Initial+Questions

What do we want to study about our program???

Dr. Webb's Suggestions:

 * Role overload: balancing the demands of full-time work, family life and graduate study.
 * Changing identities: the processes, promise, pleasures and problems associated with becoming an on-line graduate student.
 * The faceless community: students experience of on-line cohorts and classes.

Katrina:

 * I think the time/family/class management issue is pretty big!
 * A year into the program, how has being an online doc student affected your life?
 * Have your future career plans changed as a result of this program? How and Why?

Mark:

 * Along with Kristin, I would be interested in knowing people's systems and schedules for doing all of their work in classes
 * I would be interested in how students have been able to apply what they do in this program. For me, I learn all of these great new and wonderful techniques and programs and then work in a school district and school which are very restrictive to new technologies
 * I would be interested in knowing what people want to do with their degrees, what job do they see themselves in 5 years from now.
 * I would ask students what outside resources, books, journals, etc... that they have found most beneficial
 * I would ask what areas of educational technology, and theories, students feel least comfortable with and what they will be focusing on for the next year.

Kristin:

 * How do students manage their multiple roles: employee, student, spouse, parent, etc?
 * What are some of the difficulties and benefits of participating in a program with participants from many different disciplines and types of //educational institutions//? (teachers, administrators (do we have any?), librarians, corporate professionals; K-12, college; private & public realms)

Tracey:
I was initially drawn to Dr. Webb's question "What benefits and difficulties are associated with on-line instruction?" This is sufficiently broad enough to fully develop and can also be quite flexible. For example, one of the things I wonder about is how effective a program can be when the "experts" (faculty) have little-to-no knowledge of our actual areas of concentration? Is this how education programs are in general? If so, perhaps this isn't endemic to online instruction but I wonder if, since virtual studies are so new, there isn't sufficient specialization of faculty which could be perceived of as a negative with regard to online instruction. There are a great deal of positives that can be fleshed out as well.

Mark raises two separate points that I think could tie in together nicely:


 * //I would be interested in how students have been able to apply what they do in this program. For me, I learn all of these great new and wonderful techniques and programs and then work in a school district and school which are very restrictive to new technologies//
 * //I would be interested in knowing what people want to do with their degrees, what job do they see themselves in 5 years from now.//

Though speculative, I think these topics could produce some interesting results due to the emerging nature of our program. Many of the jobs and applications cannot be known because they don't yet exist. I think we have the ability to significantly change the face of learning with the research we conduct while in this program. A dialog regarding possibilities could get much accomplished toward that end. I like these forward-thinking type of topics. Katrina's question is along the same lines:


 * Have your future career plans changed as a result of this program? How and Why?

Charles:

 * Can you describe your experience from the first weekend up until this point of time in the Edd program with communicating in an online community?
 * Could you describe your daily experience communicating with others in your program?
 * Can you give me an example of a positive/negative experience that you have had in an online community?
 * Can you tell me some more about your experience working/communicating in an online setting?