Well, let’s take this new blog for a test-drive, shall we?
If you’ve looked over the “About” page, then you probably know some of this, so sorry for the repetition, but otherwise, here’s a little explanation of the blog and myself.
The title of this blog, Projects half Done (PhD….get it???) is my take on PhD life. Everything. Is always. Half done. Then once those things are done-done, there’s MORE to do. It’s like they want to keep us here…working…FOREVER. Also…from my observations, that’s what having a job in academia is like as well. You’ve got class and your research and your meetings and your committees and your family and it goes on and on and on and…really isn’t that every job? Or life really? I mean who DOESN’T have some half done projects, right now, and this very second? Please raise your hand. I want to come smack you. You are clearly underachieving. Get off your hindquarters. Do more things. DO ALL THE THINGS. (Ok maybe not all, but at least get something going.) So my thought is that I have projects. I always will. So let’s chat about them.
This blog is a result of a class assignment that for once wasn’t busy-work. Shocking, right? I’ve been assigned to blog for class several times. And I do. And then approximately 16 weeks after starting the blog, I delete it. Or abandon it. And during those 16 weeks I typically loathe it. Often I curse at it. Why?? Because it’s no different than writing a paper. I’m assigned a topic, sometimes even a specific format or questions to answer, often mirroring the forum posts or paper I had to ALSO write that week…and then I have to spit out something coherent that no one other than my classmates will read (and usually because they are forced to as well). Did it make an impact on me? If you consider general weekly annoyance an impact, then yes. Do I remember anything I blogged about? In general, no. Did it help me learn the material any better? No. I don’t care how many research studies that you have saying it helps me learn, I can assure you that regurgitating the same thing I posted in the forum in a different format did not help me learn. I can’t tell you what I posted in the forum and I can’t tell you what I blogged. I. Didn’t. Care. It wasn’t RELEVANT to me.
But wait…slow down…if I HATE blogging for class so much, why am I sitting here, a day BEFORE I actually have to start blogging for class (supposedly we are going to blog IN class…whaaattt??) writing this post?
Because my professor made me care. She did. She wins. First day of class and she just won. I wave my white flag. She gave us some readings:
http://chronicle.com/article/How-Blogging-Helped-Me-Write/136893/
http://www.gardnercampbell.net/blog1/?p=620
And some videos to watch:
Seth Godin and Tom Peters on blogging
Ken Robinson: How to escape education’s death valley
And then she won. I get it. Apparently this whole blogging deal can ACTUALLY help me publish some things, write a dissertation, learn even more things, network with people who like what I like, AND NOT SUCK!!!
So this blog will be about what we are doing in class, but I’m also going to try and tie it in to what I LOVE and want to research, which is program planning and evaluation. I. Heart. Eval. So much. Like I’m dying a little that I can’t go to the AEA conference in October because of the rest of my October schedule being too insane.
Also, I have another blog that is about my hobbies and non-academic life. Feel free to wander over there as well.
As far as about me, I’m in the second year of my PhD in Agricultural and Extension Education (Ag Ed) at a major land grant institution. If you don’t know what a land grant is, then stay tuned because I’ll be posting a video on that shortly! I received my bachelors in Biology from a small university and then went on to get my masters in Ag Ed from the same institution that I am at now. After receiving my masters I then taught high school science (Biology and Earth Science) for 3 years. The state standardized tests made me want to do bad, bad, things to the department of education so I wandered back to academia where standardized testing is sometimes scoffed at. (These. Are. My. People.) I’m quite happy here. I think I shall stay.
My goal is to become a professor at one of three land grant institutions in my dream jar. I won’t name names, but if you happen to be from one of them and I know it, I will attempt to make you my new BFF.
Aside from the academics I also sometimes go outside and see sunshine and even other people! I am the proud mom of an anti-snuggly kitty cat and a super-snuggly slobbery bulldog mix. I enjoy endurance sports such as marathons and triathlons. I also knit and spin my own yarn. And then I do have a fiance who I neglect on a regular basis due to this whole PhD thing. Thankfully he gets it because he has his…so we make it work. I’m also passionate about food and agriculture. I believe we need safer, more sustainable food and that everyone, EVERYONE should know how to grow and cook at least 3 things. And last tidbit about myself: I’m an uber nerd. I love Dr. Who, Star Wars, Harry Potter and I’m fairly sure that the writers of Big Bang Theory get their quotes and humor from me. My fiance is Sheldon. I swear on my evaluation textbook. They are the same person.
Alright, enough blogging. I’ll go read now. (LOOK, Dr. AdvisorPerson, I WROTE SOMETHING THIS SEMESTER!!! Are you not shocked?!?! I WROTE instead of READING for once. Bahahahaha. I swear, I’m working on Chapter 2. I am. I PROMISE. Outline to you by Friday. Really. I mean it.)
Projects half Done 
Test comment. Testing.
Your blog is interesting for me because I can totally relate! I actually have about four different WordPress blogs (and more blogger blogs) that I have either abandoned or chosen to delete. This makes me wonder about writing in digital spaces versus writing on paper. How many of our students feel like blogging is labor-intensive? How many of our students feel like the essays they write, turn in on paper, then throw in the trash after we return them with a grade and feedback is equally as intensive? What I wonder about for myself and for the implications in my classroom is, what makes these things stick? The blog I am using now has been used for “academic” purposes mostly (although, I am still wrestling with what this means, I have felt pretty comfortable plodding along, but nothing routine – which is one of the things I hope to get from this class!), and it has been in existence for the longest of any of my blogs, I think it is because it is a fairly decent representation of my “academic identity.” I put things on my blog that I am thinking about, wondering about, and troubling through selfishly, but also in hopes of getting some feedback. That has worked pretty well for me so far, and enough so that I want to continue with it. For me, the key was identity. I wonder what the buy in could or would be for our students …
For me, I think the buy in is entirely selfish. I need to see how Assignment X directly benefits ME. A grade is one thing, but making me a better writer/researcher/educator is also of value to me. One class last semester was focused on carrying out a project, but it was one we could actually publish or present at a conference….so…hello things to add to my CV. Yes please. Making those connections are so important to graduate students. We’re so busy anyway that if one assignment can feed in to another and another and then translate in to something that will further our end goals…then I think we are more willing to work not just for the grade but for the actual assignment and end product. Selfish or not, it motivates me.
Agreed!