Update: What has happened so far

I am done with course work and registered for my last "class", dissertation proposal preparation (R795), this Fall of 2004. I also recently sat for the harrowing three-week long written qualification examinations ("quals").

I made a mistake in not defining my committee-defined question better. I wanted that question to contribute to a dissertation proposal or a comprehensive literature review. However, I had been rather unsettled on a research area ever since I completed my Masters in Arizona in 2002 and moved to Indiana for my Ph.D.

I was (and still am) passionate about various aspects of teacher education. However, since the move, I have developed the following interests:

• Designing interfaces and activities to promote interaction and collaboration between online learners;
• Nurturing online trust in collaborative online education environments;
• Developing instructional strategies and pedagogy that accompany wireless classroom technologies; and
  
• Investigating the effectiveness of blogging to promote reflection in teacher education.

Ever since I submitted my last quals answer, I have been reading about educational blogging and have drafted a proposal titled "Does blogging have a place in teacher education? Incorporating blogs and determining their effectiveness in PIHnet". It is up for critique by my committee chair, the R795 instructor, and my peers.

I expect to pen a summary of those reactions along with my own in another post.