a double learning curve

a double learning curve


When I started my course I wasn’t too worried about my area of research as I knew this was something I had a real interest in and that I would enjoy reading about and expanding my knowledge. I spent years working in university student recruitment and marketing. I knew a lot about the subject area and I had plenty of connections to reach out to for further information and insight.

I was quite worried about my ability to succeed as a student again. Would I have the will power and self-motivation to ensure that I did well on the course? Saying yes to this was easy, but actually ensuring that it happened has not been easy at all.

Typical study skills that a student should have made me apprehensive. Academic writing is an area I wasn’t strong in and a comment from an academic during my masters and the quality of my writing has always stuck with me. It’s both hindered and speared me on. I was clearly told my one of the lecturers in my masters that she didn’t feel my writing was of sufficient quality and that she would be surprised if I managed to complete my master’s course.

Referencing and citing others work intimidates me and regardless of how much I do this, I am never confident that I have done it right. A friend said it’s simply like learning to write in a new language. You learn and practice what goes where and why and you simply do this over and over again until it becomes second nature. I can guarantee it will never be second nature to me.

Since I finished my masters in 2004 technology has moved most of higher education online and I did wonder if I would grasp the online library, reference management tools, apps and tools that would be available to help me complete my course. I simply dedicated time to get my head around tools that may help me and they have improved how I study.

My doctoral journey is definitely a double learning curve and some days I feel on top of the world with my studies and other days I seriously wonder how I got on the course and why am I even bothered to get my doctorate?

Through the various classes and modules in part 1 of the Ed.D., we have been taught by academics who have shared their knowledge and experience of different approaches to research, methodologies that could be useful for our part 2 project, case studies of how their research went well and didn’t go so well. I have also learned about various theorists who have influenced how I look at my research focus in a way that feels like researching while wearing different glasses to change the shape and focus of the research.

I thought that my research focus would remain rather steadfast but I could not have been more wrong. I am being influenced by so many different factors and my research feels like pizza dough that is being proved and stretched every time I read a new article or book.  This worried me initially and made me think that my research focus must have some weakness but this isn’t the case. The more I read the more my mind is being stretched like the pizza dough, the more its making me consider my viewpoint and my approach to research.

One moment my study skills are developing leaps and bounds and the next I am excited by a new theory, a new concept or a new way of approaching research.

My focus is becoming clearer and I am becoming confident in the fact that I am not interested in the business aspect of marketing in higher education although that’s where my work experience lies and I can grasp these concepts easily.  I am much more interested in the sociological aspects related to marketing. How are marketing activities affecting people’s perceptions of a product or service?
So moving forward in my research focus I want to consider how viewing students as consumers is having an effect on society, peoples behaviours, peoples identities and peoples relationships. Are students making the most of their time at university and learning in-depth? Are academics feeling valued as subject-specific experts sharing their knowledge with students? Are university senior managers really considering how their decision making may be having both positive and negative effects on their university society? Are government decisions considering the knock-on effect on wider society?

Location: Bristol, UK

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Lecturing as a doctoral student

Image
  You may be aware that often, full-time PhD students are encouraged to teach on various programmes, predominantly to undergraduate students. This is an opportunity to both share aspects of their research and their point of view with others, as well as an opportunity to make some additional income on the side.  As a part-time EdD student, the same teaching opportunities don't appear to be as available. But as someone who is keen to build my academic experience as well as have an opportunity to talk about my research and share my thoughts, I wanted to have the option to deliver some sort of teaching.  I am lucky in that I have worked in Higher Education for a number of years, allowing me to build connections with numerous academics. Through these connections, I have openly talked about my interest in perhaps delivering guest lectures from an ethnographic perspective where I am able to bring theoretical concepts to life by using my own commercial work experiences as case st...
Read more

creative research methods

Image
When contemplating applying for a PhD I was pretty set on the fact that my research would have to be quantitive in terms of data-heavy, or qualitative where I only considered interviews as a source of data. Without being either of these, how could my research possibly contribute to existing knowledge and be of any value to both the academic and wider societies? Having been on my EdD course for almost two years I have been exposed to a wide range of methods for data collection and this has really inspired my thinking as I develop my own plans for my research. I am also in a lucky position to be working at a university where I interact with academics on a regular basis and I hear a lot about their research and the methods that they use in data collection and this, combined with my studies has really opened my eyes to vast opportunities available in conducting research. My most recent study-block on the EdD course introduced a number of methods for data collection and all of these methods...
Read more

Publicity Editor at Pubs and Publications

Image
As you may have gathered from the posts on here, I love learning the practical aspects of completing a doctorate successfully. I am interested in people and how they experience their PhD journey, the tools, tips and tricks that they employ to get them through each step of the process and succeed. One of the blogs I read to learn about other peoples aspects of PhD life is Pubs and Publications  and I find the posts there a real breath of fresh air. People write about their ups and downs of PhD life in a manner that feels therapeutic, humorous and that makes me want to read more of the posts. I reached out to them earlier this year and offered to contribute a guest post for them. I wasn't too sure if they would agree to my contribution and I was over the moon when they came back and said that they would love for me to write a post for them. So I wrote a post about how I juggle full-time work, part-time PhD, being a parent and all the rest of life and it was published early in May....
Read more