'm looking at reading outcomes for students in an early intervention program two years before the implementation of RTI (Response to Intervention) compared to the reading outcomes two years after the implementation of RTI.  I "unofficially" have IRB approval but am still waiting for the IRB chair's signature so I can access the data.  I really hope I can get the data processing and analysis done in January so I can get the findings written up ASAP.  My goal is a June graduation.  But right now I'm going to try to relax and enjoy Christmas with my family.

 

I'll be interested in your progress - if only to commiserate!    Thanks for replying!

 

Diane

Congrats on your successful defense!  My trip to this point of my educational life has been interesting to say the least.

I actually started this degree in Educational Technology Research and Assessment back in 1997.  I passed my comprehensive exams back in 2000 and defended a proposal in 2001.  I started seeing my ex in 2002 and by 2004 I had to stop because of demands from the ex.  

Over the summer I was at a committee meeting for this common reading experience that my boss put me on to see if it was worth implementing across this general education course that I supervise where I ran into someone that I knew from this doctoral program.  We began to talk and found out that she stopped some time ago as well but got herself going again.  She told me that I should finish it and told me to contact the chair of the department.

I contacted the chair who I knew and encouraged me to reapply.  Louis was very supportive of me starting again as well as the department.  The problem was my original proposal.  It focused on the obsolescence of books and, well, if you look at all the e-readers that are out there, books are becoming obsolescent.  

I was told that I needed to retake the proposal class (for now), which meant that I needed to come up with a brand new proposal by the end of the semester as you receive either an A or an F for the course.  I did get the proposal done--at least a draft of it--and sent off to my dissertation chair.  She loves it...it's a mixed method dissertation on plagiarism where I will interview students  at a couple of universities on what motivates them to plagiarize, which I'll test out empirically to find out which motivations cluster together so that a plagiarism instructional module can be created that can be implemented into general education courses.  The problem is that since I had to get it done in a semester, with most of the writing done in the second half of the semester, it still needs editing.  I need to get that done over break.

Fun stuff that I never though that I would have done 6 months ago, but what's nice is that I can still go out in ¡Podtástic! with my laptop and work outdoors.  How great is that?  

Tim

 

tpierce 220,

Life can be too weird!  What a coincidence - I successfully defended my dissertation proposal on December 6.  That's why I haven't been posting on the forum for the last month - I was buried in the first 3 chapters of my dissertation and getting ready for the proposal defense.  I just go word this week that the IRB has approved my application - just waiting for the IRB chair to sign off on it so I can start collecting my data.  I won't be collecting it on a camping trip in the Hodge-POD though .

 

So how's your proposal going now? . . . since the turkey, the wine, and the website?

 

 

It will be great to camp with some podders.  

 

Let us know when you might be around!

We thought that Lucy would hate camping.  She is the more antisocial of the two.  However, Desi hates the ride and has to sit on Louis's lap the entire time.  Lucy will stay in her carrier and while she may poke her head out from time-to-time, she really doesn't fuss too much about the drive.

Once we're there, Desi could stay outside for hours on his leash.  Lucy, however, will go out for a for a little while, but once she's done with it, she'll want to go back inside.  

You should try taking Hunter a few times and see how he takes it.  You never know.  

Tim

Well, after gorging myself on turkey and wine yesterday, I really ought to have been working on my dissertation proposal that is due next week.  However, I ended up throwing out the blog and put up a website instead.  I've got over 300 photos that we took over the summer and got them uploaded along with a little text.  The site will probably take shape over the winter as I find some time to do it.