Specialists: Passions and Careers
A Short Bio
[Frist Middle Last name] is from [Country]; her mother tongue is [language]. She has taken Intensive Programs studying English as a Second Language. [Last name] is currently a Ph.D. student at Saint Louis University-Missouri, and attained a Master's Degree at New Mexico State University-Las Cruces. Her thesis was entitled, How Teachers in Graduate Programs Use Technology to Improve Creative Thinking with Students. [Last name] attended Teacher Trainer of Secondary Teachers. She also worked as a Student Journalist in the Department of Public Relations at the King Saud University in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia. She has conducted numerous media interviews, has published education articles in university newspapers, has been involved in many activities at the university including the Legacy and Culture program, and has attended numerus workshops such as Introduction to Research and Measurement and Statistics, Instructional Technology Classroom Management training courses at the Professional Development Center in the U.S. [Last name] involved of doing public presentations such as Global Perspectives of Female Doctoral Students from Five Countries. Atlas Week, Saint Louis University. Her interdisciplinary research examines curricula and educational technology. Currently, she is working on her Ph.D. dissertation, which focuses on curricula and educational technology.
The attraction of the filed;
First of all, I always like to create things, and for me the best creation is to create new thing that people can learn and benefit from it as designing curriculum and itsinstruction which is my master and Ph.D. major. I believe the importance of creating knowledgble future generation is start from how we design their curriculum and how we instruct this curriculum. From this perspective, I started to look back at my [name of the society] society needs. And I concluded that as cohesive society, we need to create our curricula that match our society needs. At the same time our curricula need to be up to date with developments in the world.
The choice of specialityand its relevance to the work;
I am Ph.D. student and I am not worker yet. However, I am plaining for my future job as faculty member in a university and curriculum designer is to be specialized in curriculum and educational technology since we live in digital world. It is important to take technologyadvantage and apply it in my filed (curriculum and instruction) in order to have a high educational input. Form here, I have done my thesis in instruction and technology, and now I am working on my dissertation in curriculum and technology.
The decision to go for a Master and then for a PhD;
Pursing a doctorate in higher education was always my dream from the first day that I attended a university to study my bachelors degree, and this dream is increased from year to year in my quest for knowledge and best practices.
Passion vs. pragmatism and which one was the major force behind the decisions;
My passion is derived me to complete my higher education. As an example, my culture, as a [country]woman, encourages women to be educated in general. However, for them to complete their higher education, still there are some challenges. In order for both men and women to complete their higher education, they have to be interviewed more than once for universities and for specific departments of interest. Another challenge is that some departments accept a limited number of students, which makes it difficult for other students who want to complete their higher education in the same major at the same university. Thus, some women do not have the ability to travel or even change their home to another university in order to complete their education. Further, not all universities have had colleges for higher education. These challenges are different from one university to another. From here, I strongly believe that my passion is derived me to complete my higher education even though I complete it outside the country.
Who was the inspiration or driving force behind the decision;
My parents /familyhave always encouraged me to pursue my higher education.
Was the PhD an assets or burden?
Definitely, it is asset. I feel that I have more responsibility to observe my behaviors towards others, be a more knowledgeable person, share my knowledge and experiences, and help when it is needed, and do not give up on goals.
Are the skills acquired during the PhD transferable?
In fact, it depends on the skills types: if the skills related to my filed "Curriculum and Instruction", these skills can't be transform because having a doctorate degree for specific major that does not means that your skills at that major can be transformed. On the other hand, if the skills are more generalized such as:
1. Having an ability to search and be a good researcher
2. Good experience in Computer Hardware &
3. Self-study for Adobe Photoshop
4. Excellent experience in MS Office applications
5. Very good experience in .NET Applications
6. Writer and Painter (artist)
7. Communication ability orally and writing with
8. Ability to learn, teach, acquire experience and
9. Problem solving, Decision making, and Conflict
10. Positive and Work under pressure.
11. Effective use of multi-media teaching tools. Yes, these skills above can be transformed.
Giving a chance to start over, would you do a PhD again, in the same filed?
Yes, I believe that the knowledge that I gain it today will be improved or even will be totally different in the future. It does not mean that someone who got a Ph.D. degree that he or she is expert in her or his filed. He or she needs to be up to date in his/her filed.