Gulp! What HAVE I done??

[NotGeoffVader]

Got the results from my BSc and I have passed with a 2:1. Seeing as I took a year out from the course to have DD, and have recently have a bereavement, I'm really pleased.

I stupidly went ahead and applied for a place on the Masters course. I've been accepted.

Thankfully it's part-time.

I CAN do this, can't I?

Thanks, Haunted! What are you studying? I'm doing ecology. How far through are you? We can be miserable together if you like.

Lol!

I should have just finished a PGCE (teacher training) but due to.unforseen circumstances need to do a few more weeks practice in Oct.

I am now doing an msc in education. Have done 30% of first module and got a good distinction. 70% is due in mid Sept, which is a 6000 word research proposal...but have found it so daunting to identify a topic from a completely blank canvass so I have yet to start....

Then I have a year off and another module to complete which will be a 10,000 word research project over the next 9m, whilst teaching....the key is linking the work I do now to something I can do my final project on so I can use all the research I am not doing now.

It will be worth it in the end but I am not very good at self motivation.

Well done you, though. Ditto the motivation!

I have no idea what I am going to do for a topic. Was thinking of asking at my local nature reserve if there is anything they want studying/researching...I would rather have a topic I am interested in than pick one from the 'list' that circulates of "suggested research proposals". But Statistics - aaaaarrrrrgggghhhh!!!!

Thing is for everything else I have always had a list to choose from.

I was once a proper scientist so I love numbers and charts and stats, but the nature of research in education is that there are a lot of questionaires and fluffy comments which can't be quantitated.

This time we have a completely blank canvass which is accompanied by a list of things our lecturers are interested in to give us ideas.

I have rejected most of the things on the list on the basis of either being interesting but too fluffy or not of interest to me.

I have also found it particularly hard as I want this proposal to be something that I could do the actual project on so I don't have to completely redo it. Problem is I don't have a job yet so don't know the context of the school (e.g. there is no guarantee I will be teaching A level) so I need to chose something which can be really generic.

What has really helped is to have had a brainstorming session with someone else on the course. We bounced ideas off each other and although neither of us had a clue a couple of hours later we had moulded about 4-6 sensible ideas.

I miss the brainstorming sessions. I worked well with one person on my course, but when I took 'maternity leave' I was unable to carry on working with her. When I went back to Uni, I was with a different stream of people who worked completely differently to how I did.
Glad that you have some good ideas now in a shortlist.

Would you be teaching a particular subject? If so, I wonder if there is an angle you could take on the subject itself and relate it to age or gender or something along those lines?

Am seeing a friend tonight who has just completed a similar course to the one I am about to start. I know what her Masters dissertation was on and it is not a topic that interests me, but I thought that if she can give me a rough outline of topics they covered, I might find something that I can link into species/ecosystems/activities/facilities/operations at my local reserve and follow up that way.

Shall I bring my stats to you then?

I am more of a creative writer but shall be able to steel myself to the matter in hand, I think.