I'm getting increasingly frustrated with blogger.com. Apparently this blog is still being hosted (in cyberspace of course) at my acquiring excellence website. Of course if you try and go to that link acquiringexcellence.com/blog.html, you will find that there is nothing there. I've tried repeatedly to redirect my website acquiringexcellence.com to just this blog, but it still won't let me. I found a link on blogger for just this issue, and it told me it only takes 48 hours to "clear" the issue. It's now been more than a week, and still, no love from blogger.

So, here we come to my predicament. I don't want to keep this at blogspot.com. If I do, then I'm wasting money on my acquiringexcellence website which now has absolutely nothing on it. Do I persist in trying to redirect, or do I get a new domain?

I just finished reading a book called "Crush It: Why Now is the Time to Cash in on your Passion". He recommends using your name as a domain name. I questioned him in an email, and his explanation is that your name doesn't change, but your interests, businesses, opportunities can. That makes sense, but my name isn't really conducive to a website. The last letter of my name is the first letter of my last name. So, do I confuse people with two h's together in a URL? No, if I purchased a domain with my name, I think I would take out an h, and then in the website, make the "H" kind of like a symbol, if that makes sense?

While I've been working on my dissertation methodology review, I've also been experimenting with logos and website designs in photoshop. Here are some of my ideas:









If anyone is reading my blog, I'd appreciate your input. So number one, do I abandon my original website domain or wait patiently for blogger to get its act together. And, if I do buy a new domain with my name, which logo/background do you like best?

Thanks!

Website

I'm in the process of revamping my website. I figured there's no point in paying to have it hosted when there are so many sites that will allow me to redirect my domain. As such, I'm continuing to blog, and my hope is that after I clear up some technical difficulties, I will be able to redirect this blog to my original domain.

Right now, though, I need some ideas. I want to create my own logo. I've found multiple tutorials on how to create text graphics. So I plan on using one of those tutorials, but I'd really like to get some ideas for pictures to add into the logo. For any of you who are reading my blog, I'd love your suggestions. Here is what I'm interested in promoting:

Learning
Strategies
Non-traditional learners
Thinking
Ideas
Tutoring
Languages

More dissertation news

I spoke to the developer of the TIPP assessment today, and I think we've worked out a decent plan to evaluate both validity and reliability. I'm going to pass it by my mentor before I write up anything official, but as of now, here is what we're going to do:

In my request for participation, I will assign three dates where all participants will need to attend. At the first date, students will come and take a paper form of the TIPP assessment and leave. At the second date, students will come and take the TIPP assessment again, and before leaving will sit through a TIPP presentation. After the TIPP presentation, students will be asked to rank themselves on both character and sensory modes. Finally, they will be instructed to look for an email giving them access to their results and a list of strategies tied to those results. At the third meeting, students will be asked to complete a survey asking them to list three strategies they chose from their results they decided to employ and whether they would use those strategies again. The feeling is if the students were willing to use the strategies again, then those strategies were beneficial to the students.

I still need to explain my correlation methods / data analysis, but I feel I made some progress today.

mentors, committee members... etc

I got an okay from a professor in the school psychology specialization yesterday and was extremely excited. She seemed genuinely interested in my study. But, just as I was about to submit her name on my committee form, I realized that if I did, my request would be rejected. My other committee member is from general psychology, which means I currently have no committee members from the educational psychology specialization, which is against policy. I thought about it and decided well, if I really wanted this school psychology professor on my committee, I just need to find another professor from the educational psychology specialization to be on my committee. It doesn't really seem fair to one of my original committee members, but to be honest, I haven't done anything yet that the original committee member has to see. He has probably been waiting in limbo, well, beside his other responsibilities, while I move slowly through this dissertation process. So, I sought out another professor, one I actually had for a class or two during both my MS and PhD programs. He immediately replied and accepted my request, but then added that he thought I could have chosen a better method for proving validity.

So, now what? Well, I'm not ready to submit my committee form yet. Right now, I suppose I could submit either both names or simply the Ed Psych professor's name, but I'm going to hold off at least until Friday. Tomorrow, I have a scheduled phone call with Shelly Loewen, the developer of the TIPP assessment. I will talk to her again about my plans to prove face validity and also the suggestion for a more rigorous validity study. And, then hopefully, I'll feel more confident about both the direction of my study and my selection of committee members.

Free Application for Federal Student Aid

I received the draft of the 2010-2011 FAFSA today. I plan to look it over this week and will hopefully have a video blog up soon regarding the changes from last year. But for now, here are some important things to consider:

1) You cannot fill out the new FAFSA until after January 1, 2010.
2) It is better for you to estimate your taxes on the FAFSA and get it submitted as soon as possible than to wait until after your taxes are filed. Many school-based and outside scholarships are first come, first serve. And, you can always make adjustments to your FAFSA, if needed, after you file your taxes.
3) NEVER pay anyone to fill out your FAFSA. This application is FREE, hence its name. The financial aid officers at your intended school are paid to assist you through the process of applying for financial aid. But, if they're not available, there are others, like me, who would be happy to answer questions about the FAFSA free of charge. DO NOT go to FAFSA.com to fill out your FAFSA online. Yes, you can complete the FAFSA online, but the ONLY website where you should go to do this is http://www.fafsa.ed.gov

financial aid

For those who are interested, I plan to conduct financial aid workshops in early January at the local Key Center Library to help new and continuing students complete their FAFSAs and answer any miscellaneous questions about financial aid. I have been contacted to consult with a company on their decision to outsource their student financial aid to a third-party servicer. I hadn't considered offering that service; however, given my background working with a small school both independently and with a third-party servicer, I admit I am uniquely qualified to consult on such matters.

I do love financial aid, but I hate the politics involved in working for a school. I think in the future, wherever I might end up, I will consult with schools and help students and families with financial aid, but I will never work for a school as a financial aid administrator again.

For those interested in contacting me, I have worked for both a liberal arts university and a for-profit vocational school. I have been involved in all aspects of financial aid, and now not being affiliated with any school, I can offer un-biased advice in not only filling out the FAFSA, but where to look for scholarships and choosing which school to attend based on the financial aid factor. I'm not going to charge for any services offered in the area of financial aid. I would simply ask if you felt assisted by me you would tell someone else. Referrals are most definitely the highest form of flattery and certainly the highest wage I could ever earn.

dissertation progress

Well, I have finally gotten my topic approved. I know I've delayed my dissertation for some time due to personal and health issues, and I've actually felt embarrassed to ask for more time. But, both my dissertation mentor and my academic advisor have been more than generous, and my latest deadline gives me, I think, another 9 months to finish my current section.

I'm still planning on using the TIPP in my dissertation and feel very fortunate to have such a gifted individual allowing me to use her assessment. As I have said in previous blogs Shelly Loewen has been instrumental in not only encouraging me to pursue my doctorate degree but also in letting me bounce ideas off of her throughout my doctorate program up to this point.

I had a slight scare about a month ago upon seeing that her website was down, but we have spoken since then, and everything is under control.

So, enough with my rambling, what is my dissertation topic? A Reliability and Validity Study of the TIPP Assessment for Use with Adolescents. This second step that I'm completing now is the methodology to include my population description, sampling techniques, rationale for both population and sampling, and the actual methodology description. For the most part, I feel fairly confident about what I'm doing. I have emailed the Peninsula School District to inquire about their computer labs in the elementary and middle schools and also to confirm the process by which I need to request permission to request student participation in my study. I had emailed them more than a year ago with my initial questions. However, the computer I was using died, and I lost the email that was sent to me. I'm hoping that the process will be simple, and they will be interested in helping me out.

My biggest concern is statistics. I understand correlations; however, with the TIPP assessment giving a categorical profile as a result, it is difficult for me to consider a simple Pearson's Correlation Coefficient. It would seem, according to the little I have read and conferring with my dissertation mentor, that Cronbach's alpha for intraclass reliability would be the most appropriate. But, I don't know enough about it to proceed. I think for now, I want to have everything completed with the exception of my explanation and rationale for Cronbach's alpha, and then I can confidently approach my mentor again for a crash course in statistics.

Beyond that, I am excited about this study. The more I think about it, the more I want to be in a position where I can evaluate educational programs and assessments. What would that job be called or where could I find that job? I'm not sure. I have done some searches, and have not found exactly the title with which I could be satisfied. I suppose I'm looking at a consultancy job; however, the problem is my dissertation will be the first time I have ever evaluated anything!

I will post again when I've completed my methodology review form.

Student Responsibility

Lately, I've been questioning whether given the choice, I would want students to become better learners or teachers to become better educators. True, in an ideal world, both would be optimal, but it seems that for much of the history of education, we have operated on the principle of "the greatest good for the greatest number of people". Such a principle might work well in society or in government, but is it really the best principle for education?I would argue that it is not.

History has shown us that there are always students who lag behind, those that need additional help whether out of lack of motivation or something else. And, if educators continue to follow the fads of finding the next best way to educate, I fear we will continue to cause detriment to students.

The most popular teaching methods of late are those that teach to a particular learning style. Whether using Dunn's PEPS assessment, Myer's-Briggs Temperament Inventory, or Kolb's Learning Style Inventory, teachers are instructed to look for the common denominator and teach their classes according to that common denominator. What they fail to realize, I believe, is that there is no one common denominator. The PEPS assessment, for one, provides analysis for 18 different factors including for example, whether a student prefers auditory instruction or whether a student prefers to work in groups. Knowing that a result of this one assessment can produce a myriad of characteristics for just one student makes me hesitant to believe that a teacher can find a group of factors that holds true for the majority of one class.

Perhaps instead of bringing new instructional methods to teachers, we instead focus on helping students be better learners. It has been said that finding a student's learning style strength is nothing more than finding what the student believes is the most comfortable way he knows to learn or perhaps the only learning environment to which he has been exposed. One might argue then that learning style assessments are not reliable for that one reason. However, I would disagree. If a student has discovered a way in which he can learn, why not capitalize on that: not on teaching to the student according to the way in which he learns, but in providing further strategies to the student so that he can continue to learn regardless of the environment.

Because so much research on learning styles has been focussed on aiding the teacher, new research needs to be done on finding assessments designed to help the student. One such assessment is the TIPP Learning Styles and Temperament assessment. This tool has been used successfully and extensively with older students; however, it has not yet been proven reliable with younger students. The first step is to test its validity and reliability with younger students, and then allow further research to prove or disprove that students who know how to learn are better than teachers who try to teach to the majority.

Toastmaster Ramblings

I joined toastmasters approximately five months ago, not really because I needed assistance with public speaking, but because I wanted to branch out and meet new people, and I wanted to relearn organizing my thoughts. So far, it has been very beneficial. I have met some wonderful people from all walks of life, and probably the most important thing is that it has encouraged me to wake up earlier on Thursdays!

This morning, however, there were only three of us, and instead of conducting a regular meeting, we got into a discussion on education and financial aid -- two of my specialties! Perhaps the one thing that struck me as the most important topic of discussion was education's financial support.

Now it isn't news to me that communities are often asked to vote to support or reject an educational levy, but one thing I hadn't stopped consider is that people's vote on any referendum is subjective. I know for me, I don't often vote for transportation levies simply because the majority of them don't serve my neighborhood. If it doesn't benefit me, why vote for it? But do people actually do the same thing when it comes to education? The common sense answer is yes. Unless you have a vested interest in the public education system (i.e., you have a child or grandchild in school, or like me you are an educator, educational administrator, or educational researcher), why would you vote to pay more of your money for education?

The more I thought about that idea, the more I considered the fact that some schools are very well financed whereas others are not. Sometimes it is because the community cannot financially support its school system. But sometimes it's because the community is not interested. In this discussion was one lady who was born and raised in Germany. She explained to us that the government and not the individuals controls the education. There are no referendums to vote for, no levies to support or reject. As far as teachers' pay and students' supplies are concerned, there is never a real need or complaints over the differences between schools.

It makes me wonder if we wouldn't be better served with such a standardized system of education. Now, I know "No Child Left Behind" has been a dismal failure, and I'm not suggesting it be revisited or that it be my definition of a standardized system of education. You cannot require schools to meet the same specific standards and then not provide them similar means of reaching those standards. But, what if all schools were provided the same amount of resources? I know there will be those who will argue with me about the amount of taxes we may have to pay nationwide for such an endeavor, but let me also present this argument:

Educational researchers are constantly faced with debates and rebuttals about their research. What works for one school doesn't work for another. Subjectivity is one bias that plagues all researchers; however, how can one educational researcher be expected to generalize his research to other educational environments when other educational institutions are not on an even plain? To provide one example, what if bilingual education succeeds in one school and not another because of variances in teacher pay, student supplies, and the amount of financial support given to one school and not another? Demographics vary by location, indeed, but resources ought not.

Just food for thought.

Let's Get This

Those closest to me know that I am a devoted supporter of the New Kids on the Block. If I have an opportunity to bring my favorite band and education together, I will definitely share that here with you at Acquiring Excellence. Thanks to Joe McIntyre, I have that chance.

In May 2009, Joey McIntyre started his "Let's Get This" Foundation, started principally for people coming together to learn how, in even the smallest ways, we can make the world a better place.

The first goal of this foundation is literacy, and in meeting that goal, the Let's Get This foundation has partnered with First Book and New Kids on the Block fans to organize a book drive. In one of Joey McIntyre's blogs about this endeavor, he explains, "There is an enormous lack of age appropriate reading material for the kids". I completely agree that early reading is so incredibly crucial.

As a New Kids on the Block fan, I intend to set up a collection spot for brand new childrens' books at my local library, Key Center Library during the next two weeks, but for those readers who are not local to me, I would encourage you to make a donation of $5 or more at Let's Get This' First Book site. You can make a donation with a credit card or paypal, and for each $2 you donate, one brand new children's book is purchased.

Even if you are not able to support First Book, I would encourage you to seek out your local library and ask how you can best support early literacy!

Thank you!

Gaining Confidence

I have completed reading the problem statement and the literature review of the dissertation listed below. I attempted to find an email address of the author, but so far I haven't been able to find any contact information. In my defense, the dissertation was written in 2002, and here we are 7 years later. I can't be sure if she is still in Florida or has moved somewhere else. A search for the author's name and "school psychologist" resulted in quite a few school psychologists with her name. So, at this point I'm going to consider this author as someone I won't be able to contact.

My concerns are again that she only included fifth graders in a study of English and Math while she indicates that math becomes a lower interest subject in later grades. She could have said more about the Flow theory. She does touch on engagement and even lists Csikszentmihalyi as a reference, but I think more could be said, and it might even redirect the focus of my dissertation.

I have researched the Peninsula School District for all elementary and middle school students. What is troublesome is I have population data accurate for February 2009; however, the demographic data is only accurate up to 2005. In 2005, it appears that there were more students enrolled, and obviously ethnicity can change in a span of four years. For now, I can only consider what I guess could be said the average ethnicity percentages of the students I want to study.

I'm also concerned about my sample size. The dissertation I'm reading only sampled 150 students. I'm looking at over 2000 fifth, sixth, and seventh graders in this school district. Based on a sample size calculator, it appears I should sample 241 fifth graders, 252 sixth graders, and 248 seventh graders for a total of 741 students. That's a lot of data and considerably more than this original dissertation upon which I would like to base my study. Of course, these numbers are based on a confidence level of 95% and a confidence interval of +/- 5. I'm not clear on the confidence interval, so I may have selected too low of an interval.

I have requested articles and books on the Flow Theory, and I have saved other articles based on motivation and elementary school students. It is my hope that I will have my MRF completed soon.

Thinking Out Loud

I've decided to take on this "muddling through the dissertation" phase in chunks. It is just too overwhelming if I don't. In recent weeks I was pondering doing either a dissertation on trauma and learning theories or one on learning strategies and motivation. I'm leaning more toward the second idea incorporating the theories of Flow and Achievement Goal. I did post on my classroom's site my interest in this second idea and that I'm moving slower than I first intended.

I'm a third of the way through the dissertation which first sparked my interest:
Watson, M. L. (2002). Role of social academic goals in relationships among fifth-graders' interest, achievement goals, and academic outcomes. Dissertation Abstracts International, 63(6), 2138. (UMI No. 3056794)

Her study involves only 5th grade students as she explains that 5th graders are reliable participants based on past research, it is the first time that students' interest in reading begins to diminish, and adaptive learning strategies become more apparent. However, she also mentions further in her problem statement and literature review that while interest in reading diminishes in 4th and 5th grade, interest in math doesn't show a decrease until the 6th and 7th grades. I intend to ask this author why she didn't include 6th, and 7th graders, but in the meantime, I'm considering my own study to include 5th through 7th graders.

So far, after reading a third of this dissertation, I have written down a few articles to look up (Wentzel, 1998, Wigfield 1997, Alexander 1997, Scheifele & Csikszentmihalyi, 1994, Pintrich & De Groot, 1990, Scheifele, 1991, Scheifele & Csikszentmihalyi, 1995, and Midgley, 1993). I have also found information on the populations of area schools and whether they are considered urban or rural schools. In total, there are eleven elementary and middle schools in the area which comprise of 2129 5th, 6th, and 7th graders. Urban schools comprise of 1141 of these students while the rural schools comprise of 988 of the total. 2000 is a lot of students. Even if I were to get 50% of the population, I would still be looking at 1000. I think I need to investigate further the average response for these studies and whether 1000 students are too many for my dissertation study.

My next step is to find these articles and to request a couple of books by Csikszentmihalyi on the Flow theory. It is my belief that when I better understand the Flow Theory and the Achievement Goal Theory I will be prepared to begin my MRF.

Sigh...

I suppose it is a good thing that I never truly completed my methodology review form. After posting on my class's page about the idea below, I found a dissertation that I really love. Of course I haven't read through the whole thing yet. One thing I learned at my last colloquium is to read the abstract, and if you like it, read the implications for further research. I've read both, and I'm very interested. I should also mention that the author of the dissertation was also in an educational psychology program, which means I can be assured that any ideas I glean from her study would probably be approved by my department.

What I like most about her study is that it keeps with my interest of learning strategies. My only considerations would be the age group and my measure. For the dissertation I'm reading, the author used a standardized test, and there I am at a loss. I did look at the Washington superintendent of school's website and read about his changes to the standardized testing in Washington. It appears that this will be the last year the WASL is used, and it will only be for this spring. Obviously, I have no hope of being prepared to conduct a study that soon, and even if I did, the test is only being offered once. The new test will be offered in the spring of 2010. I could potentially use the new test that is being offered to either 3rd through 8th graders or the high school proficiency test offered to high school seniors.

The dissertation that I found was conducted with urban fifth graders. I know for a fact that my students would be rural, so that in itself could be interesting for comparison. Her study was also done in Florida, so opposing sides of the country could also prove interesting.

I would just really need to clarify my measure. The author speaks in her dissertation that for most researchers looking at learning strategies, they use GPA, so there's always that. For right now, I really just need to read through her 100+ pages to see exactly what she did. Then I think I will ask around to figure out what age group I should use, and if her implications for future study are feasible and beneficial for my purposes.

I might have found a new dissertation idea

Now I follow blogs everywhere, but most of my friends are either on blogger or live journal. I had joined live journal after a conversation with a friend a few years back, but it's mostly foolishness for a better word of what I type over there. At any rate, in all my foolishness, I joined groups related to educational psychology among others and somehow ended up communicating with another woman who was also studying at Capella. We finally met in person at my track three colloquium in Chicago in 2008. While she isn't specializing in educational psychology, she still seems pretty connected to all fields in psychology. She recently finished all of her coursework and will be starting her comprehensive exams, so I've been able to provide her feedback on my experiences.

We hadn't spoken in a while. In fact, it had almost been a year since either she or I blogged on livejournal. But about two weeks ago, I saw a blog from her commiserating on her job search. We got back in touch, and I told her about my tribulations over the past six or so months, including my recent lack of a dissertation idea.

And, she gave me a fabulous one to pursue. I suppose I should say I'm glad we're not in the same specialization. We can offer advice to one another without fear that one might steal the other's idea!

At any rate, her idea was to do a study on high school students who are currently enrolled in self-directed transformative education. How do their perceptions and maybe actions change due to a trauma that occurs in their life? Now, there would be a lot of work involved with this topic. I have contacted two virtual academies approved to offer public education in Washington state. But the more I think about it, my study could encompass any state that allows for public virtual education. I would simply need to mail them information, and it may take a bit longer to do my study, but it would give me a greater pool of participants and perhaps be more interesting to see how students in different environments react.

Right now, though, I need to do some research on why a student would pursue self-directed education in the first place. Both schools that I contacted offer this self-directed education to students as young as five years old. Certainly, they are not the ones who make the choice. It could mean, then, that some students who are currently enrolled in these high schools have been conditioned from an early age to embrace virtual education. I would need to find out how long virtual education has been sanctioned in a particular state.

I will update soon.

It's been a while

I apologize for not posting in such a long time. I did pass my comprehensive exams on the first try, but I had a series of health and other setbacks which prevented me from getting very far on my dissertation.

At the present, I have no dissertation idea. I haven't heard from Shelly since early November, and due to some circumstances beyond my control, I have reason to believe she will no longer be assisting me with my dissertation. In addition, the WASL will no longer be offered in Washington thanks to the election of a new superintendent of schools who was elected last November. So, my wonderful idea of looking at learning strategy awareness and standardized testing seems to have been blown out of the water.

I am currently looking at Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi's theory of Flow and the Goal Achievement Theory as possibilities to guide me toward a new dissertation topic.

Wish me luck!