Final Reflection on the Implementation Class

I was confused throughout the process of the Implementation Research Design. Was I studying an implementation that already occurred, as I understood from class, or was I designing an implementation, or planning research on an existing implementation? Did that implementation need to have been successful? Is this in APA 7th paper format, or do I fill out the provided template? 

These are questions I could have asked in the final live session, but I wasn’t far enough into the process to know what my questions were. My takeaway is that I need to adjust my process. 

By that last class, I was well into building a literature review. My focus was entirely on theory, because how could implementations we’ve seen at work or school, or maybe just heard about from a distance, have scholarly work on implementation attached? I chose an implementation that I had played a role in at work, so I could fill in research gaps with firsthand knowledge and experience. Once I reached the literature review step in the template, I realized I had to backtrack and search for journal articles about that technology (the READ 180 reading intervention system). That was a smooth correction, fortunately.

When I initially constructed my checklist and timeline for this assignment and the accompanying presentation, the next step after article annotations was presentation slides, draft one. I did not yet know how that would differ from the presentation on pure theory, so I delayed it until the end. My final, submitted paper/template is so erratic that I did not see a presentation in it, so I’m not submitting one. I thought about just slapping something up there for whatever points I could get, but knowing it would be visible to the class, I didn’t. I am extremely comfortable with my half of Cohort 27, but not with my summer classes. I’m not shy at all, but for some reason, my discussion posts haven’t tracked with a lot of responses in either of my classes (yet my work in Message Design this summer was frequently awesome). If they can’t be bothered, then neither can I. At this point, I’m not interested in, or trusting of, their two cents on my work. (Though here’s one appreciation shout out to the peer who commented, “Thank you for not making boring slides” on my theory presentation.) I now comment out of compliance to whomever else has the lowest number of responses. (My feeling is that in-class breakout sessions work well for sharing ideas, but those required discussion posts are mostly upbeat filler with no learning taking place.)

By my tally, I should still finish with a B, which is fine. My mantra in the spring and summer semesters has been, “I want the knowledge, not the grade,” but if that were true, I wouldn’t be enrolled in a formal degree system. I would just read. 

For fall semester, I’m going to try structuring my project timelines so the extra days aren’t built into the end of the process, but throughout. That way, catching up won’t be something reserved for the waning days before deadline.

Do I feel I could lead an implementation in a real-world setting because of this class? Yes. Am I now an expert on Activity Theory? Yes. Good class, maestro.