The End in Sight

I can't write too much today--the ICA submission deadline is Monday. I'm going to make it. I should have one paper submitted by tomorrow, and the other possibly tomorrow, but Monday at the latest.

Progress and A Cool Distraction

Making progress on the two ICA submissions that I'm working on. Both papers are coauthored, and I sent a revision of the Lit, Methods, and Results to my coauthor yesterday. Just some polishing and the discussion section to go. I'm hoping to spend a decent part of today working on the other one.

I saw a very interesting idea recently. It's a project called National Novel Writing Month. The idea is that you write 50,000 words in 30 days. I wrote short stories when I was younger, and the idea of writing a novel intrigues me. I can't do it this year, but I like the idea of planning for it next year. They suggest having an outline and plot notes (but no prose) in advance. The website says that getting a mediocre novel on paper will get you further toward publishing a book than saying "one day, I'll write a novel." If you would like more information, check it out at www.nanowrimo.org. Maybe I'll have more time to pursue hobbies after tenure (don't we all say that).

Google Reader and A Busy Week

It's been a busy month. I had 184 posts on my blog reader, and I don't follow that many blogs. I read some of them but had to skim a lot.

The ICA deadline is a week from today. I've got two papers (both coauthored, but both that require significant effort from me) to submit, but a lot of work to do on them in the next week. And my school has a deadline for an internal grant on the same day. Fun times. After that, I've got a host of things for November. It's a busy time.

Can I leave for Thanksgiving early?

I will be gone to NCA the Thursday and Monday before Thanksgiving. An interesting issue has arisen in my organizational communication class. Originally, I had scheduled an activity for Thursday that could be led by someone else and a work day for Monday to give them time to work on their group projects. This week, a student asked me what we'd be doing on that Thursday. When I said I was still thinking about it, she said, "could you decide quickly? It affects travel plans." These students have griped all semester about how they have so little time in class to work on their group projects (and they're all too overcommitted to find time outside of class). This was one of the few times in my teaching experience thus far where I actually had to hold myself back. We are not allowed to "cancel" class, so I have often allowed groups to work on their own and email me a report of what they did as a way of checking attendance. However, I think that I will require them to be in the classroom for both days and have someone come to the class to take attendance. Of all the nerve...

Institutional Review Board

I'm on the IRB at my university. Because of what I research and the way I gather data, nearly all of my research is exempt or at least expedited through review. Today, we met and discussed a proposal from someone in Sports Medicine. The proposal included a dietary supplement and a series of medical tests. After reading all of those descriptions in this 50ish page IRB submission, I'm glad I research my area. Don't get me wrong, I'm glad there are people who feel passionate about medical research. But I'm happy not to be one of them.

New Activities

So I did new things in two of my classes yesterday (which is why I didn't have time to post them yesterday!). In my communication ethics class, we met in one of the university cafeterias in order to talk about ethics outside the classroom (pun very much intended). I passed out the paragraphs that I had students write at the beginning of the semester regarding how they made ethical decisions, and I asked them to make notes on any changes in what they would write now, whether it was a dramatic change of perspective or just a change in vocabulary. They then shared those ideas around a table, and we ended by processing what we've learned so far together. I think it was an idea that I will try to do each semester now.

In my organizational communication class, they presented the methods that they are using for their final org. comm. analysis project. After the presentations, I had them get into groups with people from other research teams and critique each other, giving at least one piece of positive feedback and one piece of negative feedback. I'm not sure yet how that went as far as the students are concerned, but it gave me time to skim through the methods papers. When the research teams came back together at the end of class, I was able to give some feedback to them based on not just their presentations but also their papers. So even if the students didn't get good feedback from each other (which they may have), I was able to give immediate feedback.

I sent the revise and resubmit off yesterday for the paper with the 11-month review. My impression from the editor is to expect a pretty quick turnaround time. Fingers crossed.

Progress

I feel like I'm making some real progress on projects now. The revise and resubmit that I had on the 11-month reviewed article is just about finished. I just need to read over it one more time, and send it off. I have a rough draft of a conference submission that's due at the end of the month, and I'm making strides with a coauthor on another submission to that conference. It's nice to feel more in control. November will have it's busy moments, but hopefully, it'll be manageable.

Generating Traffic

As I've mentioned before, I have this blog on blogger.com and another on wordpress.com. I love the control that I have through Blogger, but it's been interesting to note that Wordpress.com tends to send quite a bit more traffic. A great deal of that could be because of topic/content--the stuff I have on Wordpress reaches a larger audience. Still it's frustrating to have that audience, but not have the control to advertise or add Google Analytics. I know this blog had more traffic over the summer when I was reading other people's blogs, but I just don't have time to keep up right now (I'll bet my reader has well over 200 unread posts).

Meeting about a Grant, Making Time to Think

Met today with someone at my university to think about the grant that I started over the summer. I've fixed the "fatal flaw" now, and I'm moving on to revising the application and sending it off. The meeting with this former program officer went well. Even though he had a lot to say, most of it was framing feedback rather than major changes. He also suggested that I ask my university to commit to some things as gestures of support, including a yearly course release. I'm not sure if that'll get approved or not, but it sounds good to me.

I went to a retreat this past weekend (by choice, not associated with my university) where the speaker quoted someone (C.S. Lewis I think) saying, "creativity is the residue of wasted time." I like that idea. The speaker's point in that part of the retreat is how driven we are to do, do, do, and how little time we have available to think about ideas creatively. I know that's a struggle for me. My pace is such that I hardly have time to think about bigger picture issues and make creative connections between ideas. The speaker encouraged us to talk as if obsessive busyness was a vice rather than a virtue--tough words to live by, but I intend to try.

Helping Students Write Better

This past week, I met with one of my thesis advisees, another graduate student, and a group of seniors working on a project. With each meeting, I went over some of the ideas that they had written in an early draft of whatever they were working on (thesis proposal, class paper that could turn into thesis proposal, literature review of class paper, respectively). All three meetings took quite a bit of time, but I left all three feeling fired up about what I do. Generally speaking, I hate grading. I don't like sifting through stakes of assignments. But when I get the chance to (1) look at something critically, (2) discuss that assignment with the student(s), and (3) leave them encouraged about the core ideas and ready to revise the way those ideas are presented, I am reminded of why I love my job. In this time of uncertainty and rising unemployment, I am truly grateful to have a job, but I am also grateful to be blessed with a job that I love.

New Chairs, Grants, and Finding Time/Energy to Write

My department has chosen and new chair (I was at the meeting where this happened), but for some reason, the decision has not been announced. Not sure why, because Dr. New Chair Candidate had already been asked if he was willing to take the job if offered.

Last week, I got an organization to commit to some research for which I'm writing a grant. One of the grants advisors at my university had told me that not having an organization already on board might be a "fatal flaw" so I have that taken care of, and I'm ready to revise this application a few times and send it off.

I feel like I'm right at the point where my writing is starting to suffer because I'm overcommitted. Until now, I think I've convinced myself that wasn't true (and maybe it really wasn't), but I think I'm teetering on the edge at this point.

Great Exercise

I conducted a fantastic exercise in my organizational communication class today. I had told students that one of the most important things that I wanted them to get out of this class was an understanding of the importance of critical thinking and, when appropriate, dissenting in organizations, but I really don't have any activity or assignment to reinforce that. Over the weekend, I had an epiphany.

Early in the day, I emailed the students saying that I was adding reading quizzes to our class. I said that they would be presenting a summary in groups of the methods for analyzing organizational communication that we've covered in class. And I said that each student would be required to volunteer 4-6 hours at the nonprofit organization that their group was assessing (I had previously said that each group had to volunteer, but that the volunteering could be delegated to a couple of group members). Naturally, I was very unpopular after that email. Then during class, I explained that I wanted to meet with groups individually but that we wouldn't have time for every group during class time (I do plan to do this, but I've alloted class time for it). I explained that at least 2 groups would need to schedule a time to come to my office hours--if they had conflicts, they could call in sick to work or come up with another excuse.

During class, I had several complaints and worked these into a discussion of rocking the boat when managers are irrational, unfair, or unethical. The discussion was great, the surprise that none of that was real was priceless, but more importantly, the opportunity to practice and experience dissenting was invaluable for students. And I think they've forgiven me for the 3 hours of misery that they endured.

Faculty Conference

Today, I'm on my way to a "faculty conference," a retreat where all of the different colleges and schools at my university meet at one place to discuss some topic that is of relevance to all of us. This year, we are talking about "Deep Learning," the ability of former students to retain information years after they graduate. In other words, what from my class do I want students to still remember in 5 years? Missing out on two days of work is tough this time of year, but I think that the conversations will be very useful and inspiring (if I can put my assessment cynicism aside).

Mentoring Young Faculty

During interviews as part of our interim chair search, one candidate mentioned the importance of mentoring young faculty. I've often thought about what that means. Most people that I talk to agree that mentoring young faculty is important, but few can define what that means beyond learning which committee assignments to avoid. I think in terms of research, it means reading drafts of manuscripts and helping with research design. In terms of teaching, I heard someone today talk about the importance of sitting down, discussing what classes you are teaching and want to teach and how can the department help you in such a way that you know what you're going to teach, your new preps are minimized, and you don't teach a class once and never again. I liked that answer. Probably not the whole answer, but a pretty good start.