Comps or Quals

I’m in the midst of comps. What’s a comp? Well . . . it's a Qual. What's a Qual? A comp (or a qual), according to my good friend Andrew who is an associate professor at Southern Connecticut State University, stands for comprehensive exams (or qualifying exam depending on where you go). It’s one of the final pieces of the PhD puzzle, and now that I’m living it, I have to say it’s among the most stressful pieces. 

Sure, I’ve finished my classes, but that just means part one of the PhD process is over. Part two is writing and completing my research dissertation. 

Maybe I Didn't Survive

A few weeks back I discussed how hard the last few months have been . . . school . . . work . . . more school . . . more work. Well, I wrote that I was surprised I survived. Now I'm not so sure I did. I got back my major paper . . . a final manuscript for Advanced Qualitative Data Analysis and it's the worst grade I've gotten in the PhD program! Worst by far. I got an 83! Another post I wrote a few weeks back was about how I assumed everyone was getting A's in the program. Now I see that's not so! I guess there are two things I should be happy about. 

First, I should be happy that I didn't get a 20 out of 30 like it looks like several folks did. That would be 67! The average on the grades for that paper was a 26.5 and it's going down further each day that I check. So I guess I should be happy with my 83. Dr. P might be a tougher grader than she let on.

Training as a Serial

I really liked this article . . . see HERE or HERE. It's about some Microsoft training. It's built around the idea that training doesn't have to be boring. 

This training is for Microsoft employees, and it's built around the idea that training can be provided in the form of a thriller television series. 

PO Fit Long Article

Person-Environment (PE) fit theory, although relatively new has become more well-developed and mature since its inception in 1974 (Caplan 1987). PE fit theory or the idea that finding a "values congruence" between an employee and the organization they work in has been studied for decades to determine to what degree PE fit or other subsidiary concepts and theories can help lessen negative consequences such as high turnover, and worker burnout. Then there are the positive aspects for organizations that might use PE fit and other fit theories. These can include greater employee career prospects, increased worker engagement, and greater job satisfaction. 

In 2022, a non-profit, contractor training organization in the Gulf Coast region of the United States supporting workers in the energy industry performed a qualitative study on employees’ experiences of being hired and how fit theory may have been applied by their hiring organizations. This study was performed to determine: (a) challenges faced by new employees who support the energy industry, (b) how these new employees deal with those challenges over their first three months or work, and (c) how the concepts of "fit" theory apply to these employees, the contracting organizations, and these challenges. 

A Great Line About Fantasies

Every now and then I run across a line that resonates. I put them all in my Great Lines group  . . . see HERE. Or if you'd like to see the other "great lines" you can click the label on the right of the navigation bar. 

This one hit me. I don't know why, but it did. Maybe I've come close to fulfilling my fantasies and realized it wasn't what I thought. Maybe it's the context, where he realizes that the girl he used to fantasize about really isn't what he wanted or needed in life. Maybe it's all of that. 

How Did I Survive March?

I turned in my final paper today. You see,  . . . Before a PhD student is allowed to propose their research, they have to finish all of the coursework. 60-something hours? I took 21 classes, 3 hours per class and a couple of hours for dissertation writing? So, maybe closer to 70 hours over the past three years. 

Now that I’m done with my coursework, I’m allowed to submit my proposal. My proposal is really the first 3 chapters of my dissertation. 56K words of boring and bland academic writing about VR and adult learning. It explains the research I want to do. In my case, I outline a quantitative experiment comparing VR courses to determine how to optimize the use of VR for the learning community I support. Once the proposal is approved by my committee, which is not a sure thing, and I won’t know for a few more weeks, then I can perform my experiment, write up the results as 2 more chapters, then defend my work and then I’ll be done. Hopefully sometime in December. If not then January or February at the latest.

Change: Good or Bad

I was chatting to an old friend about the changes that we have gone through. They were despondent that we were as close as we used to be. Truth is, so was I, but I mentioned that we weren’t the same folks anymore. They talked about how they wish we were. 

The problem is that there’s no way to be the friends we used to be. Since we were friends we’ve both moved jobs, we’ve both got new groups of friends, we both have gotten older and our kiddos have moved on in different ways. Hell since we were closer friends I’ve gotten a PhD! That’s a lot of time. 

Mistakes Make Us Better

I've discussed this before, I'm sure. I am a safety net person. I don't like to make mistakes. Do I? Sure. And hopefully, I learn from them. But I don't like being in a position where I can make a mistake. 

I remember reading an article by Steve Jobs wherein he mentioned he learned more from his failure of the LISA computer than he ever learned from his successes (I KNOW I've mentioned that before). I think about my biggest failures or mistakes and I wonder what I have learned from them. 

Del's and PhD's

I have to admit, for a long time, I thought we were all getting A's. I thought that if you were in a PhD program and you were putting in the effort, you were getting straight A's. Plus, there is this new nonsense about not grading in schools (see the article HERE). I understand the opportunity to not "punish" students but rather allow for psychological safety and grade students on their own efforts and their own growth. But, I'm also a fan of standards meeting standards to pass (see any post I've written on the Rangers!)

I got my MBA from Univeristy of Phoenix back in 2002 or 03. When I signed up they were investing heavily in recruiting out of the military. I guess their message worked for me. I went in, signed up for my GI Bill benefits, and thought I was going to take all my classes online. HA! Little did I know that they had a campus in Houston and all of my classes were at the campus!

Go Look at my LinkedIn . . . I Dare Ya!

One thing that really gets me heated up is people who are loose with their facts. My LinkedIn profile states “PhD Student”. . . . Not “Candidate” (that doesn’t come till after my proposal is accepted), and not “PhD” . . .certainly not. Not until I’ve defended. Why? Cause I’m not loose with my facts. 

Why am I bringing this up?