Convocation

I completed all of the requirements for my Master's degree back in August of 2009 - they sent my degree in the mail shortly afterwards. And I have been entirely focused on my first year of Phd studies since then. So it seemed almost silly to bother to attend convocation last week.

But I had heard good things about Trent's convocation ceremony .... and anyway, hubby and the rest of my family all think I should go.... so I did.

It was definitely worth doing, even so long after the fact.

I really do like Trent's convocation. Graduands gown and gather on one side of the river - and the ceremony is held on the other. The procession, accompanied by a piper, takes you past several buildings in which one can see the (gowned) reflections of the group, which is an experience in itself. The ceremony itself, like all convocations I've ever attended, was, of course, too darn long - in this case made even longer by the hot sun and lack of sunscreen (they provided it for visitors but not for us; guess we are supposed to be smart enough to anticipate the need!).

Having the piece of paper hanging on my wall did not really make me feel as though I had accomplished something just by getting my MA - but walking across that bridge did. Now I'm looking forward even more to the next one! I want one of the red and gold robes and a funny hat too :)

Shooting for 2013 ceremony; seems a very long time away - but also not long enough!

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Out With The Old; In With the New

So ... my dissertation.

My original plan was to focus on the use of fiction in therapeutic recreation programs for children & youth with emotional & behavioural challenges. I am still working on that project - but on my own, rather than as my dissertation topic. Doing it AS a dissertation - particularly within a Canadian Studies PhD - was meaning that I had to modify what I wanted to do to make it fit. What I WANT to do is to write a textbook for Child & Youth Workers ... not an academic dissertation.

So, when a new topic that fits better into the Canadian Studies area - and that still uses my specific batch of skills (Child & Youth Work, Computer Programming & English - public texts) - caught my attention, I began to think about changing.

I did a 30 page research paper based on the new topic and felt that - even though it is a good paper, and I did well on it - I had barely scratched the surface. There are still so many questions I want to address. It took a while before I was ready to commit to the change - in part because I really really like the advisor I was going to be working with on the first one, and will have to find a new advisor for the second. But I got there.

So now, I will be spending the next 3 years working on issues of surveillance in Canadian prisons - especially, for the most part, on facilities for women, although I am planning, at this point, to do a chapter about issues of surveillance and male prisoners, as well.

I became interested as a result of the case of Ashley Smith - and that is where I am starting. Stay tuned....

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She's Back

Ok...so when did I last update this blog?

I suppose I shall have to go and look... okay, so March 10. That is not SO long ago. But I have, over the last several months, done an abysmal job of keeping up. Here's hoping that now that I am done with my coursework (insert happy dancing here!!!) I shall do a better job.

Haven't heard yet whether I actually PASSED all of my coursework... so that happy dancing might well be premature - but let's assume that I have :) Would really suck to fail a course for the very first time EVER in my last ever semester of school, wouldn't it?! ACK!

Anyway... moving on.

Finishing coursework does not mean that I am finished with school. This year I will be doing my comps: reading 2 sets of 50(ish) books that I select with a committee of 3 advisors and then writing a 4 hour exam about them. Once I pass those - and a French test, I will be ABD and have another couple of years to write my dissertation.

I would LIKE to think that I can get my dissertation done more quickly than that - but the reality is that I am likely to have a whole lot of challenges and delays in getting information, and getting through Ethical Review boards and so on - so it is not likely.

I changed my dissertation topic, did I tell you? No, I see that I didn't. That will be a good topic for my next blog post then, won't it?

Y'all come back now, y'hear?

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Serendipity

Sometimes things just work out so well!

Yesterday, I was on my way to lead my seminars - we're talking about social issues and politics in Canada - last week was poverty, this week the main theme was health care.

There was a table outside one of the lecture halls I passed - lots of flyers, etc - for a number of different ~issues~ ... and piles and piles of buttons. They had 2/3 different buttons for race-related causes, several re: environmental issues, and then others re: tuition fees and poverty.

I grabbed bunches of each. When my students' came in I asked them to choose a button from the mess of 'em on the table. Had them get into groups with others who had the same button and discuss their issue, and potential solutions.

Each group reported back to the whole group and from there it was an easy segue into everything else .... led beautifully into the content of the assigned readings and the lecture.

I was, you may have guessed, very pleased with how it went.

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Orientation Week

So ... first week of school was actually quite a bit more interesting than I expected.

Last year, when I started my MA, I alternated between frustrated because I was not getting information I needed and bored out of my mind during most of the orientation sessions. I honestly expected this year to be even more tiresome, since I've got the year behind me.

But it wasn't. Oh, there were a few bits of the program orientation that I really didn't need and didn't get much from - but on the whole, I felt that my time was well spent and that the PTB were conscious of the range of people they were dealing with - not addressing everyone at the lowest level. I REALLY appreciated that..... especially when it came to the TA training session I went to. Last year I did several days worth of sessions - and all of them presumed we knew nothing. This year the one I went to assumed that we did in fact have a clue and something to offer - and it was very worthwhile.

Off to a very good start, I think.

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Still a couple of weeks to go

I don't start back to school until the week of September 8 this year. Normally I would be chomping at the bit to get going - but this year, I'm SO glad for the delay - there is still a whole bunch of stuff we need to get done at the new house - and I still have one assignment outstanding - so I can use the extra time.

Stephanie's blog on Ask Me Anything got me thinking about attendance - and specifically about how very different my attitude toward it is now that I'm doing the university thing as opposed to the community college thing.

When I was in college - especially the second time when I took computer programmer analyst - I really was not so concerned about attendance. I went the first week -but after that, I only went to those classes where I felt I was getting something out of them.

If I could do the work from the textbook or whatever - and do it well, then I just didn't bother to go.

If the prof was interesting and provided a lot of extras that weren't in the text - or if I needed help with something - I would be there for sure. But otherwise.... meh...

If the prof was an anal jerk that demanded attendance I might go regularly - but OH did I ever resent that.

And if the prof was just a jerk but didn't demand attendance, I would show up for the tests and that would be about it.

One particular prof comes to mind. He did not have an attendance policy included in the syllabus - and he was THE SINGLE BIGGEST JERK of a prof I have ever had.

He liked to make people look & feel stOOpid - and was just oh so full of himself.

During the second class, he asked a question that was loaded - no matter how one answered it, it was clear that he was going to say "no, I meant..." .... and there was no way a straight forward answer was going to be right.

No one would answer it at all - until he called and me and I responded "Well, if you mean this, then.... but if you mean that, then...." He became visibly irked, a few people tittered in the back and he YELLED at the entire class to SHUT UP!! as if we were 5 years old.

I left and didn't bother to go back - except on test days when I would show up, hand in whatever assignment was due, write the test, and leave again.

That also irked him - big time - and by the second test, he was writing questions in such a way that if you had not been to class, you would get an automatic zero - even if you knew the correct answers which I did.

In our class discussion, which of the following did we decide.... automatic zero for anyone (meaning me) who did not come to class. Did I mention he was a jerk?

Anyway - I managed to aggravate him no end.

On the day of the second test, when I showed up, he said

"What are you doing here? I thought you had dropped the class."

I replied that no, I was going to complete the course.

"Then why don't you come to class?"

He didn't much like my answer: "Because you are an arrogant son of a bitch and I don't like you."

Shouldn't ask the question if you don't want to hear the answer.

I sure do wish that I could have been there when he marked my final business plan. He burned me repeatedly on the tests, giving me zeros for questions that I had absolutely right. And I have no doubt whatsoever that he was fully prepared to burn me on my business plan as well.

BUT I write well..... and part of the instructions for the project were to show your plan to 2 people and have them write a letter of support for the plan.

I chose to ask his boss for one of those letters.

I ended up with an 84% on the course - in spite of those damn zeros. Bet it killed him to give it to me too. I often wish that he hadn't left the college at the end of that semester - it would amuse me to run into him at faculty functions now that I teach there.

Anyway, while my attendance during college was not great (unless I happened to like the course and the prof) - I have done everything in my power not to EVER miss any of my classes now that I'm in university.

I have had to miss a few - when I my mother in law was ill and then died - and again when I had my car accident - but I hate to miss any of them as a rule.

It's different now. I'm not just learning to master specific tasks - I'm learning new ways of thinking, of approaching texts, of interacting and especially, of teaching.

My time in classes is well-spent. And I don't begrudge it at all. Of course, some profs are still significantly better than others at engaging my interest and teaching me what I want to know - but now that I am on the path to becoming a university prof myself, even the worst of them have lots to teach me - mostly about what not to do when it is my turn!

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Gearing up for another year

So -pretty much done my major paper -will send that off tomorrow. And that means that I will have met all the requirements of my MA program.

Been working on my RA position stuff as well... hoping to fire that off tomorrow too- although there will be a never ending stream of that stuff over the next few years.

But mostly my time & energy lately has gone into the whole house buying thing - we've got it pretty much all sorted now, although we heard today that the sellers' lawyer wants to delay our closing date - am not impressed with that, but oh well - not like I don't have plenty of other things to do to keep me busy in the meantime.

Got the syllabus for my core course this week - and am really, really looking forward to diving into the new program.

Funny how, a year ago, a 23 page syllabus - most of which is our reading list - would have stressed me out... this year, with the MA thing - and summer school - under my belt, I looked at it and was mostly just eager to dive in and get started.

A week ago I was beyond anxious about this whole Phd thing - now I'm eager to jump in ...and looking forward to the opportunity to learn so much more about all the bits & peices that have gone into the construction of Canada.

I can do this.

And I get to have all the fun of setting up two new offices with bookshelves galore - and ordering new books to fill 'em even. They really should have some kind of points/reward program on Amazon - that would work for me!

How 'bout you? Are you starting new programs/courses this fall? Are you gearing up yet?

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Yay me!

I have been working my tail off - in between bouts of major drama about our attempt to buy a house in Peterborough, renovations, and numerous times outs for socialization because people WILL keep having birthdays and parties and dropping by without calling first - to get my 50 page major research paper done.

It is still not QUITE done - still need to pull together my Works Cited ...and it's a bit short ... but it was done enough to fire off to my advisor for editing and that's the main thing, at this point.

Was very, very happy to hit send on that email.

Now to get to work on my research assistant jobs, and start on my 20 page editing project. Fun times! But it sure does feel good to actually accomplish something.

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Pushing myself

I still have SO much to get done this month that I have come up with daily goals - 10 pages/day for my major research paper means I SHOULD be able to finish the first draft by Saturday (allowing for one day to go to Peterborough to find a place to live). Which is REALLY pushing it - and it will still need work/editing/the works cited page and all that fun stuff... but the main thing at this point is to get 'er DONE. Then I can futz all I want... until I run out of time.

The Mavis Gallant piece that I need to write also needs to get done this week ... hoping the photocopies I have ordered will come tomorrow but even if they don't, I plan to tackle a first draft tomorrow.

AND I need to do some work on the archives project this week, and start my digital project and ...and...and...

yeah... I have bitten off too much again... but I'll get it done. One way or another.

I've started making time for journalling... it helps. Somewhat counterintuitive to make time for it - it FEELS like I don't HAVE time for such things... but when I do my journalling I'm a lot more focused when I do sit down to work... so it's worth it. I think.

Anyway ..don't know how much time I'll have for blogging over the next bit...but we'll see!

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Looking for a place to live

Well, we tried looking at student housing last week when Ross picked me up in Peterborough... there is one company that seems to have a lot of it - but judging by what we saw when we stopped in at a couple, they really don't care much about the condition of their apartments.

They don't actually advertise or SHOW their apartments - just put signs outside, and when you call, they tell you to just go by - the doors are all left open. They don't even put anything on the door - so you're supposed to just wander around and peek in windows, figure out which ones are empty and just walk in - more than a little uncomfortable, I found.

At one place we stopped at, the banister was hanging by a thread, and the hallway smelled FOUL. We didn't go up - but it turned Ross off completely. There WAS one of their properties that I could live in - I rather liked it ...but he's now decided that student housing - and anything run by that company - is not for us.

So now I am looking for a somewhat better class of housing... found one property management company that has several buildings that would work for us.... hopefully that will work out. Sent an email and will call them tomorrow.

Me, I kind of like the idea of an apartment in a house - they tend to have rather more personality - but what the heck.... it's not just me. We'll sort it out.

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Time for Penguins

The biggest challenge to my successful completion of a Phd is on its way to being resolved....

Not having a drivers licence was HUGE - a major challenge, hardship, obstacle, whatever you want to call it.

I am very fortunate that Ross was willing to take on the role of chauffeur - and that he would continue doing it for as long as needed - but it really is way too much to ask and I hate HATE HATED it!

Saw the doctor today and she was really pleased with my weight loss (50lbs in less than 3 months) and withthe results of all of the tests I've had since the accident and she checked the MTO guidelines and she is writing the letter so that I can have my license back. The letter was going out today - will still take 4 - 6 weeks to get processed - but by the time I start school again in September I should be driving!

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Database for Notetaking

So ...I finally did it: made myself a database for taking notes while I wade through the stacks and stacks of readings.

I meant to do it when I started my MA but just never got around to finishing one.... but this summer I decided to do it again, and this time I not only started it, I finished it ....well, to the point of usability anyway ...I continue to tweak it as I go and I'm sure that that will continue for awhile yet.

I am using it for my readings for the course I'm taking - there are a lot of readings!

It works for me in part because I am not known for organization - when I take notes on paper, I invariably lose them - until right after I need them at which point they mysteriously reappear. Since I always have a computer of some sort with me (and to date, knocking on wood, have yet to misplace one, although cords are a different story) - I can manage this far better.

Plus, of course, it has the advantage of being fully searchable, sortable, etc. I can pull up all notes that relate to a certain article or topic or author or.... whatever.

My hope is that by the time it comes round to having to study for my comprehensive exams in the second year of my doctorate, I will have an excellent resource from which to work. Comps are the one aspect of my Phd studies that scare the crap out of me - I am not so great at recalling what I want when I want it.

Typing my notes into the database - and also coming up with a summary of each article/work - should, I hope, improve my ability to do that sort of thing. I'm already finding that I am doing much better at retaining who said what information, which is probably because I have first of all, had to type the authors' names in, then select them, then see them on the screen at the top of every note I write or term I add to my glossary.

AND once I have a good database of typed out ~stuff~ I shall have even more fun fodder for playing with some of the textual analysis tools that I learned about in Victoria last week. It's all good.

Well, all, that is, except for the mosquitos that are driving me nuts! I'm sitting in the backyard of the house that I'm staying at. It will soon be time to give it up and head inside for a shower and then bed. But going to get back to my reading & database for a bit longer .... I've finished my readings for tomorrow now and am halfway through Thursday, which is good, as tomorrow night we're having a BBQ and I will not want to read. I'll have a couple of hours in between class and the BBQ in which to finish whatever I don't get done... but would be nice to get it all done tonight.

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Home from Victoria

I'm home - after a thoroughly enjoyable week at DHSI in Victoria - but only for the weekend.

On Monday I'm off to Peterborough, where I'm doing course in editing (theory & practice).

As much as I'm looking forward to the course, I REALLY could use a week or so in between! 3 weeks in a row is an awful lot of time to be away.

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Leaving in the morning

Well... it's here - May just flew by and I didn't get anywhere near as much done as I'd hoped.

Hubby's new pest control business definitely took priority. Have got enough of the marketing and database set up done that he can manage for himself for the next three weeks while I focus on summer school and my paper though. I hope!

It's my turn.

I had the option to NOT take the summer school stuff for credit... but today I negotiated a project that I am actually excited about - and that, I think, will be well worth doing. So ....

yeah, I know, Stephanie LOL ...but I'll pull it all off. I always do, right?

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Summer School

Only 3 more sleeps and then I'm off to start three weeks of summer school courses.

The first week is on digital humanities in Victoria BC, and then I have 2 weeks about editing Canadian modernist poets' work.... am really looking forward to all of it ...but the readings for that latter 2 weeks seems a ~bit~ overwhelming at this point.... 320 pages for the theory week, followed by 626 pages for the practice week that follows. I still have SO much work to do on my major research paper, although it is coming along.

It seems like my hopes of spending July & August doing MY stuff were a ~tad~ on the optimistic side... not likely to have much time to work on the MRP during the 3 weeks of summer school; that much is obvious.

Oh well... all I can do is try.

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Bits & Pieces

Somehow today just seems to have been eaten up with them ....bits & pieces of things that needed to be done... but none that really make any difference in the BIG jobs that are on my to do list.

Got an email this morning about a progress report that I didn't know needed to be done .... so ended up spending some time finally getting my fax machine set up properly so that it could be faxed to me, since I wasn't inclined to drive 2.5 hours each way just to sign my name (although it might have been a good idea, since I have 3 overdue library books that need to go back there asap!).

And then, since I was emailing back and forth with my advisor, it seemed like a good day to get the proposal for my paper finished off and sent in ...so finally got that done as well.

Ross & I went shopping and to get the mail (for all the good it did; the letter we are waiting for still didn't show up)... and I did do some work on both my presentation for next week and my MRP ...but it's a cold, wet, dreary day and it just feels like its been long and mostly unproductive.

I SO need to get motivated. And FOCUSED. Especially focused.

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A Very Busy Week

Am in the winding down phase of Congress 2009 now... have attended sessions of the 2 associations that I was most interested in. There are some others here and I might, if I get motivated, check out some other sessions and see what is happening in them....

Or I might just hang out in the Career Corner workshops today...really have not decided yet.

Tomorrow I'll be heading to Brampton, and Friday, meeting with some people re: my research project - hmmm...still haven't done anything about a digital recorder...that would be good to have. It is raining though, and I don't, at this point, feel terribly motivated to go wandering into the city again. The only Staples I remember seeing was near the Home Depot hubby & I stopped at on our way into Ottawa - but I have no idea where that is in relation to where I am now. I'm sure my sister won't mind stopping at a Staples somewhere... or dropping me near one on Friday...will have time to deal with it during the day while she's working and I'm just killing time before my meeting.

Am very glad I thought to bring my umbrella. It is not only functional, but also beautiful .....dark green with hummingbirds and flowers. It was a gift from my mother, and it makes me smile every time it rains as I welcome the opportunity to use it.

Hmm...guess I am not going to a 9 am session :)

I'd best get off my butt and head over to the university centre or I'll end up missing things there too.

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Staying in Residence

Well, here I am in residence at Carleton University in Ottawa.

I can not IMAGINE actually living in one of these units for a whole school year... the room I'm in is meant for two people -- I've got it to myself though, thank goodness. Two very uncomfortable beds, 2 desks, 1 closet with 2 standing open shelves in it - room for maybe at MOST 10 hangers between the shelves.

There are 4 bedrooms and 2 bathrooms off of a main sitting room ...no kitchen facilities at all.

No privacy and OMG it's loud. The lock on the main door to the suite is loud, and every time it is opened or closed it demands attention. The toilets' flush is short lived but VERY loud ...and you can hear pretty much everything that is said in every room anywhere near yours - both within the suite and through the walls from others.

I cannot IMAGINE having 8 people in this one unit - maybe some of the other rooms are actual singles? Haven't met any of my suite-mates yet, or seen any of the other rooms...but yikes!

Another plus to being a nontraditional student - we rarely find ourselves living in residence!

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Nontraditional Students Do Lunch

Am really looking forward to tomorrow in spite of all the CARP that went on here today - two of my nontraditional student friends from my undergrad university are coming here for lunch.

I bought pork souvlaki for the BBQ - made my own taziki sauce, even ...and I have stuff for a Greek salad, and strawberries and melon for dessert - all stuff I'm allowed to eat on my diet, of course.

It's not about the food, though ... it's about the opportunity to socialize with people that ~get~ it... the whole nontrad student thing. We're all English students, all old(er) and all married.

I SO missed having people like me at school last year.... and with my inability to drive, I haven't been able to get to Barrie to just hang out with people for MONTHS now...

Last time we planned lunch up here, it ended up being cancelled... sure hope this time is a go.

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Answer to Mike's Question about online courses

Mike writes:

I am looking for an online course for web design and development. I have tried the traditional colleges (and prefer them), however, I find them not user friendly to the student who is not full-time, residing on the campus, etc. I find it difficult to get the classes I want or need because the 'full-time' students get the slots and then the part-time students can get in if there is an opening. If there are not enough full time students enrolled, then they cancel the class. Any suggestions? Thanks

May 15, 2009 5:20 AM

That is a very frustrating thing about doing part time studies... I know that as a prof I detested it when courses I was slated to teach would be cancelled at the last minute... it has happened to me more than once. And sometimes, I would be thrown into teaching some other course entirely, only to find out that half the people in the new course didn't actually want to take it - they had wanted to take the other course I was supposed to be teaching. Quite often happened with the course in HTML & xHTML web development I used to teach, actually.

I think that the main thing to decide is whether it is the actual credit you need, or if it is just the information. If it is the course, seems like all you can do is keep trying - and keep hounding whoever the person is that makes the decision about which courses run (nicely, of course). It might also help to talk to the Program Co-ordinator that oversees the department the course is offered in.... at least in my own college setting, that would be the approach I would take (and have advised students to take).

Or, of course, you could also look at online courses through recognized colleges or universities. The University of Phoenix offers several courses in Internet Technology and Web Development, for example. eLearners has a list of 37 online courses in web development that might be a good place to start.

If you are looking for the information but don't actually need the credit there are tons of resources out there. Free-Ed.Net offers Fundamentals of HTML Scripting, Fundamentals of Javascript, or (sort of) Web Page Authoring, for starters.

There are also millions of free online tutorials, including those offered by W3Schools Full Web Building Tutorials.

Another option, depending on your learning style, is just to buy one of the textbooks that the course you would have taken if it had run required and work through that, doing all of the assignments and using the online tutorials and free resources to expand your horizons as desired.

When I was teaching these sorts of courses, I used the New Perspectives Series:


Even though the course was on campus and not intended to be distance learning, several of my students did it as an online course and did very well.

Even if you DO need the actual credit(s), working through any of the free opportunities can only help, right? By the time you get to actually take the course, you'll be a pro.

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