Top Ten Pieces of Advice During Your Dissertation

1.    Your spouse will think you have abandoned him/her.   Help them understand its only   temporary abandonment, and that you do love them more than the dissertation, contrary to what it looks like, or the amount of time that is spent with them.

2.    No matter how right you think you are, your committee chair is more right.

3.     When defending never say, “I don’t know.”

4.     During your dissertation:  1. God    2. Committee Chair   3.  Spouse

5.     Plan you defense for the morning, use the rest of the day for minor fixes.

6.     Vomiting or fainting is not recommended during your defense.

7.     All suggestions made by your committee are good suggestions.

8.     If you use a statistician… understand every number, reason behind the number, where   the number came from, and why that number is important.

9.     Dissertations can be written on napkins.  (Dr. Dunn cited a source)

10.  If you fail to regard the above suggestions, you can purchase your degree from England!

I have taken some liberties in writing these thoughts; they are only a reflection of what I captured in today’s discussion.  These are not direct quotes from Dr. Dunn; although, he did inspire the message.

Doctoral Intensive Introduction

This weekend I have driven to Lynchburg, Virginia to take a week long "intensive" at Liberty University. As a requirement for the course, I will be making daily posts on my progress and reflect on what I am learning day.  Today is a reflection on technology in general.  Since I teach the technology courses at Olivet, I am a very big believer in technology, its uses in the classroom, and the direction that education is going with the development of technology for schools.  I understand the disadvantages that it brings, but in my opinion the advantages far out weigh the disadvantages.  I think it is imperative that the next generation of teachers are widely exposed and have the understanding and ability to utilize all types of technologies in their classroom. With the expansion of mobile devices, the future options will be endless for the students of tomorrow.  Its an exciting field.  There is almost too much to keep up with, but as I tell my students... find something you like and become good at it.  Then find something else you like and continue growing and developing your skills and abilities with technology.