What? - I’m supposed to be thinking about my final research paper already? But isn’t that over a year away? I thought I had lots of time to figure that out.
Prior to our discussions about thesis vs research paper,
I was already leaning towards the research paper. For one thing, the extra courses that are
part of the research paper route appear interesting. Secondly, the research paper seems to be more
structured and less daunting.
The only other previous assumption that I had was that my
research question will be related to my work and will benefit the Fashion
Institute in one way or another. This
assumption still rings true and will require conversations with various
stakeholders. I realize that a consideration that is probably more
significant than being practical to my workplace is that it needs to be
something that I am deeply interested in. The investment of time and energy required for this project will be
significant. If I choose a subject that
I am less than passionate about, it will be difficult to maintain motivation
and to give myself to the project to the degree that will be needed to ensure a
success.
I’m sure that my ideas will expand, and I expect to eventually
have a wall of sticky note ideas, but as I consider where my interests and
curiosities are presently, I have been thinking about how many characteristics
of today’s student have changes from
previous years (this is making me sound old).
Recently, our work team hosted a national conference for fashion
educators. One of the sessions was entitled
‘What is up with the New Generation,’ presented by Maureen Towns http://maureentowns.com/. Maureen asked us to call out words to
describe the generation, as she captured them on a flip chart. It actually felt quite judgmental. Some of the recorded words were:
irresponsible, unaccountable, poor work ethic, non-committal, unable to
prioritize, tech savy. After Maureen
finished collecting input, she invited her niece to come to the front. Her niece wasn’t being defensive, but she did
share her perspective. She was a university
student who was struggling to make both grades and make ends meet. Although I can’t recall all the details of
her day that she described, I was impacted by how much she had on her
plate. She explained that sometimes she
had to miss a class, not because she wanted to, but because she need to take a
shift at work to pay her bills so she could stay in school. She then had to try to catch up on her own
and was often caught in this cycle that might appear as though she wasn’t being
responsible, but in actuality she was making decisions based on immediate
priorities. I could see some of our own
students in this young lady and it made me wonder if there was a way we could
help them differently.
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| Photo by Lori Kemp |
It seems to me that young people have different complexities
in their lives. For that matter, I think
society in general has different complexities and responsibilities. All of this has made me think about the potential
of FLEXIBLE learning in our apparel technology program. Years ago, my reaction
to such a consideration would have been that it wasn’t possible to teach our
skill based courses in any kind of an online environment, but today I am
intrigued and curious about a flexible program model that would support
student success in apparel technology.
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