Summer and a new start
by catherinecronin
Summer 2013. It’s midway through August; our new and returning students will be joining us soon, both physically and virtually. It’s been a productive and exciting academic year and an outstanding summer here in Ireland. Next year promises to be even more interesting… today I learned that I have received funding for beginning work on my PhD next month! This has been a long time in the thinking and planning stages, so it’s wonderful to be getting started down that road. I’ll be pursuing the PhD by research here at NUI Galway, with Dr. Iain MacLaren as my main supervisor. I plan to explore open education, particularly focusing on issues of access, equality and identity. This blog will continue to be my hub for developing and sharing ideas; I look forward to continuing to engage with many others doing similar work and research.
To mark the end of summer and the start of a new academic year, I’m very happy to be participating in the annual eAssessment Scotland conference next week. The conference is unique, combining two weeks of open online conference activity with a one-day on-site conference at the University of Dundee on August 23rd. During the one-day conference, I’ll explore “Assessment in Open Spaces”, Helen Keegan will speak about “Structured Webs, Learning Chaos and Assessment”, Fiona Leteney will explain plans for Tin Can API, and there will be a variety of workshops by Doug Belshaw, Sally Brown, Domi Sinclair, Barry Ryan, and many more. Hope you can join us!
Image: CC BY-NC-SA 2.0 catherinecronin
catherinecronin 
Best of Luck, Catherine!
Sally
Many thanks, Sally! Looking forward to continued discussions with you 🙂
Good luck with the PhD – looking forward to following your research
Thanks so much, Sheila. The following is mutual 🙂
Great news, you can tell me more about it next week at eAssessment Scotland 🙂
All the best, David
Many thanks, David – looking forward to seeing you!
Good luck for your PHD. I am in a similar situation and started in February. I am exploring virtual communities of practice for interpreting studies. Your topic is great! I shall follow your blog and connect some of your thoughts with my area of research.
Many thanks, Danielle 🙂 I’m following you on Google+ now so I hope we can continue to connect re: our ongoing research. Best of luck to you as well!
Many thanks Catherine! I found this article very useful. It may sound basic but it keeps me on track:
http://www.timeshighereducation.co.uk/news/how-not-to-write-a-phd-thesis/410208.article
Hadn’t seen that before, Danielle – thank you for the link. Starting at square one, so all advice much appreciated. Cheers 🙂
Well done, Catherine. Can’t wait to get started collaborating with you…best of luck too at eAssessment. Looks great programme.
Thanks, Iain! See you soon 🙂
Oh, excellent, Catherine! Congratulations on getting funding for the PhD. 😀
Thanks, Doug — delighted! #honeymoonphase 😉
great news Catherine. best wishes on your PhD journey. look forward to reading your postcards along the way!
Thanks so much, Mags. It’s great to have such a supportive network of friends and fellow learners. Hope there won’t be too many “postcards from the edge” 😉
Delighted for you Catherine. Enjoy the #honeymoonphase it’s great! Hope we can still persuade you into @msokeeffesclass during the coming year!
Máire
I wouldn’t miss it, Máire — very much looking forward to the future adventures of @msokeefesclass! Thanks for the good wishes 🙂
Congratulations Catherine and best of luck with your PhD, i look forward to seeing you in Máire’s room, I’ll be next door 🙂
Aisling
Thanks, Aisling! Hard to believe the wheel of the academic year has turned and we are ready to meet new students again. I do look forward to connecting with you and Máire throughout the year and to learning from and with you, and our students. Best of luck with your preparations!
Good luck for your PHD.:)