What did I learn from the self-assesment?
That it is not my strong point! I got into this cycle of identifying what was wrong with the first 6 sections and instead of writing about it I went back and fixed it - 6 times in some cases!!
A cry for help to a fellow researcher and to my LF later both had given the same advice.
"Stop- hand it in, forget about it!"
Good advice:-) So I did.
But it is still spinning round my head. I think I may have learned something really significant this term, despite not enjoying it much. Delightful? Not at all!! Painful? Definitely!!
I am still trying to put it into words, hence this blog entry. OK so what I learned was that my weaknesses are:
Ok so the perfectionism and the tendency to be pedantic came as no shock but the unwillingness to self assess and long term plan are new to me. They might go some way to explain why I started things and didn't finish them in the past. They just might be the key to making sure I really do get the degree this time.
So there you go- it was nasty, uncomfortable, and I didn't enjoy the process at all. So what are the implications for delightful learning? And creativity? OK it reminds me a bit of the story from another entry about the pain of the creative process. The change in perspective was painful but what has been delightful is knowing that I had the support of fellow researchers (including LFs). The other thing is that I now feel much more optimistic about the rest of the course. Over the summer at some point I'm going to look at what might get in the way of my finishing, scary but it needs to be done. And then I'm going to look for some strategies to deal with the problems!!
Oh yes, the other thing I learned was how important my blog has become to me as a place to work things out, plan and share work, - vital in fact!
I'll let you know how I get on:-)
