The PhD Chronicles: Click...

Something definitely clicked this summer while working on a set of papers for my course in globalization in higher education.  The course was a very powerful and thought-provoking course that had my mind running in a million different directions. As the discussions continued to make me think critically about what higher education is and it's roles throughout the world, it led me to reconsider my work on open educational resources.  
Word Cloud of Blog Post on HigherEd

In the course, we were tasked with two papers:  a reflection paper and a term paper.  Though that is what I set out to do, it's not exactly what I ended up doing.  When it was all said and done, I had a paper discussing the potential global value of using open education as a means of reinventing higher education's mission to be a public good and a paper discussing that the open education movement is or at least can be understood in some ways as a part of a coercive practice of neoliberal capitalism.  It was a fun time to say the least.

Ok, some of you probably doubt that last statement, but it is true in part.  The professor, in his infinite kindness and patience, gave me the (unpressured) time to really sit with the ideas and flesh them out well after the course was over.  In having time to sit with, further research, and reflect about what we learned in the course and my various thoughts on open education, things began to click into place and I found myself in both papers making more complex arguments that I had previously not considered or was just able to better articulate.  All of which is to say that things really clicked.  I've enjoyed different work that I've done throughout the program but I feel like this is one of the first pieces of work that was authentically "mine" or an alignment of evidence in a unique and compelling way.  I'm glad to have experienced this and hope that I will continue to have these moments as I continue my journey.  


Want to keep up with my PhD adventures?  Check out any of the links below:

  1. Acceptance...and acceptance
  2. Orientation
  3. Day 1
  4. Week 1
  5. First 2 Courses Completed
  6. First 2 Courses Finished
  7. Semester 2, Here We Go
  8. The Existential Crisis of the Week
  9. The Balancing Act
  10. Negotiating Privilege in Higher Education
  11. Zeroing in on Research
  12. Completing the Second Semester
  13. My Educational Autobiography
  14. So Starts the Third Semester
  15. My Educational Philosophy...for now
  16. PhD'ese
  17. And Sometimes, You Feel It
  18. Semester's Endgame
  19. Year 1, Officially Done
  20. Year 2, Week 1, Day 1
  21. Year 2, Week 1 Done! 
  22. 1/3 Complete!?!?
  23. Click...
  24. Day 1; Semester 5
  25. Share and Share Alike
  26. Mindful and Mind-Filled
  27. 5th Semester Down
  28. Day 1, Semester 9
  29. The Two Demons of My Doctorate
  30. When Senioritis Kicks In
  31. The Final Friday
Sub-series specifically about the dissertation:
  1. Dissertation Journal #1
  2. Dissertation Journal #2
  3. Dissertation Journal #3
  4. Dissertation Journal #4
  5. Dissertation Journal #5
  6. Dissertation Journal #6
  7. Dissertation Journal: QP Revised Edition


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