Writing and Research for Master's Degree Students Assignment: Self Assessment

By Susan Jarosak

My history as a writer began when I was around eleven or twelve years old. An avid reader, I regularly thought up plots and scandels for mystery stories. Unfortunately, I rarely took the time to write them down. Looking back, I see this as a pattern in my life-having lots of ideas for fictional stories, but not taking the time to write them down. In fact, I have this great idea for a novel, if I only had the time

I had a friend in junior high school that kept a daily personal journal. She was always scribbling in it. I was secretly jealous of this and so chided her about her sloppy handwriting and tendency to misspell every other word. Back then, I did not understand that I could write just to write; that it did not have to be done in perfect form. All that "scibbling" paid off for my friend, as she is now a professional journalist.

My professional background includes starting out as a secretary sixteen years ago. My writing skills improved during this time because I was often given scraps of paper containing illegible word fragments and told to "make them look pretty." In my current work as a staff development professional, I spend a lot of time reading, taking notes, and writing reviews and papers on specific subjects. I also write newsletter articles and information for our web page. Writing short articles is a great way to improve your writing because you must simplify and clarify everything. Information on a web page must be short and sweet or no one will read it.

The areas I would like to pursue during my course of study in the M.Ed program are workplace learning and adult literacy.

Workplace learning has always been of interest to me and very applicable in my current work role as a program associate in the staff development office in Extension. The areas I would like to learn more about regarding workplace learning are: how to create an organizational environment that nurtures learning and utilizes the knowledge of all staff and studying innovative models for creating opportunities for staff to develop and use their potential. I am also interested in research about evaluating staff development.

Adult literacy is a new area that I am interested in and would like to learn more about. I did a brief library search under this topic and read some interesting and insightful commentaries. The search has given me a small window into the diverse perspectives and philosophies on literacy. One author who I am very intrigued with is Paulo Freire who was an educator and world leader in his work for the liberation of the poor. He is an important source for those studying adult education, especially adult literacy, and is best known for his "education for liberation" work with oppressed peoples.

Literacy relates to workplace learning in many ways, especially in the areas of hiring and retention. The need for adults to learn basic skills to be employed has always been an interest of mine. This interest led me to complete the English as a Second Language volunteer training for the St. Paul Literacy Council several years ago, and I have volunteered teaching English to new immigrants.

The M.Ed program will provide me the opportunity to delve into learning more about these and other subjects. Learning the theory and research related to workplace learning and adult literacy would help lay the groundwork for understanding the issues. The M.Ed program will offer a chance for me to utilize the rich resources available at the University and Extension for learning about applying the theory and research to current programming. For example, I am hoping I will be able to learn more about adult literacy by participating and assisting in some of Extension's community-based programs.

The area that I am thinking about studying for my thesis project is evaluating the effectiveness of staff development. Specifically, measuring the importance, quality, and impact of learning experiences. This area is of interest to me in my professional role and would benefit others in our organization.

The traditional approach of using a post-conference evaluation method is not always adequate for measuring the impact on participants' learning. Especially if the experience was more of a transformational experience that may take time to digest and apply. Our office would benefit greatly from research and study in understanding how to measure whether or not the learning experiences we support make a difference in our staffs' performance, attitudes and capabilities.

-- Anonymous, February 15, 1999