PathwaytoPhD is back from sabbatical – where did those four months go? In truth, it was a sabbatical from this blog and during this time I still wrote a little (for my local Tidy Towns group), I read a little more (advance reading for my PhD ahead) and did a bit of organisation thanks to Trello, my new best planning friend.
I was also conferred with a Postgraduate Certificate in Digital Education from the University of Edinburgh and had my first experience of participating in a virtual graduation ceremony. Not quite the same as being present in McEwan Hall, but better than being conferred in absentia.
Over the last few weeks I have been getting acquainted with some of my new classmates on Mahara, an open source software tool with the tagline ‘Create. Share. Engage’ normally used for e-portfolios. So far, I’ve engaged with people from many corners of the world who have come to this programme from a variety of pathways and with diverse experiences. I look forward to meeting them all at our residential on campus in April.
More recently we were given a handbook and access to our first module on Moodle, Research Methods in Education and Social Science Settings, affectionately known as Module One. The structure of the months ahead is clearly laid out and I plan to dedicate approximately 15 hours a week to my studies, and yes, I have a Trello board! I don’t have a blog post pipeline, never mind a schedule, preferring to see how my thoughts evolve, but I am committing to a monthly blog post on this journey so watch this space.
For now, decisions are pending regarding the use of Evernote or OneNote (or both), which colour Oxford notebook (pink or orange?) to select
along with the merits of Skype for Business compared with Microsoft Teams and so on. Learning in a fully online environment takes a bit of prep work but opens up a variety of options when it comes to communication and developing the community who will collaborate for the first two years before undertaking our individual research projects.
And so the Pathway to PhD journey formally starts, now which text to read first? Decisions, decisions…
Until next time,
Sandra
Featured image courtesy of Pixabay
Sandra Flynn 