Graduation or Publication

A few weeks ago, I attended my graduation to complete my Ph.D. in Adult Learning and Leadership from Kansas State University. I know that it is supposed to be meaningful and impactful, and I appreciate all of the support from my friends, families, and colleagues, but the truth is, it wasn't for me that I sat there and then walked across the stage. It was for them. 

Personally, if you want to reward me for my hard work, you should give me a week off. Why? I don't know. I'm just not wired to be the direct center of attention. Walking across that stage, makes me a direct center of attention. Indirect? I'm fine with. Direct? Pass. 

What does this have to do with writing novels or publication? Let me tell you.

Research in Learning Technology

Last week I had another publishing win (see HERE). This time it came via a peer-reviewed journal. Last year, I submitted an article to a peer-reviewed journal out of the UK, Research in Learning Technology. 

In January or so, I got a letter that told me they had accepted it for publication. There has never been a moment where I felt more fulfilled in what I've been doing than in that moment. 

Another Publication

One of my goals that I've been very open about is that I want to publish more. The reason I focus on so many studies (see the last couple of posts) is that I want to develop those into published articles, specifically articles published by peer-reviewed journals. 

The other day, a UK peer-reviewed journal, Research in Learning Technology, published one of my articles (see HERE).

Research Studies

One unintended consequence… Which I didn't say in a negative way but in a positive way… Of my getting my PhD has been the number of research studies that I am now reading. I'm part I think this is because I now see the world in terms of research. I think that my mind has been trained PhD process to see the world in terms of research. Thankfully, I have a boss and an organization. I don't mind that I do this research. The truth is I now have research teams that are all working together to try to produce research within our industrial learning community.

This is as good a place as any to list them out for posterity. 

Research in Learning Technology Article

I published another article. This is a big deal if only because it is the first "peer-reviewed" journal article that I've ever published. Before getting my PhD I never had heard of peer-reviewed journals. Throughout my PhD journey, however, I have read thousands of peer-reviewed journal articles. Now I have one of my own. 

This is based on my work for my dissertation. I took a subset of that information and drafted this article for Research in Learning Technology. 

Event Horizon

I’m not sure there’s much more I can do. I feel like I’m past the event horizon. That my little spaceship is going into the black hole no matter what I might do. I sit here and worry at my presentation but nothing too brilliant comes out of that time, maybe a tweak or two, but nothing world-rocking.

My proposal is on Monday. I’ve taken Monday off from work completely. Did I need to? Not really, but I only wanted to worry about one thing, not a host of things. So, I’m off. 

Almost There

So, today is the day I get to delivery my written defense to my committee. This is the final step before the final step I guess you'd say. Took quite a bit to get here to tell you the truth. Not as much as before, but still quite a bit. 

What do I mean by that? Well, that first screen shot is of my saved drafts from last spring of my proposal. I worked on that sucker for what? Almost a year? Quite a few drafts.

My Final First Draft

It’s a confusing title, but I think it’s apropos. It’s my final draft but there could be more, depending on what my committee says. 

I’ve already written on my committee. Right now, my thoughts are on my defense. The draft of my defense. Last night, Friday, finally, I got the go-ahead to send my draft to my committee. This is a big deal. Monday, I will set down and write to all four committee members and send a copy of my draft. Also, I’ll send the draft to the two “visitors” who want to join in to see my defense. 

Stress and Dissertations

I’m in the midst of writing my defense. I may have written this before, so if I did, feel free to bypass. There are several different steps in finishing my doctoral degree. There’s the courses and classes of course. I needed what? 60 or 70 total credit hours to graduate? Of those only 12 or 15 are for writing the dissertation. So that leaves like 45 or 60 credit hours for classes. That was the first three years. Each semester and every summer I took between 6 and 9 credit hours just to complete that aspect of the degree. 

My program with KSU was a tad different than others. Mine had a “residency requirement.” I picked a program with this quite purposefully. I didn’t want a 100% online experience. I wanted to have to go to an actual class and meet actual people and professors. Well, I got that. Every summer I’ve had to take a trip up to Kansas and sit with a class and do homework, live out of a suitcase, and meet and hang with my classmates. Well, worth the experience. Far better than just online courses. 

My Committee

I sent this comic to Andrew today. It tends to wrap up a lot about what we have both been talking about regarding our dissertation processes. The committee is what makes the writing of the dissertation so tough. 

Lately, Andrew has been telling me about his own struggles with his major professor. Everything he tells me is what I felt last year about my own!

I Keep Saying Last Class - This Time I Mean It

I keep saying this is my last class . . . or this is my last big hurdle, . . . or this is the last thing I have to do for my PhD. But this all comes with qualifiers. What do I mean? Why am I bringing this up? 

Today, I turned in my last paper/assignment for my last class toward my PhD. It's a big deal to me. The paper was a submission to an academic journal. Basically, I took parts of my dissertation proposal, the one on VR and emotion, and pared it down quite a bit. I submitted it to the journal and sent proof of the submission and a copy of the proposed article to my professor. I would post it here too, on this blog, but I can't. If it gets accepted to be published, it can't be published anywhere else previously. 

Professors Abound

 I accepted an offer to discuss training in process safety management (PSM) a few weeks ago. Little did I know that it was a far more important and worthwhile presentation than I initially thought it might be.

After doing a bit of investigating I found out that I was presenting to a new committee/association. This group was dedicated to process safety training in academia. I looked at the invitees and suddenly I saw about 50 professors, assistant professors, and lecturers at many prestigious schools; LSU, Texas A&M, Northwestern, Carnegie Mellon, Michigan, UVA, and on and on and on.

Last Class Topics

I am currently enrolled in my LAST class toward my PhD in Adult Learning and Leadership. My research has been approved. We are currently collecting data. I am ready to analyze and discuss and conclude. But . . . I still have to go through with this one last class. 

We have to pick a topic to write on, and produce a publishable journal article by the end of the class. 

What are my topics?

Setting or Sitting Apart

 I wrote a while back about the fact that there are several degrees of separation between where I am and where I used to be (see what I did there . . . degrees? . . . Masters? PhD?)

I wrote about how friends and relationships change based on those changes. I now have PhD friends. I get along better with people who are at the same level. I'm not saying I am automatically going to get along with someone cause they have a PhD, but I did say that people need to change and grow together. Marriages, friendships, etc etc need to flux and change based on those changes.

Journals

 Step one in publishing a journal article, is to select the topic and select the journal(s). Ergo, . . . topic selected below, and some journals I'm targeting.

Topic - VR and Emotion in Industry Training

Comps Potential Outcomes

My brother asked me the other day about the comps I just took. He asked, was there a chance you could fail? What happens if you fail? What's it mean that you passed?

So to help my brother with this . . . let's discuss it just a bit. 

Research Presentation and Proposal

KSU has an interesting way of performing qualifying exams. My major professor actually apologized for it. They combine the exam with a proposal meeting. This makes it longer, but it does help provide structure? 

How? 

Candidate Now

I’m a PhD Candidate now. No longer just a student. I have to say . . . That was super hard. Like Super Hard. SUPER HARD! How’s it rank? Let’s see . . .

Pre-Ranger and Ranger School

Ranger School was hard because of hell week, no sleep, minimal food, all work.

Remember that Stress I Mentioned . . .

I'm just thirty minutes out from my comps/quals and I am stressing. I'm a ball of stress. I barely slept last night . . . part of that had to do with a 16-year-old son coming in super late and leaving super early . . . but the large majority of it is this meeting in a couple of minutes. 

I slept maybe 4 hours. Eventually, I got up to read my novel for a bit, and made some coffee . . . found the coffee to be too weak so I added some cocoa . . . didn't like the taste so I added a huge dose of rum.

And Even More Stress

The other day I wrote about all that is going on with the ole PhD. Came to the end of several classes, got a bad grade on a paper, all the travel, etc. Well, that stress was nothing compared to today. 

In two days I have my quals . . .or my comps. Mine is linked to a proposal. Guess who has been rehearsing that proposal over and over again? Yep . . .This guy!