Almost there!

Wiebe, I. [Designer]. (n.d.). No profit: Start finishing. Retrieved on November 13, 2009 from http://wallblank.com/products/start-finishing.

This is something we all have come to understand, as the project has taken its own pace, and sometimes we feel we cannot keep up with it! However, optimism should always be with us and we might find the accomplishment of goals as rewarding adventures!

Just a quick note to jot down a few points:

• Due to the abrupt cancellation of the course at the university, I assigned the remaining tasks for students to work alone. Fortunately, the face-to-face sessions had already finished and the activities we had left were to be done over e-mail exchange. This, by no means, implies a happy, relaxing implementation; in fact, my students have just started a course which takes most of their available time, so only one of them has sent me the assignments.
• The absence of peer-review has affected this last stage, but I expect to be able to obtain the final documents and have them work collaboratively in these two final weeks of November, because as soon as December starts, they are going on vacation.

 What is next?
We have our final presentations of the semester tomorrow to share experiences with our tutors, peers and upcoming researchers, I will let you know how it goes soon! We hope everything goes fine!

Akmezero4. [Designer]. Optimismo. [Online Image]. Retrieved on november 13, 2009 from http://www.flickr.com/photos/akmesevende/3512945319/

 

Coming back to (academic research) life!

Stickman saying "long time no see". [Online Image]. (n.d.). Retrieved on November 6, 2009 from http://rlv.zcache.com/long_time_no_see_postcard-p239738589187726208qibm_400.jpg.

Honestly, neither the title nor the picture are shows of cynicism! I apologise to anyone who has visited the blog, looking for updates, but due to a series of (fairly) unfortunate events, I had not been able to publish anything related to the activities performed in my research project. However, I will try to describe the most important events in our classroom these days in this post and I make a firm promise not to let these events occur again!

What has happened in this (already gone!) month? 
After the visit from my tutors, we had to design a data collection instruments report and , while I was preparing it, something fantastic happened: I discovered the main construct framing my research project implementation: the 8LEM. It is a recently devised and comprehensive learning model which considers eight different events involving four different aspects in each one of them: roles, domain, learning places and theories. The advantage of this construct is the high demand it poses for a far more rigourous approach, which I find fitting my own research style. If you are interested in obtaining further information about the 8LEM, see Leclercq & Pounay (2005) below.

However fantastic this finding might have been, as I mentioned above, some events have hindered my degree of commitment to the writing side of the project, and there are lots of ideas going round my head which I need to put down soon; I hope these two coming weeks grant me some more chances to do it. I am meeting my research project director next week and I am looking forward to that meeting to fine-tune some of these ideas.

Some additional concerns about my students 
Due to the nature of the programme my students are taking, there were some changes last  week: the biggest change somewhat affects the last stage of the project: their English course was shortened and the last session was last Wednesday. It was an abrupt change and I had no time to prepare an alternative strategy. On the bright side, there are just a  few activities left to complete the implementation cycle and they willingly offered to work on their own -which is just right for this stage, to complete it. It was rewarding to see how, not being obliged to continue doing anything else to continue this course, they offered to keep on for a few weeks.

The main effect will be that I will not be able to do the impromptu essay writing I had designed for the last session, nor the interview to collect data on motivational issues.

What's next?: Hand ticking a box. [Online Image]. (n.d.). Retrieved on November 6, 2009 from http://destinationmali.org/images/What's-the-next-step2.png

What is next? 
These new conditions call for immediate and appropriate decisions. I have already sent an update chart to my students letting them know which activities they have performed and which stage they are in the writing process, so that we can confirm that where we are and what we need to carry out to finish the cycle. I hope to receive their reply by Tuesday 10 November the latest and design a very strict calendar to finish the activities left.

Then, I will need to design an online survey to replace the interview  I had initially planned and find  an alternative for the exit essay and the exit learner profile. 

I will update this blog next week and I will report decisions regarding the issues mentioned above. Until then, thanks a lot for reading and I hope you have enjoyed reading as much as I did writing this.

Sincerely,

Víctor Lugo 
 References 
Leclercq, D. & Poumay, M. (2005) The 8 Learning Events Model and its principles. Retrieved on October http://www.labset.net/media/prod/8LEM.pdf.

Stickman saying "long time no see". [Online Image]. (n.d.). Retrieved on November 6, 2009 from http://rlv.zcache.com/long_time_no_see_postcard-p239738589187726208qibm_400.jpg.

What's next?: Hand ticking a box. [Online Image]. (n.d.). Retrieved on November 6, 2009 from http://destinationmali.org/images/What's-the-next-step2.png