Self-Assessment

I think I have had a successful first year in Learning, Design, and Technology program at UGA. After a long time, I mean after teaching for nine years, having a different role as a student in a learning environment has made me feel great. Thanks to the courses I took and guidance from my professors during my first year at UGA, I had a chance to analyze my abilities, research interests, and my professional goals at the age of 30!

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I completed my MA program in June, 2016 and started my doctoral studies in August, 2016. It is a continuous, evolving journey for me. The fall semester was my adaptation period. I took four courses. In EDIT 8190, I really enjoyed designing my innovation artifact and learning LiveCode. Diving deep into learning theories in EDIT 9990 has helped me to situate my research in LDT properly. In the beginning of the year, I was more interested in literacy instruction through technology use and in-service teacher education. In time, my ideas have changed because I started to be involved in different activities. For instance, I observed Mrs. Thomas’ EDIT 2000 classes and volunteered in CCSD 21st Century After-School Program. In the beginning, I was in Literacy Support Club, but then I had to change my club and switch to STEM Club. I had so much fun with 6th graders while building their future cities. Being involved in more STEM-focused environments has impacted the route I had followed till then in my research. Now, I am more interested in STEM rather than literacy education. Also, I have decided to focus on pre-service teacher education more.

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With these changes in my research interests, I needed to change my major advisor, too. In the fall, I worked with Dr. Knapp. She was so supportive. Thanks to her, I submitted proposals for two conferences and then, I presented my MA thesis study at those conferences (ITT and CHEP). In the first week of the spring semester, Dr. Kim became my major advisor. Now, I am one of the members of her RoboSTEM team. I have been helping other team members to collect data since January. It has been a great research experience for me. In addition, I am taking QUAL 8400 course that provides me with the foundations of qualitative research this semester. I am also in the EDIT 9630 Literature Review class that Dr. Kim is offering, and we are working on a conceptual framework paper that offers guidelines about how to scaffold pre-service teachers’ critical reflection. I have a chance to put those design guidelines into practice in EDIT 8290 Design-Based Research course throughout which I have been trying to refine my design prototype. In the spring semester, I also presented a poster at Integrative Research & Ideas Symposium (IRIS), and submitted a proposal for AECT 2017.

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I am planning to finish the program in four years. In the next three years, I hope I will be able to improve my understanding of research design and design-based research, and gain in-depth knowledge about pre-service teacher education through my cognate courses. Dr. Kim and I have decided on my cognate areas. I will take my cognate courses that align with my research interests from WFED, EADU, and ETAP programs. Moreover, although I have had quantitative data analysis experience using SPSS before, qualitative research and data analysis are new fields for me. I also envision that my dissertation study will be a mixed-methods one. Thus, I need to improve my skills in qualitative research, and I am planning to take the Certificate in Interdisciplinary Qualitative Studies. Moreover, I would like to improve myself in coding. If any LDT course about coding and programming languages is offered, I will definitely take that course.

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I look forward to studying in this program three more years. I think the courses that I am planning to take and support from my advisor and other faculty members would enable me to realize my dreams and to become a prolific researcher and professor in the future.