My Bucket Overflows

After many consecutive days of reading journal articles for my literature review, I feel like I can hold no more. My feelings of inadequacy are at an all time high and, while I enjoy learning about what I am reading, what is causing me so much anxiety and stress is my inability to read and comprehend more quickly.

It doesn't help that I suffer from dry eye and that makes extended reading sessions quite painful even with plenty of Refresh Optive handy. I have begun printing out the articles in hopes that not staring at the computer screen may help (it doesn't). I often close my eyes while I am reading which I can do because I often use the text-to-speech feature on my Mac to read PDFs aloud to me (when the PDFs aren't made of scanned pages that don't convert well with OCR).

I love reading but what I think is ADD makes it very difficult for me to stay focused as I do it. I frequently have to re-read (or re-listen) to passages and, sometimes, full articles. When you have to have 60 annotated references in less than three weeks, that kind of limitation makes for a pretty miserable time. I long for the day when I can again read without a deadline looming.

However, I do want to add that my professors are incredibly helpful and understanding of the pressures. It is part of their job to push us as well as provide us guidance and support along the way. And they do!

On another note, my guiding inquiries have morphed a few times since my last blog post in an effort to lay a solid, literature-based argument for my research. Here they are:

1. What are some of the current self-directed learning approaches in use in education?
2. What is the current state of the use of digital badges / micro-credentials in education?
3. What is the rationale for using digital badges / micro-credentials in professional development?
4. What are some of the benefits and barriers related to use of digital badges / micro-credentials in professional development?

Now, if you are considering working on your doctorate, especially in IDT at UM, I don't want to completely freak you out. I am finding it challenging and thought-provoking. Everything in life has pros and cons. I just wish I could speed read and remember everything I read like Dr. Spencer Reid on Criminal Minds!