Ask Doctoral Advising

Throughout my career in consulting and teaching, I have included the subject of procrastination in my various course outlines, syllabi and workshop agendas. Having taught writing, speech and group communication, as well as job search workshops, the topic was always apropos. When have I met individually with clients in the past, the subject frequently came up. At Capella, with milestone deadlines looming, our learners often ask why they procrastinate. Alternatively, as advisors, we sometimes confront learners about their progress on their dissertations and try to determine if procrastination is a significant barrier.

READ MORE

Perhaps one of the most difficult pieces of being an adult and in a doctoral program is being an adult in a doctoral program, yes?  Oh for the life of a traditional-aged school experience, where, for most, life’s responsibilities were limited in comparison.  Today, you’re older, wiser, and steeped with professional and personal responsibilities.  And some how, you reached the conclusion that despite those responsibilities, there was still room to add the demands of a doctoral program.  Fairly incredible if you think about it. 

READ MORE

I’ve happened on quotes about learning that have captured my attention.
Too often we scurry on in our lives and forget to learn.  That happens during the doctoral program, too.  We are so busy accomplishing the assignments, the discussion posts, that we don’t really learn.  We react.

How do you know you are learning?
How do you know you are not learning?  READ MORE

The winter is difficult for me, especially keeping to a running schedule. Before the winter, I scheduled four days of running and three days of cross-training. This winter crushed my motivation, and I took the winter off from running and am experiencing the consequences of my decision. Now, my runs are more difficult, my diet is not as healthy, and my discipline to schedule running has dwindled. Even though I took time off from running, I could have returned to it more smoothly if I had included some running in my schedule. In other words, time off didn’t have to result in inactivity.

Likewise, taking a quarter off from your doctorate can be difficult to return to if you don’t have a plan to stay in academic shape. Before your quarter off, you were in the ebb and flow of research, writing, and thinking about your academic field. To avoid some of the difficulties from returning from a quarter off, stay engaged with your academics.

Here are a few suggestions for your quarter off:

1. Reflect on your development of the doctoral competencies
2. Revisit research topics for possible dissertation ideas
3. Read the literature in your field; for instance, seminal scholars, journals, and articles
4. Write 10-15 minutes daily
5. Look at a dissertation on iGuide with the dissertation locator
6. Ask yourslef what you will do differently next quarter that will contribute to you becoming doctoral

What will your quarter off look like?

The mantra realtors use is, “location, location, location.” I am going to suggest that the mantra for dissertation learners in working with their mentors is, “communication, communication, communication.” READ MORE

Purpose

The purpose of an incomplete is to provide learners who can’t complete a course by the last day of the course due to unforeseen or unavoidable circumstances to complete the course. How do learners receive an incomplete? READ MORE

A colleague of mine recently sent me a Chronicle article titled “Academic Integrity and Student Plagiarism: a Question of Education, not Ethics.”  (Link to Blum’s article: http://chronicle.com/weekly/v55/i24/24a03501.htm?utm_source=at&utm_medium=en)

READ MORE

Developing relationships while you are progressing through your PhD program is not only prudent, it’s essential to your long term success at the doctorate level.  The professors that are teaching your courses will likely be your peers at some point in the future.  This is also true for your fellow Learners.  Why WOULDN’T you develop relationships with these groups?  Don’t hesitate to reach out to people you connect with… and return the favor when people my reach out to you. READ MORE

So, really, why don’t advisors research and publish in their own profession? We know the value of research to ourselves, our profession, our institutions, and especially to our learners. Lack of time, money, energy all contribute, but in my case, I think that my biggest barrier is that I don’t know how to get started. READ MORE

One group of issues that academic advisors assist learners with on a daily basis consists of time lines, deadlines and queues. Every day I hear learners say: “Why does it take so long for Methodology Review Form approval?” The same for dissertation committee approval, proposal review, or final graduation audit, Capella is no different from any institution or similar organization. READ MORE