Taking the Leadership
Foundations in Research course was a rewarding experience. I believe it was a
valuable use of my time and has provided me with tools that will be useful in
both future classes and life.
There were positive aspects
of the course and taking it on-line. I was glad to have the opportunity to set
my own schedule and to utilize my years of work experience as a reference. The
book we were initially assigned by Nosich (2012) was a positive
place to kick off the class. Delving into critical thinking and taking the time
to practice the tools in each chapter was an invaluable way to get back into
study mode after not having had to do so in a very long time. The opportunities
to create a survey on-line and attempt action research were also new areas for
me to examine. Though I didn’t think I
would, I ended up finding the research we did on qualitative and quantitative
studies to be very interesting and useful. In fact, I now view reports at work
differently after applying critical thinking skills and from my new found knowledge
of qualitative and quantitative studies. Having insights to the shortcomings of
each type of research, I have a better idea what questions to ask. The small
scale research project felt like a perfect appetizer for future classwork and
the Capstone project.
There were negative
aspects of the course. The lack of interaction with other students and with the
instructor was a part that I truly missed. The limited interaction did allow
for glimpses of what my classmates may be like, but nothing of major substance.
One of the benefits I had heard about from friends that have earned their
advanced degrees was the camaraderie and friendships they gained through the
shared experience and insights of classmates. While the discussion questions
did allow an avenue for sharing of some information, the volume was minor
compared to live interaction. The instructor, to me, was more like a tour guide
than a mentor. He could point out some items, but wasn’t readily available for
answers or critique. I have little doubt that the instructors have mountains of
assignments to grade each week. That amount of workload has to limit the amount
of time they can spend on providing feedback to just minutes per student.
The strict adherence to
APA 6th edition style was a very difficult barrier to overcome. If
it were not for a graduate of Embry-Riddle telling me about EndNote X7.1 © software,
I would not have passed this course. That fact is a shame. The software is sold
through the vendor on the Embry-Riddle portal page. The fact the instructor or
school never mentioned it was surprising to me.
I will look for an
opportunity to attend one of the classes at the local Embry-Riddle campus, if I
can. My schedule is rife with travel that pops-up which makes the World-wide
campus the preferred option for me, though. I will make more effort to reach
out to my instructor in the future, too. Admittedly, during this course I was
extremely busy with work and had a major family situation occur in the middle.
I will attempt to moderate my work commitments in the future.
One idea I had about bringing
the class and instructor a little closer to the students would be to include a
short video intro to each week’s lesson. Even if he or she filmed it on a
webcam and uploaded it, I think the connection would be a positive one. Anything
to get more interaction than via written electronic media would be a plus.
I’m proud to be at the
end of this course and appeared to have completed it to a high level of
performance. I have one step down on the path to a Master’s degree. However, it
was a very big step.
Nosich, G. M. (2012). Learning To Think Things Through: a guide to
critical thinking across the curriculum (J. McPherson Ed. 4th ed. Vol. 1).
Boston, MA: Pearson Education.
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