Professional Development Statement
Before I started my journey in the Learning, Design, and Technology (LDT) program, I set up many goals and objectives for my professional development as a graduate student and a scholar. Throughout my first semester last Fall, the courses that I took and the people I met motivated me to attend as many professional development activities as possible if time allowed. There are mainly three categories of my professional development activities: research, teaching, and service, which align with my career goal of being a faculty member in a research-oriented university.
Research
In the past two semesters, I attended and presented in regional and international conferences. In November 2021, I attended the 2021 AECT International Convention virtually. Although I was not a presenter at the conference, the first experience of observing presentations in different topics by many professionals worldwide was very beneficial to me. This conference was hosted after two months since I entered the LDT program. During that time, I was struggling to narrow down my research interest, and I was greatly inspired by the presentations and discussions of many researchers at the conference. I also served as a volunteer to moderate and facilitate the presentations and discussions in the assigned Zoom rooms for many sessions. This volunteer experience provided me with more chances to talk to professionals and understand the process and expectations of presenting at a conference. After this experience, I had the opportunity to work with my major professor on a research project and a poster presentation at the 14th Annual Conference on Higher Education Pedagogy in early February 2022. This was my first time attending and co-presenting at a conference in person. I realized how important it is to meet and talk to people face-to-face. I was able to make connections and expand my network by attending other researchers’ presentations and visiting their posters. I was also able to receive questions and suggestions on the poster that was presented by my major professor and me. Shortly after this conference, in late February 2022, I attended and co-presented at the 2022 SoTL Commons Conference in person. It was a poster presentation focusing on Adaptive Learning, which is my research interest. I developed the proposal with help and advice from my major professor, and luckily, the proposal was accepted into a poster presentation. During the communication and interaction with other researchers, I learned a lot about the future direction of the topic, questions and suggestions, and the significance of my study. The three conferences that I attended so far prepared me for continuing to develop my research skills. I also worked with my peers and initiated a collaborative research project. We developed and submitted another research proposal together aiming for a presentation at the 2022 AECT International Convention, and this time, I hope I can present in a concurrent session in person. In addition to attending the conferences, I’m currently working as a Research Assistant. I assist with the curriculum mapping process for the AU/UGA Medical Partnership Program. Other duties in this position include data management and data coding. This experience helps gain some knowledge and skills on instructional design as well as quantitative and qualitative data analysis.
Teaching
Research is one part of my life being a graduate student, and I’m also passionate about the teaching opportunities in the LDT program. Although I don’t work as a teaching assistant currently, I have spent some time on preparing myself to teach undergraduate students. I took the GRSC 7770 in my second semester to get familiar with graduate teaching and practice my teaching skills. I also applied for a TA position in the coming Fall semester. While I work as a Graduate Assistant (GA) at the Office of Global Engagement, I’m developing course instructional materials through learning management systems including eLC and Canvas. I also serve as a training facilitator for instructors of the African Civic Engagement Academy (ACEA) to transition from eLC to Canvas and launch the program in June 2022. This GA position provided me with opportunities and access to get a deep understanding of learning management systems. This also gave me insight into conducting research using the platforms of learning management systems.
Service
The third category, service, is also important to me because I enjoy using my expertise to support the community. Besides being a volunteer at the 2021 AECT Convention, I served as a judge at the 2021 Barrow County School System Technology Competition. I judged many products in the competition mainly focusing on Digital Photography and Game Design. I was inspired a lot by some products made by the students. It was amazing to see and understand students’ thoughts and angles of expressing themselves through the creative products. Shortly after this competition, I was invited to serve as a judge again at the 2022 Georgia State Technology Competition. The products in this competition were more sophisticated and well-developed because at the state level, the participants were the winners from the previous rounds. I didn’t only give a grade and leave my advice for being a judge, but also learned a lot from students’ creativity and meaningful products.
Throughout my entire journey of my PhD program, I will keep attending the professional development activities. I’m grateful for the various resources and opportunities provided by the department and each faculty member. I believe that the professional development activities help me become a successful and productive scholar.