Cross-fertilising…

There are some really nice synergies and cross-fertilisation between what’s taught in this unit and other unit I’m taking (MNG03011-Business Research Project). As part of my assignment for that other unit, I have to come up with ways to address my written skills (narrative, reflective writing sty;le) as well as self management skills! and the journal that I’m keeping as part of this unit’s assessment, has very much helped me to work on those two aspects quite nicely.

As part of that other unit’s recommended reading list, we were given these three books to read:

• Holly, M.L. (2002) Keeping a Professional Journal. Sydney: UNSW Press.
• English, L.M. & Gillen, M. A. (Eds.). (2001) Promoting Journal Writing in Adult Education. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass.
• Moon, J. (1999). Learning Journals: A Handbook for Academics, Students and Professional Development. London: Kogan Page.

I have borrowed all three from the library to have a look at what they have to offer. I must say my favourite was English and Gillen’s book titled “Promoting Journal Writing in Adult Education”. So much so, that I even bought my own copy. Much of what is touched upon in that book is relevant to this unit, so I’m keeping it close and refer to it often as part of this journal writing experience (thanks Kath!).

Preparing for Assignment 1…

Ok, so assignment 1 is due soon (in 4 days) and perhaps it’s time to put down some reflection on that process so far. To quote from the unit’s notes (so as to remind me of what this assignment is about):

“…This assessment will require you to be familiar with a range of strategies and software
applications that could be applied to your research. You will need to choose at least
four new strategies or ideas you haven’t used before, try them out and then evaluate
their usefulness to your research. You must choose at least one type of software
application and one organisational strategy (i.e. you must have a mixture of the two)…”.

Despite the fact that I’ve used and trialled all sorts of software and tool sand strategies out there, I have very rarely (if ever!) really sat down to think about it is that I like or dislike certain tools, and more importantly why. I wanted to make the theme for this assignment “EFFICIENCY” and so I picked software tools and strategies that I believed would help me improve on that. The next bit was to come up with the criteria for evaluation, which again centred on efficiency – so once I had that focus, it wasn’t that hard at all.

My choices for evaluation included: Master Documents in MS Word, MS OneNote, NVivo and EndNote integration, and the use of Covey’s Quadrant Matrix for prioritising tasks. Like I mentioned in an earlier post, OneNote is a software application that made a rather late debut in the planning process of this assignment, but one which I’m glad I tried again and included it as part of this assignment.

Overall, it has been a fairly straight forward process so far, once I got the criteria sorted out and methodically applied it to all my selected software and strategies for their evaluation. By the way, that criteria involves 4 attributes:

1. Quick learning process – was the learning process for this strategy relatively quick and easily accessible?
2. Ease in applicability – is the strategy or tool easily applied, or does it involve extra dedicated time, concentration and effort?
3. Overall perception of time saved – how did I perceive my time to have been spent learning and applying this strategy? Was it worth the time invested?
4. Transferability – how applicable is this strategy for a range of activities or situations?

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The next bit, perhaps the hardest bit of all, is writing it all down in a systematic manner!! …and being the visual kind of person I tend to be, I felt that a single figure or illustration that would present the finding succinctly would also be very useful.  I came up with the concept of a matrix, colour coded for best presentation. I have it drawn up and ready to insert into the Assignment document, once I get to that section of the assignment.

Really not long to go now, so best to get the writing done. Thinking bits are done, now to write it.

Literature searching…

When I first started my literature searches, I employed the ‘reconnaissance’ and ‘browsing’ techniques to get familiar with journals and terms of interest and relevance – mostly of electronic sources, using broad databases or search engines such as Google Scholar. For books, I tend to look for basic textbooks on library shelves and also explore the shelving area for other similar books. Once I’m past those first steps, I really only use citation indexing and have also subscribed to new issue content alerts from a range of journals which I’m aware of that have the sort of literature I’m after. I like the feature that many of these have, RSS feeds. One way to improve this strategy, is perhaps by revising the browsing and reconnaissance (i.e. do it again!) to see if I’ve missed anything since I narrowed down my search and browsing in selected sources….mindful of procrastination and going off on tangents!

I find that searching a citation index can be useful, because it allows one to follow a trail of thought/idea/argument. When at first I read a paper which I thought was brilliant on face value, and then subscribed to alerts of others citing this paper or via citation indexing, I often found that the initial impression I had of the paper would change – by reading other people’s opinions of it in their papers and publications and trying to understand differences in opinions and experiences and contexts. This has helped me to follow a method of critiquing literature better, because I can give an more balanced account on what has worked and what hasn’t worked and why.

Writing and editing…

When it comes to the word processor, there are features in it that are useful to me for improving my research writing task. For instance, for my PhD thesis to start taking shape, I’ve attended a recent workshop at my university on how to work with Master Documents – the course was very impressive, as I realised then that word processing in MS Word could involve more than just typing. So, I figured it would be useful for me to be able to bring together all sorts of docs and notes I have regarding different aspects of my research (each would go under different chapters). I’ve started by setting up the template with all the required styles etc, so now I just have to piece the thesis together – we’ll see how that works. Also, as Kath mentioned yesterday in the Elluminate Live session, I really should think about a contingency plan in case it all falls into pieces! (cross fingers won’t need to, but important to at least have another plan of action).

There are ways to make the writing process more enjoyable. Purely from a physical comfort point of view, and therefore hopefully assist in making the writing task itself more enjoyable, is to improve my typing efficiency and use more shortcut keys as opposed to the mouse all the time. I’ve printed out a little list of Control+Shift/Alt commands and clipped that to the side of my screen so I can easily refer to it as I type while I get used to ‘memorising’ these commands. Also, would like to download a typing training software (if it exists), and improve my typing so I can use all fingers more effectively and efficiently. The whole writing task would definitely more enjoyable if I can reduce physical tension and pain!

For editing, I like using ‘tracked-changes’ in MSWord, because it date stamps when the comment or changes were made and by whom. Once I’ve done a fair bit of editing and I’m fairly happy with the version (and/or I get sick of looking at the screen!!), then I print it out and have a read on paper with pen in hand to underline or make comments along the border if I need to. I do like the idea suggested on page 254 of the book, which talks about the one-page list of editorial decisions (rules for capitalisation, number formatting, use of hyphens, etc etc)…and sticking with it for the entire document as it is being written and edited – I think that would be a good method for me to create greater efficiency, as I’d be applying the rules first go as opposed having to go through the document post-writing stage and into the editing phase and finding several inconsistencies in the text.

Personal Management Strategies…

Here we are asked to reflect on Topic 2, titled “Personal Management Strategies”, starting with learning strategies with respect to computing skills.  In thinking about what learning strategies might I adopt in order to continue to expand my computer skills, I would have to say quite simply ‘Try it out!’ – that has always been my motto. I love exploring new software and seeing what it does, however the key for me would be to watch the time I spend trying things out! especially when it comes to personalising settings – the less choice and controls I have available the better for me in avoiding ‘procrastination’ – I’m being entirely honest with myself here, telling it like it really is.

So, what steps could I take to improve my computer proficiency? I mentioned in the unit’s discussion forum that I’d like to try and use macros more, not sure I’ve really tried that (never quite realised its value in automating tasks, really). Other proficiency issues in my computing would include better use of short cut keys “Ctr+…+…” etc, as well as my typing skills to learn to use all fingers rather than stressing the same few fingers all the time. I’ve had some experiences with repetitive stress injury (RSI) before, and I guess the best way to reduce the chances of tha returning is to become a little more ergonomic with my computing, just as important especially now that I enter the final stages of this research and writing (typing!) will become the daily norm.

The other aspect of personal management strategies, involves recognising one’s own organisational weaknesses – I  know very well what those are, but it is hard to admit them, especially so publicly which is what we do as a class for this unit. Quite confronting. One of my principal organisational weakness, above all others I feel, is the time I spend getting organised (i.e. labelling, shelving, filing, re-organising, etc etc etc). However having been made more ‘aware’ of this has allowed me to become more cognisant of that time spent … I’m really now learning and practising to just ‘let go’ once the task achieves effectiveness, rather than going beyond that with too much aesthetics. It’s hard, but becoming more aware of its importance in becoming more efficient (and reduce my stress levels!).

Another strategy, centres on time to complete tasks – I very much liked Covey’s four quadrant matrix for prioritising tasks (Figure 3.1, p.38 Ch.3 of the book). It would give me a better idea of what needs to be done first (and why), rather than just one log list. I have a small sized whiteboard by my desk, perhaps one way would be to draw the actual quadrant on it and use it to list things or stick Post-it notes (as I often do) in the relevant quadrants based on urgency and importance. I in fact used this strategy as a ‘case study’ for assignment 1, and I found it very useful to go have to think through and apply my assessment criteria to see just how well it works (or not!).

Finally, we were asked about mind mapping software and how it might be useful to me in my research – Frankly, I’m not sure. I have tried using mind mapping tools before, but I dislike the often ‘messy’ and unstructured look – it confuses me more than clarifying a concept, I find. Maybe I need to try again.

This unit’s book…

So today I’ll start using this unit’s discussion board, where we are meant to record our reflections on this course as we progress through the topics. The first of such questions on which to reflect on, asks: “In what ways do you think the book could be useful for you and your research?” …well, just by reading the first chapter, I immediately became aware of the difference between efficiency and effectiveness – something I had rarely, if ever, though about. I felt that my biggest problem is definitely efficiency in my research – whilst I’m often told of my relatively ‘good’ organisational skills and effective results, I probably spend way too much time trying to get organised and therefore seems more like procrastinating!!!! So, in what ways would this book be useful to me? in many ways, particularly in learning more about efficiency.

In many ways I wish I had this book at the very start of my candidature, and I guess should be made available and as essential recommended reading for new PhD students. Chapters 12 and 13 seems the most relevant right now and of immediate application for me, but really there are bits and pieces scattered throughout the book (like software recommendations) that I’m sure I’ll be using from the word “Go!”…PhD and beyond.

Journey into journaling…

Part of what we’re asked to do for this unit, is to record our learning experiences as a journal or diary – perhaps more suited to write in the first person narrative form….so hard to do! I find it extremely hard, especially when my thinking can sometimes be way faster than my typing. But nonetheless, there are some positives to this style of writing – I feel there is a sense of freedom in that I can be myself through my written expression – I find this quite liberating, not sure exactly how, but my best guess is because in using “I” I can really just express what is on my mind without trying to find justifications, because these thoughts just ‘are’. Writing in the third person is certainly quite different, in that one is somewhat external to what is being said and so the need for having some evidence for what is being written about – not sure, but this is just my first thoughts on why I feel so much more liberated in the first person – there cannot be any right or wrong, because it just ‘is’.