Fabulous Day

So today isn't fabulous because it's "black Friday" or because it's the day after Thanksgiving.

It's fabulous because I found something amazing while reading The Chronicle today. Someone's response in something I read was that she was wondering what would happen when Maya Angelou passed and that this is the answer.

Start with the little piece on the Chronicle here:

Say Something

Then continue to feast your eyes and ears and soul:

Stage

Walking

Mama (Get your tissues out for this one)

I'm pretty sure this is her, too

Another good one (performed at the New York Film Academy)

Bi-Racial Hair

-Why she is the Youth Poet Laureate

Bi-Racial Hair

--Mini film made based on her poem

Zora Howard. Remember her name.

Philosophy, Social Theory, and Other Stuff

Recently I've been thinking about the many things I don't know and haven't studied (or have studied but don't remember) and how these unknowns could really add to my education. I feel the need to return to my roots of sociology, refresh my memory of classical and contemporary social theory, and look at them from the education perspective. I also feel the need to get a good overview of philosophy, something that I haven't studied. I took a philosophy of law class in college, but that course was very specific...I didn't get a broad background in philosophy. So I'm interested in learning about philosophy in the same way I'd like to refresh my social theory, and I'd also be interested in learning more about educational philosophies as well.

In my online searches, I've happily stumbled upon an introductory philosophy text (entirely online with links to youtube and everything) that I'd like to read. Do I really have the time for this? Probably not. Do I have other articles to be reading and other papers to be writing? Absolutely. --Is that going to stop me? No.

Getting started:

A. List the five or so most important questions or problems you think about.

-What is the purpose of life? (Specifically, the purpose of MY life...)

-What is the purpose of education?

-What does the future hold? (Overall, and specifically with regards to the fields of technology and education.)

-How can modern technological advances be used for "good" and for connecting people all over the world?

-How can I do good in this world in this life?

B. If you had virtually unlimited financial resources at your disposal what would you begin doing with your life?

-I would probably continue my education, travel a bit (hello, Greece!), and start up an organization to help educate disenfranchised populations or improve education on the whole.

C. What is Philosophy?

Philosophy is many things - a thought process, a belief system, a way to make sense of the world.

D. How do you use the term "philosophy"?

When I discuss the views/opinions I have on something that I've put a great amount of thought and research into. They are ideas I usually arrive at based on my experiences in life, and I usually maintain an openness about my philosophies - I am willing to consider new information to add to or otherwise inform my philosophy.

E. How do others use the term "philosophy"? Give examples.

Usually it is in reference to something someone has an opinion about (not really a philosophy at all) and usually something someone has pondered/experienced/learned from and about a great deal. Some people merely state an opinion and say that is their philosophy about something - for others it is more than mere opinion.

F. What good is philosophy?

Philosophy helps you think, helps you connect thoughts and experiences, and perhaps adds a certain type of value to your thoughts and experiences. It implies reflection at the least, and is often coupled with observation and/or experience, and can help give meaning to these thoughts/feelings/experiences.

G. What importance might philosophy have in your future?

Who knows!!!

Notes:

Relevance of Greek philosophy to modern times: At the time of Socrates/Plato, Greeks were transitioning from an oral to a literate culture, and people were beginning to question the myths that had been passed down over time. Now we are shifting from a literate culture to an electronic culture and "We are at the beginning of a period in which we are attempting to develop a morality for the new age."

Theory of education - Alfred North Whitehead:

-Romance

-Precision

-Generalization

Belief Systems

Different belief systems and periods: classical, modern, postmodern

--Starting with unconscious acceptance despite inconsistencies; acceptance of ideas from authorities; accept ideas from the desire to please/be accepted; postmodern culture promotes thought patterns that are uncritical and not reflective.

--Philosophy emerges when belief system cannot answer the important questions

--Students go to college believing that all claims are opinions and everyone can believe whatever they want (similar to cognitive development theory), they do not want to be disloyal and reject their belief system and also want to believe in eternal life (i.e. going to heaven).

--Insincere, uncritical tolerance

Thoughts:

Interesting discussion of the Matrix and the blue pill vs. red pill with regards to philosophical thought (& cognitive development?)

DONE WITH CHAPTER 1!

Don't Mistake Correlation for Causation

Let me preface this blog by saying that yes, I am blogging to procrastinate, and no, this blog has nothing to do with school or class readings.

So you've heard the saying "don't mistake correlation for causation," right? So between my undergraduate major (sociology), minor (psychology), and my grad school education, I've taken roughly 6 courses that somehow relate to research methods, and about half of them have been quantitative. Well, I have always enjoyed the various examples I've heard of not mistaking correlation for causation because they are almost always funny. Anyhow, after watching an episode of South Park, I've got a new example!

Here are three examples of mistaking correlation for causation. I'll let you guess which one is the example from South Park.

1) Someone is doing research on shark attacks and they make a discovery. An increase in shark attacks occurs when there is an increase in ice cream sales, and a shark attacks disappear entirely when ice cream sales are at their lowest point. What do we need to do to prevent shark attacks from happening? Clearly, we need to stop selling ice cream!!!

2) A researcher is studying crime in an urban area and thinks there may be a way to lower crime rates in the city. In this large urban area, there have been several murders over the past year, but in a suburban area not too far away, there has been only one murder in the past five years. The researcher also notices that the large urban area has roughly 30 churches while the suburban area has only one. Isn't it clear why there is so much crime in the urban city? The abundance of churches!!!

3) In a small town in Colorado, a law is passed that bans the selling of fast food, which means that the local KFC has closed down. Another law is passed allowing for the use of medicinal marijuana, and this medicinal marijuana store has opened in the place of the KFC. In this town, (unbeknownst to the local doctor) men are purposefully exposing themselves to radio waves to induce testicular cancer so they can get prescriptions for marijuana. Due to the alarming rate of testicular cancer in town, the doctor argues that the KFC must be reopened because they did not have a testicular cancer epidemic when there was a KFC in town.

Interesting Reads

The course readings I've had recently for my disabilities studies class have been very interesting. I thought this week's topic of "Ethics and Politics" might not be as exciting as previous weeks, but I think this weeks readings provided perhaps even more issues to think about. The readings were mostly about eugenics (historically in the US, Britain, and Germany and the relation to modern-day prenatal testing), and the "mad" movement (which I had only been slightly familiar with).

Who has the right to decide that a life is not worth living?

At what point do people with mental illness lose the right to make decisions about their physical bodies?

-These are just a couple questions that popped into my head after the readings - questions that I know will be tumbling around in my head for some time.

Readings for my curriculum class have also been great. Right now we're reading some Parker Palmer and bell hooks. I have to say, though Palmer is indeed a good writer and is very, very full of passion and care, there's just something about bell hooks that jumps out and grabs me. Perhaps this is not the most relevant thing to be pointing out, but just the differences in the style of writing sort of separate their perspectives (which are in some ways very different, and in other ways, similar). I feel that every word, every sentence, every paragraph and chapter of Palmer is carefully selected and strung together with intent. There is a reason for every word and each idea builds. hooks on the other hand...well, her writing isn't haphazard or anything, but it is full of energy...it's like...her writing is actually charismatic. -Is that possible? I'm sure I'll have more to say about both once I've completed the readings, but it's so interesting to see the ways their two different perspectives complement each other.

Today I got to (just about) the end of chapter 4 in Palmer, and I have to say that I spent lots of time thinking about this chapter as I was reading it because I really identify with it. At first, I was wondering where he was going with his discussion of community (i.e. therapeutic, civic, and market) but I like where he ended up because I share his epistemological perspective. I mean...I always love talking about subjective vs objective thought, and the importance of the relationship of the "knower" with the "subject" and that there is indeed a relationship, not just among people in the academic community, but between people and inanimate objects and thoughts, such as the subjects we study, and the underlying questions or "secrets" that pull us into them. I understand that to some people, it may sound ridiculous, but I don't think being moved by ideas is any less "out there" than being moved by poetry, art, and music.

For example, I was so sure I was going to major in psychology when I went to college, and when I finished my first year, I had 20 credits in psychology. On a whim, I decided to take a sociology class and...well...I tossed my psych major out the window. Sociology really touched me...Merton, anomie, deviance, Goffman, the presentation of the self, social structures, social roles, hierarchy, social stratification...it isn't just the learner learning, and it's more than the student reaching out to touch the subject, it's the subject actually reaching out to pull you in. I also feel that way about education, and of course, as I've moved along in my education, I see the relationships among the different subjects I've studied, the relationships among people in my studies (faculty and peers), and even the connection of myself to what I'm studying. --I really feel Palmer in this one.

I've begun my research for my disability studies paper...I've found about 50 articles related to my topic, now I'm in the process of reading abstracts and weeding out what I don't need. I've already found at least four that go in the "not relevant" pile and I've gone through about ten. Hopefully I'll find a couple real gems, but none so far. I think ideally I'd like to address teaching, learning, and pedagogy...though I'm open to where the literature will take me. I just think that those three pieces are critical to curriculum, though, of course, institutional structure is, too. I'm thinking with teaching it's who is teaching and what is being taught, with learning it's who is/should/has learned from the disability studies perspective, what is taught, and where is disability studies taught (i.e. is it a silo department or interdisciplinary across curriculum), and with pedagogy it's the question of how disability studies is taught. Hrm. I'll need to ponder that a bit more.

In other news, I have a review due next Thursday for the Teaching Matters panel I attended last week. I've had a harder time thinking of connections to the reading than I did with previous panels, maybe because it feels like a rehash of the same material as the topics discussed at each session are very similar. Anyhow, I was thinking that a new dimension would be the benefit that not only first year students get from learning communities, but also the student mentors that lead these groups. --And guess what showed up in my mailbox today? The most recent edition of Educational Horizons that I receive through Pi Lambda Theta, and it's all about the benefits associated with being a student mentor! How cool is that?! Just the perfect piece I need!

Midterms and Beyond

Well, I managed to survive midterms. Well, it wasn't technically midterms, but it was a period of time (coinciding with midterms) where several papers/presentations/projects were due. I had my group presentation for my disability studies class, my article review, presentation, and review from a panel discussion for my curriculum class, and (fanfare, please) my final assignment, my big legal research paper for the ed law course I took an incomplete for last semester. I actually enjoyed writing it though at times the research was painful (it was difficult finding case law on my topic).

My attention can now be focused on my final teaching matters review, class readings, and final research papers. I've already started my research, as I have ideas of what I'm interested in researching for my classes. I'm pretty sure I'm going to do my curriculum paper on online pedagogy and my disability studies paper on disability studies in higher education curriculum. I thought there would just be too much overlap if I did something in disability studies and higher ed curriculum for both classes. Then there's my independent study. I've been pondering just doing a research paper on something I'm interested in related to technology and education but I've also been thinking of actually doing research based on a previous lit review.

I've been compiling data from a state DOE accountability site and just keep confusing myself with the data. What's important? What if what I thought was important wasn't? What if it doesn't mean anything? Can I use these numbers to help guide me to people/schools to interview? I've already dedicated a few hours to compiling the data. Hopefully I'll be able to make some sense of it.

Tossing Around Some Ideas

So for my curriculum studies class I've got a paper due on Thursday. Specifically, it's a 2-3 page critical synthesis of an article or issue. Sounds simple, right? Well, unfortunately, given my tendency to let my mind bounce out of orbit, this is not an easy task. See, I'm also taking a disability studies class right now, and it just so happens that the first book (well part of a book) that we read for class was actually related to disability studies curriculum in higher education. I told Dr. C about it and she said she thought it would be great for me to explore this topic and present it to the class since disability studies has not been a focus of her curriculum course before and thought it would be an interesting topic. I'm (of course) excited to do so because I love sharing new things with my classmates.

I thought I had a brilliant idea and told myself that I'd read the whole book (!) and do my paper on the book. Unfortunately, there is WAAAAAY too much covered in the text for me to present on it in class AND write a 2-3 page paper on it AND support my critique with class readings. Not gonna happen. So there was one particular chapter that jumped out at me, and luckily, that chapter has actually been published as an article in a journal, so I may use that for my focus.

The article/chapter is Simi Linton's Disability Studies/Not Disability Studies in which she does a pretty good job of defining the boundaries of what disability studies is and is not...or what should and shouldn't be considered disability studies in curriculum. She identifies 12 problems related to the dominant curriculum's presentation of disability and discusses what is needed in disability studies curriculum, given these 12 issues. She also offers four related rationales for delineating between disability studies and not disability studies. I think perhaps I'd focus on these four rationales.

Hrm. What would I have to do? Well, I'd have to give a background on disability studies: how I became interested in the topic, models of disability, person first language, etc. Then maybe talk about Linton's four rationales: 1) distinction of the term "disability studies" (vs. impairment), 2) disability studies as a minority group status and marker of identity, 3) comparing disability studies to the women's studies trajectory, and 4) who should teach and write in the field. Man, I have tons to say on these topics. I also still need to tie class readings into this paper.

Things I could draw upon:

*Stark & Lattuca Ch 3 - perspectives on content selection

*Tierney - power conflicts over knowledge & uncovering voices that aren't present

*Kreber Ch4 - understanding others through listening to your own voice and to others

*Kreber Ch7 - p. 76? 82-83

*Kreber Ch 9 - quantifiable areas of engagement within internationalization? real world democratic education? p.102

Maybe I can do this.

Education, Sustainability, New Skills, Capstone

On 9/30/2010 our curriculum class had a joint class with the campus environments class with guest speakers (Shanwa Travena & Krista Hiser) that discussed sustainability from the perspectives of both the physical environment and the curriculum. It was really a great class with two guest speakers talking about projects going on at UH Manoa, within the UH System, and out in the community.

Some topics discussed included sustainability across the curriculum, the triple bottom line (environmental, economic, and social change, a.k.a. people, planet and profits), sustainability in higher education, as well as an in class group activity. Something that Shawna brought up that really got me thinking (well, one of many things, at least) was the idea of new skills that will be necessary for a green workforce in green sustainability jobs. On thing Shawna mentioned was that we have been conditioned in our education to analyze - to take a problem or issue and break it down into pieces and think critically about it. A skill that is equally relevant but perhaps is not used quite as often is synthesis - putting information together and making sense of separate pieces. -If I'm not mistaken, this topic came up partially out of the discussion that environmental/sustainability studies needs to not only be it's own department, but needs to be integrated across the curriculum, in every subject.

This got me thinking about capstone projects, which I believe was one of the discussions we had in class about capstone projects in education - helping students to make sense of their education as not just a string of unrelated courses, but as cohesive and complementary. This then got me thinking about my own education here at UHM, and how I think every single course I've taken has complemented the others (both within and outside of my department), and this is something I absolutely love. There is not anything I have learned in one class that does not somehow help me in another, whether it's about research, student development, law, educational technology, multicultural issues, or disability studies. I recall reading in one of my undergraduate classes (cognitive psych?) that this is ideal, but it may be more difficult to learn in this manner because the information is so similar that your brain has a difficult time differentiating what was learned in one course from the others.

I'm thinking of the possibility of doing a one credit independent study next semester as a capstone experience to my education. Perhaps getting all my syllabi, my papers and projects, my texts together, and spending some time pondering my learning, write about it, blog about it, and maybe even present it to other students in the program (perhaps it may be particularly helpful for the new students in the program)............

Higher Ed Curriculum Thus Far...

When I started this blog back in January 2009, I blogged frequently, and covered almost all my readings for a class I was taking. It's been awhile since I've blogged with that frequency, but I have to say that nothing really helps you ponder and grapple with questions, as well as solidify your knowledge about something you've learned quite like reflection. I'm happy to say that though I haven't been blogging, I've had some time to reflect on readings in class through a journaling and sharing in class.

Not that I can make up for the semester thus far, I want to go over a few things I've thought about and have read for this class so far. First of all, I should say that the last time this course was offered, I think I said something along the lines of, "Curriculum? Phruuggh." When I talked to my advisor, Dr. E, about what classes I was interested in (back then), I think I said, "Anything but curriculum." Well, time went by, and I don't know what happened, but curriculum just sounded like it would be interesting...and it truly is!

What is Curriculum?

Our initial readings were a couple chapters of a Stark and Lattuca text (Defining Curriculum & Curricular Perspectives). The reading was somewhat dry (I fell asleep on it at one point), however, there was a good framework on the academic plan, and the role of the academic plan within the overall environmental context of an institution. This perspective represented the rational view of curriculum. The other readings we had along side these chapters were Kuh's "The Other Curriculum" (which I've read before), and Tierney's "Cultural Politics and the Curriculum." I enjoyed both the Kuh and Tierney articles.

Kuh's perspective is that the organizational framework of an institution is the curriculum, and that institutional type and ethos, as well as out of class learning (study abroad, work-study, student activities) are a large piece of college curriculum. Tierney offers a critical view of curriculum on the basis that knowledge, the interpretation of knowledge, as well as experience and social interchange are subjective. In the article Tierney compares a women's college to an entrepreneurial university - the women's college that is full of culture and cultural symbols, and competing views of knowledge and the other that seems to lack an ideology and lacks struggle.

Aside from providing different perspectives of curriculum, my biggest take-away from these readings was this quote from the Tierney article,

"Institutional curricula need to be investigated from the perspective of whose knowledge, history, language, and culture is under examination. Conversely, the organization's participants need to uncover those whose voices are not present in a curricular discourse and give life to them."

Why do I like this quote so much? Probably because as I am growing as a learner and educator, I am finding that voice and perspective (or lack thereof) is very important to me. Personally, I want to expand my perspective to include voices and perspectives of knowledge from as many people as possible. I want all this information to conflict. I want these perspectives to collide. I don't want black words on white paper written by white men. I want more than that.

A classmate of mine, Puni, whom I am so glad is in this class (we both read and analyze everything and come prepared to chew through knowledge together...I think we push each other in that way) said that when she is a professor she is going to tell her class about who she is, what her perspective is, and tell her class to think of the readings from their own perspective...does what they are reading conflict with what they know? Is it relevant? ...and bring their own perspective to the table.

We can't look at everything from all perspectives, but I think learners need to know their perspective is relevant, even if, especially if, it is different from what they are reading in class.

Spring 2010

Well, I haven't posted in a long time, and much has changed since my last post. In the spring, I registered for only one course, Higher Education Law (EDEA 630), as we were in the middle of an upgrade at work and I knew much of my time, stress, and energy would be spent at the office.

The course itself was a bit of a roller coaster. See, in order to graduate, either ed law or ed finance are required...and budget cuts cost the department the prof that taught ed law. Dr. M volunteered to teach ed finance (a new area for her as well) - and since I've already taken 3 classes with Dr. M, and since I find law more interesting than finance overall, I decided to take ed law. The course was co-taught by the Director of Student Life, Dr. J, and his lawyer friend Gary Okuda. The banter between the two of them was fun to watch, and they each provided a very interesting perspective that was both necessary and relevant to our class.

There were many gripes in the class, the first one when the midterm was moved up a week and the format was changed. I admit that I cringed as well. Since there was much griping, there was an offer to do the original format of the midterm - which many of us decided to do. Now this is the part where I gripe..... The format of the midterm exam was already changed on us, but we weren't told the point breakdown until after the exam. Logically, if there are x number of questions on the exam, you'd figure that each would be worth an x number of points. I came to find out (after the exam) that the points were not equally weighted (some questions were worth more than others). I think that it would have been better to at least inform us of this and perhaps indicate which questions were worth 1 point and which were worth 6 points. With the take home optional midterm (which was a ton of work!) I had only one small complaint, which was to give us the rubric upon which we would be graded on before the exam. Had I seen the rubric before the exam, I wouldn't have changed the content of my answers, but I would have changed the format which I think would have been to my benefit.

Overall, at the point of the midterm, I was okay with where I was, but I know many of my classmates found this big slam to be disappointing/disheartening and some dropped the class while others just decided to tune the course out and sort of stop caring...I don't think that was the intent of the profs, but it was the result.

I had bigger concerns. About halfway through the course, my father died in a work related accident. I still don't know the nature of the accident, other than that it was a fatal fall that was so serious that even if he had been able to recover, his brain injuries would have rendered him a helpless vegetable. --Obviously this was a much bigger concern for me than my class was. I continued to attend class as much as I could, which was difficult since I planned his memorial, and took an incomplete for the course with the final exam to be taken in the summer (I just took it last week) and the final paper to be turned in before classes start in the fall (yikes!)

Other changes in my life include me leaving my job. I don't think I really fully understood how unhealthy that job was for me. I believe I stopped working roughly 2 weeks ago, and I still feel like I haven't recovered. I'm still not sure what the long-term looks like, but right now I'm in the cast of The Sound of Music, and will be going to school full-time in the fall. I will also (hopefully) be working part time at my high school with the orchestra.

The Friends of the Library of Hawaii booksale is going on right now and I'm just not as into it as I was last year. I found tons of Toni Morrison but I have a Toni Morrison that I haven't read yet and I figure that I should probably read that before I buy more. I also found some books in almost perfect condition that I own and paid (almost) full-price for! That's always a little disappointing. I saw lots of Kingsolver but didn't pick any up because I think I have them all...I decided to pick up just one Margaret Atwood. Though the literature and fiction seemed to have a great selection, I was rather dissatisfied with the sociology, education, and psychology sections. Perhaps they were picked over - or perhaps the selection this year wasn't as good as last year. It's okay. I have a paper to write this summer, anyhow.....

Dear Hawai`i

You are my home and in my heart, you will probably always be home. You have surrounded me with wonderful people that have supported me and help me grow at some of the most important times of my life. I thought I came home because my mother was ill, but perhaps that was just you calling me back because you knew I needed you.

In the past couple of years you have given me many trying situations, but perhaps I needed a wake-up call. I needed to be shown so many negative things so the good things shined so bright that there was no way I could miss them. You are a magical place, and you keep nurturing me and showing me the way. The only thing I don’t understand is why - like the tide of the ocean - you keep bringing me back, only to push me away again.

I feel a sense of urgency that I haven’t felt in 10 years. Maybe it’s the tide. Regardless, please push me in the right direction again.

HERA 2010 - My First Conference

Today was a long day...well...it's been a long week. Work has been insane - I've been going to bed late and waking up early, and since I've had little time to prepare my presentation for the conference, my Friday night and Saturday morning were more of the same.

Anyhow, today was my very first presentation at a conference! The HERA (Hawaii Educational Research Association) Conference proved to be a wonderful venue for me to get my feet wet. It was at UHM's campus center (which I knew my way around). My audience was a small, but friendly and supportive group - I felt completely comfortable presenting. I have to say, I feel that I have been bitten by the "conference bug" - is there such a thing? The experience of presenting my research to other researchers is incredibly exciting, and learning about the research that others are doing is really neat. Oh, not to mention the networking opportunities!

Though I'm glad my proposal was accepted for the conference, I wish I had some of my own research to present - not just a lit review. -Well, this definitely whet my appetite, and I look forward to doing my own research and sharing it at conferences in the future!

After this long week, it's so nice to have a chance to just relax at home, though it will be back to work tomorrow. I've got cases and the text to read for class, websites to check out, and fellowships/scholarships to write statements for. Hopefully I'll be up for all this tomorrow. Right now I just want to curl up and listen to Cecilia Bartoli sing to me.

Thoughts of higher ed law so far...

First of all, though I am incredibly busy at work, I have reason to believe that I manage my time better when taking more than one class. With this one course, I feel like I have all the time in the world – though in reality, I don’t. I guess the pressure of knowing I had a ton of reading to do really just got me fired up. Now I’ve got a case of the “oh, I’ve just got to read a couple cases and read a chapter in the text…I don’t have to do that right now…..”

Class is entirely amusing, and though I love this course and enjoyed my philosophy of law course as an undergraduate, I’m glad I’m where I am and decided not to pursue law. It’s just not my thing. Cases can be amusing, but the legal jargon frustrates me. Not to mention that I just love social theory too much. I’m more interested in the sociological ramifications of law than law itself. Darn you, Supreme Court and your ruling against restricting campaign spending by corporations!!! (Citizens United v. Federal Election Commission). SO peeved about this. Makes me think that maybe the world WILL end in 2012........

I love that our class is co-taught by a lawyer…you feel like you’re really getting some solid info. He’s not trying to kill us like we’re in law school, but he’s really getting us to think about cases. It’s so amusing to learn about the way decisions are rendered and finding that sometimes, their disagreements (or agreements) have nothing to do with the core issue of the case, but the way it is presented…or some other small and seemingly irrelevant thing.

Right now we’re in the middle of the whole public vs. private thing and learning about cases where there is argument about whether a person at a private institution or a private institution itself is acting "in the color of the state"– very amusing. Makes me think back when I worked at Brown Med School. They're a private institution, but had the only medical school in the state of RI…at one point, they were accepting state funds but had to agree to allow students from RI to attend Brown med. Then, they cut financial ties with the state to have full run of the med school admissions process.

A few decisions.....

Well, I've heard that if you really want to make a commitment to yourself (and keep it), a good way of going about it is to announce it to people you know. -If you leave it to yourself, you can let it slide, but if you tell others, it might provide some external motivation to do what you're saying you'll do.

So, I'm going to officially announce that I am going to apply for PhD programs next academic year to (hopefully) begin in Fall 2011. I'm also going to put in an application for the advanced women's studies certificate program here. I may decide not to do it (the courses are at very inconvenient times), but I figure there's no harm in applying and seeing how I feel about it come fall 2010. Plus, I'm almost done with my program - a few extra classes will keep my brain going. Since the advanced women's studies program requires three letters of recommendation, I finally got stuff together. -I asked three professors for letters of recommendation, and I created a password-protected professional website with my resume, biographical information about me, academic interests, goals, links to .pdf's of my transcripts and links to writing samples. I also let those three professors know that in a year I'll be asking them for letters for PhD programs as well.

So in addition to surviving work (insanely busy), class (higher ed law is awesome), and working on my presentation for the conference next week (ack!), I've got to make sure I stay on top of the whole PhD program search thing (though I'm pretty sure I know where I'd like to apply...and almost all are west of the Mississippi), not to mention the GRE's.

I also got a late start on my resolutions. I didn't make them outright, they just sort of fell into place and felt right: take better care of my skin (it's gross to be 28 and occasionally break out like a 14 year old), and to take the time and effort to eat more fresh foods.

Here's to 2010!

Fall Semester, Admin Leave, The Beginning of Spring Semester

I can't believe the following:

• I survived last semester being a full-time employee and full-time student
• Admin leave went by so quickly
• Spring semester is starting!!!

Fall Semester Recap

I thoroughly enjoyed my fall. True, I spent less time recruiting prospective students for Mount Holyoke College, but I'm acutally only 9 credits away from being done with the program! It's actually kind of sad. I'm not ready to be done! Maybe I should apply for that advanced women's studies certificate program......

I am also incredibly satisfied with everything I learned from each of my courses this semester: Intro to Higher Ed, Multicultural Issues in Disability & Seminar in Student Affairs. I feel like, I am really finding my place in higher education with regards to the research I enjoy and would like to be doing. All signs do seem to be pointing towards a PhD and as I am finding my niche, certain programs are standing out more and more.

In both Intro to Higher Ed and my Seminar in Student Affairs, I was able to focus on my love of technology in higher education. For my seminar course, I reviewed three higher ed news articles - all relating to social networking in higher educaiton - to go in depth about the role of social networking in college admission, alumni relations, and the privacy issues raised by social networking. I prepared a proposal for an "online workshop" - more of an informative website, titled: Engaging Digital Natives through Social Networking. It's honestly a good start, but I've got more I want to add to it. I also did a proposal for this website - which got accepted for the HERA conference! I'm also thinking of submitting it to another conference that takes place online in April.

In my intro to higher ed course, I did my lit review on two primary research articles on college students and Facebook. I was thinking of continuing with that theme for my final paper for that course, but I really wanted to pull in as many class readings into the paper as possible, and decided to look at the "big picture" of the role of technology in higher education.

While I learned many things in both of my EDEA courses, perhaps the best things I gained from these courses was a better sense of where I'd like to focus my educational attention in the future. Dr. M had us thinking a lot about professional development, which was very salient to me, and I think my research topic in that course really helped me clarify this. In Dr. C's course, the combination of my interview, the panelists, and my research helped me realize that I think I would really like my future to be in the academic realm of higher education (teaching and/or research) and less so in administrative functions (i.e. institutional research). I also came up with the idea to do some research on online pedagogy which I am so excited to be doing this semester with Dr. E!

My multicultural issues in disability course was fabulous. My only gripe is that it was online, and I just think this is a course more suited to meeting in person. Some of the readings got me so completely fired up that I would end up frustrated that I had nobody to talk to about the readings! There was a TON of reading for this class (as it really should be for an online course), but I really feel I've got a solid understanding of some of the frameworks of working with people with disabilities, and the many other factors (i.e. race, ethnicity, gender, sexuality) that intersect with disability issues. The final was a 10 page case study and we were required to use both in class texts, as well research several sources that were not part of class. I can honestly say I had fun doing that assignment! (I didn't think I would.)

Overall, a fabulous semester...and believe it or not, when it was over, I didn't curl up and hibernate. I was still completely jazzed and very disappointed the semester was over. I am also so proud of myself for managing to balance sleep. I don't think I pulled any all nighters and I think I managed to go to bed by 11pm most nights!

Admin Leave

Admin leave was SO nice. When I was working at Brown, we had the days between Christmas and New Years off, and I really missed having that. I seriously don't mind the pay cut and getting those days off. Though I spent half of it being really sick (why do I always get sick during breaks and on weekends?) I read some great books.

"Push" (the book that the movie "Precious" was based on) was great. It moved quickly, and had a good mix of intensity and humor. A book sitting on my shelf for awhile is "The Gatekeepers" about admissions at selective colleges. Of course, this is what I'm most familiar with, so I just ate it up. My guilty pleasure was Dan Brown's most recent book "The Lost Symbol." In my opinion, it doesn't come even close to reaching Da Vinci Code or Angels and Deamons, but I like that it takes place in DC (a city I've actually been to), and I liked an ancillary topic this book introduced me to: noetic science. Noetic science is basically the study of human potential and the power of human thought (think about - the power of thought in healing, the power of multiple people thinking the same thought, meditation, etc.) - something I find very interesting. So as a follow-up to this book, I thought the Dalai Lama's "The Universe in a Single Atom: The Convergence of Science and Spirituality" was an appropriate follow-up. I'm not finished with it yet, but it's great! He compares the similarities and differences of scientific and spiritual thought as well as modes of inquiry. -And while I can see this book being used for a religion course, I actually can see some of these chapters being used in a research methods course as he does a great job of explaining about things like inductive and deductive reasoning, and scientific and buddhist inquiry. (I recommend it to any fans of research methods.)

Spring Semester

I have to admit that I was completely spoiled by admin leave, and got used to my time off! At the end of the fall semester, I was still totally jacked up for classes and now, I'm like, "Really? Classes start on MONDAY?" Not to be worried, I'm sure once I go to my first class I'll be inspired for the new semester to begin! Then there's the insanity at work...we're upgrading and I will be insanely busy for the first few months of this year. I hope I can manage taking four credits and working 'round the clock. Speaking of which, I know it's Saturday, but I need to get back to work. Not schoolwork, but WORK work. *sigh*

Just a thought.....

There was a time when mirrors weren't everywhere and reflective surfaces were few and perhaps not so clear. I wonder if back then, people were nicer to each other...because the only reflection of yourself you really had was the way others treated you.