Another student submits

Another stalwart student of our year submitted today. See her relaxed and sunny beam.

Colleague submits

My Chinese chum has submitted. This is special because she has had a baby on the way through her PhD journey, had to move back to China, wait for her baby to be big enough to leave with her relatives and then come back to England to complete her degree. She's rightly proud of her achievement.

Following hard on her heels is my Canadian colleague, who was much delayed in collecting his data, but is now analysing and writing up at speed. He'll be working right up to the last minute of the four year student registration. Go him!

Submitted

Submitted.

I think I can, I think I can

I think I can submit. I think I can submit.

The little engine that could was a story of a tiny train that struggled up a hill with a load of toys for children, puffing

"I think I can. I think I can. I think I can."

I read it to my children, and it inspires me too. Wikipedia reminds me of its last lines:

"As it neared the top of the grade, which had so discouraged the larger engines, it went more slowly. However, it still kept saying, "I--think--I--can, I--think--I--can." It reached the top by drawing on bravery and then went on down the grade, congratulating itself by saying, "I thought I could, I thought I could."

Submitting

I'm bored. I've done nothing for days, just waiting for feedback from supervisor#2.

I told supervisors and research school I was submitting in February, but supervisor #2 has offered to reread two chapters, and his comments are detailed and useful, so I'm waiting for his last feedback due on Tuesday 1st March, and I've delayed my submission until 7th March. Then it's go, go, go.

Unfortunately, this week I also have

• two sets of assignments to mark
• a tutorial to give
• a lecture by Armbruster on consultancy to attend in Oxford
• a seminar by a professor from Oxford to attend at the Open University Business School
  
• other life to deal with

Between Tuesday and Monday 7th I must check off each comment from supervisor #2, squash Word's idiosyncrasies like document map bugs and print out three copies of my thesis for the research school, to hand in along with their EX13 form (done). I've dealt with my supervisor's comments before. I can beat the Word bugs. I can print the copies. I shall submit a week tomorrow.

Eighty percent of success is showing up

Eighty percent of success is showing up

That's what a Recently Successful Doctoral Student said to me when talking about research, citing Woody Allen. So I looked it up and found this blog, Persistence Unlimited that quotes Woody Allen. Showing up is what gets you going. I've shown up at:

• doctoral training workshops, even when they seemed a waste of time. They gave pointers to research issues I was likely to face.
  
• the Professional and Academic Communication in English (PACE) sessions, which trained me reading and writing for social science and business.
  
• OUBS seminars
• an NVivo workshop
• a BAM conference
• a systematic review of the literature workshop
• participative videoing workshops
• OU clubs - how do they help? I've met people who've heard me mention some of the issues OU post grads face and put me in touch with people who can help sort those issues.
• Teaching and learning conferences like the CETL conference this December
  
• Associate lecturer development days
• Landscapes of practice workshop with Etienne Wenger
• an Elluminate tutorial
• meetings of the Institute of Chartered Managers
• events run by the Institute of Business Consultants
• AIM workshop
• seminar with Derek Pugh on writing
• career development workshop
• a BAM template analysis course
• OUBS round table sessions once a year
• presentions to fellow OUBS post grads
• EPSRC introductory seven-week taught course on Mathematics for the Science of Complex Systems.
  

Recently Successful Doctoral Student used to come into the office often during her masters course and discussed assignments with colleagues. Being sat near them in first and second year of the doctorate, they'd supported each other, coming in, talking, but in the third year they sat in separate rooms and floors to be with their supervisor's section, with no fellow post grad to talk to. She missed that stimulus: "Talk to people", she advised.

The practice of moving third year students to different places has now changed. Third year students sit together. We can see each other when we come in and arrange to talk when we stop working. That's how we learn, said Lave and Wenger: we talk to learn. I can't talk to learn about my research at home; I have to show up and talk with post grads in the same situation.

Does that mean I'm 80% on my way to success? Watch this blog. My funding stops in September and I'd like to submit by then.

---

Lave, J. & Wenger, E. 1991. Situated learning: legitimate peripheral participation. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press #1131.

Colleague submits

Linda has fetched her several copies from the printer's and delivered them to the research office today. The examiner is selected and she expects her viva in a month or so.

Congratulations - submission

She submitted this afternoon!

Congratulations Linda on submitting your PhD this afternoon!

Yes, there is hope for all starting or slogging on through their PhD and MRes.