Monthly Update: March 2020
Stay at home activity #348: going through clothes that Ellie no longer wears while I attempt to do work
Just a quick note before you head into the blog post. Are you an academic who is trying to figure out your long term planning processes? My planning course, plan(it)*, can help support you as you figure that out. Check out the link for more info.
Here’s what I worked on during the month of March. If you missed February’s update, I’m moving my reflections to the monthly newsletter, which you can sign up for here!
research
Paper 2: Still on hold; however, given the fact that in person research has been halted for the foreseeable future, I'll likely pick this back up.
R + R: There have been administrative proofing emails related to paper that I completely ignored for what felt like a long time, but in reality it likely wasn’t long at all. With the world, the end of the term, and the beginning of the next, responding to journal proofing reminders was low on my priority list.
Systematic review: Continued a little bit of work on data extraction from full articles, but most of my efforts went into prepping an IRB, that now cannot be submitted.
Focus group data collection: This is connected to the systematic review. Last month I put together the IRB and this month was all about finalizing the details, along with creating a few new additions that I wasn't aware of. With the coronavirus, all in person research has been halted and our IRB isn’t accepting new submissions that collect in person data. Now we're thinking about whether or not we want to wait or try and figure out how to do this virtually.
teaching
Online research methods teaching: Grading, grading, and more grading. Students turned in their final proposal, an article critique, and a final discussion post during the month of March, which amounted to about 2.5 weeks of just grading.
Online stats prep: When I wasn't grading, I was course prepping. I'm getting a lot more efficient at video editing, which is cutting down on course prep time, AND it's still pretty time consuming. I finished up the videos from week 3 that needed editing from last month. I also created and edited videos for weeks 4 and 5. I got my online course site ready to go for up to week 4 (which is the most ahead I've ever been when teaching a course for the first time online).
Online human development prep: I taught this course previously so the bulk of the content is there. That being said, I am making some changes (because of course I am). I've been going through content and videos I've created and remaking anything if needed. Up to week 4 is ready to go in our online course site.
Lead instructor: I spent some time supporting an adjunct who is teaching the human development course that I’m the lead instructor for.
service + admin
Planning: Continuing my weekly planning routine. I plan for work on Friday afternoons and plan for personal stuff on Sundays.
personal
Toddler on the Tenure Track/plan(it)*: I got 2 content posts up this month (one on planning when the world is ending and another on how I’m using Notion). Plus this post! I also filmed and/or edited 10 new videos for plan(it)* this summer.
Meditation: I’m on day 76 of my 10 minute daily practice.
Health: Continuing to start the day off with my back exercises which is keeping me feeling good. My slew of doctor’s visits wrapped up in February so I've had a break from that, thankfully.
Budget: Continuing with weekly budgeting and got April’s budget set up. Paying lots of attention to student loan changes for the next few months.
See you next month!