Each individual living within society needs to understand the nature of contemporary thought with respect to the speed of modern communication. Every new method of digital communication builds a certain degree of shared understanding. The depth of communication seems to be changing. People seem to have given up classic argument formats in favor of...
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Education
Considering Communication
Document Fatigue
After reading the same pages over and over again a certain degree of fatigue sets in for the reader. For a writer this type of document fatigue can be incredibly befuddling. Editing a document to some degree remains conceptual. Grammarian concerns stand as a constant reminder of the grand construct of language hierarchy. Within...
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Ceiling Repairs
The following prose involves a few notes about the process of ceiling repairs. Instead of hiring a trained professional, to attempt the repairs a decision has been made to attempt the repair process.
Yesterday, a few early hours of the morning involved a few home repairs. Even a brand new house involves a certain...
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Citizens College Reconsidered
Here are a few written notes from the very successful and well attended 2009 El Paso County Citizens’ College. Saturday September 19, 2009, marked the second day of the two day compressed/accelerated 2009 El Paso County Citizens’ College sponsored by the Citizen Outreach Group of El Paso County, Colorado. The selection process included the...
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The habit of writing
Individuals can generate prose in many ways. Writing almost becomes a way of life. In some ways, conversation becomes almost tedious. Without hesitation, writing provides a more direct controlled method of disseminating information compared to conversation. The very relationship described by dialogue introduces a degree of complexity. Written communication offers the writer a simpler...
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Continuity Questions
Perhaps now would be a good time for a few words about the subject of continuity. At some level, most of the basic interactions between individuals occur based on a degree of assumed continuity. The people living within a society can share a general sentiment. Over the last few months or even over parts...
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Dangerously Distracting Distractions
Now would be the time to advance the cause. All the distractions of the world must disappear. If the distractions can disappear even for a moment, then the cause might advance forward beyond current expectations. Revelations about the cause develop almost spontaneously. Distractions crowd out momentum. A few ounces of momentum develop from necessity....
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Practical Discourse Considerations
What exactly is privileged about certain types of discourse? Academics tend to use a specialized language for discussions with academics within the same field or a related field. Even discussions between academics from different disciplines can remove the conditions necessary to engage in privileged discourse.
Consider the ramifications of randomly engaging in discussions with...
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Daily Distractions
Go to the office to work. Sit down at the computer to write. Wait for the computer to start. Maybe getting a drink would help. The coffee maker is in the kitchen. Ignore the distractions and focus on the immediate tasks. Maybe get a glass of water until the coffee maker is finished. Just...
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Balancing creativity and implementation
Finding tasks that provide a sense of accomplishment is not always easy. I know that waking up in the morning is the beginning of a process that requires letting Peppercorn the dog outside, reading the newspaper, and then writing the rest of the morning. Something about the freedom to write about whatever topic comes...
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Striving toward productivity
What are the factors that actually cause a person to be more productive on a daily basis? I need to determine a way to figure out how the factors that contribute to productivity can be studied. At times things seem to be developing the momentum of a boulder rolling down a mountain. At other...
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Congratulations Dr. Jaccie!
Some congratulations should be extended to Dr. Jaccie for a successful dissertation defense yesterday. It seems like just yesterday that Dr. Jaccie and I graduated beyond bachelor degrees to the somewhat elusive degree of master from the University of Kansas. Right now, I tip my hat to the accomplishments of Dr. Jaccie for winning...
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Questions about doctoral education
Perhaps it is important to note that every once in awhile someone sends an email full of questions about doctoral education after reading the weblog. I am glad people are able to find the weblog. Doctoral education programs are about the training an individual receives in terms of research skills, critical thinking, and of...
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Consideration of meaningful commentary
As the academic residency enters the second week, students seem to work toward accomplishing goals and objectives. During the Applied Management and Decision Sciences conference last week, questions about the path to publishing developed. Writing a journal article is about finding a voice to communicate meaningful commentary and findings on a topic of importance...
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Expanded Residency Notes: January 15-27, 2006
At the end of the Dallas academic residency, all of the residency notes receive extensive expansion into a more readable version denoted as the extended residency notes. Part of taking notes during a residency is about having the information necessary to complete a reflective review of learning opportunities and possibilities. Writing a reflective essay...
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Higher Education Tuesday
Getting ready for the weekend has already started to occupy planning concerns. Most of the last few days have been devoted to preparing a conference paper for final submission and editing the Knowledge Area Module. Normally writing is not the challenging part of finishing a paper the process of editing is usually the major...
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Anonymous experience
Last night and this morning have been full of reflection and consideration of what conditions merit the need to write anonymously. Modern society provides a certain degree of freedom of speech. Maybe the value of protecting the integrity of individual voice and the power that writing affords an individual throughout the currents of history...
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Understanding Reliability
For most students keeping up with the daily stress of homework assignments and deadlines corresponds to attendance demands in the classroom. In the information age, digital forums provide the possibility to engage in academic discourse from anywhere in the world at anytime. Aside from the realities of asynchronous learning models, outside the isolation provided...
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Literature Fog
Consider for a moment, that every once in awhile, in certain academic circles, somebody will take the time to discuss the concept of muddling through a literature review induced fog. Sitting around a table with a massive stack of peer reviewed journal articles can be so overwhelming that it can slow down the entire...
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Academic Blogging Revisited
Most people tend to argue that blogging is a mostly harmless activity that floods the internet with ranting and raving about food, politics, and entertainment. However, exactly what happens when someone ventures outside the ivory tower of academia to broadcast thoughts throughout across the world is not reasonably clear at this time. Highly educated...
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Facing the edge of change
Knowing what to next is akin to predicting the future over a cup of coffee, which at times can be an exploratory device, but mostly just results an a series of guesses and exaggerations. What does it take to find out what is next on the road of life? Most people spend hours if...
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Understanding the path
At what point is it time to say good morning to the rest of life and retire current ambitions, dreams, and inspirations. Higher education has to be about something more than just how it changes people from noble idealists to practical realists. A dissertation is really just a test to see how motivated, dedicated,...
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Troublesome Tuesday
Any morning that starts with Schezuan style beef, vegetables, and rice should be pleasant and enjoyable, but today the journey throughout the higher education course work at Walden University started to take a different direction. Today marks the start of a pivotal research methodology class that involves foundations of dissertation design. Learning about how...
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Navigating Statistical Methods Courses
Passing the last in a long line of statistics classes has weighted on a trip to the Black Canyon of the Gunnison National Park, countless snacks, and of course a succession of sleepless night. Everything worked out in the end and passing statistics was the last major hurdle on the way toward reaching a...
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Good morning, brick oven pizza
Besides of course have a fascination with mixing Crispex breakfast cereal with popcorn for breakfast nothing makes for a better snack than a couple slices of brick oven pizza. They even have this funny brick oven pizza with potatoes and bacon bits, which of course is a personal favorite despite the oddity associated with...
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Should we make time for higher education?
Today for the first time the email inbox held an uplifting and inspiring note from a Walden University student studying Public Policy and Administration specifically focusing on E-Government.
Since 1998, the number of people visiting the website has gone up and down, but rarely has it inspired such an inspiring and thought provoking note. Rarely...
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Walden University Residency Thursday
At the end of any journey, the beginning starts to come into focus to a degree that is only possible through the perspective provided by reflection. Arguments aside the merit of collaborative dialogue is enough reason to engage in academic residencies. Life long learning has to become a mantra that is socially acceptable to...
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Divergent Research Interests
Wake up turn on the television to the normal morning regimen of headline news programs and sports talk television, or maybe if it is a slow media day to the Spike television channel for a morning of Star Trek Deep Space Nine. Mindless television helps fill the transitional space between the shock of being...
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Sunday in Bloomington Indiana
Breakfast this morning in the Tudor Room at the Indiana University Memorial Student Union involved a student playing a grand piano in the background. Most breakfast buffets seem to have a similar set of menu items, but this buffet served fried green tomatoes, cream smothered asparagus, and spinach whipped quiche. Dark coffee, fresh orange...
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Routine good morning presentation
The presentation format this morning involved ten tables with static presenters and several hundred students rotating on fifteen-minute intervals. After the second fifteen-minute presentation, all of the questions started to blend, which became problematic after the fifth presentation when the presentations started to blend. Presenting papers at conferences is essential to success in higher...
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