Research Plan (first draft) completed

I completed my research plan today and made some excellent progress in finding more support materials (good for the lit review as well as for the research). Finally ordered a few of the books I've been considering - who would believe that I (of all people) would wait a week or two between finding a book I want and actually ordering it - but I find that as my studies progress I am becoming a bit more selective about which books I actually decide to spend money on. Of course, that could have more to do with my first mortgage payment being due tomorrow - heh.

I was planning on posting my research plan to my ARP website tonight... but I found as I read back thorough it that I wanted to wait from some peer critique before posting it to what is, in all honesty, a public web site. The plan discusses some specific situations regarding my field of practice (my professional work environment) and I want to wait a bit before posting that where others (possibly outside the cadre) can read it. No names are listed (not even a company name) - but, still, I feel like some discretion is called for. So - I've posted it to the black board discussion for our learning circle. I'll see what my cadre-mates/peers think first.

An object lesson in PM (my own)

This is ironic. I want to research Project Management - well communication and project management (and I think it is fast turning out to be more about the communication). Yet - I've been woefully lax in my ARP project management this week... and woefully lax with my ARP blog this entire month. I've contributed to my general journal and even on topics that impact my ARP - but neglected to add thoughts here, even something as simple as a cross-post or two did not get accomplished. :(

My brain though - it has been active even while concentrating on other course work (how does Gary manage to read all our posts and come up w/ so many learning adventures on top of so much reading...?... and what fit of madness made me pick "Thinking in Jazz" - 800+ pages as my optional book!). As I work though the theories of Papert, Piaget, Vygotsky, and others; try to keep my head above all the reading and learning adventures (and try to remember that sometimes skimming and scanning is more appropriate than more intense reading); work though my own personal ZPD's (Flash comes to mind right away), I find that I am focusing more and more with the different ways I communicate with different people (not just my peers at work, but also my peers in class, in my family, etc.). I also find that I am acting more and more externally on my internal voice. I've never been all that shy but I keep a lot more to myself than most people realize. One advantage to being very articulate and not being shy - is that people don't often ask you too many questions because they assume that you've shared everything you're thinking. Lately - I think I"ve begun to share more important thoughts.

So - how does this impact my ARP? Well - I'm already becoming more aware of how I share information and what information I choose to share (and with whom). Now - I need to focus that awareness AND (may more important for the sake of research) find out if what I perceive is aligned in any way with what my peers perceive. To accomplish this, Cycle 1 definitely HAS to be about communication/how I communicate with my peers/how they think I communicate with them/and (maybe) how they communicate with each other (although that last part may be in a subsequent cycle). The easy way to start this would be with a survey (thus asking the question(s) and creating an artifact at the same time). Another way would be recorded interviews. I want the most honest answers possible. On the one hand - I think the autonomy of a survey might produce more candid results. On the other hand - knowing that their responses are documented on paper might subconsciously lead someone to be less candid. Lots to think about.

Ok - enough on that for the moment... I'm in danger of rambling on... as I do.

There is something else I want to document here - it has been in my thoughts a lot.

One of my colleague's has been filling the role of the more capable peer for my own personal Flash ZPD. Through this process I've learned quite a bit about how I communicate with this colleague. Ironically - I thought this particular person would be a challenge in terms of participation in my ARP - now (because of this project and some other things)- I believe I was mistaken. The more we work together on my flash project (ironically - my current Flash project is none other than my ZPD illustration for Doc. Sue's class) - the more I see ZPD in action. This colleague is an extremely talented artist and technician (a prodigy even... quite brilliant) - but is not a teacher (doesn't claim to be... even goes so far as to claim not to be). Through this ZPD project (among other things) I hope that (think that) I have contributed something to their ZPD (in teaching). I see evidence of this in my colleague's interactions with other members of the team... it is fun and fascinating to watch. I need to incorporate this into my study of communication as well.

Ok - that's enough for now. My next entry should really be about Lit Review, Action Plan or both. Even if I just copy/paste from my word documents into here. I always feel like that's sort of a cop-out... I need to get over myself. :)