Re-blog and reflect: Is your PhD stuck on Mars? Apply the Martian Method

via Is your PhD stuck on Mars? Apply the Martian Method

I read this blog post this morning, and it resonated with me. Much of what the author describes is what I went through last year. Below is my first blog post in a long time. I reflect on how I have moved my PhD forward, using the Martian Method as an analogy.

Firstly, the ‘Stay alive’ was the most important part. I sought support from student services and counselling as soon as I realised my PhD world was unravelling. Of course, I was also supported by my husband, family and friends- they knew there was a problem much earlier than I would admit, and were my first port of call. They made sure I was fed, encouraged me to take breaks, have a coffee (well- chamomile tea- caffeine was not good for my stress levels) and go for walks. Those in my workplace bought me little trinkets or flowers or left notes on my desk to let me know they were thinking of me. There were many hugs too.

As part of ‘stay alive’ I did cut off some of my contacts with the outside world, like this blog, which I just couldn’t write in for a multitude of reasons. For some reason, today, over twelve months since my PhD world unravelled,  the linked blog post from the thesis whisperer has prompted me to write again.

My “call earth” included the amazing people who supported me to ‘stay alive’ and who believed in me when I didn’t. I also extended my support crew by contacting some people I had lost touch with over the course of my studies, these people knew me when I was strong, and reminded me how to be that person again. It took a while, but this act of reaching out and extending my support crew helped me reconnect with who I used to be before I got lost in academia and my studies. It has led to me taking my life off the ‘hold pattern’ it had been in for almost seven years. Basically, I stopped holding my breath, waiting to be finished my thesis, and got on with life. I got a new job, changed my workplace, and became active in a professional association again. I am balancing my time differently to meet various deadlines and expectations. I am also saying ‘no’ to certain things, and ‘yes’ to others; like demonstrating at a local craft afternoon, entering my craft in an art show and making time for family fun too. These are the things which ground me, fill my soul and give me perspective. They had become a source of guilt during the time I put everything on hold. Now I let them be a joy and feel so much better for it.

The “just begin” I feel I need to add ‘again’ to. I have begun my thesis writing again and again. Each time the focus is sharper and the argument I am making is clearer. But it’s not just about beginning the writing: I read a range of other theses, I went to writing workhops, I re-visited my data sets and analysis, and I re-wrote my third and fourth full versions of my thesis over the last twelve months. My fifth version is being shaped now and I feel so much more in control and sure of my thesis this time. Part of my ‘begin’ was building a new supervisory team, and building the personal confidence to keep moving forward to finish my thesis.

So, here I am. Still determined to complete what I began. Stronger than I was twelve months ago. I am certain that post-PhD life will be great, but I am not waiting until then to live my best life. Learning to live my life alongside the PhD has been a revelation- thanks to all of my support crew for helping me find my joy again.

Until next time

Fiona T

The PhD and side quests

A while ago I read a tweet http://researchblog.iclon.nl/phd-side-quests-teaching/  likening various distractions (like teaching) to a side quest in a multiplayer online game. Even though I’m part time on my PhD and full time teaching, I find this tweet still resonated with me. At present I feel very stretched- full time academic teaching load, additional (short term) administrative role, part time PhD student, and Mum- it’s always busy and every minute is precious in each role. When I do have blocked time for my PhD analysis and writing I feel like if I am not writing actual words into a chapter that somehow I am not working effectively enough, then I realised I had to change my personal PhD narrative if I was going to do this to the best of my ability. Let me explain…

A few weeks ago I was up to day 5 of what would be a 2 week lack of motivation for my studies. I felt tired, overwhelmed and frustrated that this sacred writing time was being wasted while I looked up new references, read over old data and tried to re-envision my literature review while writing a data chapter. I was thinking about changing the chapter structure of the thesis to follow themes rather than data sets, this was going to be a huge shift. There was textas, A3 paper, muttering and scribbling. Mendeley was getting a workout as I uploaded and annotated more articles. I was busy, but didn’t feel like I was making progress visible to anyone else. I briefly considered walking away from the PhD- but am so close to being finished I know I would regret it. By day 5 I realised the truth- I was caught up in a side quest! As my thesis links to games, learning and aspects of motivation, I realised I was living the kinds of scenarios I had been researching for the last few years; what motivates a person to push past this point, where it all seems too hard to manage? I looked to my data, and my own personal side quests- my craft and other blogs. If you follow these blogs : one mad tatter and My WISE Dolls, you may notice that my whole life in recent years is chipping away at various goals over a longer period of time. It isn’t about being motivated to complete a project in one day, and my thesis is another such project.  I realised that I needed to be my own advocate, and so I gave myself permission to just be- to leave the actual writing of my chapter for a few days and go on a side quest of reading and thinking. This took me another week or so, but after this time I felt again in a position to edit and write some more. Last week I sent the finished chapter to my advisory group for feedback- and it felt like an epic win!

The side quest was an important part of the journey, of narrowing down the new articles to those that could be used to support my data and the unfolding story in my thesis. The ‘re-envisioning’ of the thesis was also deemed a side quest, confirming that the chapter structure I have drafted over the last 2 years will work better for my thesis than the one in my clouded mind a few weeks ago. While these two processes didn’t make a visible difference to my writing and work so far, they have helped me to think through my options and make firm choices on the direction of my thesis, and so this clarity of mind makes the side quest worthwhile in my opinion. The PhD is as much about the thinking, pondering and analysing as it is about the written submission. I need to wander down some of the pathways to realise they are dead ends. And, even if I don’t feel like writing, there are lots of tasks to to that will contribute in different ways to the completed submission.

Some side quests might be setting up fonts, highlighting relevant data, creating images and labelling figures- they are important small tasks that support the end goal. These are what help build the thesis from the ground up, and no one else can do it for me; I have to own the whole quest, not just the fun bits 🙂 I need to remind myself of the work I have been doing towards this since 2011, for all intents and purposes I have done the hard yards; the planning, considering methodological protocols, completing ethics for university and education departments, approaching schools, and building relationships with principals, teachers and students in order to generate data on site. I have the conceptual framework in place and have identified the gaps in the research my study seeks to contribute to. I have come a long way in my writing and thinking, been supported by a fabulous team of family, friends and colleagues and really love my topic. With less than a year to go until submission, I need to remind myself “I’ve got this!” 🙂

I still need to recognise that some side quests are time sinks, and wont be helpful in the bigger scheme of things for the PhD goal. For example, my WISE Dolls site is exciting and will be great, but it doesn’t need to be the focus of my energy this year, it will be waiting for me to pick it up again next year. The same with some of my tatting design ideas and goals, these too will wait until I am on the other side of thesis submission. In recognising these as alternate side quests I can more easily make a clear decision to refocus my precious PhD time to the side quests really need my focus here and now.

So, it seems the side quest metaphor works for me, here is a link to a paper about such metaphors for PhD work (McCulloch, 2013)  http://w3.unisa.edu.au/researcheducation/contact/documents/mcculloch-2013.pdf

or perhaps the Map for the PhD student graphic (MGSE, 2012) http://education.unimelb.edu.au/__data/assets/pdf_file/0011/621929/Map_for_the_PhD_Student.pdf might resonate with you. Whichever you decide, make sure you can identify for yourself what will be a productive use of your time, and keep your eye on the prize- that PhD 🙂

Until next time, happy questing

Fiona T

NB: It was also confirmed by my Wonderful Husband that this post is ironic- it was a side quest too. Now I have blogged it, it is completed [Achievement unlocked: 1084 words posted on PhD Blog] and I guess it’s back to the data for me 🙂

Healing blade- a biology card game.

This story started in 2011, when I first read about the “Healing blade card game” From Nerdcore in this blog: https://drottematic.wordpress.com/2011/08/11/review-healing-blade-the-infectious-disease-card-battle/.    I began to search for this game, knowing it would probably be too advanced for the VCE (Victorian Certificate of Education- Year 12) course I wanted to use it for. Healing blade was developed for Medical students to use as a learning tool- and this is what intrigued me the most, the information within this game wouldn’t be “dumbed down” or incorrect. To me, accuracy is a very important aspect of any game I would want to use as a learning tool.

Unfortunately, the game had a small initial print run and it took me quite a while to find out about the kickstarter movement and track down the print and play version. Late last year I received the newest version of the downloadable file. I was impressed with the quality of the card fronts and really wanted to print these out on card stock for my classes to work with. The months flew by, and the printing of the cards was pushed on down the priority list. Then the sudden realisation that I need the cards for my class this week hit me! So, I have compromised and printed out my card set on a normal photocopy paper. I spent a couple of hours yesterday cutting up the paper cards and backs and sliding them into plastic card holders (Thanks MindGames on Swanston St for your help in sizing the right ones).

Sometimes the work of teaching is ‘making’ the resources 🙂

Now the game is ready to play.

Along with 6 other Biology based games, Healing blade will be considered by my students this week, and critiqued as a possible classroom tool.

I hope, in the coming weeks, that I will blog about our impressions of each of the 7 games we will critique, so stay tuned 🙂 (or link the RSS feed to your email, so you don’t miss out!)

Until next time,

Fiona T

 

Re-blog: The Happy PhD Zone: How To Maintain A Work-Life Balance In Academia – Next Scientist

I recently read this post over at Happy PhD zone, and it made me laugh, and think about my priorities at the moment too. I am trying to balance my time on weekends to make sure I recharge and spend time with my beautiful family. The PhD and a full time teaching load make for very busy week days. So, this blog is worth a look 🙂

The Happy PhD Zone: How To Maintain A Work-Life Balance In Academia – Next Scientist.

Until next time,

Fiona T

Games and toys that promote creativity and thinking (Part 6) Review of Goldiblox and the spinning machine

Hi to all my followers- I’m sorry to say that I have neglected this blog for a little while. It has taken one of my new students this year to prompt me to write again, so I will try to write fortnightly posts about ICT study tools, games, toys and learning. Welcome back 🙂

Here is part 6 of a series of posts looking at commercially available* toys and games that can promote creativity and thinking in our kids, at home and at school. When I refer to creativity and thinking, I mean that children (and adults) have the opportunity to approach these toys in a variety of ways, not necessarily just the way described on the box. Creativity may involve changing rules, or allow a ‘free playing’ imaginative space for children to explore. Thinking, and expectations around thinking, will vary depending on the child and adult playing, for example it may be thinking about turn taking, sharing, language development, rule making or even just having a fun and relaxing space to talk in.

This week I am looking at “Goldi Blox” story/game that can support creativity and thinking through play. I had seen this in the stores a few times and wondered if it would be a suitable present. In a recent discussion with a colleague, I found that she had the story/game and used it as part of her teaching- so I asked to borrow it.

It comes with a story that takes you and your child through building the spinning machine- and is an introduction to belt drives, as an engineering concept. The aim is to make a machine that will spin all of the characters in the book- they are figurines in the box. There are also extra challenges in the book, to continue playing with.The book uses funny rhymes to engage the imagination too.

For the age range stated it is appropriate as a learning object.  I feel that adding just a few cogs and wheels as extra pieces here would serve as a strong extension to the belt drive ideas. This would open up a range of open ended play opportunities and begin to explore gear ratios to get the character figurines to spin at different speeds. I would probably purchase this for a 4 to 5 year old as a present.

There are other a few other games, like ‘mouse trap’ where machines are set up as part of the game, but this is the first one I have seen for a younger age group and with a story to accompany it. I wonder if you have seen any other such items available. If you have, please share them below in the comments 🙂

Until next time

Fiona T

*All opinions are my own, and are unsolicited. I personally purchase all items reviewed on this blog and have received no payment from any supplier for promoting their goods. I am a student/teacher/academic and have no personal business affiliation or business motive on this blog. Opinions expressed are my own, and are not necessarily endorsed by my employer.

Dropbox update – MyPaperless PhD

Just a quick post today-

After thinking that I wasn’t saving to dropbox properly at work, I found the real problem was not closing the windows/programs I was working with on my laptop. I was inadvertently overwriting the work I did at work when I would open my laptop later in the day. Dropbox, being uber efficient, was updating the files fine 🙂 . I did find, by using opening my dropbox account on the web, that you can search previous versions of folders and files and re-instate the one you need- thanks dropbox.

I also recently upgraded my dropbox storage and began paying for this extra space- imagine my surprise when Dropbox announced last week they were upgrading all pro- storage to 1TB for no extra charge! Very happy with that 🙂

Until next time

Fiona T

Digital tools- Rocking my world

Last weekend I had the pleasure of attending a post-graduate research conference run by my Graduate School. It ran over 2 days, and I attended one of them. The day was fabulous and inspiring. We started with my fellow ‘shut up and writer’ and I running a modified ‘Shut up and Write’ session, so those who can’t normally make our weekday sessions could get a feel for how this works. We also hoped that they would perhaps join us during semester, or begin using this method on their own. I got to make a good start on a conference paper, so I was very happy 🙂 The feel from the others was very positive too. We also had some discussion groups based around our stage of study, and workshops on what examiners are looking for and publications for different audiences. All interesting and insightful.

The session that rocked my little world was the ‘taming your thesis with technology’ session. I have been looking for this session for the last few years.  The workshop leader was inspirational, and showed us a glimpse of the true power of the word-processing tools we have as standard installations on our computers. Setting up styles within documents, and using these to easily format tables of contents, figures and tables…let me just say it was an enthralling 2 hours. I have been generating small scale reports for my key stakeholders, and I know that even with these small documents, the tips from this workshop will save me much time and angst…I can only imagine how much time and angst will be saved when I put the sections of my thesis together 🙂  I still recall the nightmare of pulling my Masters’ Thesis together – reprinting and formatting to make sure the table of contents matched the actual headings and page locations, not to mention when I had to move a figure or section eeek…. I am very much looking forward to NOT having to do that again 🙂

By Renee and sourced from: http://kpc.am/11bBpds

Along with Mendeley, Evernote and dropbox, it seems my word processor will be another reliable digital tool for my studies.

I wonder, what tip, trick or tool is saving you time and angst? Please feel free to share in the comments below, or on the facebook page 🙂

Until next time

Fiona T

 

Paperless progress

A belated ‘Happy New Year’ to you all. Those who are regular followers will have noticed ‘My Paperless PhD’ has been very quiet since September least year. This is for a number of reasons, including actual progress in my PhD, working full time and working on conference papers too.

Today I had a ‘free’ half hour, so I thought it best used to give you a quick paperless update.

Since my confirmation of candidature in March last year, data gathering has been constant. I am using a range of data gathering tools, including interviews (recorded on my smartphone and backed up to a password protected cloud file) before being transcribed (using a program devised by Wonderful Husband- WH), and then also stored in a password protected file. Some parts of my data collection require paper, like the participants constructing Personal Meaning Making Maps (PMMM – based on Falk et al, 1997) which are drawn on A3 paper. These are then scanned and stored – you guessed it-  in a password protected file. I am finding it easier over time to correct my writing on the screen, though I do still print hard copies for final reading and editing. While not completely paperless I do feel like I am not using a forest to draft my work, and paper is used sparingly.

In terms of writing, I still find the ‘shut up and write’ pomodoro sessions very helpful, with our little group meeting on Friday morning for most of the year. These will start again soon, when semester gets back into swing.

In other news, 2 teacher friends of mine invited me to be a part of a review blog, aimed at Australian Parents  to find apps that will support their children in fun and learning too. Many apps reviewed so far are free, though the original idea was to assist parents in making informed choices in spending i-Tunes and similar cards. The blog is here: http://appsforaussiekids.blogspot.com.au  and the facebook page has a healthy following for being active for just under 10 days now. If this interests you, please follow along and support us – you may also want to suggest apps or write a guest post – email contact is available through the apps for aussie kids blog (on the right of the page).

I hope to be more active on this blog this year. I have many posts in mind…I just need time to write them!

Until next time

Fiona T

Reference:

Falk, J. H., Moussouri, T., & Coulson, D. (1997). The effect of Visotors’ agendas on Museum Learning. Curator, 41(2), 107–120.

“Successful Science Education Practices” a step in my PhD journey.

Successful Science Education Practices: Exploring What, Why and How They Worked.

2013 has been a big year for me and publishing book chapters 🙂

The above book was published at the beginning of this year. I am excited that the price has become more realistic, for both educators and students to purchase. This is a science focused, peer reviewed text that looks at current practices in classrooms across the world.

Here is the blurb from the Nova Site:

“Book Description:
This book has been designed to provide a conduit for the pre-service and beginning teacher of science to access contemporary educational research. The chapters offer researched forms of classroom practices that are also easy to transfer into classrooms. The teaching of chemistry, biology, astronomy and physics, and Primary Science teaching, are discussed with a focus on new technology tools, as well as important topics for the new teacher of science. This includes providing different types of feedback; the value of developing a supportive network of colleagues; planning for science teaching effectively; the types and contribution of models in science teaching and how they contribute to thinking, great ways to utilize demonstrations; and challenging the learners’ alternative conceptions. New technologies are pervasive in many chapters, and are used to enrich and deepen the learning experiences possible for learners. (Imprint: Nova)”

The chapter I contributed: “Chapter 15. Teachers’ Secret Stories: Using Conversations to Disclose Individual and Team Stories of Planning”, was written when I was contemplating returning to study my PhD. Writing it reminded me how much I enjoy working with teachers and re-telling their stories. It was also one of the early personal ‘tests’ of my organisation, as I was figuring out the logisitics of finding time to write amongst part time work and volunteering my time in schools too. So, on a few different levels this chapter was a step building towards my confidence to undertake my current PhD Journey. As always, thanks to BB for this opportunity and supporting my development in this aspect of my writing.

I wonder what you enjoy about research? Please share in the comments below.

Until next time,

Fiona T

 

New Traditional Games for Learning: A Case Book

We interrupt our regularly scheduled blog to bring you this breaking news…..New Book Published 🙂 Enjoy

New Traditional Games for Learning: A Case Book Paperback – Taylor & Francis.

Edited by Alex Moseley and Nicola Whitton, this book presents a number of case studies of traditional game use in Educational settings across the world.

Chapter 3: Three boys and a chess set is a case study written by myself and Liz Hinds about a traditional game and the 18 month passion based learning project that developed for three boys in a primary school setting. We are very excited to have this story documented and published. I can’t wait to receive my copy of this book, and be able to review the other chapters also.

From the publisher:

“A growing interest in the use of games-based approaches for learning has been tempered in many sectors by budget or time constraints associated with the design and development of detailed digital simulations and other high-end approaches. However, a number of practitioners and small creative groups have used low-cost, traditional approaches to games in learning effectively – involving simple card, board or indoor/outdoor activity games. New Traditional Games for Learning brings together examples of this approach, which span continents (UK, western and eastern Europe, the US, and Australia), sectors (education, training, and business) and learner styles or ages (primary through to adult and work-based learning or training). Together, the chapters provide a wealth of evidence-based ideas for the teacher, tutor, or trainer interested in using games for learning, but turned off by visible high-end examples.

An editors’ introduction pulls the collection together, identifying shared themes and drawing on the editors’ own research in the use of games for learning. The book concludes with a chapter by a professional board game designer, incorporating themes prevalent in the preceding chapters and reflecting on game design, development and marketing in the commercial sector, providing valuable practical advice for those who want to take their own creations further.”