Next steps

I know that lately (well, since Fall of 2014) Patrick has been doing most of the writing here.  Today you get to hear about the work that I'm doing...

Last week was definitely stressful, I had finally set a date for my dissertation proposal - Friday, September 16th.

What is a Dissertation Proposal?

This is when I present the design of my research, prove that I've thoroughly searched the literature (and no one else has done what I've designed) and get permission from a committee of 5 people (who will also decide at my dissertation defense if I get to graduate) to move forward and start collecting data.  This is the second biggest (and almost the last) presentation for my degree. I've written more about some of the details about this on my other blog.

There were questions - which were addressed, and some points and ideas that need to be made more clear in chapters 1-3 (this is common). And, one of the committee commented that my PowerPoint presentation did not look like PowerPoint - I guess some of the design research I've done is paying off.

End result, I have permission to move forward.

What is Next?

I'm currently waiting on the permission from the Human Subjects Committee.  Once I receive that email I can begin advertising, and hopefully be able to schedule 36 participants to come spend an hour in the computer lab. It is a bit unreal at the moment as I have been focused on this end goal (which is not really the end) for quite some time.

Once I have collected the data, I can do the analysis, write chapters 4 and 5 and the plan is to graduate in May 2017!

In the Meantime...

In the Work/School Arena

• It was pointed out to me yesterday that I made a list of "100 Educators in Idaho to Follow on Twitter."  I honestly haven't posted anything on Twitter lately - but there will be more towards the end of October as I tend to post more when I'm at conferences. Which brings me to the other upcoming things...
• At the AECT Conference my schedule will be busy as I was awarded one of the Cochran Internships.  I am excited for this opportunity, but I'm told it will definitely keep me busy.  In addition I'm also doing a round table about my dissertation research - which won't really be ready for a full presentation, but will provide an opportunity to talk about it.  I will also be helping with the Three Minute Thesis Competition as I won last year.  (That was like a mini-dissertation proposal - a 3 minute version of the 40 minute presentation I did on Friday.  You can get the overall idea of the research watching that video.)  I will say that this competition really helped me focus my writing.
• Then there is the Quality Matters Conference where I'm participating in 3 presentations with colleagues from across the nation.  I really enjoy associating with all these people and look forward to our conversations this year.
• This morning I also got a notice that my chapter from last year has been cited again (according to Google Scholar) - which means with two publications I'm up to 15 citations!  I find it amazing that people are actually reading stuff I wrote.
• Patrick is the real writer. He has several projects in the works, as usual, and is making amazing progress in spite of having to deal with a very stressed Lisa last week.

In Other Arenas

• I continue to knit to keep me sane.
• Patrick is using more E6000 - perhaps he will share some of those creations next week.
• And the planning has begun for the Layne Family Reunion 2017