Reinventing Dissertation Writing for Sharing

On June 10, 2013, I successfully defended my dissertation and officially graduated from a doctoral program in instructional design, development and evaluation. I had grand visions (delusions?) of staging it as a play. Even as I was writing it, I had considered writing it as a play. My advisor finally let me organize it as different acts/scenes in a play but it wasn't written like a play script or in a dialogue format. She asked me if I was ready to be non-conventional. I didn't know what to think at that time. I just wanted to be done with dissertation writing. (You know what I mean, right?) But the 2014 Summer of Major Changes happened and I took some time off to deal with them. Lying around somewhere is the business card of a dramaturg who I planned to work with to write the play.

Journal articles? Conference proposals? I have been mulling over this post-dissertation challenge of disseminating findings for a while. At first, I was quite sure I wanted a book to be written. People need to know about my findings (Really!). Someone recommended I write to a book editor, and I checked out a few, but I didn't follow up after looking at the requirements. I am quite sure I don't want to write a dry academic book. I had written several proposals and presented at a few conferences. But nagging at me are the stories of my participants whose voices have barely been heard. What do I do?

After chatting with my new Twitter friends yesterday from #satchatwc, I have come to some tentative plans to share these findings, beyond waiting for a play to be written and staged. By the way, Tribes the Play was my inspiration. I took a greyhound to New York in December 2012 to watch it a few months before my doctoral defense, riding right into a snowstorm. I wrote a blogpost about the trip and a strange poem about the play.

The minimalist that I am, I try to use as few words as possible to convey my ideas. So they are broadly sketched out here:

Mindmap of plans to share my dissertation findings far and wide. 

In text description, reinventing dissertation writing will include these steps:

• I will create a new blog site as a repository for the dissertation findings. 
• The findings will be presented in multiple ways. As I've always wanted to present it as a play or some art form, I will seek to represent the findings using still or moving texts, images, sound and movement/gestures. 
• I will work with UNIV 291 course students to collectively imagine how to present these ideas. It is an authentic community research problem that we can explore together. I will present these findings to them as a visible thinking product which needs more work. We can work together to solve this particular challenge of disseminating the findings beyond its present academic format. I have to organize my findings to help them work with my dissertation. But a lot of my findings include long narratives of participants. They will do quite nicely for interpretive work (dramatization etc.). 

I'm excited to see what we can come up with together as a group. Interpretive dances, sketches, maps, essays, stories, acting, ... My course continues to take a clearer form and focus. Onward!

Percolating thoughts on diss writing

"The goal of a research paper is not to inform the reader what others have to say about a topic, but to draw on what others have to say about a topic and engage the sources in order to thoughtfully offer a unique perspective on the issue at hand. This is accomplished through two major types of research papers...." Argumentative and analytical. Purdue OWL web.

Writing Tip

Something to note as I write:

The group was “intrigued by the challenge of creating short stories that would defy audiences’ expectations of the subject,” said Aniston. “We wanted the balance of drama with humor and irreverence … we wanted stories that were informative without being heavy-handed. Oh, and they needed to be brilliantly written.” Read more.

Next Steps in Arts Think Tank Part 2: Finding Penelope

The Play. I've been postponing this organization of my thoughts and my mixed (in a good way!) response to it. It is a beautifully crafted, complex and tender piece of art. I am half afraid to write about it. But "[f]inding Penelope" (FP) was one of the main reasons for my trip. So I want to document this learning experience.

I had been following The Penelope Project blog for a while after Marj told me about it when she came back from the Seattle IA Conference. It inspired us, me, to consider writing a dissertation about an instructional intervention using theater. To see it implemented in person is surreal.

To provide some background to my perceptions, I've never read Homer's Odyssey as a student in Singapore. My international background may also cause some tension in my response to FP. Asians are expected to show filial piety to their parents, and sending the elderly to "old-age" homes is stigmatized. I struggle regularly with this tension -- being a filial daughter who should be taking care of her elderly parents, one with Alzheimer's and the other one acting as her primary caretaker versus being a supportive wife living in the US. I am conflicted in my response to the cast of elderly participants; I see my mother in them. Would I like to see her in the chorus? I think so. Would I stay away from the nursing home like Mira? No, I don't have the fear of nursing homes that Mira has. But it is a place that is associated with many "de-"s: "decline", "decrepitude", "degeneration" ... except that FP challenges viewers to think differently. Life in elderly care doesn't have to be about waiting for the end to come; we can engage the residents in something meaningful and imaginative. It is certainly not easy. Not everyone is a fearless charismatic leader like Dr. Anne Basting?

I also see among them my deceased friend who was in hospice care in a Catholic nursing home. I've seen her in her final days and remember restrictions were in place for visitors so as not to disrupt her rest. Here, the elderly are participants, opening their living units to us instead of hiding. It confounds my mind in some way -- would I wish peace and rest or clamor for a loved one?

I see talent (Dr. Basting, Sojourn Theater, actors...), hard work, perseverance, collaboration, negotiation, emotional connection... This performance is staged on a scale that is way beyond me right now. Would I love to be part of a project like this? Sure. I miss theater, producing, directing, managing... When can I do it again? I don't know. My dissertation does not include the staging of performances. Perhaps we can continue working with the project somehow to get it to performance stage?

To meet so many theater experts/giants in person was an honor! Other than Dr. Anne Basting, there were Dr. Jan Cohen-Cruz, Gulgun Kayim, Prof. Robbie McCauley, Dr. Elinor Fuchs, Dr. Carrie Sandahl, Prof Lucy Winner, Dr. Susan McFadden, Prof. Raoul Deal, Prof. Robin Mello (actress in FP) not counting other professionals who work in healthcare and arts, Pam Korza, Melissa Sharp and Kirsten Jacobs. I also became acquainted with Leonard Cruz, the choreographer for the gestures.

What an experience! I learned so much from the conversations and thank my project directors for the awesome opportunity.

Next Steps in Arts Think Tank: A Milestone Part 1

I had an enriching time at Milwaukee, learning and soaking in the experience of watching something profound unfold and transform everyone present -- both the actors and the audience. Several people wept just talking about it. A-ma-zing. I'm grateful to be a part of history in the making. Yes, I do believe Dr. Basting's research will mark a turning point in the use of arts for public health issues. This experience also marks a turning point in my doctoral journey. It's a confirmation, a feeling I get that my dissertation topic is going to lead me to a future career where I can make a difference in society.

I thank my project team for giving me the privilege to be there. I don't recall mentioning how my committee has played a major role in my growth as a doctoral/research student. M has taught me much about qualitative research. R shares resources and advice on my dissertation writing. Mi is a model of talent and perseverance. All three of them, M, R and Mi have by their examples, modeled for me a sterling example of authentic collaborative research. The project team chipped in for this trip, together with the UWM Foundation. I'm also sponsored for the ASL course. I don't look back at what I don't have but what I have. What do I have? A supportive committee and another stab at a fulfilling and meaningful dissertation.

I had been reading Dr. Catherine Jordan's article on community-based research for awhile and didn't realize I was in her presence until the morning of my departure. I'm so privileged to have had the opportunity to talk to her on the way to Luther Manor. She sat next to me and chatted with me so patiently. She said she has been a speaker at AEA. The first night before dinner, she had asked if I would be interested in going to Whole Foods to get snacks. But it was too near closing time when we were done with dinner.  I'm glad we had the chance to talk on the bus.

Dr. Randolph Rowe also talked to me and shared with me his wisdom, having guided many a student in doctoral dissertations. He also sent me some articles that will be relevant for my dissertation. Thank you, Randy!

Just keep writing

I'm beginning to understand what dissertation-writing is about. As students reach this "terminal" stage in academic pursuit, the challenge is for students to identify/find their own problems, or set their own assignment topic (as opposed to instructors giving you a topic; although sometimes, it may not happen that way, :)). Write a gigantic long essay. Once it is approved and graded by a committee of experts, it passes for defense. The student then gets her PhD. As in creative pursuits, the greatest challenge is in problem-finding. Once a student gets past that and is able to articulate that in clear writing, problem-solving is much easier. I've spoken to three persons so far who have told me that the journey is worth it. So don't yield to temporary blues, my peers. Doing a PhD requires perseverance, discipline and focused attention. One must not have only cognitive potential, but the mental and emotional strength to finish the journey.

Another Year Beckons

Adieu, 2010, and salut, 2011. The year was packed with several academic accomplishments. I leaped onto the treadmill of dissertation writing, hitherto a much longed-for state. Now, I'm decidedly less sure if it's the magical playground I had so desired, just like Narnia is to Lucy and Edmund. The thought of reading Lewis' Chronicles stirs up greater excitement in me. Perchance I might move past this fog I seem to be suspended in? The drudgery of it all is that I have to distill exactly what I'm studying, yet again (Urrgh, another round of it. But I am not a quitter). As a few of you know, I had to change supervisors and for a spell, this setback nearly quashed the fire in my belly. When this holiday break ends, I hope to recoup lost ground and direct my energies into whipping out that "spectacular" second proposal (still related to creativity from a different angle). Meanwhile, I shall enjoy the guilty pleasures that a holiday merrymaker deserves -- rest, culinary pleasures, and the renewing of friendships. Here's to a radiant new year filled with much love and joy! Sail on, Dawn Treader.

Paulo Freire, Boal, hooks...

More names to get acquainted with. Wish I know how to speed-read! Just lugged 10 books back from the Bird Lib. The librarian even placed them in a bag for me. Wow! The library is spiffing up not just physically.

R sent me a paper she had co-authored on a title I had envisioned for a possible project. But of course, my research will extend their study. I will develop a new perspective to the topic as an instructional design research student doing interdisciplinary work. She also sent me links and a contact person who is going to be doing a TO workshop. Ruminating about participating. Hrm!

P.S. hooks is deliberately spelled with a lower-case h because that's how bell hooks wishes to represent herself -- as in the book, Teaching to transgress.

Funneling Down

I feel like I'm plunging deeper into the funnel, from a broad topic to an increasingly narrower focus (I think this metaphor came from Sari Biklen's book on writing a qual research dissertation). What a blessing in disguise not doing my original topic is! I realize I'm a pretty intuitive person. I sensed from writing that 10-11 pages of my first proposal (a lot of hard work it was) that something was not going right. Abandoning it was hard. Not having support after thinking I had it was even harder. I mourned those "wasted" time of reading copious amounts of literature on creativity. But on reflection, nothing is ever lost. Whatever I have read stays with me, a precious knowledge treasure that informs my future steps. Forsaking my earlier writing freed me in new ways. I am immersed in the process of creativity. I am no longer bound to doing an instructional design study in a classroom setting or to think in parochial ways. There are other real life issues to study. And I'm fortunate to get to study one.

(Image source: http://bit.ly/i3YXvt)