Episode 3: In which I survive the first week.

A little bit more about me - my current position is as the manager of the ed tech professional development team at the Los Angeles County Office of Education. I have been at the county office for thirteen years now. Before that I was a classroom teacher for thirteen years. I taught special education for three years, and then regular elementary for ten years.

I have also been teaching a hybrid course at the University of La Verne in La Verne, California for about ten years. I teach the ed tech class that teaching credential candidates have to take. One of the things that I enjoy about teaching this class is that is like a little laboratory for me. I can try things with those students that I have read about or seen in a school district.

Our kids (Keara is 25 and Tyler is 20) are not quite sure yet what to make of the idea of Molly and I both going after this doctoral program. Hopefully, they will both end up thinking that the whole thing was a good idea.

This has been a busy week. The scary part is that this will probably end up being the easiest week of the semester. The work load for 601 and 602 were not terribly heavy. It was mostly a matter of staying on top of several smaller assignments. I will say that both the readings and the discussions have been interesting. This cohort will be spending a lot of online time together. So I am glad to see that people are active on the discussions boards.

As the manager of the ed tech professional development team at the Los Angeles County Office of Education, my work schedule is very hectic. Somehow I always seem to feel like I have a handle on things. However, I can't shake the feeling that I am going to miss an assignment in one of these courses. We are all so busy with our jobs, I know that we will all feel the pressure of trying to keep up with this program. Molly and I have a giant calendar on our office wall and we are posting assignments and due dates there. Hopefully, with Molly's help, I will start to feel well organized and stop feeling like I am about to drop one of these juggling balls.

One of the assignments this week was to share a personal webpage. I am choosing to share this one. If you happen to stop by here, please leave me a comment. That would help keep me encouraged!

Episode 2: In which we spend vast sums of money.

So Molly and I have taken out student loans in order to pay for the tuition, books, etc... for this program. If only that was where the spending ended.

Over the last couple of months we have done considerable stressing over how we are going to keep up with the workload. One of the strategies that we agreed on was that we would need a comfortable and efficient place to work at home. We are fortunate enough to already have a room that was "mostly" dedicated to being a home office. I say "mostly" because there was also a bed in there so that this office also acted as a guest room. But this office space was not comfortable, efficient, or inviting. Nor was it set up to accommodate the two of us working at the same time. The only logical conclusion - re-do the office!

Over the last several weeks we have:
Hauled everything out of that office
Recycled or gave away most of the office furniture
Moved the bed to another room - now the converted guest room
Painted the new office in a nice, rich tan
Bought two new desks
Bought two new bookcases
Bought one new filing cabinet
Bought a huge cork board in order to display calendars and notes
Bought a shopping cart full of various office supplies
Bought a variety of needed devices (monitor, wireless keyboard, wireless mouse...)
Bought and installed a ceiling fan

On the plus side, we now have a comfortable, efficient, and inviting office in which to work. Now if we can just solve the whole having-time-to-do-this-doctoral-work issue . . . In any case, the program starts on Monday!

Episode One: In which I am gripped by fear.

So Boise State University was crazy enough to accept me into the inaugural cohort of their new Ed.D. in Educational Technology program. Actually my wife, Molly, and I were both accepted and we are excited about the adventures in store for us. The program is 100% online. And it offers some very interesting courses, including: Graphic Design for Learning, Online Course Design, Teaching and Learning in Virtual Worlds, YouTube for Educators, International Issues in ICT, etc...

Why am I doing this? Three main reasons come to mind when I am asked that question (it's usually me asking myself). First, this is a great chance for some personal enrichment. I am really looking forward to doing some deep learning in a field that is important to me. And I am also looking forward to looking back on all this with great satisfaction in completing the journey. Second, this program will support my current professional work. I anticipate being able to take things that I learn through BSU and translate them into the projects that my colleagues and I work on. And third, I am hoping that when I retire, having this degree will help open some doors for things I would like to do after my current career ends.

All of this sounds exciting. And it is. I am excited. However, I am also gripped by fear. I know that when this program starts on August 27th my life will change. Chaos will be introduced into the life that Molly and I have tried to make (somewhat) orderly. I am expecting the workload to be tremendous and relentless. As I reflect on the fear that I am feeling, I think that it has a lot to do with not knowing exactly how I am going to find the time to get everything done. My feelings are strong about needing to continue to do high quality work in my job and to keep that same standard in this Ed.D. program. Fortunately, my family, friends, and colleagues are very supportive. So I need to build upon that to overcome this fear.