Change in Graduation Plans

An Unexpected Delay

Last week I was dealt a devastating blow – I learned I’ll graduate a semester later than I thought. Instead of this December, I won’t toss my cap until next May. Seems the graduation process is a little more involved than I thought and my advisor recommended giving it the commitment it deserves. I’ll write up 3 case studies of past projects, present them in a short speech, and then take 45 minutes of Q&A from two of my past professors.

Reflecting on What I Learned

Actually, it sounds like fun. A chance to marinate in metacognition. I’ll relook at a lot of what I learned in the past three or four years with the goal of spotting patterns and connections among models and theories. It’ll also give me a chance to clean up my 10 stuffed binders of old class material and find things I forgot about. I plan to convert all the goodies to some type of digital personal library of references and job aids. I’m giddy just thinking about it. Really.

A Lifelong Learner
The downside is that I got ahead of myself. I was already making reading lists and planning little classes I could join like gardening or knitting. I even had thoughts of what I could learn next in the ISD field. I’m a big believer in having a solid base. I’m not the sort to just jump in. So, for me, learning instructional design and performance engineering meant knowing the basics and the history and the theories – which is where my Master’s program comes in. I also believe that a base is not the end. It’s just the beginning.

The fun begins when you can build off of the base and explore from there. I started foraging a while back, but not properly, just getting my toes wet. So, I’m disappointed that I’ll have to postpone it even longer. In my next post, I’ll toss out my ideas for transitioning from a cultivated ISD garden to a wild ISD garden, dynamic, bountiful, and full of unexpected treasures.

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Photo credit:

• Car tire - http://www.flickr.com/photos/anijdam/ / CC BY 2.0
• Wildflowers - http://www.flickr.com/photos/drachenspinne/ / CC BY 2.0