In Celebration of Last Access Class for Spring 2011

The students had a great time showing off their final products -- Ann with her brochure for Deaf patient advocacy; Tara came later but we got to see some awesome video clips starring a few Deaf individuals, and  one created by Mj herself. Hers was really funny. We plan to use these videos for Deaf Awareness Week.

In this project group, I find humor, intellect, compassion, and many other good stuff.  I feel happy to watch researchers enjoy each other's company, turn goofy sometimes, collaborate and show the way for students to serve the public good! In this climate, I find my inspiration to do research, especially when the path to dissertation writing gets tough. All three project directors are always trying their best to connect me to people who could help further my research. They lift my spirits!

As usual, we ran out of time sharing and working on details for our next effort/event. I didn't get to share my dissertation progress, but it's OK, my time will come on Tuesday.

After our meeting, lunch had been scheduled to take place at Appethaizing, but apparently, there was flood damage at Appethaizing and so we changed venues. A very nice and enjoyable lunch took place at Samrat's with 12 of us, me and De from SOE; Tara, Newhouse; Matt from Upstate, Shz, Ann and Tvh from Law.  Interdisciplinarity breeds creativity. Dr. Joel Potash from the Upstate Center for Bioethics and Humanities joined us. He writes plays about healthcare issues, but has expanded his realm of writing to include that of issues of identity. I'm looking forward to having lunch with him and R at some point in summer.

I know Mj took some pictures which will eventually be posted on our Access blog... :)

One element to foster creative thinking

One thing I find some students tend to not do is to venture beyond their disciplines or universities to work with other people. One of the oft-studied components to foster creative thinking and outcomes is multiculturalism, sometimes variously studied under terms like heterogeneity, interdisciplinarity or multiple perspectives. My diss. chair herself recognized that I'm a bridge person and pointed that out to me: I cross cultures frequently and I live at the intersection of cultures. I am used to this; I come from Singapore, a melting pot of cultures. I'm comfortable in cross-cultural settings. I don't think about "difference" consciously although difference can manifest itself in our discourses in many ways, settings and relationships. I'm getting influenced by M, since she is an expert in institutional ethnography. :). So the point of mentioning this is that my background reveals much about my research inquiry and interests.

I hope to see more collaborations among students in our program with those of dissimilar backgrounds and that they would venture outside of our program/school to take courses. Just stop going to courses because "my friend is taking it." Stop keeping to your cliques. Work and talk to different people.

Perks of venturing outside one's comfort zone? I've made many connections through getting to know people outside my culture, program, school, university and by being involved in AERA. These lead to possible collaborations and divergent thinking.

What no course can teach me?

Someone asked me what it is I learned at AERA that no formal course can teach me? It was a good question -- I began to think a bit more about it beyond the big idea that I had learned a lot, things I could never get from a structured, formal learning setting for PhD students.

1. I got to watch how AERA operates from the inside -- from one view -- Division C.There is this humongous machinery that churns out different sorts of activities and events to cater to a large range of educational interests, and I am a teeny bit of this well-oiled machinery. I help to schedule, plan, coordinate and get a host of activities running.

2. I got more practice in interacting and mingling with established faculty and research scholars, in an intensive period of time. No kidding, THIS sort of interaction needs practice! More than 90% of the time these days, I'm a grubby dressed-down graduate student. At this meeting, I assume the role that I might and hope to become one day, a researcher and/or maybe a faculty member (who knows). Being in Division C, I meet a big number of motivation scholars at the meetings. And I dress up somewhat in business casuals -- no grubby jeans with wild hair.

3. I watch these researcher-models and listen to them talk -- about their vision and plans for the Division. Albeit for only a few days, I watch them come together to serve and it was fascinating. As I'm in Div C, I had the chance to meet up and talk with a number of motivation research scholars I had only read about -- Dr. Lisa-Linnenbrink Garcia, who is of course our GSC faculty adviser; Dr. Karen Murphy the chair-elect of Div C; Dr. Christopher Wolters; Dr. Richard Mayer, and Dr. Dale Schunk (who was sitting behind me, and the Fireside Chat speaker last year).

4. I believe I have become more confident in relating to new people and strangers in a large conference. This year was different from last year - I was the incoming junior rep then, and things were confusing. This year, after all the planning, interaction and apprenticeship with the student committee, I knew a bit more about what to expect. Going to AERA is definitely different from going to AECT. I go to AERA not just for a presentation, I go there to serve/work and really meet people. Going to AECT was a more unplanned, unscheduled experience and I don't really meet new people because I tend to hang out with my group. At AERA, I have friends from other universities.

So these are some of my thoughts. I'll jot down more as I recall them.

AERA 2011 Learning Experience

AERA NOLA Apr 7-12. It is taking me a while to resettle into Syracuse. I feel out of touch with my dissertation writing after all my professional duties at AERA. But I wouldn't have given it up for anything. This is an experience no formal course can ever teach me. I love meeting and working with people from other universities who are now my friends. When I go to AERA, I don't feel alone or lonely; I belong to a community. Being a GSC rep will definitely count as a positive highlight of my doctoral student life!

GSC Div C reps and co-chairs at AERA with Dr. Paul Cobb

For the record, no one pushed me to serve; no one advised me to do it to add an extra pretty line to my CV, :). I just did it because I wanted to have the learning experience. For some time, when the calls to serve came, I ignored them because I didn't want to get involved in purely "busy" work. Having been in leadership positions before (yes, I'm old!), I didn't want to do something just for a name, award or title. When I committed myself to serving eventually, I thought about the people who had let me into their lives generously to let me learn from them. With that attitude, I applied to serve and remember asking my senior chair (who interviewed me) how much time it might incur. Even though I'm really busy at the Annual Meeting, I absolutely have no regrets about serving in the AERA GSC.

To get invited to attend the executive business lunch and watch the Div C exec committee operate was an eye-opener. It was an honor. I look forward to the rest of my term as the senior rep and will treasure the time left till Vancouver when I hand over duties to my junior rep. :)

At Div C Exec Biz Lunch with the Div C Student Committee

Looking back, I count myself blessed to have such great learning experiences in NOLA and in Milwaukee in recent months!