Tuesday, January 20, 2015

Finally

Finally! I had my doctoral dissertation proposal meeting in late December and received formal approval for my study on #thoughtvectors. My research plan and focus have changed quite a bit since summer, so if you'd like to learn more about what I'm doing please check my presentation slides.



Few notes:

- My committee suggested that "a case study using qualitative methods" would be a more appropriate methodological framework for the proposed study (I initially wanted to an ethnographic research).

- My focus will be on the process of open pedagogy. I also shifted my RQs from "what" to "how", thanks to great discussions with my advisors and colleagues and the things I learned in the course in summer.

- I narrowed down my focus to one section only (section 09) because of the amount of data I will work with. However, because all sections (well, everything really) are connected in this class, section 09 will be a starting point to investigate the course in general.

- The committee also suggested that I interview instructors and course participants to better understand the inner workings of the course. I will send invitations for the interviews soon, I would be thrilled if you are interested in having a brief chat with me about the course!

I'm really grateful to those who've kept an open mind and supported this study. I have just finished transcribing the first Google Hangout with instructors and feel inspired. I'm going to put some of the things I've learned/embraced into practice in my class this Spring. So all in all, I have a feeling that this is going to be a great semester, hope yours will be too:)