Niche and Qualifying Project

I've been trying to figure out why it's been so hard for me to articulate my niche and brainstorm a qualifying project. When I applied to the Ed.D.  program in Education Technology I was full of all sorts of ideas, the problem was narrowing my focus. Today I seem to lack any focus whatsoever. Research that idea from your practice which keeps you up at night, what a great idea, only the issue from my practice that is keeping me up at night is the fact that my contract ends in September.


Real life has thrown a real wrench into my plans to be a scholar and a researcher. When I first applied for the program I had a secure, so I thought, position at a research institute. Where better to conduct research? Since then the division I worked for has been disbanded and I am on my second contract position.It is difficult to plan a future research project when you don't even know where you'll be in the future.

Historically I have been a courseware developer and an ISD, emphasis on the web- and computer-based training development. Today I am working for an organization that doesn't even have a WBT element, and probably won't in the near future. Ironically, back in the Fall of 2010 I noted that one of the areas I needed to work on was faculty and staff support, and now I work for the Faculty and Staff Development department. The head of which doesn't even know how to text, so it's been a struggle just to explain how and why technology should be integrated into the process. My learning curve has been steep as I am suddenly in a whole new area and my development skills are falling by the wayside. Now there are numerous issues facing my current work place that would make for very interesting research, but what happens if I dedicate myself to one of these areas and end up back in development come September? Or what if I end up nowhere at all come September? I suppose I need to stop focusing on the realities of my future, and focus on what interests me. Even if I have to find a new place to do the research, many of the issues we face are applicable to other institutions. After all, the purpose of getting an education is broaden my horizons, I guess it's time to think beyond the developer box.

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