I quickly met with Dr. Lewis right after my 804 class today. As always, she made a little bit of time for me and offered me an encouraging solution. Dr. Lewis told me that she and Clayton had identified a portion of a lecture that they were wanting me to teach and had identified literature for me to read in order to prepare. I will get the needed literature from Dr. Lewis hopefully next week.
Dr. Lewis said that the portion I am doing is the portion that Clayton had done when she was just starting out, so that's another good sign. It appears that I am being allowed to follow a path that has already been traveled.
When we meet next week, Dr. Lewis is also going to take the opportunity to get me some training on using the equipment used to record the lectures. She insisted that it's incredibly frustrating to think you have your lecture recorded and then realize, wait, what? No!
I am thankful for another fruitful interaction with Dr. Lewis. I am seeing I am going to need quite a bit of faculty guidance; I will not survive this educational endeavor if I am simply left to my own devices. Don't get me wrong, I am a self-starter, but I still don't have an thorough enough understanding of the details of exactly what to do in academia to do this without a bit of handholding right now (not just the publish or perish concept, but publish what, collect data how, go to what journals, follow what time tables, etc).
This makes me recall my first days as a newspaper reporter. The newspaper I was at offered virtually no training or guidance on being a newsman whatsoever, they just told me to go report. And I was like, ok, where do I start. I had to learn how to find stories and follow beats all by myself. Once I learned, I wound up being one of their best reporters, but it was one struggle of a learning process for sure and those growing pains were not pleasant (as pain never is, unless you're into that sort of thing). I am hoping here that what I am experiencing are growing pains, and that once I get adjusted to this environment, I will excel and hold my own with the rest of my cohort.
Wednesday, September 28, 2011
Wednesday, September 21, 2011
Expectations of PhD programs versus reality
Following the welcome reception of Dr. Michelle Martin Monday, I was able to catch up with Dr. Lewis - as well as Dr. Keeling - and pick their brains on an issue that I had found somewhat troubling.
Before I entered this program, I was told by countless people to remember that the PhD is a research degree. It's a research degree. It's not a teaching degree, it's a research degree. It's not writing degree, its a research degree. And so on.
This was, of course, good advice, as it forced me to think seriously about why I was trying to enter a PhD program and whether I actually should (obviously, I decided that I believed it was the right move for me, hence my being here).
But, I guess after having it drilled into my head so much that the PhD was a research degree, I came in with the expectation that my coursework in this program would probably be completely research methodology coursework and other types of coursework aimed solely at helping one learn how to research effectively in order to publish and survive in academia.
That is not the case at all with this program. In fact, there are only 15 hours of course credit for "core courses" that are 800-level. These 800-level courses aren't necessarily "research" courses either. There are requirements to take one quantitative research class and one qualitative research class. And beyond that, it seemed as though the coursework was not drastically different from masters level coursework.
So I asked Dr. Lewis and Dr. Keeling if this was dramatically different from their PhD education experiences, and told them what I had thought the PhD coursework would likely consist of. It was very reaffirming to hear that they didn't feel that the PhD requirements here at USC were dramatically different from those at other institutions. They let me know that I probably did come in with expectations that were a bit warped.
This was very reassuring for me. One of my primary concerns, of course, is that I get an education that will be respected at other institutions. Part of this is knowing that South Carolina expects the same of its students that other schools with longer-standing PhD programs expect of there own students. Since, of course, Dr. Lewis did not obtain her PhD from USC, it was reassuring to hear someone educated elsewhere affirm that the coursework here is comparable to other institutions.
Before I entered this program, I was told by countless people to remember that the PhD is a research degree. It's a research degree. It's not a teaching degree, it's a research degree. It's not writing degree, its a research degree. And so on.
This was, of course, good advice, as it forced me to think seriously about why I was trying to enter a PhD program and whether I actually should (obviously, I decided that I believed it was the right move for me, hence my being here).
But, I guess after having it drilled into my head so much that the PhD was a research degree, I came in with the expectation that my coursework in this program would probably be completely research methodology coursework and other types of coursework aimed solely at helping one learn how to research effectively in order to publish and survive in academia.
That is not the case at all with this program. In fact, there are only 15 hours of course credit for "core courses" that are 800-level. These 800-level courses aren't necessarily "research" courses either. There are requirements to take one quantitative research class and one qualitative research class. And beyond that, it seemed as though the coursework was not drastically different from masters level coursework.
So I asked Dr. Lewis and Dr. Keeling if this was dramatically different from their PhD education experiences, and told them what I had thought the PhD coursework would likely consist of. It was very reaffirming to hear that they didn't feel that the PhD requirements here at USC were dramatically different from those at other institutions. They let me know that I probably did come in with expectations that were a bit warped.
This was very reassuring for me. One of my primary concerns, of course, is that I get an education that will be respected at other institutions. Part of this is knowing that South Carolina expects the same of its students that other schools with longer-standing PhD programs expect of there own students. Since, of course, Dr. Lewis did not obtain her PhD from USC, it was reassuring to hear someone educated elsewhere affirm that the coursework here is comparable to other institutions.
Thursday, September 15, 2011
Scheduling Conflict Prevents Excellence
Dr. Lewis thought it would be a good idea for me to attend a CTE event next week, but unfortunately the event - Interactive Questioning in Online Lectures - takes place during my Wednesday afternoon class :(
Bummer.
But that is okay, there will be a lot more opportunities to take advantage of CTE goodness I am sure. Dr. Lewis did tell me it was good that I am going to the ASIST conference in New Orleans next month. She also said that she is still planning to incorporate me in a lecture for her 701 class. I can't wait; I need to get a little bit of teaching experience under the ole belt.
Bummer.
But that is okay, there will be a lot more opportunities to take advantage of CTE goodness I am sure. Dr. Lewis did tell me it was good that I am going to the ASIST conference in New Orleans next month. She also said that she is still planning to incorporate me in a lecture for her 701 class. I can't wait; I need to get a little bit of teaching experience under the ole belt.
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