Resolutions Again

Last year, as part of my New Year's Resolution, I adopted a minimalist approach. I thought I would try and have one highly attainable and achievable resolution. I think I did "well." Not "great" by any means . . . but "well."

Last year's resolution was to use the Roomba more consistently. 

First, I fixed it up. I bought some new sweepers and flippers and replaced them. I bought a new filter and replaced it as well. I have a bunch of leftovers, so I can continue to keep it up.

Blogging Becomes Life

I was on a call today, and I actually used my own blog as a reference point. The call was supposed to help align the work that Marketing does with the work my own department, the Research Department, does. I believe that Marketing is tired of going back and forth with my edits, which I can certainly understand. 

I think, too, that the Marketing personnel I lead are a bit less "robust" than I am. Meaning, I think they may jump at their own shadow quite a bit. This question about the CEO review makes me think this. JA wanted to run our edits by the CEO before moving forward. I don't know about you, but if I were CEO, I'd have bigger things to worry about than verifying that someone has accurately translated my notes and edits. 

Autoethnograpy, Question 4

In what ways did the study group function as a community of practice rather than simply a study aid?

So just to double check I looked up the definition of Community of Practice, and what I found was that a "Community of Practice (CoP) is a group of people who share a passion or concern for something they do, interacting regularly to learn and improve their skills, share best practices, and build a collective repertoire of experiences, tools, and solutions to become better practitioners in that domain (Communities of Practice, 2020)" . . .  and. . . . "Communities of practice are formed by people who engage in a process of collective learning in a shared domain of human endeavor: a tribe learning to survive, a band of artists seeking new forms of expression, a group of engineers working on similar problems, a clique of pupils defining their identity in the school, a network of surgeons exploring novel techniques, a gathering of first-time managers helping each other cope" (Wenger-Trayner & Wenger-Trayner; 2015).

In almost every way, our study group functioned as a community of practice. When I think of our group meetings, I recall that a significant aspect was venting and support from the other members. However, a large part of the first few years' meetings was spent by me getting up to speed on many aspects of the program. It was great to have Andrew and Will in the group because they seemed to have such a strong handle on academic red tape and processes. Usually, they could help me navigate the processes within Canvas and our overall program progress. Additionally, I think they were able to help me with the challenges that came with understanding and making the content we covered more accessible.

Autoethnography, Question 3

Describe how you initially joined the doctoral support group, what motivated you to join, and why you stayed involved.

I think I hit many of these points in earlier posts, but I don't know if I discussed motivation enough. 

I was not necessarily "motivated" to join the group. I think I went into it grudgingly. I am not a "group" person. Never have been. In general, if there is a team sport or a solo sport, I'll pick the solo every time. So, really, it's a surprise that I joined the group and stayed with it. 

Last 5% or Last Mile Drag

I don't know why it irks me so much, but I hate it when people refuse to make a decision. Here's what's brought this to mind this time. 

We have a report that I want to finish up. I had intended to release this report in July or August, but it has taken my boss quite a while to provide her edits. It took, in fact, several months for her to get those edits to me. They were fairly extensive too, so it took me a bit to integrate them all. 

Autoethnography, Question 2

Again, I'm taking part in an autoethnography , so I'm answering questions about our study group. Here is the next question:

How would you describe your level of participation over time? (e.g., occasional, regular, core member, shifted over time)

I think we met quite regularly at the beginning of our coursework. But then these meetings were very mission-driven, almost tactical. I remember we discussed specific homework assignments. We discussed upcoming classes and the progression of the classes. We would discuss the challenging aspects of the homework and even those related to APA. I had very little integration with APA, so it was great to have an academic professional in the group whom we could turn to for APA guidance. 

Control Freaks

I like to do things myself. Ask anyone who has gone camping with me. My wife loves talking about how I'll ask her to do something, and in just seconds, I will take over for whoever I've asked to do it, and do it myself. "Honey, will you go make a fire?"  . . . "Never mind, I'll do it." or "Sweety, will you get the campstove out of the car?" just seconds later, "I've got it."

I don't know what it is. Maybe it's a control thing. Maybe I don't trust others to do the job that I think I can do better. Maybe I just enjoy trying things and doing things by myself. I do enjoy trying things. Maybe I just like things do my way, and if I don't trust you to do it my way, then I'll do it myself. Again, control and trust. 

Onboarding Training Fiasco

Today, for some reason, I was reminded of a project at my old organization. That organization specializes in developing and delivering training courses, especially onboarding courses for other companies. We noticed at some point that although we provided that for others, we had never provided one for our own workers. Or if we had, and some departments had, it was ad hoc. 

Ergo, I was tasked to develop an onboarding for our own organization.

Here were the capabilities and expectations I had. 

Autoethography, Question 1

I'm taking part in an auto-ethnography study about our PhD study group. So as I answer these questions about it, I'm going to go ahead and post the reflections here . . . enjoy!

Question 1: At what point in the doctoral program did you first begin participating in the study group?

Andrew and I met in late spring or early summer of 2020. I think we had a third, Aaron? I remember thinking that it was nice to connect with someone outside of class. Immediately, it was nice to talk about the experience with someone else who was involved, to hear their perspectives, and to hear that my impressions weren't unique. 

Waiting on Orders

 I'm reading a book about D-Day by Stephen Ambrose. I've read a lot of books by Ambrose over the years. I gave up on him due to the "plagiarism" scandal at the end of his life. I wasn't a fan of that. And I'm still not. BUT, I've been stunned (as my readers well know) by the magnitude of plagiarism taking hold in academic circles, see for instance Harvard's president, et al. I wonder if there is a study there somewhere. Regardless, Ambrose is a greater writer. More on that later. 

What I find interesting is his description of the landing at Omaha Beach. The first invasion he discusses is Utah, and for the most part that sounds rather staid. But boy, Omaha was a goat fuck. 

Land Acknowledgements and The Clovis People

As I said, Andrew has a land acknowledgment in his syllabus. Specifically, it says: Land Acknowledgement: As the first land-grant institution established under the 1862 Morrill Act, we acknowledge that the state of Kansas is historically home to many Native nations, including Kaw, Osage, and Pawnee, among others. Furthermore, Kansas is the current home to four federally recognized Native nations: The Prairie Band Potawatomi, the Kickapoo Tribe of Kansas, the Iowa Tribe of Kansas and Nebraska, and Sac and Fox Nation of Missouri in Kansas and Nebraska. Many Native nations utilized the western plains of Kansas as their hunting grounds, and others—such as the Delaware—were moved through this region during Indian removal efforts to make way for White settlers. It’s important to acknowledge this, since the land that serves as the foundation for this institution was, and still is, stolen land. We remember these truths because K-State’s status as a land-grant institution is a story that exists within ongoing settler-colonialism and rests on the dispossession of Indigenous people and nations from their lands. These truths are often invisible to many. The recognition that K-State’s history begins and continues through Indigenous contexts is essential.

Syllabii

I've finished my syllabus for my class. I think this is important because the syllabus is the first moment that the professor gets to put his stamp on the class. I was using a syllabus that came from Dr. B through Dr. C. I didn't care for it. 

Step 1, . . . styles. No one uses Word styles correctly. Usually, that's the first thing I do. So the first stamp of Dr. Hannah that the students see will be Calibri. Then they'll see my nicely formatted tables. 

Memes

I'm teaching a class in the spring for KSU and it's on "Research Design." I think the actual name is "Seminar in Adult Education Research." But I like the more colloquial, Research Design. 

I have posted this image because one of the first assignments I have is a discussion of Chapter 1, but the students have to include a meme about research design, then discuss why they chose that meme. 

Some may say that that seems a bit juvenile for a "graduate-level" class filled with Master's students in Adult Education and those seeking their PhDs. BUT, the professor in my last class started with this little ice breaker, hers was synchronous rather than asynchronous, but still it was just a tad meaningful, so I think I'll try it too. 

Continuing Saga

One thing I notice . . . continuing yesterday's discussion about my "friend" LB, is that I'm not sure if she even knows if she wants to be a fan or friend. Why? Well, cause every now and then I notice that she deactivates, and in one case blocked my account, from a fake account she set up. 

I think about this often. the way I see it, one,  . . . she’s checking whether I noticed. I think her blocking and deactivating is her way of wondering: “Is he watching back?” . . . “Does he care?” . . . “Is he aware I’m here?” . . . . It's like she can’t decide whether to re-engage or fully detach.

Fan or Friend

I had a friend, a close friend for many years. We've all seen those movies or read those books where a "soulmate" style friendship is described. This is what we had and it was everything that the books and movies make it out to be. Actually, it was quite a bit more. 

Regardless, it fell apart. When I look back at our friendship, I realize that it lasted well beyond the expiration date. What does that mean? It means when I review the timeline of our friendship, I realize now that it would have been better had we stopped being friends about ten years before the end of our friendship. There was nothing positive or worthwhile that emerged from the final ten years. It would have been better had we stopped years and years before. 

Outlier

I had to travel to Michigan this past weekend. I don't care for Michigan personally. I've been here enough times to know this is not a place I'd like to live. This weekend was the worst trip here I've had . . . why?  . . . snow, super cold, and for a funeral. 

I only met Anne a couple of times. The first time was in Key West for a wedding. That was a great time. My wife and Anne were both bridesmaids for Anne's sister. I got to hang out with Anne's husband, the groom, all of the groomsmen. It was a memorable and terrific time. Still, I interacted with Anne, only once or twice the whole weekend. 

Hypocrisy Again

Maybe it's because it's on my mind, but I struggle with all of the hypocrisy. Not just the challenges I see in my day-to-day life, as I discussed yesterday, but also in the news in general. 

I read an editorial today that discussed the WaPo story about the "double tap" incident that is currently in the news. These two images that I posted, other than the land vs water aspect . . . what are the differences?

Unreal Hypocrisy

My (former) colleague J told me she had a talk with my old boss a few weeks after I resigned. She asked him, "How do you think he'll like the new place?"

What did he say?

He said, "I think he'll find there's a lot of nepotism."

She told me about it. At the time he said it, I thought it was absurd. The place I was leaving had a significant amount of nepotism and familial hiring. It also worried me because one of the things I wanted to leave behind by going to the new organization I was moving to was the back-scratching, the politics, the nepotism, and the favoritism. The good news . . . I've been at my new company for a year. Not even a hint of nepotism or favoritism. There's one daughter-in-law of a senior manager who works in a department, and one husband-and-wife team who are both lower-level employees. But nothing beyond that. 

Shifting the Conversation

I just had another article published (HERE). Woo-Hoo! Sadly, this might be the least impressive of the bunch.  

The Board of Certified Safety Professionals (BCSP), an organization of which I am a member since I earned my Associate Safety Professional (ASP) certification, has published my article on translanguaging. 

Graphical Abstract

There aren't a lot of time I like to toot my own horn, but this will be one.  A primary reason that I was so excited to get this last article published in Engaged Managment ReView was that I was able to include the graphical abstract which I've pasted below. 

I had to make this graphical abstract as a part of the publication process and submission for the second journal I tried. I thought it was great. I've never heard of a "graphical abstract" but it makes sense right? It's a bit of an info-graphic. Packs alot of information into a very small space.

Connections Over Capability

 So, someone at my old company was just promoted to VP of Operations. Sounds great, right? Well, it sounds great until you realize that this person has no operations experience. Not just no operations experience with that specific company, but no operations experience at all. 

Sadly, this is true to form for that organization. Since I left:

ChatGPT or Insanity

One of the reasons I was eager to set up this blog is that I ran into a paper the other day and it absolutely left me dumbfounded. . . or in a more Archie McNally turn of phrase, . . . found me dumb.

The assignment is to peer review one of our classmates' papers. The paper happens to be on our personal philosophy of inquiry as it pertains to qualitative research, and specifically, qualitative research frameworks. Already, as you can tell, this is fairly heady stuff. These are not easy-to-read papers. BUT, when I read this classmate's paper, . . speechless. 

IRB-Less Pub

 I started my own IRB last summer. Why? Well, I was tired of latching on to different universities. Every time I used K-State's IRB, I had to rope in Dr. K. And every time I published, since he didn't do anything more than latch onto my IRB, I never included him as an author. It felt weird. 

Texas A&M's IRB process took months to complete. That was one good thing about K-State's. It usually takes less than a week. 

Recommitting to Daily

I'm going to start daily writing here again . . . Why? Well, for several reasons. 

1) I do better with daily activities in my life. I saw my son working on his sit-ups the other night, and I remembered that when I was his age, I had a daily goal of 100. Every night before I went to bed, I had to complete 100 sit-ups. It could be 3 sets of 30 with a kicker of 10 at the end. It could be all in one go. It could be 200 one night, then skip the next time. But, there had to be 100 a night. I think I did that all throughout high school. When I joined the Army, I maxed out the sit-up portion of the PT test. 

Not Sure This Counts

I'm not sure if this counts or not, but I'm posting this anyway. I found myself in BIC again (HERE).

This is an instance of un-earned media . . . or earned media, depending on who you ask. What's that you ask? Well, the definition would be: publicity or exposure gained without paid advertising or direct promotion by the company. It is media attention or coverage that a brand receives organically, through word of mouth, news coverage, customer reviews, social media shares, or viral content.

Safety Publication

In my scholarly writing class, our professor said that our goal should be to publish five peer-reviewed academic articles from the results of our dissertations. Our dissertations should be unique and distinct, but there should be enough data to parse the results in a way to develop four or five other articles. 

I published one that focuses on VR vs Non-VR training in Research in Learning Technologies (HERE). I just had a second published, this one was focused on qualitative interview responses from my dissertation participants (HERE). Well, today, I was able to get a third published (HERE).

Second One for this Series

We released the second in a our series of studies on Women in Construction (HERE). This one I wrote solo. It is VERY dry. It has a "just the facts, ma'am" appeal to it,  . . . quite intentionally. For each project, I intend to have an editorial article, a research report (like this one), and at least one white paper. 

This research report is a very basic statement of the facts of the survey. "It shows this, and it shows this, oh and also it shows this," on and on and on. It draws very few conclusions, in fact. I actually had to work to not make it more substantive. The more substantive conclusions will come with the white papers. 

WIC Research Report

I completed my first research report. Since taking this new position, I've been thrilled that someone is actually paying me just to write. In my position and role, my job is to produce research reports, white papers, academic journal articles, etc. Unlike my previous role, I'm not burdened by other managerial duties and innovation challenges. Just write, write, write. 

We produced our first research report, this one on Women in construction (HERE). I co-authored this one with a training group called Ambition Theory. 

Adult Learning Again

I know that book reviews aren't the best way to increase your publication list, but it's a way. And I intend to take full advantage of that way (and as many others as possible).

I still remember one of my professors talking about this route to publication. She was on the editorial board of Adult Learning and knew that they needed more book reviewers. It was just a few weeks later that I talked to my study buddy about how we might go about finding books that need to be reviewed. We didn't have any very good solutions. 

First Qualitative Publication

During the midst of my dissertation study, I took a moment to interview a few of the participants. We had almost 2000 participants in my study, but two days in August, I set up a table outside the VR stations and asked about 10 of them, individually, to sit with me for a few minutes and tell me about their experiences. 

Each interview took about 15 to 20 minutes, and it was random in that I didn't pre-screen or designate who I would talk to. I just took the first 10 or so who showed up. The results were very interesting. So interesting, in fact, that I decided to write them up for a qualitative article (HERE). 

Been a Bit

I know it’s been a while since I’ve posted here, but I meant for this forum to focus on publication. Truth? Although I’ve had several articles “accepted for publication” none of been “published” lately. 

Then I got the below picture from my study buddy. 

I had no idea this was going to be printed. What’s even funnier is that this edition of the magazine had been sitting in my study, waiting to be read for about a month. Had I opened it and read it I would have seen it before my study buddy!