My first year in the Instructional Technology program has been a year of excitement and exploration. Coming in the program with a different cultural, work, and academic background, I spent some time warming up and getting oriented in this new environment at the beginning of this year. Now I am familiar with the faculty, peers, and senior students, as well as other aspects of the program and feel pleased working in the big community. When I look back, I am fairly satisfied with my active engagement in various academic and professional activities so far. Also, I'm clearly aware of the room for improvement and those specific opportunities that I should seek in my future study. My progress in the past year is explained in the following categories: coursework, research, communication, and learning about learning. I then describe my goals at the end.

Coursework
I have started building my scholarship foundation through coursework. I'm moving forward in constructing my knowledge base in instructional technology and research methodology. The courses I am taking from outside our program help me expand my knowledge, thinking, and research possibilities. I have been seeking "inspiration" for research from the material and people in all my classes. 

Research
I came in the program without much prior research experience. Through my work in the LSPL, I better understand how a big research project is conceptualized and operated. I also gained experience working with teams and fitting our work into the overall project. This work opportunity has got my hands dirty with research although I surely need more systematic knowledge and advanced skills in carrying out a research study. Reading research articles as part of course requirements and for independent study also gave me a better idea about what makes good research studies in terms of both methodology and content. In addition, I have become more familiar with important theories in the instructional technology field, trying to lay a foundation for the theoretical framework of my future research agenda. At this point, I've found a research idea although it is very rough and will need a lot of refinement later on. To make it a more mature and defendable idea, I will need to take a few more courses in related areas, identify some related research projects, and continue an extensive literature review. After these objectives are achieved, I will turn my research idea into research proposals and papers, looking for outlets in conferences and research journals.

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Communication (writing/speaking/reading/interpersonal)
English proficiency has always been a big challenge for me. Despite the fact that I can now use English fairly proficiently after staying in the U.S. for almost three years, it is still a pain to live up to the expectations for education major doctoral students in terms of language skills. In our program, the qualitative research tradition poses even higher demands on my English competency. I realized that I have to be very sensitive to capture important clues and be able to write well enough to best represent what has been captured. My future efforts will be focused on writing more professionally, accurately, and compellingly.

In addition to writing, English has also been a barrier when I speak. The good part is that I can articulate my ideas and get my meaning across to most people although not as expressively as I can in Chinese. Besides conversing more with native speakers, presentation and teaching will be two other effective ways to practice my oral English. I also found that it helps to get as prepared as possible when speaking on some occasions to improve my effectiveness in communication. I have been especially hesitant to speak in class meetings, and I resolve to overcome my reticence. 

In terms of reading, as I get more familiar with the instructional technology field, I have been able to understand more of its context, theories, methods, and tools when I come across them in reading. A persistent problem is that I always need to keep a balance between paying enough attention to details and not losing the big picture. This has become a particularly thorny issue when I attempt to improve my reading efficiency while maintaining the level of comprehension. The only solution I can think of at present is to keep reading, experimenting with different reading strategies, and constantly reflecting on the process to make perceivable improvements.  

When it comes to interpersonal communication, I have communicated well with my advisor, colleagues, other faculty members and students during the past year.  Nevertheless, I'm still in a process of learning to better exchange ideas and coordinate with others. I always try to learn from people around me and hope others enjoy working with me too.

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Learning about learning
One lesson that I learned during the past year is that doctoral study requires more than an investment of time, energy, and mental work. It's also about will power and strategy-use. When juggling becomes a necessity, I have to learn it really well. The following are the specific things that I learned as I reflected on the major difficulties I have encountered in my daily life as a Ph.D. student:

• Time management is not really about time. It deals with how I prioritize my tasks.
• Spend time thinking but not hesitating. I will never waste time by doing something wrong. I make mistakes only when standing still.
• Don't attempt to get anything perfect the first time. Never wish for one time only. It only prevents me from getting started. 
• Learning by doing takes longer, but I can learn more.
• Make reflection part of my life.
• Think from multiple perspectives, but don't forget where I stand.
• Be critical when accepting others' ideas. Be humble but assertive when putting my own ideas in the face of challenge. 
• Keep a good balance although it is difficult—breadth vs. focus, holistic vs. local, holding on vs. letting go, etc.

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Goals
I would like to conclude my first year review by spelling out what I anticipate to happen in the following year. The emphasis of my future work will be coursework, research and writing/publication, preparation for teaching, and contribution to community. My specific goals are presented in the following table:

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