I passed my dissertation proposal defense in June. The proposal consisted of the first 4 chapters of my dissertation. These are Problem Statement, Literature Review, Theoretical Frameworks, and Methodology. These chapters may have to change a bit depending of what I find in the actual research but will very likely be mostly done.
I was hoping to start filming at the end of the school year but the IRB approval (which was quick) only left me a week at the very busy end of school year. So I taped 4 kids doing the warm-up task but am going to defer the main filming until next year. Because my sixth graders graduated, I will do my normal robotics units with my sixth and second grade classes first thing next school year and film 6 of each grade in the October/November timeframe.
That gives me a bit of a break until then, which is nice. I am have been pushing myself very hard the last 3 years and moving very fast so a little rest was needed. I have a few books to read and I will analyze my warm-up tasks after I finish robotics curriculum consulting job this summer but the change of pace is very much appreciated. I won’t have a strict deadline either to finish the disseration but I am shooting for fall 2016. That will give me 3 semesters to film, analyze, and write.
