Monday of Intensive Week

I enjoyed a thought provoking morning at Liberty University today. Armed with a new coffee cup filled to the brim and sporting the Liberty University logo, I forged ahead into the world of technology and education. The class was a lot smaller than I expected, but filled with great people who made the day enjoyable. Although I was met with a mountain of information I came away with several new tools that will make my life easier. I have used Easybib since I started working toward my degree, but after experiencing Endnote I am changing my procedures for the future. Although I have not had a great deal of time to explore all of the features Endnote offers, I can see the benefit it offers for organizing resource materials.

The dissertation meeting reaffirmed my thought about a quantitative dissertation. I definitely belong in the qualitative camp. It was good to review the dissertation process and gain a clearer understanding of the road that lies ahead.

A huge highlight of the day was running into Dr Ellen Black who insisted that we get together to visit later in the week. She taught my first intensive at Liberty last summer and we have communicated off and on since then so it was a great joy to see her face to face again. This was particularly exciting for me since her name was one of the professors listed for me in looking for a chair for my committee. Even though I know she probably cannot take on another student I am excited to discuss my topic with her and get her ideas.

I really came away from the day feeling more confident in the process for selecting the dissertation committee. As far as technology the key thought in reflecting upon all of the information that I received is that the IPad was introduced in 2010. This fact is bewildering to me since I can barely remember life without an IPhone or an IPad.

As intense as the amount of information and work can be in a one week class, I still can’t help but feel as though I am attending a revival meeting of sorts. I walked into a room without any idea of what to expect and came away feeling confident in the road ahead not only for the coming week, but for the rest of the doctoral journey. It was refreshing to see that even a technology professor has trouble with a computer that decided to update during a lecture. This has happened to me so many times and I thought it was because my technological ability was lacking. I see now that there is hope for all of us and I feel energized and ready to face technology in my own classroom in Texas.