After approximately five years of study at Lancaster University, my PhD in E-Research and Technology Enhanced Learning is complete. I’m thrilled that it’s over, but it still feels a bit surreal. I’m looking forward to the graduation ceremony in the summer.
Reflection
After completing five empirical studies (one of which was published) and a 50,000-word thesis, I’m glad to be taking a short break away from academia. During my time at Lancaster, I completed a certificate in Cognitive Psychology at Cambridge and several other short courses, all while working. So it’s been an intense time of constant work. I definitely wouldn’t recommend this approach, but I’ve learnt a lot about myself in general. I’ve learnt to recognise what too much work is, as well as my preferred way of working.
My PhD has helped me to understand what it means to undertake a long-term research project, and I’ve learnt so much about conducting research and exploring technology-enhanced learning topics from an academic perspective. However, it’s not something to undertake lightly. The process is rigorous, and when I moved into Part 2 to complete my final thesis, there were times when I’d rewrite entire chapters of work several times over and over. The process of reading, rewriting, waiting for feedback, reading, rewriting, and waiting for feedback was painful at times. There was blood, sweat and tears and there were many times when I just wanted to quit and walk away. A special thanks goes out to my supervisor, who kept me sane, guided me through the process and provided me with support and detailed feedback.
The Viva
I found the lead-up to the Viva (the final oral exam) really stressful. I felt underprepared, so I arranged to have an external mock viva with Peter Smith which I booked via The PhD People. I can thoroughly recommend this. Peter really helped put me at ease, and I gained so much confidence in talking about my research that I hadn’t gained via the University. The whole session was recorded using Read Ai, and I received feedback from Peter and a transcript/insights from Read. So I could watch the entire session and take notes on my experience. In addition, Peter’s book “The PhD Viva: How to Prepare for Your Oral Examination” is also a great reference resource and helped me to understand the process and prepare.
My actual Viva was not an entirely different experience; it felt more intense, but many of the questions were similar. My examiners put me at ease and were very thorough. I wouldn’t say I enjoyed my viva, but it was great to talk to experts in the field about my research. I received minor amendments to my thesis afterwards, which took a couple of days to complete.
Conferences
In general, talking about my research is one area in which I felt like I lacked confidence. I felt a tad disconnected from the University at times. Even though I’d receive a lot of information via email about sharing sessions and workshops etc, I didn’t really know how to engage fully. When I attended the mLearning conference last year, I felt I had missed an opportunity to present my work. As I don’t work in academia, the conference process is a bit alien to me.
My Thesis Summarised by NotebookLM
Finally, Ai has come into being a little late into my PhD journey (although that might be a good thing? I’m not sure). After depositing my thesis to the University, I decided to upload a copy of it to Google NotebookLM, which is a notetaking and research assistant. NotebookLM has an interesting feature where it creates a podcast-style discussion from the sources you upload. I thought it was quite interesting to hear what the Ai thought of my final thesis, in particular, the way it summarised my work.
There are definitely areas that have been taken out of context, and there are a couple of odd buzzwords included and mispronunciations, but it was an interesting experiment. If you want to hear a bit about what my PhD is about, then this is a good starting point.
What Next?
A lot of my fellow cohort members have now finished their studies. It was a shame that the in-person residentials were cancelled due to COVID, as it would have been nice to have met with my fellow cohort. I’ll be graduating in the summer, and I think at least one other member of my cohort will be there, so it’ll be nice to share experiences and meet some of the faculty in person.
Even though I say I am taking a break, I have already started studying towards a CIPD in L&D, as I really want to broaden and connect my academic knowledge to organisational and corporate practices. Over Christmas I decided I wasn’t going to set myself any new goals until the spring, so for now I’m not going to promise anything.
References