May 2015

            A year has passed since Portfolio II when I proposed to accomplish several things. First, a change to the program of study was needed in order to better prepare to effectively analyze and synthesize research. Second, a completed research design focused on self-regulated learning within a study of academic engagement was proposed. Thirdly, opportunities for gaining research experience would be explored. And finally, the date for completion of the PhD course requirement was moved to August of 2015.

The change in the program of study (POS) was thoughtfully planned to bolster my research skills. In the past, the research courses have proven to be the most difficult, yet the most rewarding in terms of increasing my research writing self-efficacy. The new secondary concentration of research methods has added depth and breath to my knowledge-base and has bolstered my self-efficacy for completing the PhD program (not without some writing process frustrations).

The research design plan in portfolio II remain the same, to comprehensively conceptualize academic engagement as a tripartite dimensional construct of cognition, behavior, and emotions situated within the social-cognitive perspective of student agency. My study draws from the work of Fredricks, Blumefeld, & Paris (2004) that defines engagement as being active participants in learning and committed to educational goals and learning (Christenson, Reschly & Wiley, 2012). Questions driving this research have evolves from an examination of the literature on engagement and the few studies that exist linking self-efficacy, attribution for failure and engagement (Cleary & Zimmerman, 2014) to achievement.

A goal not yet realized is getting involved in research projects. This has been difficult, as I cannot meet during the day when most researchers require assistance. However, the EDEP 824 and EDRS 797 courses were tremendous growth opportunities. While I did not conduct an intervention research for the EDEP 824 class, as intended, I learned many valuable lessons about the importance of a well-defined study, writing protocols, and most importantly flexibility. The final project for EDEP 824 involved using the 2012 Program for International Student Assessment (PISA) dataset to investigate self-regulatory beliefs. The final project for EDEP 824 will be presented at the August 2015 American Psychological Association Convention as an APA poster. The EDRS 797, Applications of Multilevel Modeling and Hierarchical Linear Modeling course afforded me the opportunity to begin examining the variables measuring engagement. This course has been instrumental in learning to build more complex statistical models with the PISA dataset in preparation for dissertation.  I utilized this class to create engagement factors using confirmatory factor analysis (CFA), and began exploring path analysis (SEM).    My graduation date has been adjusted from 2015 to 2016 for two reasons. First, semester courses offered limited the schedule, as I was not willing to enroll in courses unless they offered a strong research methodological understanding. Originally, I planned to take HLM and SEM to strengthen my research skill base, but these courses were either not offered or, as happened with SEM, the schedule conflicted with other courses that could not be postponed as they were sequence courses (EDEP 823/824). The second reason for postponing the graduation is to give myself more time to develop sound theoretical and conceptualization frameworks for the engagement variables, as well a more time to thoroughly familiarize myself with the PISA dataset.

The plan moving forward is to write, write, write and to read, read, read… to this end, I have formed a write-in group with other doctoral students.