Many things come to my mind, but I will summarize into three key areas.
1. Patience
2. You only know what you know.
3. Change is good.
When I started my doctoral program, my children were young, and the courses were a challenge. The discomfort I experienced as a doctoral student learning how to sort through research articles and synthesize the information reminded me of the frustration I observed when I taught my children to read.
The light bulb went off in my head. I made the correlation that learning can feel uncomfortable. The discomfort prompts feelings of frustration. Maturity was on my side, and I recognized that discomfort and frustration was apart of this new process. I would tell myself, have patience with the process. Learning is indeed a process and being patient with my perceived inability to produce a 15-page paper quickly was silly.
You only know what you.
Technology and the evolution of Online Learning have changed the landscape of education. I remember I would read the New Media Consortium to learn about the upcoming trends in education. Toward the end of my program, I had crafted a qualitative study that was focused on the learning experiences of graduate students in online discussions and face-to-face discussions.
Something interesting emerged out of the interviews--video lectures. The participants would always refer to the instructor's use of video lectures. During the early stages of my dissertation, I researched several online and face-to-face studies that examined discussion threads using the Community of Inquiry framework.
I did not consider the integration of video lectures until the data revealed that the incorporation of video lectures positively impacted students' learning experiences. I added this to my final chapters and researched the topic. As a result of the 'new' search and reflecting on the limitations of the study. I realized that having this knowledge at the beginning of my research process could have informed, influenced, and changed the outcome of my dissertation. But, I only knew one broad area, and yet, I still discovered something new.
I wish I would have known that the path of discovery is exciting and requires that I do not know.
Change is inevitable. Change is good.
I have moved out of state three times in the past seven years. As a child, I lived in the same house until I left for college. My parents still live in the same city. I did not imagine that I would move--out of state--more than once in my lifetime.
When I started the doctoral program, I moved to Jackson, Mississippi from California. This transition was difficult because I changed my surroundings and entered into a program with unfamiliar people.
I questioned if I made the right decision. I know now that I was Steering by Starlight (Martha Beck) and the discomfort I felt with this new change I made to pursue my doctorate was temporary.