November 2008 Archives

Can graduate school be funny?  I actually prefer the question "Can graduate school be fun? This way I can take a look at the fun times. And then ask, "Are there situations, phrases or moments in that fun time that were funny?"

One day, I found myself complaining about some problem project and a fellow classmate reminded me that "we'll laugh about all of this one day". Would I classify this moment as funny? No. In fact many of the situations, phrases and moments are not funny at this point, at least not yet.  I'm not trying to be cynical, I'm still at the point of trying to figure things out.

I wouldn't go so far as to say "people may age", however unlike some of my fellow classmates, I didn't arrive here fresh from an undergraduate program. I decided to trade in a very different life in Texas to come up here to attend school.  There I was a wife, mother, daughter, sister and sister-in-law. Yes, I am still all of those things, just via phone and email these days. Some people may see that as funny, but I don't.  Especially with the holiday season approaching.  My family in Texas has many traditions which I helped organize and took part in at this time of year. Those family times had funny moments which we usually recalled as we picked out the Christmas tree, decorated the tree and house, baked cookies and wrapped presents together.


Right now, I'm working on building new traditions and special times here in State College.  Once everything falls into place and I have more memories and good times to reflect on with the new people who have entered my life I do believe I will find that grad school was not only fun, at times it was also funny.  

With my first semester almost over I ask myself "How have I survived up till now?"  This week, we were asked to read articles on surviving graduate school.  They were very informative, though to tell you the truth, while making my decision to come here I read many survival guides to help me prepare for this new life. Some of the advice in the Alice Domurat Dreger article I have used for many years.  She stated something similar to what my father always told me and my brothers, "If you don't like what you are doing, you won't be any good at it." Has the semester been different than I expected? Not really. I knew I would have to adjust to living without my family nearby and it would be hard to do. I also knew that I would be inundated with assignments that required a lot of reading and writing.

So what am I doing in particular to help me transition into this new life? 

• Attend Seminars - The school has offered many different types of seminars. I really enjoyed the writing seminar held by the graduate school earlier this semester.  I found this seminar to be very useful, especially since we tend to write so many different types of documents and highly recommend it,
  
• Personal Time - I reward myself with personal time. Depending on the work-load I tend to alternate the time frame and activity accordingly.  For today's blog writing session, I'm going to reward myself with something quick and fun, then return to the next item on my task list.
  
• Task list -  I have a calendar and task list.  To keep my stress level in check I try very hard to only concern myself with what is due this week. That doesn't mean I don't plan for what's coming. 
  
• Plan Early - I begin planning larger projects early. A time line with smaller tasks is helpful to break manage the project and make it seem more reasonable to handle. Leaving everything to the last minute tends to increase stress and also reduces the quality of work. Two things that I try very hard to avoid.
• Personal Assessment:
  

• "Do I really enjoy what I'm doing?"  This is the question that I ask myself, especially when times are tough. So far my answer has always been yes. 
  
• With finished assignments, "Am I proud with what I accomplished?" So far, I can say yes. I have found that though the work may be difficult and time-consuming,  I am proud of everything I have accomplished up to this point. Have I made mistakes? Yes. Did I learn something? Definitely. Can I do better next time? Of course.

I find that I am here to learn as much as I can, if that means that I have to read thousands of pages of journal articles, then so be it.  If I have to re-write my documents, well that is something I was taught to do a long time ago. Coming here to study is something I chose to do and yes I do enjoy the work I am doing.

This week I am deviating from the required topic. There are a number of reasons for my decision. For the most part I found a different topic this week that intrigued me more than joining an organization or club.As everyone in the country and world knows our country held elections this week.  It was an historic moment for this country.  We elected a black man to the office of President of the United States, something I think should have been done a long time ago. I especially like it when one of the commentators on election night held up a chart of all the past American presidents, a chart many of us have seen in elementary classrooms and commented that it will no longer be a chart of only white men.  

However, there were other historic contributions occurring this year in this election and this is what caught my attention.  The following excerpts from an article titled "Essay: Obama's transcendence is beyond race" written by Ron Fournier, an Associated Press writer stated: "Consider this: There were just a few hundred Web sites when Clinton took office and virtually no blogs when Bush entered the White House in January 2001....Obama, of course, raised millions of dollars via the internet. He tried to announce his selection of Joe Biden as his running mate with a text message. One of his favorite platforms, YouTube, did not exist when Bush began his second term. ...When Obama needs help on Capitol Hill, the world's largest lobbying shop -- millions of supporters strong -- is a mass e-mail away. His campaign Web site, a virtual community, could evolve into the 21st century version of a political headquarters -- the place you go to help the party or ask it to help you."

Some of the technology that President-Elect Obama used in his campaign I have just started to use. Some I am still working on trying to figure out. I have heard so many women my age, who are not in the field of IT, say "It's my husband's computer" or "My kids know more than I do." If any of us, whether we are in school or not want to stay on top of world events and be a part of our society we all need to become comfortable with technology.  This also means that people of all ages need to begin to realize that we still have a population out there that is not comfortable with certain facets of the computer.  Yes, this campaign was a victory for technology use.  But it was also a wake-up call.  Who is being left out as we move into this new era of technology in politics?

This week we have been asked to write about someone "famous".  I actually have a problem with that word. Perhaps it's because I see the world a little differently than most, I believe a person can be famous to someone and never have their name published or placed on a marquee.  In fact, there are many people who are only famous for those few moments that we choose for them and then we move on to the next celebrity of the day.  My "famous" person was chosen because of her interests and her projects.  I have no idea if her name is even well-known in academic circles, however the projects she has worked on are of great interest to me and I would love to hear her speak at one of our lecture series some day.

While doing research for another project I stumbled across this person and became intrigued by the more I read.  Her name is Mary Flanagan. She is currently at Dartmouth College and according to an on-line article from the the Chronicle of Higher Education on Information Technology she is the first holder of the digital-humanities chair. However, that isn't what caught my attention, it was the research work she has done with computer games and middle school students.  Josie is a web-based game designed to encourage girls to explore math and promotes confidence in the math and sciences.  The other project she worked on with other collaborators was the Rapunsel Project designed to teach girls about computer programming.  I also find it interesting that she is working on infusing ethics and values into computer games, with the Values at Play project.  

My interests have always been in encouraging our young people to stay in school. Many times the courses students avoid in high school, such as math and science, divert them from a career in technology.  This isn't because they can't do the coursework, it's because they don't believe they can.