Stepping into the open

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I am ready to post the research proposal openly for feedback and insights from my networks. I begin with some wonderings about the best way to do this.

While this request may lead to greater clarity, it might also make my decision harder to finalize. There are pros and cons to each platform which I will need to consider before making this publicly open. I will use the feedback to guide my decision since potential pitfalls may emerge.

Based on feedback received, I will post the dissertation research proposal in a few different ways – in the true spirit of being open.

First, I will divide the proposal into sections that can be posted on this WordPress site as a series of blog posts which will allow for commenting and possible annotations using Hypothes.is. In this way I will invite critique and engage in feedback from those who are interested in this research. This will allow for reading of one section at a time, and allow Hypothes.is annotations. This will also allow me to run the blog pages through Voyant in order to do a text analysis, as I did with a research proposal paper written for the DS2 course [Research Proposal Paper: A Reflection].

Second, I will also post the dissertation research proposal within a page on this site which will allow others to download the full proposal as one document. This was modelled by Dr. Bonnie Stewart for her dissertation research proposal, which I used as a model to guide my own work. Perhaps in this way, this will model for others how to share and work on a dissertation in the open – as I advocated with Gabi Whitthaus [The Art of Learning] in our collaboration on a new Wikipedia page [Open Thesis] this past summer.

Finally, I will not use Scalar for this dissertation research proposal as I plan to use this as the platform for the final dissertation, as I did for the comprehensive portfolio presentation and defence [Finishing a Comprehensive Portfolio – which links to the Scalar portfolio site].

There – decision made and purpose revealed. Getting it out into the open.

Link to the page where your can find the full dissertation research proposal (minus sections that are withheld for privacy and confidentiality reasons).