A new beginning... an exciting ending

It has been awhile since I reflected on here but yet I do have my reasons. I initially thought my summer would be relaxing. However, it turned out that I am more busy than ever. My quest of becoming a scholar has turned myself into a whirlwind of ideas that keep my mind so occupied I miss out on these vital reflective notes I wrote each night. IN fact, I know that writing on my blog is meditative for me, very relaxing, so I should be vigilant about it!
Anyway, during the summer, well let's say June/July, many things have happened. Here is the short version!

1. My thesis: writing writing writing! And when I was finished the writing and my advisor gave me the ok to send it out to my other committee members I felt totally excited. Wow, what an amazing experience it has been. I actually enjoyed the entire process even though there were many ups and down. I learned so much and will never forget my time at the University of Manitoba. My thesis titled: wikis and TGfU: a collaborative approach to understanding games education has brought me on a different path. Web 2.0 has been on my mind ever since and now, as I embark on my PhD, I somehow wish I could design a research plan to combine the wiki and PE once again, or if not, web 2.0... The problem is once again that I have too many ideas and interests so if anybody out there has any advice, feel free to twitter me. ok, twitter, a web 2.0. tool where you can let people know what you are doing at any point in time, kinda like instant messaging. My twitter name is helenabaert so find me and be my friend!

2. The big move! As I leave Manitoba, I decided to begin a PhD program at the University of Arkansas. So as I am about to write my thesis I had absolutely no time to think about moving. With conferences, thesis, traveling on my mind I decided a moving company would do it all. And so they did. I really did nothing except for pay too much money. But no stress! And that is great, as I had enough stress. So the moving company got my stuff around June 19th and brought it to Arkansas the second week of July. Meaning I was without any of my stuff for about a month. That was a different experience but I managed even if I had to sleep on the floor for a couple of days. I think the only big thing I was missing was my car. Not that I really needed it but it would have been handy. Now, going back for my thesis defense on July 24th, I picked up my car and drove 16 hours to Fayetteville. I did go two hours further to Little Rock, of course but I actually did not mind it at all. It stressed me out before but I did great I think. I drove from Winnipeg to Sioux City on Friday night, left at 4 pm to arrive at midnight. In the morning I left at 8 am to arrive in Little Rock at 6 pm. Long drive but worth it. Now I have my buggy to drive between Fayetteville and Little Rock. But I swore to myself that only for groceries or in extreme weather will I use my car here in Fayetteville! I rather walk or bike! And that is a deal I make to myself!

3. Thesis defense: July 24th, 10 am. An experience I will never forget. I was nervous for the 30 minutes before I started the presentation but once I started I was fine. I had presented parts of it before I think that helped enormously with my comfort level. I really loved every minute of it, especially the questioning afterwards. All good questions, some difficult, some easy, all challenged my mind, which is what I wanted. When it was all said and done, I can't believe that it is now all over. My thesis has been submitted. That is really a weird feeling. I think it is because I don't really feel it is complete. What I mean by that is the following. I know I have much to learn in that area and I am not ready to put that topic away. I became very passionate about using Web 2.0 as instructional tools and submitting that thesis just seemed so final, which I did not like. Even though I knew I had to in order to graduate! So that is why I am thinking, there must be something I can do to combine my love for teaching PE with wikis or Web 2.0. I am thinking, each day... it will come to me I am sure. The first thing that will spark some type of inquiry may be the fact that I will use wikis with the courses I will teach. I guess we will see. Right now, I am taking a summer camp on wikis and I am exploring different wikis to see which one to use in my courses. What I really want to experiment with is attempting to teach a paperless course. Except for the course outline and exam, I wanted to attempt to save a few trees. Can it be possible? Can learning occur without paper?

4. A new start: I began my program at the university of Arkansas. I thought I would start in August 25th but I was wrong. My GA position started on July 1st and in order to get paid, I had to take a summer course. I remember to have a meeting with my advisor on the Tuesday morning and not having a clue about all of this and by Tuesday afternoon I was sitting in my first class. So weird. The class I decided to take was called management in HKRD, a course on higher education, in particular in the area of health, kinesiology, recreation and dance. I think it was great for me to take that course as it could really inspire me to begin this program with confidence. The book we were required to read is called "New Faculty" and I have now finished it. It is a how to guide to becoming a professor. I really enjoyed the book. It was more the assignment that somehow excited me yet stressed me out. We are required to complete an entire study in 3 weeks, which is too short of a time frame. I think if I would have started with a different frame of mind, I would have relieved some stress but I went into the project with much excitement, thinking I would write a great paper. Soon I realized that with my limited experience in quantitative research and limited time to design and implement a survey I could, should and would not create quality work. Yet, perhaps I am creating quality for where I am right now so it just depends on how you look at it.

5. Research project: the study I decided to do was investigating the Multiple intelligences of college athletes and professors to compare the MI's with the teaching methods used. The data is inconclusive due to the sample size but I do think this topic is worth investigating further. I believe that differentiated instruction could be assessed through this examination so I hope to pursue it further. I now have also found a better, more scientifically based instrument to assess MI's. As a second project, I would like to explore the TPI's, or teaching perspectives of GA's and profs and compare these. I think it would be interested, especially in light of the realization that many GA's teach without prior teaching experience and I believe it may assist in the development of becoming a more reflective teacher. So that is an area I would like to explore as well. I also started to think about using the TPI with profs/GA's and with the students. Attempting to design an inventory based on the TPI for students to fill out so they can reflect upon the teaching style the teacher was using. I think that perhaps, the way teachers perceive their teaching may not be the way it is actually received by the students. And, wouldn't you want to know what your students think of your teaching?

Where am I now? 1 week away from finishing the summer course. 2 weeks away from starting 2 weeks of orientations. and 3 weeks away from starting teaching and learning!

To keep me sane: Exercise! ( I should really evaluate the activity level of grad students, I found it extremely difficult at times to find the time, but I do) My goal is to start with the 25 KM (which I ran in 2'43) and do my first 50 Km next spring. So I would like to create a training plan to do so, combining running with biking and strength exercises.
I can do it! Just keep swimming, just keep swimming.

You know, this is very exciting, I am loving every minute of it and my mind has not stopped. The more I think about whether academia is right for me, the more I think it probably is, so that is a good mind set to have at the start of a new program. I will keep you informed on my state of mind as I progress through this program! I promise!