My A.T. Still University Experience : student success

Unexpected New Doubts About Continuing

SteveFoerster — Mon, 19 Oct 2009 05:00:00 GMT

“Many of us crucify ourselves between two thieves: regret for the past and fear of the future.” — Fulton Oursler

The other night I was having trouble sleeping, and as I lay awake in bed I started thinking about my program at A.T. Still University and that in another month or so I would be returning to it and my hiatus would be over. While I was thinking about that a few things that I suppose have been floating around in my subconscious mind for a while finally took form. Specifically, I'm not sure that I want to return to my program at ATSU next term because I'm no longer entirely sure that this program is the one for me.

I realize that in the last year or so I've said many complimentary things about the school, the program, and the people who make them happen. I should hasten to reaffirm that those things are all true, and that I still feel that way about them. So let me explain what this new doubt is not about:

It's not about A.T. Still University as an institution. They've had their growing pains, and they've changed out their leadership a bit, but overall that they're able to managed their strong growth is a great sign. I think they're an interesting school with an exciting history that's done well to branch out into related subjects to healthcare, and that has a bright future.
It's not about my program. Especially for an American doctoral program, it's very cleverly designed, and the way the coursework and research are integrated is a model of which other schools should take notice and emulate when designing their own doctoral programs for practitioners.
It's not about the people on my dissertation team. Dr. Mac has been nothing but supportive, and Dr. Summerfield's comments have been invaluable. It's true that Dr. Lanou has been pretty quiet, but then she's a busy person with a lot going on, and I could have been making a lot better effort to catch up with her.

In part, it's about my topic. By the end of my first term my topic had to be concretely decided, and in that haste it ended up becoming something that went from being focused on distance learning, to being something focused more on motivational differences. The truth is that I'm much more interested in the former than the latter, but one thing I do know about motivation is that it's something you need to have in spades in order to finish a doctoral program.

The other part is that when I was deciding a year or more ago, I passed up an intriguing opportunity, to do a doctoral program that was entirely research-based through Cape Peninsula University of Technology in Cape Town, South Africa. I have a very strong interest in the developing world, and their Dean of Informatics was very supportive of the idea of my doing research as an external student through their institution, and I actually really liked him. He even told me about their e-Innovation Academy that was set up precisely to support the sort of interdisciplinary postgraduate research in fields like education and technology that so appeals to me. Recently I've realized that I think about that program as the one that got away.

I thought that once I chose a program that would be that, I wouldn't look back and wonder whether I had made the right choice. But now I feel unexpectedly uncertain, and it's not very convenient. It was a very tough decision to make in the first place, but I figured that once it was made I'd carry on and never actually stop to think that maybe I'd made the wrong decision, certainly not wrong enough that I'd go back to start, especially after three terms.

But it seems I was wrong, and I'm not sure what to do. I have a little time to decide, but not forever. In part a reason not to jump is that I'm afraid of being a jumper, that if I do then a year from now I'll just feel like doing it again. I really don't think that's the case here, but it's something to consider. Either way, some serious pondering is in my immediate future. Comments, as ever, are welcome.

Next up, uncertainty of a different sort as I comment on what might change for students of Penn Foster College as their school is bought by Princeton Review.

Image courtesy of EL1998P71

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Squirrels Are The Enemy

SteveFoerster — Fri, 16 Oct 2009 19:21:00 GMT

“A computer once beat me at chess, but it was no match for me at kick boxing.” — Emo Philips

Over in the eLearners forum, and elsewhere in eLearners.com's arc of the blogosphere, one of the things that's being discussed are the computing needs of those studying online and how those of us studying online might prepare for eventual computer problems.

This is a timely topic for me. You know that person you know who's a friend but also sort of an enemy? Well technology in general has been my frenemy recently. But as I learned, the potential problems don't stop with one's own computer, because nowadays a computer without Internet access is basically a really expensive and complicated machine for playing Minesweeper.

So what happened to me? About two weeks ago, I looked out the window and saw a technician from the local phone company that handles my DSL connection climbing a pole on my street. I nervously asked her what she was doing (did I pay the bill this month?) and she said there was an area problem with phone service that she was there to fix. So I shrugged and went back inside, but sure enough, within the next few minutes my Internet connection stopped working. I went out to ask the technician what had happened, but she was gone.

Annoyed, I called the phone company. After speaking with several people, they told me that there was no way they could send another technician out to fix what the first one had messed up in less than six days. I was livid, but what was I realistically going to do? It's not like the cable company would have been out to my place to get things set up any faster than that, and why bother switch to them when their reputation isn't any better?

So I commuted back and forth to my Mom's place for a few days. Thank goodness I had that as an option (or rather thanks be to Mom). But it made me think, what if I had assignments due and discussion boards in which to participate and I didn't have an alternative Internet connection? Could I have gone to the library, or a coffee shop, or something like that? Maybe, since I happen to have a laptop, and not just a desktop computer. But could I have done that for hours at a time with my four year old with me? I just heard everyone out there who's ever had a bored four year old say, "No way!"

So that's how technology was my enemy recently. But there are points of light as well. The technician who eventually was dispatched to fix things was very helpful and friendly, and explained that yes, the previous person had probably done something wrong, but the main issue was that a lot of the wiring that affects my house has been chewed up by squirrels, so that jostling anything would have knocked me offline. He replaced everything that was damaged by them, so that shouldn't be a problem again. You hear that, squirrels? I'm onto you!

Next up, I have some unexpected doubts about continuing.

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We're Not Cheaters After All

SteveFoerster — Thu, 17 Sep 2009 20:26:00 GMT

“Integrity is not a conditional word. It doesn't blow in the wind or change with the weather. It is your inner image of yourself, and if you look in there and see a man who won't cheat, then you know he never will.” — John D. MacDonald

I don't know about you, but as a distance learning student I get really tired of the objection raised by those in classroom based higher education that one of the problems with online learning is that it's too easy to cheat. The questions are always, "How does anyone know it's you doing the work, writing those papers, taking those tests?" I always wonder how they really know that the students who come to class are who they say they are. When was the last time you heard of someone getting carded in a classroom setting to prove who they are?

The latest re-authorization of the Higher Education Act even had a provision where schools that participate in federal financial aid programs must have some sort of system to positively identify the students who are taking part in a distance learning course. Fortunately at the last second cooler heads prevailed and the requirement was watered down to near nonexistence by saying that if students had to log in to a learning management system, like Blackboard or Moodle, that fulfilled the requirement.

That's why the latest edition of the Online Journal of Distance Learning Administration is so timely. They have an important article by Donna Stuber-McEwen, Phillip Wiseley, and Susan Hoggatt called Point, Click, and Cheat: Frequency and Type of Academic Dishonesty in the Virtual Classroom. These researchers found that not only do distance learning students not cheat any more often than classroom based students, they actually cheat less often! Their explanation was that distance learning students tend to be older, more mature, and better able to recognize that a cheater's primary victim is himself or herself.

This makes perfect sense to me. Most of us aren't learning online because we want to find ourselves or decide what we want to be when we grow up or because that's what Mom and Dad expect. We're doing it because we want to get somewhere better in life, we have goals that we want to reach, and we know that with all the money we're paying to learn all this stuff, we want to get as much out of it as possible!

So these researchers have my thanks for looking into this critical issue, and providing distance learning advocates with even more ammunition against those dinosaurs who still don't get why learning online can work so well. It's always nice when research confirms what those of us in the thick of things already knew!

Next up, is your student loan made in China?

Image courtesy of Anna Duncan

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Taking Fall Term Off

SteveFoerster — Tue, 08 Sep 2009 13:57:00 GMT

“There comes a pause, for human strength will not endure to dance without cessation; and everyone must reach the point at length of absolute prostration.” — Lewis Carroll

Yesterday was supposed to be my first day of my fourth term. At the last minute, however, I made a serious decision: I decided to sit the Fall term out and resume my program for the Winter term that starts in late November.

I have a number of reasons. There were a few details that I hadn't had tie to get in order before the start of the term. I haven't filled out a FAFSA for this academic year yet, for starters. Without them having my current financial aid information, I'd have had to come up with the tuition money another way, and that would be challenging and inconvenient. I also hadn't ordered my books yet, and while it doesn't take that long for them to come, even if I get them sent from the library, it's still something that is ideal to have in order before the first day of the term.

Another matter is that I have an external reviewer from whom I haven't heard in some time. The doctoral committee structure for my program is that I am assigned a committee chair, and then back in my first term I recruited two external people to review and approve my dissertation chapters as I go through the program. I need to follow up and check in with them both, as well as my committee chair, and especially try again to get some comments on my draft of my first and second chapters from the external reviewer who hasn't been in touch.

I also have additional things going on at home. My twelve year old son came to live with us over the summer and I'd like to have the time needed to help him get situated at his new school. He's taking eight courses this year when he's used to taking six, and one of them is Mandarin Chinese, which sounds like it may be challenging. Meanwhile my wife is starting law school, and that's a big adjustment for all of us. I'm excited to keep making progress with my program, but having more capacity to be useful at home seems like it would be a good idea.

However, just because I'm not enrolled in courses this term doesn't mean I can't make progress on my dissertation. I have the comments from one of my external reviewers about my chapter one and chapter two that I still need to incorporate. I can also put together a draft of my chapter three — the two courses I just finished both included a number of assignments that are designed to fit into that forthcoming chapter. It's one thing I continue to appreciate about this program that the coursework assignments are specifically designed to be relevant to the dissertation.

The process for changing my plan was very easy. I simply called my academic advisor and she sent me to a short online form to fill out. I did so and got an email from the Associate Dean that included a link to click on to confirm my change of enrollment. Now that that's done, I fill out another short online form to re-enroll for the Winter term. No fees or nonsense, it was very straightforward.

Next up, speaking of the FAFSA, how much should college cost, anyway?

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Career Services and You

SteveFoerster — Tue, 04 Aug 2009 14:49:00 GMT

“Take your life in your own hands, and what happens? A terrible thing: no one to blame.” — Erica Jong

CNN is reporting that a recent grad of Monroe College in the Bronx is suing her school because she graduated with a Bachelor's degree in IT and hasn't found a job yet. This particular article caught my eye because for a time I helped with career services for Keiser University in Florida, so I know a little bit about how this process is supposed to work. The idea is that your Career Services department is supposed to help you conduct your own search for a job. They don't do the search for you. I was amazed how many students seemed to think that all they had to do was drop by Career Services and we'd go to the backyard and pick a job off the job tree and come back and hand it to them. Alas, it's not so easy.

What we did do was help students polish their resumes so that they would be professional looking, conduct mock interviews so they could get some practice with the interview process and hopefully be less nervous for the real thing, explain to them the importance of cover letters and help them draft them, and so forth. We did develop relationships with local employers and try to connect students with them when we could, but we certainly didn't guarantee anyone anything from it, any more that you could set up two friends on a date and guarantee they'd get married.

I think it's especially interesting that even though this woman was a mediocre student, with a 2.7 grade point average, she still feels entitled to instant success immediately on graduation. What's next, that she'll finally get a job and expect regular promotions just because she shows up for work most of the time and none of her work assignments turn out to be too poor? I realize that the job market is a tough one and that this woman probably feels very frustrated that she hasn't been able to find the position that she needs. I've been in the same boat, and we all need help sometimes. But when she wastes time looking for someone else to blame, she's not spending it trying to improve her situation.

It will be interesting to see what happens here. Will she back away from this lawsuit? Will the college settle with her to make her go away? Will it go to trial and someone will win or lose? All we know for certain is that every minute she spends on this is a minute she's not sending out her resume, attending a job fair, or interviewing for her first position.

One final thought. After this, would you hire her?

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