Professional Development

Foundationally, the coursework in the program has helped me to better define my personal paradigms, philosophies, and research approaches. Taking QUAL 8400 early on allowed me to interrogate my beliefs and values. It pushed me to develop a coherent ontology, epistemology, and axiology that would inform my research goals, designs, and methods. It is from this course that I learned about critical realism, and learned to use my paradigm as a tool to inform my research approach. Extensive reading, largely guided by Dr. Kopcha, has helped me to familiarize with some interested theories and frameworks. Ultimately, I've been able to find a valuable and powerful set of theories and frameworks in 4E cognition which has significantly advanced my development toward a consistent and coherent research interest area. The readings and tasks in Dr. Ding's topical seminar prompted me to apply these theories and frameworks to some real research situations, which ultimately helped me to settle into an actionable research plan, which I've actually been able to begin developing.

I've also participated in activities outside of the coursework which have helped me to develop necessary skills. I've supported Dr. Kopcha in reviewing submitted articles for journals and learned how to read critically and critique published (and under-review) work. I've worked with faculty members on the design and implementation of their courses as well. During the summer of 2023, I worked with Dr. Stefaniak to supply some new OER resources for EDIT 6200e, and also created some instructional content for students in that course. I supported Dr. Rieber in EDIT 6900e to provide feedback regarding student-submitted work. In the fall of 2023 I served as instructor of record for EDIT 2000e. There, I adapted Professor Thomas' resources to better integrate the course into the University's LMS, and modified some assignments to better respond to student interests. I also served as a TA for Dr. Castle in EDIT 7650e where I provided extensive feedback and guidance for students who were completing their portfolio assignments. In my work with the Center for Teaching and Learning, I design and facilitate workshops to support faculty and instructors at the University in best practices for implementing our available learning technologies into their teaching.

Further, I've engaged in work to help me develop as a scholar. I worked with Dr. Kopcha, SJ, Zheying, Ahmet, and Diego to plan some data collection procedures for SJ and Zheying's VR study. I also helped to analyze video data from this study. I've conducted my own grounded theory study and worked with Dr. Kopcha to write an AECT proposal, which was accepted. I presented on this study at AECT's 2023 International Conference. I'm now working to prepare the results of this study for a formal journal publication. I've also designed and piloted a VR learning experience for pre-service music teachers, and am working to analyze the data gathered from that project. I will be presenting at the USG Teaching & Learning Conference in April 2024, where I will discuss a fellowship program I designed and implemented during my master's degree.