Self-Assessment
Introduction
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The self-assessment portion of the first-year review provides me an opportunity to reflect upon my first year as a doctoral student. There have been areas of growth such as the experience I gained in teaching and doing research. However, there remain areas where more growth is needed. Such as time management, writing, communication, and developing a scholarly identity. As I come to the end of my first year as a doctoral student, I’ve experienced a lot. The best way to caption this year has been that I am officially marked for life, which is elaborated upon at the end of my reflections.
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Course Work & Research
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The courses I’ve taken so far have provided me with opportunities to develop into a researcher. The doctoral seminar taught me that I’m a young scholar and as such it’s presented challenges as well as inspiration into ways of accomplishing scholarly research. In Foundations, I discovered a concept that I’m hoping will be the cornerstone of my research as a future scholar. This concept is computational craft. I’m still flushing out and discovering what computational craft will be in a learning environment in the conceptual framework course, but I’m optimistic about the possibilities this concept has to make a difference in STEM education. Computational crafting will blend design principles from computational thinking, novel approaches to STEM education such as craft technology and maker education. Plus, STEM inclusion theories. The design studio and design-based research methodology are going to be key practices for my research. I plan to use the design studio to refine my design of a computational craft intervention. The design-based research methodology will be used to evaluate the computational craft’s design.
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Teaching & Service
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This past year I’ve had the honor of serving as an intern for the EDIT 4100 - Makerspace class. During that time, I gained experience as a teaching aid in an undergraduate course. From this experience, I observed the work associated with being an instructor of an undergraduate course. This experience has alleviated some of my fears of being an instructor. Another teaching and service experience I had this year was as an instructor’s technical aid during the Black Girls Code (Atlanta Chapter) machine learning workshop. My goal for participating in that event was to gain experience facilitating informal coding sessions. I also wanted to observe how that organization planned, led, and structured their events to inform my work with the Girl Scouts. My takeaway from that experience is that my sessions with the Girl Scouts were very similar to the BGC event, except in scale and resources.
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Continued Growth
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In this section, I highlight the areas of my doctoral experience where I need more growth and revision. One of those areas is time management. I would like to devote more time to my research as well as engaging in more research projects, but a challenge I’m dealing with is how to manage my time while not sacrificing my health and wellness. Another area needing review is my communication skills. I’ve considered joining student organizations that focus on communication, public speaking, or performance. I’ve even discussed taking a public speaking course with my advisor. I’m open to suggestions for improvement in this area as I know public speaking is a major component of academia. Which leads me to the area of developing a scholarly identity. One way, outside of our research, is through making a conscious effort to participate in more LDT activities. I did this one-week last fall. I could tell there was a difference during that week compared to other weeks where I would spend more time working.
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Marked for Life
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This past spring, I went through a personal journey in which I was left with a physical marker that I will have for the rest of my life. That’s the way I think of my first-year in review. I’ve been marked. I have gained experience in research, teaching, and service. These experiences have challenged me and changed me for the better. I look forward to addressing the areas in need of improvement and the process of becoming a scholar. No matter the outcome of my first-year review, I can say that I have been marked for life by my LDT experience and changed for the better.