ASEE Experiences
I'm currently at ASEE 2017 (https://www.asee.org/conferences-and-events/conferences/annual-conference/2017). It's a lot of fun. I met a whole bunch of new people. While the first one was primarily fun, I find that I have formed a professional goal for this conference, and I've had some success working at it - and with it I've done quite a decent amount of networking.
My goal for this conference, after getting my presentation off my chest, has been to field ideas for carving out a dissertation from the Capstone to Work project that I've been working on.
I have a lot written down already, and I'll probably copy and paste.
But with this conference I also find myself with a clearer picture developing of my position in the field, and with that a clearer picture of my own life, honestly. For instance, I still need to read the slow professor, but currently if it requires the speed with which many of my elders seem to move, I do not think I will be able to stomach it. I have a broader interest than most, and find myself asking questions that don't have anything to do with engineering education. My interests are also "unconventional" in the sense that they do not hop along current trends. I think that is mostly a bad thing, and I hope that by next conference I have learned more about how to write with currency.
But on that note, I find that constraining my dissertation idea to the dataset of students undergoing a capstone to workplace transition is very helpful and alien to me. It forces me to think about questions that people will already have interest in, instead of taking something that I find extremely interesting and trying to convince other people that it is interesting. I haven't learned yet how to craft questions that are interesting to other people, rather I have ideas that sound good, and are interesting in the sense of promising change if answered. I would rather ask questions that promise change if the answer is followed through on. I think there is a difference in the craft of these questions with respect to their orientation towards impact.
Essentially I am trying to balance my interest in the research question, with others interest in the research question. There is of course some overlap, but I must find the question where they are both high. I feel as though my interest in the question is more highly correlated to how trustworthy the answer can be, and how well the question aligns with my ideas about what is objectively good and bad for engineering and people at large. The interest of others seems more highly correlated with what is easier to grasp, what connects with them personally and experientially. I hope I don't sound too elitist! I guess I just have a problem with writing questions and explaining ideas in an accessible way. That's what one of my GRFP reviewers said, anyway.
Not to be distractable, but, I just finished watching this youtube video:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OGEr6P3MDpk&spf
and it wasn't exactly relevant until the very end, with the quote:
"If you want to tell people the truth, make them laugh, otherwise they'll kill you"
Makes a lot of sense. Maybe I need to be a little more humorous about my accessibility as well. I do try to inject humor into presentations, but maybe inject is the wrong word, and presentations not enough.
Anyways, I've decided against the dissertation dump copy and paste.
My goal for this conference, after getting my presentation off my chest, has been to field ideas for carving out a dissertation from the Capstone to Work project that I've been working on.
I have a lot written down already, and I'll probably copy and paste.
But with this conference I also find myself with a clearer picture developing of my position in the field, and with that a clearer picture of my own life, honestly. For instance, I still need to read the slow professor, but currently if it requires the speed with which many of my elders seem to move, I do not think I will be able to stomach it. I have a broader interest than most, and find myself asking questions that don't have anything to do with engineering education. My interests are also "unconventional" in the sense that they do not hop along current trends. I think that is mostly a bad thing, and I hope that by next conference I have learned more about how to write with currency.
But on that note, I find that constraining my dissertation idea to the dataset of students undergoing a capstone to workplace transition is very helpful and alien to me. It forces me to think about questions that people will already have interest in, instead of taking something that I find extremely interesting and trying to convince other people that it is interesting. I haven't learned yet how to craft questions that are interesting to other people, rather I have ideas that sound good, and are interesting in the sense of promising change if answered. I would rather ask questions that promise change if the answer is followed through on. I think there is a difference in the craft of these questions with respect to their orientation towards impact.
Essentially I am trying to balance my interest in the research question, with others interest in the research question. There is of course some overlap, but I must find the question where they are both high. I feel as though my interest in the question is more highly correlated to how trustworthy the answer can be, and how well the question aligns with my ideas about what is objectively good and bad for engineering and people at large. The interest of others seems more highly correlated with what is easier to grasp, what connects with them personally and experientially. I hope I don't sound too elitist! I guess I just have a problem with writing questions and explaining ideas in an accessible way. That's what one of my GRFP reviewers said, anyway.
Not to be distractable, but, I just finished watching this youtube video:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OGEr6P3MDpk&spf
and it wasn't exactly relevant until the very end, with the quote:
"If you want to tell people the truth, make them laugh, otherwise they'll kill you"
Makes a lot of sense. Maybe I need to be a little more humorous about my accessibility as well. I do try to inject humor into presentations, but maybe inject is the wrong word, and presentations not enough.
Anyways, I've decided against the dissertation dump copy and paste.
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