I greatly appreciate Dr. Meeuwse holding office hours. This has rejuvenized the collaborative aspect of learning that I enjoy (and miss) so very much. I love that we have a facilitator who genuinely wants to help us be successful in our writing. I have picked up some great tips for approaching this literature review. I already feel more comfortable and familiar with the content of my research. I still really struggle to articulate how I believe my innovation plans are innovative and are the first of many steps toward a better experience for students and advisors.
Last week, Dr. Meeuwse shared a tip on her research approach during her doctoral experience.
She gave a beautiful nugget of knowledge when she suggested we approach paraphrasing by making bullet points of no more than two words (citing the source as we go) while reviewing relevant literature.
Tonight she gave additional details.
Read the article through, read it aloud, making bullet points with in-text citations, then put it away (the source material). Go and write sentences from memory (trying not to return to the source material so you aren’t tempted to reuse the authors’ words or meanings instead of expressing your learning).
This program’s craftsmanship never ceases to amaze me. I have a very specific visual image in my head of Dr. Harapnuik telling us how sneakily he manipulates us into learning.
Embarking on this course, I really had to give myself a pep talk. I dreaded whichever class had another one of those dang lit reviews. I forced myself to reflect as those old patterns of panic tried to creep in. Almost immediately, I recognized that I had to own whether or not I had embraced and accepted a learner’s mindset. Would I let research and academic writing scare me away from the authentic work I have been doing throughout this program to bring flipped advising to life?
Looking at the work I have completed up to this point in the program made me recognize that I am very familiar with my innovation plan. I am approaching my research efforts with much more specificity than my first attempt at a literature review. I definitely have a better understanding of the point of the darn thing. I am still struggling to explain what I hope to do with flipped advising and how students accurately identifying coursework for registration is the first significant step forward for our advisors and students.
Nonetheless, by standing on multiple means of support found in the literature, I will have a clearer picture of exactly how action research will guide the process toward revolutionizing advising.
The Advisor That Cares 