Edited by Annie Storkey, Friday, 29 Oct 2021, 16:42
This assignment is harder to complete than I thought, and
not necessarily due to the content. November is a busy time for ALs, virtually
all modules have assignments due then and it is a tough schedule to work with,
despite planning ahead and only working part time.
In spite of this, I have really enjoyed this term. It has
reinforced my identity as a researcher within my own field and helped me to
clarify what I want to achieve from my research, enabling me to develop my
ideas on how to achieve this. The professional framework plan has provided me
with a structure in which to develop goals within a manageable timeframe.
The discussion on macro context made me explore further into
the government’s influence on higher education provision. Obviously, I was
aware of the impact of politics on curriculum from my Master in Ed studies but
I hadn’t looked specifically at mental health. I was surprised that meso was
considered a neglected context, as my meso context is a central part of my
proposal, and this made me reflect more on how the OU is a very different
environment to other places of higher education and how working for the OU
reinforces my own values in education and forms its own ‘bubble’. I thought
writing about the micro context would be easier, it is, after all, where I
spend my working life. But in many ways this makes it more challenging as I
realised a lot of what I do is not tangible. But that, obviously, is one of the
reasons why I am doing my research.
Completing this assignment will feel like a firm step on the
path to achieving my doctorate and it is good to get into the writing early.
Reflection on the first month of the Prof Doc
This assignment is harder to complete than I thought, and not necessarily due to the content. November is a busy time for ALs, virtually all modules have assignments due then and it is a tough schedule to work with, despite planning ahead and only working part time.
In spite of this, I have really enjoyed this term. It has reinforced my identity as a researcher within my own field and helped me to clarify what I want to achieve from my research, enabling me to develop my ideas on how to achieve this. The professional framework plan has provided me with a structure in which to develop goals within a manageable timeframe.
The discussion on macro context made me explore further into the government’s influence on higher education provision. Obviously, I was aware of the impact of politics on curriculum from my Master in Ed studies but I hadn’t looked specifically at mental health. I was surprised that meso was considered a neglected context, as my meso context is a central part of my proposal, and this made me reflect more on how the OU is a very different environment to other places of higher education and how working for the OU reinforces my own values in education and forms its own ‘bubble’. I thought writing about the micro context would be easier, it is, after all, where I spend my working life. But in many ways this makes it more challenging as I realised a lot of what I do is not tangible. But that, obviously, is one of the reasons why I am doing my research.
Completing this assignment will feel like a firm step on the path to achieving my doctorate and it is good to get into the writing early.