Another new role - Graduate School student rep for the School of Education at NTU. This means I now have a voice at the university as a student as well as a member of staff (I just like to talk!). As part of this I've met a new part time education PhD student at NTU (Welcome Jim!) to share some of the highs and lows of being part time. Whilst talking I realised that I was listing a top ten of hints for part time study so thought I'd share them here in two shorter lists:
Technology:
- Use evernote: I find it hard to justify spending money on apps and subscriptions but this one is worth every penny. The best bits: As I type a new note into Evernote it finds related notes - a godsend for me as I only have a bit of time on the bus to write and I can't carry all those notebooks with me.
- Get a twitter acount: its fun, its a distraction and then there's hastags..... Particulalry #phdchat and #ptphd (I think there is only me using this one)
- Read PhD blogs: and not just by current PhD students but also those written by supervisors.
- Use an online referencing site. At NTU Refworks is available and I'm quite happy with it. Why: anything I find via Google Scholar in my five minutes of time I put straight into Refworks ready for me to go back to, to cite and to use - a time saver.
- Join an online group which helps you and you can give back to. I started the DTE google group after PATT27 in Christchurch. There were 12 or so phd students at the conference whose thesis focusses on technology education with no online meeting place - so I set one up, which links to point 3 below.
Practicalities/social:
- Read the university regulations and plan for key dates: I took a while to realise that this is part of my PhD study; understanding the regulations and expectations are important.
- Writing: 1. Do some everyday (or so): there's lots out there about writing everyday (Elbow, Goodson etc) but you do need to find out what fits you. Talking to Helen Sword last December I realised I was becoming a slave to the 'everyday' expectation (I have enough hair shirts in my wardrobe without adding another). 2. Read about writing: this is my thing at the moment. I've got to be careful it doesn't distract me from actually writing but I know I need to improve the style of my writing. Poor writing detracts from content - if I'm spending all this time doing good quality, well thought through research, which I hope is ground breaking, I want it to be readable.
- Meet up with other PT PhD students: whether online or face to face. This has helped me enormously, I don't feel so alone.
- Don't despair: you're part time, it's a marathon not a sprint. There will be periods when you don't get much done, which leads me onto my next point....
- Thinking about your literature, muling over your data collection, jotting notes, spending 10 minutes here and there - these all count as your PhD time.
