Education, Research, & Advocacy

I had set up a deadline with my new mentor with agreed upon dates for completion of each step required to complete my dissertation.  Of course, my goal is to have all the preliminary work done by January so that I might start my study in January and complete it by December, write up my findings and graduate sometime in April 2012.

At any rate, I made my first deadline!  July 30 was the date I gave myself for completing my MRF, or the proposal.  In this case, the MRF is seen as the outline of t...
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This past weekend, I attended the Brain Development and Learning Conference in Vancouver, British Columbia.  Per my previous blog, my main reason for attendance was to listen to and learn from Dr. Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi.  I felt so privileged to sit in one of his seminars and then later have an opportunity to talk to him one-on-one about his theory of Flow and its relationship to my dissertation.  He provided a wealth of guidance and gave me an even greater degree of motivation to complete m...
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I feel as giddy as a school girl.  Next week, I will be traveling to Vancouver, BC to attend the Brain Development and Learning Conference.  Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi will be there to present his theories on flow, and I paid an additional amount so that I could have lunch with him.

Considering the fact that I am building my dissertation study around this theory of flow, I am excited to speak to him, gain his insight on my study, and ask him to direct me to his articles on his field studies of hi...
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This may be considered shameless promotion, but I just have to put it out there.  I'm not sure how else to say it, and I've tried to say it in as many venues as possible.

I am interested in collaborating with, assisting, or studying under anyone involved in educational research, educational psychology, Washington Department of Education, or neuroeducation. 

I am a perpetual learner and will never consider myself an expert.  However, I do desire to work with those who are considered experts i...

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The US Department of Education has recently entered into a discussion about a radical change to student lending that could affect for-profit schools. The resulting action could eliminate federal funding from those for-profit schools whose graduates spend more than five percent of their monthly income on repaying their student loans.

For-Profit schools have always come under a lot of scrutiny. Even though most for-profit schools are approved by similar accrediting organizations and can offer c...

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When you're doing your literature review, have you ever noticed the little line at the bottom of the first or second page "send correspondence to...".  And, if you have noticed it, have you ever corresponded with the author?

I must admit the first time I tried it, I was very scared.  I knew I didn't have the expertise to truly communicate about the subject he had published.  Still, I liked what the author had written and I had some questions that I felt needed answered.  So I took the plunge...

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There has been a lot of talk about learning styles (feel free to Google as there are multiple definitions and interpretations). The overall belief, however controversial, is that teachers must somehow cater to students' individual learning style. There are workshops designed to help teachers understand various learning styles and a perception that those teachers who do not adapt to this "educational reform" must not be good teachers, must be the reason students are failing, and must be retire...
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In a previous blog, I discussed the equal importance of teacher and learner responsibility.  This idea is further explored in N Joseph's "Metacognition Needed: Teaching Middle and High School Students to Develop Strategic Learning Skills" (2010).

The author equates those students who are aware of their learning strategies with self-regulated learners, or those learners who are able to study independently.  The opposite, she considers "passive and dependent".  To rectify the situation, Joseph...

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A recent conversation with a friend of mine gave me the idea of pursuing Spanish translation.  While I am lacking in the practice of speaking and listening to Spanish, my writing and translation abilities are still at a superior level.  So, I started looking for free-lance opportunities.  Of course, in my research, I also stumbled upon numerous translation certification programs.  Any of them would prove to be beneficial, I'm sure -- still, I don't know which would be the best for me.

The CT...

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I would like to be your virtual assistant.  What is a virtual assistant, and what does she do?  A virtual assistant is someone who works from home to complete tasks for a company that can easily be done outside of the office.  Assuming that some tasks can only be completed when one has a thorough understanding of a specific company, it is expected that a virtual assitant would travel up to 100 miles each way to spend some time training; however after the training has been completed, she would...

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