Have suitcase, will travel! #Conferences #PhD #perks

There are times when I lament how hard it is to do a PhD: countless hours writing and thinking that I no longer know what I’ve written or think anymore. Or the constant worry that no-one will be interested in my research when, and if, I ever finish this d@%n thesis! But when I feel like that, I try to shake my focus from my #firstworldproblems and start concentrating on what is great about doing a PhD- conferences! Continue reading

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Facebook for learning

Are you a devoted social network user? Are your students ardent social network users? I’m going to take a wild guess and say that you answered ‘yes’ to at least one, if not both of these questions. Of course, I don’t want to assume that every man and his dog has a Facebook profile (although I have heard of a few cats that have one), it would be hard to deny the widespread use of social networking applications. Seeing as this is the case, why not use them for teaching?

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Wikis for teaching

This week I’m celebrating my first academic publication about a project I did with a group of English language students in an academic preparation course using wikis for writing practice. After the initial excitement of being published, and showing off my name in print to my kids (who promptly asked what was for dinner) it’s given me reason to revisit what I learned about wikis for teaching. The three most important points can be summed up as 1) choose your wiki carefully, 2) spend some time creating productive relationships, and 3) instill new ways of thinking about authorship. Continue reading

PhDs and the Art of Zen

I could have called this post “Zen and the art of PhDs”, discussing spiritual philosophy and how you can apply it to improve your practice of studying for a PhD. But instead I am going to focus on how you can develop a useful practice that can be applied to your life through the necessity of managing PhD study. And while it’s called an ‘art’- you don’t need to become a master- it is a practice in progress.

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Why blog?

When I began this blog, this is a question that I imagined might be posed by my invisible audience (for some reason, I also imagined a slightly derisive tone and a raised eyebrow). My short answer to the question “why blog” is: because I can. My long answer, however, is more about thinking, community, and digital literacy.

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