Summative Evaluation Comments

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The time I spent in my coursework served two purposes:  one, to become an effective scholar; and two, to make what I believe will be lasting collegial relationships, not only with my fellow doctoral students, but also with the professors from and with whom I have been privileged to both work and learn.  Dr. Kim Nimon taught me how to become a scholar, how to research, to answer the question of “says who?” in literature, and notably, that I can actually learn (and like) statistics.  Dr. Jeff Allen taught me that we progress through the doctoral program in our own time, and that collaboration and sharing of knowledge is critical.  Dr. Peter Johnstone challenged me to write from a qualitative perspective, and to appreciate the value of the footnote in scholarly writing.  And, my fellow classmates kept me inspired, grounded, focused, and exposed me to different areas of interesting research.

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Areas of Personal Strength

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I have learned a great deal about myself in this process.  First, I am one who achieves her goals, and usually without much distraction or veering from my set timeline.  However, as is often the case, life presented me with a number of obstacles, including:  a change in law firm, a change in both major and minor professors, a change in my minor course of study, the death of my maternal grandparents within a week of each other after 66 years of marriage, the subsequent handling of their respective estates, resulting family issues, and my own personal relationship challenges.  All of which I have overcome.  Second, I have always been a strong researcher and writer, but I believe throughout this doctoral program, I have added to my ability to write with confidence, to synthesize the literature, and to evaluate the relevance and strength of empirical studies as they relate to the practical nature of my field.

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Areas for Further Improvement

 

The doctoral process can be a lonely one, especially for this first generation college graduate.  As I am sure many of my classmates would agree, few of our family or friends have any context with which to understand or empathize.  As an introvert, I often prefer to work alone, but that only exacerbates the issue.  I need to learn to collaborate more with my doctoral classmates and to reach out and offer to co-author papers with them. 

 

I have come to realize that I am highly motivated by deadlines.  But, without a deadline, I allow time to pass with little to no progress.   This ties in with a greater need to be self-disciplined.  On the one hand, I do well with planning, researching, and reading.  On the other hand, I need to focus more on writing and advancing that writing every single day.

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Area of Future Work | Dissertation Research Area

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For my dissertation, I am planning to measure the perceptions of paralegal instructors and students towards the effectiveness of online and webinar courses by replicating a prior dissertation study by Dr. Chan Tung.  Dr. Tung investigated student and instructor perceptions of online and web-enhanced course effectiveness in community colleges across a broad range of disciplines.  My study, however, will be limited to investigating paralegal students' and instructors' perceptions of online and webinar paralegal courses.  From my experience in teaching both synchronous and asynchronous courses coupled with the feedback I have received from students and varying opinions of paralegal instructors' regarding online paralegal course offerings, I believe this study will be timely and will also inform instructors and course designers of effective online paralegal learning environments. 

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Specifically, I will be investigating whether there is a significant difference in instructors' and students' perceptions of course effectiveness between online courses and webinar courses.  I will be utilizing two survey questionnaires, one for paralegal instructors and one for paralegal students, using adapted versions of the Inventory for Online Course Evaluation in Post-Secondary Education to gather paralegal students' and instructors' demographic information and their perceptions of online course effectiveness.  Course effectiveness will be measured by using the following subscales: flexibility; user interface; navigation; getting started; technical assistance; course management (instructor); course management (student); universal design, and content.  I hope to learn the impact of the variables of gender, age, native language, paralegal educational level, overall educational level, technology skills, and course experience with fully online and webinar paralegal courses to determine whether or not these variables are significant factors in instructors' and students' perceptions of online and webinar course effectiveness.

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Tung, C.K. (2007).  Perceptions of students and instructors of online and web-­enhanced course effectiveness in community colleges

(Doctoral dissertation). Retrieved from ProQuest Dissertations and Theses database (Publication No. AAT 3284232).