Today I started off the day reflecting on my conversation with Margaret regarding my research design. I am seriously considering doing a Delphi study. The only problem is that I need to have someone on my committee familiar with the method. I have also reached out to Microsoft one last time. The two other folks I would love to have on my committee are Linda Polin who I had asked when I completed my comps and Margaret likes working with her and someone who I have just met who shares my research interests, LaVelle Hendricks of Texas A&M University-Commerce. I have reached out to him. I then spent a few hours working on my literature review from where I left off. While I was writing I came across this question raised from the New Image of Computing Initiative:


Why isn’t a high school interest in computer science translating into enrollment in college computer science classes?” (p. 17).

I could find students who were interesting in computer science in high school and interview them as to why they did not persist? This is something I could get from the Microsoft attendees. They were exposed, and they attended the programs so they were interested, but they are not in college right now or they are in college in another major. What happened? I could form an interview or a survey around that?

I was able to get through all 26 pages. There are still a few citations I need to find but for the most part they are all done. Now I need to go back through my sources and flesh out my outline. There are a couple sections that are empty. I may even need to reorder and modify my outline particularly that last part. But that is good. I also reached out to Richard Tapia again and the folks at New Image of Computing. It may be easier for me to interview students even though that requires IRB.

Today I spent time continue to develop my chapter 2. I rewrote sections that needed to be rewritten based on my new outline. I got to about page 18 of 29. I need to continue arranging and organizing and rewriting the pieces that need to be written. I am looking forward to getting all of my content in the chapter and in the right places in the outline and in the right order. I did not get as far as I would have liked but I did make significant progress. I have much more work to do. But I am progressing. I won't send the new revision to Margaret until I have a complete offering. I also need to respond to Margaret regarding my committee.

Focus for next section:

Complete Historical Overview

Today we:

Came up with the working title for my paper:

Access Denied: The Underrepresentation of African American Males in Information Technology

Started working on chapter 3 up to research design. stopped.

Now I am back on chapter 2 and we will get back to chapter 3 later today

Created a good outline that I can now use as the template to work each section using the new format from Margaret.

I also uploaded a revised semester plan to dropbox and disscircles

Can I add: http://broadbandandsocialjustice.org/2011/12/stem-jobs-are-the-future-but-what-role-will-minorities-play/

Today I finished fleshing out historical overview section of my literature review. Although I
think I still want to add a technical education section using Wharton as the source. I will do that on Monday. The work below still needs to be completed:

1. Add new section on racism
2. Rewrite other sections
3. Add CNN special
4. Other sources that I added
5. ggt entire chapter 2 done with all sources, check the ones at home with the new format
read, edit for flow, transitions, etc

30+ pages in write format compare to notes from MR

review edits and incorporate.

Send to Margaret

Talk to Margaret during the week
I want to submit these changes during the week.
Next week. Sit down with Dr. Diop and write chapter 3

does the CNN piece on Silicon Valley fit into chapter 2
find and read the piece from Linda and decide: does it fit, if so where, then claim, evidence, take

need to figure where these go and format as well

video game link: where does this information go.
Betsy DiSalvo is a Human Centered Computing PhD candidate at the Georgia Institute of Technology’s School of Interactive Computing looking at the ways in which culture impacts technology, and how we can leverage cultural practices into designing constructive learning interventions. Her focus is on urban African-American males’ use of video games and why they are not turning their passion for video game play into a larger interest in computer science.

Young African-American men and Latino men actually game the most hours per week of any other group, but they are not well represented in computing or other technology-related fields. The common wisdom at the time, which was if you get people gaming like young Caucasian or Asian men then they will go into technology, wasn’t really proving true.
We decided to form a game-testing group after a number of iterations and co-design processes with young African-American men in Atlanta.
There is a lot I’ve found in my research that will apply specifically to how we work with and teach young African-American men and the kind of things that move beyond what I am looking at, which is their motivation to not learn. They are actively choosing to not learn in schools because it’s not cool...the Glitch Game Testers was a way to get them to move beyond that.
Out of the 16 men who graduated from high school, 15 have gone on to college, and of those 15, 13 are in computing-related majors. These are unheard of results for a computer science program to increase participation in computing, especially with this demographic, which is probably one of the more difficult to reach.

http://dmlcentral.net/blog/whitney-burke/young-black-males-learning-and-video-games

work this in up top somewhere or in the paper. rewrite using the new format:

In July, the U.S. Department of Commerce’s Economic & Statistics Administration (ESA) published an eye-opening report on the status of science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) workers in the United States. The report revealed that there were 7.6 million people working in STEM industries in 2010, representing about 5 percent of all employees nationwide. It also noted that the number of STEM jobs is growing three times faster than the number of non-STEM jobs, with a projected growth rate of 17 percent between 2008 and 2018.

This is why the White House introduced Educate to Innovate, an initiative dedicated to improving participation in and performance of U.S. students of all ages in STEM subjects. So far, the program has partnered with stakeholders in the public and private sectors, educators, and STEM-focused foundations to ensure that all of America’s youth, regardless of race or socioeconomic status, have the educational opportunities and resources necessary to participate in STEM education and compete for STEM jobs in the future. This type of initiative is especially important for low-income and minority youth, many of whom attend schools that lack the resources to provide significant STEM offerings.

The stakes for getting these policies right are very high, especially within minority communities. Americans with STEM degrees boast incomes that are, on average, 26 percent higher than non-STEM workers, regardless of whether or not they work directly in a STEM occupation. However, a 2010 Bayer report revealed that minority chemists and chemical engineers gave the nation’s K-12 education system a grade of “D” when it comes to encouraging minorities to pursue STEM careers.

ESA’s July report observed that STEM jobs “play a key role in the sustained growth and stability of the U.S. economy, and are a critical component to helping the U.S. win the future.” In order to enhance innovation – and increase the number of STEM workers – in the U.S., policymakers and educators alike must do whatever is necessary to ensure that more women and minorities are pursuing studies and careers in these lucrative fields. These stakeholders must also focus on bolstering broadband adoption within minority communities.

Closing the digital divide will ensure that minority youth grow up well-equipped and well-prepared for STEM-focused higher education opportunities and careers. Without such a comprehensive commitment to broadband adoption and STEM education, our nation will continue to fall behind in economic growth and innovation.

------
david drew, read these links
There were two reports released in September 2010 about how to improve STEM education, one by the National Science Board, which said that the United States does a poor job of identifying potential STEM success students and should cast a wider net earlier on, and another by the President’s Council of Advisors on Science and Technology, which said we should be focusing on developing master STEM teachers, rewarding them, and opening 1,000 new STEM-focused schools over the next decade. Which of these would you say is more likely to be the answer? Or what are they perhaps missing?

his answer:
I totally agree with the first one. I believe what they’re saying is there are many people who could succeed who get discouraged from STEM or never encouraged, which is the main thrust of my book. I feel that often that happens because teachers and counselors—and sometimes even parents—believe that a girl can’t do math, believe that a student of color can’t master math and science, that a white student from poverty cannot become a scientist. All of these are false beliefs. That’s all garbage. The whole thrust of my book is that in the emerging high-tech global economy, we switch from the manufacturing era to the information era, and pretty much everybody should be learning at least some of this in high school and many people could go into STEM as a career. We have to get away from a model from the industrial age that says: a) we only need a few people in this area and those will be the geeks; and b) only a few people can succeed in this area. Those are false. So my whole book is about broadening participation, and I feel the achievement gap is based on false factors and can easily be eliminated.
claim
evidence
my take

I list four factors in the book and talk about a number of programs that have done this. One, recruiting into STEM, which maybe isn’t the best verb because it sounds like marketing. It’s making young people aware that college is an option for them and STEM is an option for them. Two, mentoring is critical. Three, in high school and in college, finding ways to create study groups and peer support groups that are focused on academic excellence. The main thing is not to discourage kids and to encourage them to study STEM. Some of the key decisions occur in middle school because they’re heading into algebra. I used to work with Carl Sagan and one of the things we struggled with is that kindergarten students and first-grade students have a natural interest in science and they’ll ask questions about it and get involved, but then if you look as they get older, their interest declines. Where it becomes critical is in middle school because there students are making choices about what they will take in high school and that affects whether they will go to college and where they will go to college. A lot of the avoidance of STEM by teachers, counselors, parents—steering students away from STEM, or avoidance by the students themselves—has to do with anxiety about math. What you have to do is get beyond psychological barriers to broaden participation.

Yes, but I don’t think it’s enough. I understand that there are constraints. I also think that there are some myths that everybody buys into when talking about reforming education. There are four. Here’s something you’ll hear high officials in government saying: ‘American high-school students perform dismally in international assessments.’ Which is true. ‘This shows how much American education has declined. We have to take steps to restore American secondary and elementary education to its former glory and here’s how I think we should do it.’ That’s false. There was no period of former glory. We always were at the bottom. Now it’s become much more important, and we’re more aware of it now. Another myth is that the way to fix this is to spend a lot on curriculum. I don’t think so. Curriculum reform is fine, but we’ve spent huge sums—for example, the new math after Sputnik. Given the choice, I’d rather have my child taught by an exciting, creative, involved teacher using a science curriculum from the 1950s, as contrasted with a hostile, critical, boring teacher using the latest curriculum. I think it’s all about the teacher. Another myth is that the key is we’ve got to recruit more young people into teaching. That’s good, but it’s not the key in my opinion. The problem isn’t getting young people into teaching; it’s keeping them in teaching. But it’s all about the teacher.

claim: better teachers
evidence: what he said
my take:

That is the right conversation to be having. There are things that would surprise people. I think the fundamental barrier is that people are worried about erroneous beliefs that some students may not be up to it. And I feel that virtually any student can master these subjects, at least at the high-school level, and many in college. As far as surprises, many students can benefit from technical training—community college technical training. There are many STEM jobs that don’t require a college degree. I am not saying that some students are not smart enough to go to college—my whole bid is that everyone can learn this—but some students don’t want to go to college. Some want to go to work right now. So take STEM courses in high school and some community-college courses, and there are jobs that are in demand now such as underwater welders, all kinds of jobs where you can get excellent training. I also don’t think enough attention is paid when discussing STEM [in relation] to reading. I haven’t ever met an outstanding mathematician that can’t read. I think there are still a lot of uninformed ideas and prejudices that certain people can’t do this. And that’s just wrong. When you have the president of Harvard saying that women maybe don’t have the intellectual fire power to succeed in STEM, that’s pretty serious. It’s a battle that I feel is the central battle, and I think we’re in an era now with respect to women in STEM, with respect to underrepresented minorities in STEM, with respect to white students from poverty in STEM, that’s kind of like a previous era with respect to civil rights where the rhetoric was one thing but the reality was different.



         

I received feedback from Margaret on my chapter 2. I basically need to rewrite what i have done thus far. My goal is to have this done by Sunday. That is aggressive but that is my goal. The email was full of information and links to resources. It was a lot to absorb so I started today's session with reviewing the materials. It is not hard to understand just much to absorb. It was however very helpful and reduced my confusion. It actually made me look forward to future research. Below is the message I received from Margaret:

Hi Kai,

You are writing and that is good. And I can see you are struggling to find organization.

You have a two section lit review with a paragraph long introduction and no conclusion.

I have two big comments that affect the whole paper.

1) you need structure -- this will help you organize what you have written.

Both sections need structure and each paragraph needs structure.

You are building an argument -- it goes like this...
Section 1: topic
subsection 1 Topic
Paragraph one
Claim
data
what you take from this
Paragraph 2
Claim
evidence or data
What you take from this
Paragraphs x-x (with this structure)
Summary paragraph
what I took from all of these supported claims
Sub section 2 Topic
Paragraph....
So for each paragraph.. find the claim... support it with evidence and start building your arguement.

2) And the next thing is that you are over quoting. Think about quotes as illustrations.
They make your point stronger and provide additional information but they are NOT
instead of writing. The most common mistake a graduate student makes is writing
through the voice of others. You need to find your own voice. You are telling us
what you have learned.

This screencast I made for the MALT students might help...

http://screencast.com/t/SkULeX6yg

Also go to

http://ccar.wikispaces.com

Go to lit review and read what I have written... especially the part about when and how to quote.

Now is the time to go to the website and put up a plan for what you will do this semester. I
gave you credit for your flurry of work at the end, but I need a pattern of regular work.

You need to be making progress... (edits are in the dropbox)

Margaret

After reviewing the material, I started the process of the rewrite. Instead of starting where I left off I started at the beginning using Margaret's comments. This way when I get to the end I have it in the form and using the suggestions before I move on. Also I can go forth with the rest of my sources in the proper fashion. On Sunday I continued to work on the new format. I did the first section which is Historical overview. I still need to finish that and then I will rewrite the rest and work on section titles and order and transitions and rewrite intro. I have also started thinking about interviewing African American IT leadership perhaps at the CIO level. I have 2 in mind thus far:

1. Thomas Sneed
2. Shellye Archambeau

Perhaps I can tap ITSMF (Information Technology Senior Management Forum). I sent an email via the website to gain a contact. Perhaps I can survey them and report the findings.

Today I worked on my paper at Barnes & Noble. My usual spot Jitterbug Cafe, a coffee house in my neighborhood was closed for the holiday and so was my backup the Lone Star College Library. It cost me about an hour to find a place to write but once I settled in it was a productive session. I was able to work until about 1pm as I had to get back in time to join the family for a New Years Eve trip down to Galveston to view the lights and have dinner. When I sat down to work I had 21 pages saved. I now have 25 but i am still rewriting and adding the citations. The first thing I did was to read through the paper and make an corrections to flow, grammar, spelling, citations etc. Once I completed that I started to add to the content. I finished the day with 25 polished pages. My plan is to work again on Sunday and send Margaret the new update on Sunday. She had emailed me on yesterday and reminded that she does not have pages so I will need to send her word copies. Also I need to make sure I use TurnItIn or at least double-check my citations against the original sources. I also reached out to Mike Swift who wrote the Silicon Valley article as well as Shellye Archambeau of MetricStream. Here are my Action items for next session.

1. Finish editing and add graphic from Silicon Valley story
1. Run against TurnItIn | Find instructions
2. Send to Margaret
3. Check prose above to see what I missed.
4. Use something from CNN special, look at APA on how to site.

Today I continued working on my chapter 2. I have about 19 pages. I still need to clean up 11 through 19 in terms of citations, flow etc. I will do that in the next session which should be sometime this week. I am finding it is too hard to wait and entire week to get back to writing. I will try to write during the week so that when I start again on Saturday I am not starting cold. I sent what I have to Margaret. During my next session I should clean up the 19 and get my citations done and try to write my next section as well as incorporate a couple of sources such as the Affirmative Action Myth, Blacks surging in technology, RAGS and A Nation at Risk. I have all of these. I need to critique, and decide where to to ask. I could easily have the entire thing down by this weekend. I am also waiting for Margaret to reply with her comments. Additionally, this week I will need to write up my plan. I have it written out on the inside cover of Whip's model, so I just need to put it in a document and upload to disscircles.

Today even though I had several distractions due to the holidays I still wrote. I really feel that I am building momentum. My dissertation comes first. Only family and something that at this point Cathy needs me to help with comes before writing. Today I finally submitted 12 pages to Margaret. It was well written and I had most of the citations there and I felt that I wrote with authority and added my analysis well. It was not perfect, but I now I will start to benefit from her reading it and guiding me. I still have not heard from the Microsoft contact so I will have to go in another direction. I will probably go back to qualitative interview idea. I have not seen that as of yet and I still like the idea. I plan to write this week during the week. But if not I will certainly write some on Saturday, Sunday and Monday. I am also off this Friday so I should probably get some writing done then as well. If I maintain my discipline I should be in good shape before January 1. If I have not heard back from Margaret as it will take her some time to read then I will start to figure out chapter 3. Below is the message I sent to Margaret today:

Here is my first draft of Chapter 1. I have not run it through TurnIntIn as of yet as I need to locate my instructions and I wanted you to see the work without delay. I know that it may take you some time to review and get back to me with your comments. During that time I will work on finding the instructions and run the paper through. This is about half of what I think my complete chapter 2 will look like when complete as I continue to go through my summaries. Also, I would like to talk with sometime this week about my plans or the term and where I would like to be as well as some of the obstacles I have run into with my plans for the study. I will continue working on the chapter 2 and merge what I do with your comments and be ready to submit my changes. My plan is to send you a document each week on Sunday as I am able to write on both days. I will have some extra time here during the holidays so I plan to make progress during that time as well. I also intend to start reading about what I need to start my chapter 3.

On Sunday I sent my plan, outline and my first 7 pages of my chapter 2 to Margaret. I am waiting to hear back, but certainly I am back on track. My next session will be about building on my work this weekend and really getting a flow and some density to my chapter 2 in terms of fleshing out the sections. My goals for my Sunday session were:

1. Finish outline. I did one but I was not feeling totally happy with it
2. Write m first 10+ pages based on outline
3. Send plan, outline, and draft to Margaret

The only thing I did not accomplish was the number of pages. I may not wait until Saturday to get back to writing. Hopefully, I can get something done earlier in the week.

Kai

I spent the entire day working on my paper. I did not reach all of the goals outlined in my last session but I do feel good about the work I got done today. During the week I reached out to my chair and she threatened to give me a no-credit for the term so I was extra motivated to get something done and submitted to her by Sunday of this week. The plan from last session was to:

Read section on lit review in dj as a refresher
Find example diss
Study model diss chapter 2
Develop Outline
Write draft based on outline and model, start new doc, pull content from old one
Send to Margaret

I have not sent anything to Margaret yet but I was able to get my mind around exactly what it is I am to do. I had struggled with this for a minute. So, I studies a couple of sections in my book by Carol Roberts and took notes. That was helpful. I did find an example but not the one I wanted but I think I will be fine with the one I located. I worked hard on the outline and I could use what I have but I think it needs work and I will do that as the first goal of the next session which is tomorrow. On Sunday there will be nothing but writing. It may not be great but I will leave the library on Sunday with 10+ pages, my outline and a plan that I will send to Margaret before leaving the library. Those are my 2 goals for the next session:

1. Finish outline. I did one but I was not feeling totally happy with it
2. Write m first 10+ pages based on outline
3. Send plan, outline, and draft to Margaret

This weekend I made it through the editing process of the document. My goal for this week, that is by Sunday is to have my first draft written and sent to Margaret. My plan is to work on this chapter Monday thru Sunday. If I don't have the draft done it won't be for a lack of effort. This week I my plan is to talk to Margaret about where I am and ask her about the importance of a title. Also, I reached out to Microsoft yet again. If I do not get a response this week I will have to go back to my original plan of interviewing subjects. Here is the plan for this week as prepare my draft. Monday after work I will actually start a new document that will be the draft of my chapter 2.

Read section on lit review in dj as a refresher
Find example diss
Study model diss chapter 2
Develop Outline
Write draft based on outline and model, start new doc, pull content from old one
Send to Margaret

Well I am back. Obviously the plan I had in mind since my last post did not work out. Oh well. You keep plugging away. I have been very busy the last few months with a new career opportunity. The family has to eat, thus earning an income is pretty important. But I also have every attention of graduating in 2012 so I simply must find time to devote to my dissertation.

I am STILL working on my chapter 2. The time is hard to come buy, but this is something that I must solve. Understanding that my current work schedule is very demanding and realizing that my family time is very important to me, I have to figure out a way to get this time in. The weekdays are not an option as I keep myself pretty busy with work.

That only leaves me Saturday and Sunday. Since I have taken this 3 month break it seems now I will need to get a few hours in on both days if I am complete my mission of graduating in May. I found some time today to get some work done. Today I spent 3 hours back to editing the 90 pages (double-spaced) for my chapter 2).

I made it to page 31. Over the next couple of sessions I need to continue to edit this before I actually try to cull it into a meaningful document. My goal is to have between 25 and 30 pages organized and coherent for Margaret by November 30th. I am back focused. Soon I will also need to review the docs sent by Margaret in terms of evaluation of programs and determine if I am going to study the Microsoft program or not.

Today I started the brutal process of actually editing my first draft of my chapter 2. I wrote an introduction describing the sections of the literature review. Then I started going over the text for the first section to determine if I wanted to keep it or not, wording it properly and making sure I had the citation. I probably finished about half of the first section. I am certain this will take me the rest of the week to complete. At that point I will still want to read and edit and make sure I have good content and all of my citations are there and it flows properly. I have 4 sections to edit. Today I put in 3 hours of good work. If I can do that on Friday I will really make some progress. I am pushing to have the first pass through of the entire documented, read formatted and cited by Sunday night.

Today I have finally added the last of my content to my chapter 2 work. On Thursday I will start the editing process. I will be doing this work for the rest of the week. My plan is to have it down by Sunday and send it through TurnItIn before sending a copy of Margaret for feedback.

Today I continued to compile my chapter 2. I have 2 more reports to include and then I will start editing and cutting it down. I should get those 2 report summaries incorporated on Thursday. By the weekend I should have all of my editing done and I intend to submit the first draft to Margaret.

Today I officially started to put together my chapter 2. I went through most of my materials and categorized them and placed them in a document. I still a few more to add to the document which I will do in my next session. Then I will begin to cut it down and wordsmith and weave what I have and write the introduction. As of now, the document is 93 pages single spaced. I am looking forward to starting the next part of the process. I am hoping to get the first draft to Margaret by Thursday morning.

Today I organized all of my reports and summarizes. I still have some that I have yet to summarize but before i read them and decide if I am going to use them, I am going to start to put together my chapter 2. My next work will be to take all of the documents and organize them into my zero draft of chapter 1.

I have been continuing to read and summarize reports. I have also been continuing my efforts with BiTWiSE as well as interviewing people on my topic to find out as much as I can. I have also continued to reach out to folks. Today I sent a note to Dr. Reagan Flowers. She lives in Houston so we will have a conference call soon. I am also meeting with a representative from Microsoft to discuss possibly studying The Student Minority Program that is done by Blacks @ Microsoft to see if there is an association between students participating in the program and increased interest in computing careers.

So far this week I have completed reading The Digital Elite by John T. Barber and I have begun to summarize what I will use for chapter 2. I also started reading my book on Grounded Theory which I think is the design I wish to use, but I wanted to read more about it before I committed. But is is based on Comparative Analysis which I think is important for what I wish to do. I also reached out to someone at The Blacks @ Microsoft Employee Resource Group about the possibility of studying their program called Student Minority Day as my study. I should finish the book on Thursday and then I can get to the remaining sources I have yet to read and my discovery on AERA.net for anything new. I should complete this by the end of the week. The hope is to start to put together the chapter and send it to Margaret before the end of the month.

Today I finished reading The Black Digital Elite by John T. Barber. This is an excellent book and will fit in well with my chapter 2. It is a profile of African Americans who have played a role in the evolution of the computing industry from different sectors of the society. Each profile reveals the thoughts of these "digital elite" on what needs to be done to close the technology gap in America. This week I also reached out to Detra Newhouse of Blacks @ Microsoft to discuss the feasibility of studying their Student Minority Day Initiative for my study.

I got back in the library today. I still have articles to summarize, but I wanted to use a book I have called The Black Digital Elite. I spent a few hours today in the library and I should finish it on Wednesday. I am glad that I did because I definitely found some good stuff. I will summarize it on Wednesday. I still did not get my chapter 2 written this week. But I want to have certain sources summarized before I start to synthesize and integrate.

talk to students who have come through the bdpa program who have majored in stem. What effect did it have (ask margaret)

how does events such as career days influence the choice of career.
keep my eyes and ears open during my talk in Waco.

saw this:http://adsabs.harvard.edu/abs/2007PhDT.......130W

http://gradworks.umi.com/3341359.pdf, found on google need to do a google scholar search + pro quest can still be building even though I submit to Margaret.

The study that looked at robotics used a tool to measure before and after.

1. Continue conversations and interviews (may get an idea of what to ask or design)
2. Continue summarizing what I have (for chapter 2 construction)
3. AERA (for chapter 2 construction)
4. Other dissertations for ideas for my chapter 3 (further research)
5. BiTWiSE (ideas for design, participant source)

Today I spent a few hours in the library reading and summarizing proposals. I did not get as much done in terms of how many or how much I wrote but my understanding of the problem and what I am doing is growing immensely. I read one article that was full of information and gave me several ideas.

I also finally summarized the Dividing Lines article which also had an interesting nugget or 2. My goal is to complete 10 more summaries before attempting the construction of my first draft. My goal was to get the draft to Margaret today. I spoke with her today and told her that I would get her a draft next Wednesday.

That is seven days from now and I fully intend to do that. She also made it clear to me today that I don't actually have a research design yet, although I keep thinking that I do. I guess I do unless something better comes along. My plan is to interview black technology professionals and ask them about their experiences being an information technology professional and let the themes emerge as to why so few black males pursue careers in information technology.


She was also very encouraging regarding my BiTWiSE activities. Which was very reassuring because I struggled with taking the time on the project as I was worried about it taking away from my dissertation. She convinced me that they are one and the same. She even said that I may find a way to use BiTWiSE as part of my study.

She reminded that I should look for other dissertations and check their chapter 5's for ideas for study designs. I had been doing that but I will do more more of it. She also mentioned that I could interview the IT professionals to get their take and use that information to create a survey to interview college students.

To see if what is perceived by the professionals holds water with the aspirants. I need to continue to write and keep my eyes and ears open for the idea that really clicks for me.

Today I pretty much worked on my paper the entire day. It was more about quality that quantity but I will be back at it on Saturday (tomorrow). I was able to finally transpose my notes from my last 2 interviews with Professor Moore of UT and Andrea Barefield of Lone Star College in Houston. Both were full of insights and spawned connections that I reached out to today to setup interviews. Saturday I will visit the dissertation circle and input my plans for this semester which will include conducting my proposal. The rest of the day I will get back to reading and summarizing.

I did not make my goal of submitting my first draft of my chapter 2 by May 1. For the past 2 weeks I have been preparing for multiple job interviews. This was all consuming. Although I did not get any work done with regards to the actual literature review, I did meet with several people to gain insights to what the issues may be around my topic. Margaret suggested that I do this. Some of the meetings have been a gold mine.

For example, the information that I gathered from my interview with Mario Berry will be very helpful when I am designing my interview questions. I will post my notes from that conversation on Google Docs. I also made contact with IT leaders, thanks to Wayne Hicks, in BDPA. My aim is to interview these leaders in August at the BDPA National Technology Conference.

I have their contact information and I intend to connect with them this week. I have also tried to reach out repeatedly to Richard Tapia of Rice University to no avail. Additionally, I reached out to Carmen Caldwell and Omari Gordon. These are contacts I made via my conversation with high school teacher Krystal Gordon. I left messages for both and I am looking forward to speaking with them.

I attended a job fair on April 20th. The idea was to sit down with those who are doing the hiring. I met Boi-Yeanoh Adams. I interviewed her as well and she connected with me Dr. Consuelo Waight of The University of Houston. Both meeting were fruitful. I have setup other interviews from contacts I made at the job fair. On Tuesday I am meeting with Andrea Barefield of Lone Star College. I am looking forward to getting her thoughts as well as connect one of her colleagues that she mentioned would be helpful in my quest.

Today I finished my review and summary of A Struggle Worthy of Note I also added to my notes and took some great information from the conclusion. The plan for the rest of the month is to continue with my informational interviews. At my next session I also intend to summarize my notes from the meeting with Mario Berry. I also have 2 other interviews to setup that came out of my meeting with Krystal Gordon. The plan here is to continue reading, summarizing and categorizing. I am definitely learning everything I can about the subject which I am very pleased with. I also need to search the AERA database for this year as well as review the methodology site that Margaret mentioned. I also intend to take a look at the disscircles site she setup. I tried to re-do TurnItIn for my last chapter but I had some sort of issue where it is checking against my paper and coming up 100% plagiarized. I have notified writing support and I am awaiting an answer. After I am done with my sources. I will re-read Creswell and formation and maybe one or two examples. After that I will write my first draft. My goal is to submit it on May 1.

Today I finished reading from "A Struggle Worthy of Note: The Engineering and Technological Education of Black Americans. This is an excellent resource. I wish I could find the author. I learned a great deal in reading it. I learned about the racism and exclusionary practices that kept African Americans from participating in the technical professions as well as the changes in these policies as the technical leadership of the country began to be threatened. I will certainly in my next session review the book and add more to my summary of it that I can use in my chapter 2 as well as other chapters. Also, next time I will post my notes from my meeting with Mario Berry and I am looking forward to other interviews that I have setup such as Lisette Titre. I need to also connect with NACME and the group mentioned in Jerlando Jackson's paper.

Today I continued to read for my literature review. Before my next session I need to organize what I am going to read. I definitely want to read the new online articles I have bookmarked on my pc, but I also have others on flash drives, desktop etc that I need to have organized to read. I should finish my content this week and determine if I need more. I will also do the AERA work this week. By this weekend I should cut my first draft.

Today I spoke with Margaret via Skype. She mentioned that I should access the AERA site and peruse the catalog for the latest research on my topic.

Today I spoke with Dr. Peggy Osbourn. Peggy is the Director of Counseling, Career and Disability Services. She did not offer much in the way of information but she was a networking bonanza. She gave me several contacts. I will be contacting those folks the rest of this week.

Today I started doing some of the leg work for my chapter 3. I had an appointment with the career services office of Lone Star College Cypress. The person I met with did not have any information for me but she was able to connect me with a student who had started to pursue engineering at the University of Houston who had returned back to the community college. She is going to get permission from the student. Hopefully I will hear back from the student soon and I will be able to setup a time to connect with him. She also put me in touch with others in the office who may be able to help. I am meeting with Peggie Osbourn on Tuesday. Also I will be attending their job fair on April 20th to have an opportunity to actually get contact information of actual companies and I may be able to speak with them. Today I also spoke with Wayne Hicks of BDPA in order to setup interviews during the conference in Chicago. The conference will take place in Chicago. I also met with Krystal Gordon. Krystal is a teacher at MacArthur High School in Houston. She gave me many insights and also connected me with another teacher who teaches math as well as her a hiring manager. I am also looking forward to meeting her brother. I have used her notes as a starting point from my chapter 3.

Today I continued to read articles for my chapter 2. I think I read 3 articles and summarized them. I also continued to think about the design of my study as I read other ideas popup. Doing a comparative study between African American IT Pros with White IT Pros would seem good. That is what most studies do around the digital divide. They compare low ses schools with high ses schools. Or they will compare white schools with black schools. Why not compare White men who have become IT Pros with Black Males who have become IT Pros, although that does not actually seem to answer the question of why Black males don't go into the career. If I am looking at what attracts African American males to IT then i could interview them.

survey 100
interview 15

Yesterday I finished reading Technology and Equity in Schooling: Deconstructing the Digital Divide. I still need to write it up. I also read the article on Gaming and closing the digital divide. After talking with Margaret on wednesday I was confused about why I should speak with a counselor in career services. After she explained it I got it. What she meant was that I am trying to find out why African American males don't go into IT. Her thought was that someone who might have ideas about this are career advisors. They talk to people all of the time and might have some insights. This information will help me to develop my own questionnaires. I immediately contacted the career counseling department at Lone Star College. I am meeting with them on Monday. This work is for my chapter 3. I also thought of other folks that I could speak with about this. So, I contacted Joyce Rivera of MacArthur High School and asked her who I could speak with. He suggested a teacher named Krystal Gordon who I have an appointment to meet with on Monday as well. I also sent a note to the department chair of the computer science department at Lone Star College-CyFair. I also sent a note to the head of the computer science department at UT to setup a meeting. I came up with a few other ideas but did not move on them.

I had my meeting with Margaret today. Here are the talking points from the conversation.

Speak to professors to find out why African Americans leave the major
Speak to the student she mentioned
Think about what it is I want to know. (I want to know why is it that African American males are going into the information technology field)
Start working on my chapter 3. Look at examples
Talk to a career placement office in order to decide how I will come up with what or who to ask
comparative case study (whites vs. black)
Talk to students who once majored, then changed. Pay attention to what comes up of any of these conversations.
Fred Erickson studies
Use her modules as a starting point for chapter 3
Speak to some white and some black IT professors

Take all of this in, keep on my path.

Today I did not get very much done, but the quality of what was accomplished was high. Today I summarized my reading of The Young and the Digital by S. Craig Watkins. Initially, I did not think there was much in the book that I could use, although I thought it was a brilliant book. But as I combed back through my highlights to do the summary, I found much that I could use as well as other nuggets that I had not seen the first time. It was a very good read. Now I can move on and add it to the consumed list. I still need to do the other work mentioned in the previous post and then I can get back to reading other studies and articles to summarize. I learned a lot today, so even though I did not get very much done, I did learn. And is that not the point of it all.

This is the response I received from my open records request from Texas A&M University. I also sent a similar request to Trinity University and Texas Southern University in Houston. I received good feedback from Margaret on my chapter 1. I need to clarify if she is suggesting that I interview both university students and African American IT pros.

That is precisely what Jerlando Jackson did. I should check their report for an interview instrument. Today I also finished my reading of The Young and the Digital. It was a great book but it does not offer much for my chapter 2. There is one chapter on digital divide that is very general.

I will write the summary for it on Saturday and use what I can for my chapter 2. However, the afterword offered good information on methods. For example, he mentioned how the students or participants help to design the surveys, interview questions and design of the study. I am thinking of how to come up with interview questions now. There was also mention of a great book on qualitative interviewing which I ordered. Right now it seems my study will involve speaking to university students as well as IT professionals to understand their experiences around computer science in college as well as in corporate america. So, I am thinking about how to come at the interview questions. Also, I want to do a mix methods study and I am not sure about the quantitative aspect. That is a good question to talk with Margaret about on Wednesday. I also contacted Texas Southern University regarding data.

Next Steps:
Write summary of The Young and the Digital
Send new TurnItIn report for chapter 1 to Margaret
Think about quantitative aspect
Look for examples of interview question


Mr. Dupe,

Here is our response to your request for public information, our number
2011014.
In the 5 year period between 2005-2010, there were 149 black males in
Computer Science. In May of 2010, 15 of those graduated with a different
degree and 25 graduated with a degree in CS. 109 either have not
graduated yet or did not graduate at all.

The last few days I have been reading S. Craig Watkins' book The Young and the Digital. After reading about half of it I probably won't be able to include it in my literature review. I learned quite a bit but I don't think it is really related to my topic. I should finish it this week, and by the weekend should be ready to add a few more studies to my list of summaries.

Yesterday I settled on my research design being Grounded Theory. I think it makes more sense than the others and it makes more sense for the question I am seeking to answer. Also, I settled on a design. I will contact several universities and junior colleges. I will find African American males who have switched majors and contact them to interview them to find out what led them to changing their major. I do think I wish to use mixed methods although I am not sure what kind of quantitative data would help me answer the question or be part of the design. Maybe I can survey the African American males who have dropped computer science as a major and quantify the data that way in terms of their attitude or experiences around their computer science experience. I also sent my chapter 1 to Margaret. She needed to read it again since it had been awhile. Yesterday I compiled a list of schools that I have access. Today I continued to think about my design, summarized reports, and contact schools.

1. Huston-Tillotson, Austin Texas
2. Austin Community College
3. Houston Community College
4. The University of Texas
5. Prairie View
6. Rice
7. University of Houston
8. Texas Southern University
9. Trinity University
10. University of Texas at San Antonio
11. Morehouse University
12. Texas A&M Commerce
13. San Antonio College
14. St. Phillips College
15. St. Mary's University

This morning I read an article by Paul Gorski titled Education Equity and the Digital Divide that set me on fire. The article validated many of my thoughts for when I first embarked on the journey to earn my phd and situated me in the fight for digital equity. This is what I am all about. Digital Equity and Math Literacy are the civil rights issue of the 21st century. He also made me consider Multicultural Education as a theoretical framework. I will discuss with Margaret and search for my book on the topic by Banks. I also became aware of this organization The National Telecommunications and Information Administration as a huge resource of information. Here is their link: http://www.ntia.doc.gov/
I also uncovered several sources that I will need to read and review for my chapter 2. But Paul Gorski is definitely a player. I learned much and got a lot out of this article even if it was the only one I was able to do in today's session. It was worth it. In Thursday's session which will be in the afternoon as I am pitching the radio show in the morning, I will go over the new sources and summarize those before reading and summarizing the other article I have that was written by Gorski. I also had a productive Skype session with Margaret this afternoon where she gave me several ideas for design and also validated that I could use Grounded Theory or Comparative Case Study.


1. AAM who go in IT
2. Whites who go into IT
3. African American Males who do not


High school kids who had an apptitude, where are they now


African American males who came in majoring in computer science but now 2 years later are not
in the major

just interviewing of African American males

Today I read several more articles and wrote several more summaries. I also became better organized and did more general reading around my methdology. I am also considering adding The Diffusion of Innovations as a source. I should continue to get more organized around what I have in terms of articles and have most of them documented by the end of next week. I also have a meeting with Margaret at 1pm on Wednesday. I am looking forward to touching base and discussing my progress and getting some direction. My goal is to have done my prelim before my birthday on May 31, 2011.

1. Articles on Box.net
2. Articles in Gmail
3. Articles on desktop
4. Hardcopies

I should get through all of what I have by the end of the week.

http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/local/ct-met-iit-black-recruiting-0227-20110226,0,6356908.story

Read and think about posting

Today I got back on my track. Although I am still not feeling 100% I am so focused and determined to finish in 2012 that I hit the library again this morning. I had a small setback as the library was closed. No matter. I hit the nearest Panera Bread and got to work. I read several studies that led to other studies. Some of them I read online as I do not have a print copy so I will print and mark up later. I did write the summaries. I tapped into another category which I may or may not have already tapped. I will have to check when I am home. But another category for the literature review map is the node of diversity. I read several studies that point out that organizations are made stronger the more diverse they are. This would seem an important idea since our STEM workforce is not very diverse. This is precisely what led me to my research. I was thinking while I was reading one study and it occurred to me that I have NEVER met a Latino male software developer during my entire career.

I have not been feeling well the last couple of days and Kisa's birthday party was on Saturday. Today I am resting and hoping to feel better in the morning. Monday thru Friday of this week I plan to get a lot of work done.

Today I continued to gain an understanding of research design, research method and stratgies of inquiry. At this point I am pretty sure that my research design is Grounded Theory. I also ordered a book on this particular research design. Additionally, I ordered a copy of the dissertation mentioned yesterday so that I can use it as a model. I was considering Multi Case Study as well as one other design but I think Grounded Theory fits best for what I am trying to do. In the next day or so I should be pretty clear on my research method. My research strategy is qualitative. I also continued to read for and sumamrize for my literature review and I will do more of that on Friday.

I can use this study as a model:

Jackson, J. F. L., Charleston, L. J., George, P. L., & Gilbert, J. E. (in press). Factors that Attract African American Males to Computer Science: A Study of Aspiring and Current Professionals. In M. C. Brown & T. E. Dancy (Eds.). African American Males and Education: Examining the Convergence of Race and Identity. Information Age.

Today I read from Business Research Methods by Bryman and Bell. I definitely had a breakthrough in understanding what I am trying to do. The breakthrough is coming to an understanding of how research is done. I read a section on inductive vs. deductive research that brought me such comfort. Before reading this, much of what I had read and learned from others who had finished their research made no sense. I also think I am about to drop the literature that I have been reading, which is mostly focused on digital divide and digital equity, and begin to focus more on literature that is more targeted to my research question of Why Are African American Males Under-Represented in Computing. Today I have made the decision that I will talk to African American Male ITPros. I will interview them the weekend of August 3rd thru August 6th at The National Technology Conference of BDPA in Chicago. I also contacted Dr. Jerlando Jackson of The University of Chicago about visiting with him to discuss my research as his study is the one I intend to replicate. This book has helped with me immensely and to see clearly or more clearly what I need to do. It was time well spent. On Thursday, I will split my time between more reading of the text, and more summaries on digital divide, digital equity, k-12 computer science education. At some point I will finish those and I will start with the Jerlando Jackson dissertation and its references.

Yesterday I did not get to do much in terms of reading and writing. But since my goal is to be persistent and produce an artifact each day, I did read another study and summarize it. I also spent some time thinking about my dissertation. In other words, what is my research design? I am not clear on that. I thought about doing a mixed-study, because I think it would make for a better study but I am not sure what the qualitative piece would be. What came out of my thinking and conversations with Dr. Odom is when I go to work on my paper at the library it does not have to all be focused on one piece. So, from now on my work will be on different parts. I will do some thinking, some reading and writing on chapter 2 and some work on what my design. This morning I have started my reading in Business Research Methods by Alan Bryman and Emma Bell. It has helped. I will read and take notes and spark my thinking here for the first few hours today and then I will switch to reading 3 or 4 studies and summaries. I also have found a full dissertation that I need to read and check out the references.

I did not go to the library on Saturday or Sunday as my friend Curtis was visiting. He absolutely motivated me to keep on my pace or even to work harder. I absolutely MUST finish this dissertation this year before December and graduate in June of 2012. That is my goal and I will not be distracted. Today I went to the library and I continued to read research reports, incorporated the tips from Curtis and contacted Margaret about weekly status meetings via Skype.

For the past week I have been reading and summarizing studies, books, and articles for my chapter 2. I have made great progress. I have decided that until I find my next income opportunity that my job will be to finish my dissertation. So, each day I get up and go to the library as if it was a job. I arrive at 8 am and try to stay at least until 2pm when my daughter has to be picked up at school. I plan to go on Saturday's and Sunday's as well. This week I finished Radical Equations and did summarizes for multiple studies. The goal for this weekend is to continue to organize and categorize my work and determine if I need more before I lay down the first draft of the chapter. The goal is 50 write-ups.

Today I went to the library and I read 3 studies. I still need to summarize them however. I also started reading from the Jossey Bass reader only to find it won't be as helpful as I had hoped. Next session I plan to write up the articles I read today and read several more. There were a few sources I learned of today that I will read as well.

Tonight I wrote up the article Digital Inequality: Differences in Young Adults' Use of the Internet. The main point of this study is that online skill is an important mediating factor in the types of activities people pursue online. I may use this as part of a section in my chapter 2. I also examined: Insisting on Digital Equity: Reframing the Dominant Discourse on Multicultural Education and Technology. I should finish reading it on Thursday and complete the summary.

Read a few more studies and articles today. Only to find that these are not really related to my research. Of the 5, I read today,I maybe can use one. The next session I should finish my articles and move on to the citations from the study I am replicating and checking out the jossey bass reader. Then I will know if I need to actually go out and seek more literature.

Yesterday I spent more time reading research reports for my literature review. Mostly, none of them were useful, but that is still good, as it allowed me to get rid of them or decide to use them in other work.

Today I continued my work on my lit review. I studied the Degrees of Success report. This also gave me the idea to possibly do a similar approach with HBCUs. I also covered the Bayer Study embedded in the U.S Gets Poor Grades in Nurturing STEM Diversity as well as the Why So Few report by The American Association of University Women.

Yesterday was more of the same. I read, organized and summmarized the studies I will use to craft my literature review. I will do more of the same today.

Today I did more summmaries as I continue to develop my literature review map.

Over the weekend I attended the Nu Skin Kick Off 2011 for the product launch of Vitality in Orlando. While I was there I spent some time with my good friend Dr. Plinkske. Kathleen gave me several pointers on completing my dissertation and on both flights I got some work in regarding my literature review. I read 7 papers (4 of which I will use in my paper) and today I will summarize and categorize them and begin work on several others. These are the papers I read:

1. Why Students with an Apparent Aptitude for Computer Science Don't Choose to Major in Computer Science, Lori Carter

2. Factors that Attract African American Males to Computer Science: A Study of Aspiring and Current Professionals, Jerlando Jackson, Lavar J. Charleston, Phillis George, and Juan E. Gilbert.

3. Developing the STEM Education Pipeline, ACT

4. Making Computer Science More Enticing, Michelle Quinn

5. Degrees of Success, Higher Education Research Institute



3. Developing the STEM Education Pipeline

Think about modeling the Bayer Study. Although the Bayer Study surveyed several minority groups, I only want to survey African American men. But, they used email and surveys to collect their data. That appeals to me at this point. They were already scientists. And they surveyed them.

Today I continued reading research reports on my goal to 50. One of which I am sure to use. It is the Bayer Study. It once again the idea to interview students of BPDA and/or NSBE. I tried this before and Margaret did not like the idea. I will have to ask again why. I think I will finish reading this study and call it a day.

Tonight I finished reading

Single-Gender Schools and Inner City; Can They Work? Is a Single Gender Setting a positive educational setting for African American Males
by Mateen Diop.

Next up is The Operative Paradigm of Hispanic-American Women Business Leaders: A Narrative, Qualitative Study. It is 123 pages long. My goal is to get it read this week. I also plan to find a study similar in topic to mine and read the chapter 2 of that one as well.

I am reading literature reviews to get a better idea of what is expected of this chapter. I have completed my reading of The Next Generation of Community College Presidents: Critical Characterstics, Competencies and Professional Experiences written by Kathleen Plinkse. I learned a lot from reading this one. Right now I am reading Single-Gender Schools and Inner City; Can They Work? Is a Single Gender Setting a positive educational setting for African American Males by Mateen Diop. I should finish reading it on Friday and then I have one more I would like to read before I develop my first draft. Here is what I have learned and planned to do.

1. Review each of my articles (try to have 50 or so)
2. Write a Summary of each one
3. Do a literature map based on the categories that emerge
4. Organized what I have to itegrate the content
5. Weave the content in a way to present where my study adds to
6. I also intend to do a a little more research (new content)

My goal is to send my literature review map to Margaret by next Friday. Once I get that back I intend to produce my first draft a few days after that. That is the plan.

Today I finished my reading in Creswell on writing the literature review. I know have a better understanding of what I am supposed to do. Now I will start reading, summarizing, and categorizing what I have as well as drawing my literature review map. I have many reports that I have obtained since I started the project. I will categorize ad summarize what I have as well as search for new reports. In my next session I will be officially working on my literature review.

Started reading Creswell to get a better understanding of how to go about constructing my chapter 2 (the review of literature). I was totally confused. Reading the work of others did not help me. My next task is to finish studying this chapter. After that I will read a couple of literature reviews. The reading of Creswell has helped. Then I will map out plan and start writing. I intend to have produced some work by the end of the work. Maybe not a rough draft, but at least a plan and a few summaries of some of the works that I have read.

Today I spent about an hour working on my research questions and finished up editing based on the last comments I received from Margaret. I was still unsure about one of her comments. I sent her a new copy with my changes. In my next session I will write my first draft of my literature review. I am taking a look at a couple of dissertations so that refresh my mind and generate ideas for how I want to structure my chapter 2.

Today I found a few moments to use the feedback I received from Margaret to change the paragraph regarding BDPA. I also emailed a new, cleaner copy to Jane Margolis for feedback. In the next session, I will make the changes to the research questions and submit another copy to Margaret. I also have started to ask the questions and think about the chapter 2.

I have been unable to work on my paper since October 15. My efforts to find a new job, family obligations (Birthdays, etc) had pushed it back on my priority list. I still have not found a job but I have decided to put my doctorate back to the top of the list. After being inspired by my good friend Dr. Vicki Perry (I attended her graduation last weekend), and talking with my wife about priorities I have decided to go for it. So, I am back. There will be much more activity here in the next couple of months. Today I was able to make most of the edits that came back from Margaret with my last submission. In my next session, which will be tommorow my plan is to finish those edits and resubmit the chapter. Here is the workflow for my next section:

1. rewrite the research questions
2. Review email
3. run through turnitin on pepperdine
4. email dr. margolis
5. The top of document regarding bdpa

add to chapter 1 or 2: http://www.tntech.edu/pressreleases/ttu-tsu-collaborate-on-study-of-stem-minority-student-success/

Minority students majoring in the science, technology, engineering and mathematics disciplines perform better if they aren't singled out for preferential treatment in the classroom.
That's one conclusion from research findings developed by investigators at Tennessee Tech University and Tennessee State University under a Tennessee Board of Regents diversity research grant. The collaborative study sought to understand the experiences of racial minority undergraduates studying STEM subjects.

The research was completed by Matthew Zagumny, professor of counseling and psychology at TTU, and David Shen-Miller, assistant professor of counseling psychology at TSU in Nashville.

Further, the researchers found that minority STEM students performed better if they perceived that their university has a commitment to racial diversity in the classroom, among faculty and administrative staffers as well.

Today I proofread my chapter 1. I like what I have so it is time for feedback. I made all of my edits and changed the arrangment to get a better flow. Hopefully, I can make the edits that come back from Margaret and be ready to move on to chapter 2. I also sent a copy to Dr. Jane Margolis of UCLA. She wrote one of the books I use heavily. In the meantime I will start to prepare a plan to write my chapter 2. It has been a while so I need to revisit what it is supposed to be. Here is the plan:

1) Read from Creswell and The Dissertation Journey
2) Review notes from Margaret
3) Look at hints from dissertation group
4) Read chapter 2 of Diop, Karen, Whip
5) Compile notes and create a plan and get to writing.

Since I will have some free time since I am not working as of October 29th, I hope to work at a faster clip. My goal is to do quality work and gain an understanding of my topic and the process.

Kai

Today as I expected I finished my edits. How exciting. I also ran my paper through TurnItIn and received a 15% originality report. I think that is acceptable. For my next session, I simply want to proofread what I have for mistakes and flow. I will do that during my next session. Once the proofreading session is over I will email a copy of what I have to Margaret and Jane and I can begin to read about an plan for how to attack my chapter 2.

I made more progress today. I feel really good about the section that needed more meat. I think it is very solid now but we will see. I was able to add references to Margolis and Warschauer. I found some nice ones that make my point. I am reading Freire and Kozol so I may have more but I think I will leave that section be for now. My next stop is to tackle the next section of rewrites given by Leah but they should not be nearly as extensive. Finally, at my next session I should be able to move through most of it pretty quickly. Here is the new plan:

1) Continue editing and rewrite
2) Proofread
3) TurnItIn
4) Email to Margaret and Jane

I am going to do my best to get some work in on Sunday!

As part of the rewrite I would like to add information from:

The Mis-Education of the Negro, Carter G. Woodson
Stuck in the Shallow End, Margolis, something about industrial education
Technology and Social Inclusion, Warshchauer, how they are being schooled
Savage Inequalities


Find the Warschauer notes on my desktop PC

I made great progress. I was able to move pass a section that needed re-work and required some thought and more evidence. I finally completed that and was able to move forward with my list of edits. I may refine it some before submitting (which I intend to do this month, i know you have heard that before, but I am working hard, and I want the paper to be good), It should not take nearly as long to finish the other edits so I am looking forward to my next session. I also had a couple of thoughts as I was working today and they are:

The omission of the stories of black inventors as a deterrent. Should this be a subheading in my chapter 1

Should I think about conducting the study from the standpoint of the institution and interview them instead of interviewing the student? Wharton suggests that the issue has historically been with the institution.

Here is my plan for my next session:
1) Complete list of edits
2) Run through turnitin

I continued to work on my chapter 1. This is taking a very long time, but the piece I am developing that needed addressing required that I do more reading and integration of my ideas. I continued that this week and I think it makes the chapter stronger. That piece is still not done but after I feel good about it, it should not take much time to complete the rewrite.

Kai

I did some work today on revising my paper per Dr. Wickersham I did not get very far in terms of writing, but I was finally able to wrap my mind around the issue and I spent some time compiling evidence to support a point I was making that she felt I did not do a good job of supporting. I became a little frustrated as I was not able to find one of my sources that I knew would help. I still need to find it. But as the day went on I was able to find a couple of sources. Hopefully, on Sunday I can find a few more do the rewrite of that piece and move on to the other notes. Not very productive, but definitely progress.

Last night I completed everything I had on my list except making the changes suggested by Dr. Wickersham. They are more substantive changes. I hope to get those done this week.

Today I adressed the following points from the list below: 2,3,4,
1). Review based on feedback from Diop and Wickersham
2). Remove similarities
3). Run through TurnItIn
4). Add citation from Making a case for stem
5). Read and Edit
6). Submit to Margaret
7). Send copy to Dr. Margolis

I was able to get my originality report down to 13% today. I think anything below 15% is acceptable. In my next session I need to review Dr. Wickersham's suggestions, and read and make any flow or grammar corrections and I can submit. I hope to submit this chapter on Monday

Tonight I read "Making a Case for Diversity in STEM fields" by Daryl E. Chubin and Shirley M. Malcolm. It was posted on Inside Higher Ed on October 6, 2008. I pulled several ideas. I will pick the one that best fits my chapter and find a nice place for it in my chapter 1. I also need to figure out how to cite it.

This week I was able to reach my goals. I removed all of the references to Jane Margolis and Stuck in the Shallow End except 2 which I chose to leave. I also read and edited the paper and sent copies to Leah and Mateen for their feedback. I also added a couple of more references (Espinosa, Bayer). I also ran the report through TurnItIn and received an originality report and an originality score of 15%. In my next session I plan to:

1). Review based on feedback from Diop and Wickersham
2). Remove similarities
3). Run through TurnItIn
4). Add citation from Making a case for stem
5). Read and Edit
6). Submit to Margaret
7). Send copy to Dr. Margolis

I have had problems posting to this blog for a few months, but I have been working steady on my chapter 1 including my work this past week. Here is my plan for what I have left to do before resubmitting my chapter 1 to Margaret:

1. Remove 4 other Margolis refs, leave one
2. Rewrite the one I keep
3. Add new cites if needed
4. Count citations
5. Send to MD & LW for feedback
6. Edit

This week I continued to rework my chapter 1. This consited of:

1. Rewriting sections of my paper that were flagged by TurnItIn
2. Verifying that I have all of my citations listed in easyBib
3. Making sure that I have a digital copy of any reference that I am using
4. Integrating sources that I have read previously or since my initial writing that I feel warrants being added to the chapter.
5. Continuing my reading and keeping my ears open for sources that can be used in my chapter 2 which I intend to start very soon.

I would like to finish this rewrite this week and present to Margaret on next Monday.

Kai

I spent this past week working on the rewrite of my chapter 1. Most of my time has been addressing the turnitin originality report. This week I finished addressing all of the RED. I also attended a new group sponsored by Microsoft called BitWISE. BitWISE is billed as "The Idea Exchange for Black Software Engineers.

The event was the inaugural kick off for 2010 and it was hosted by Micrsoft in Dallas. Of course, I met with as many people that I could and mentioned my research and asked if they would be willing to participate. So, now I have a pool of professionals and students that I could potentially study.

I was also part of separate discussion on LinkedIn as part of my membersip in The Black Data Processing Associates (BDPA). The discussion was around the question that I am studying, Why African Americans are under representing in computing. After participating I emailed many of the discussants and asked if they would be willing to participate in a study desinged to help answer this very question. So, I now have collected a list of potential participants in a contact list that I have stored in my Constant Contact account.

The last few weeks have been challenging as I have been very busy at work. But I have made yet another tweak to my schedule that should allow me to work 3-4 hours per week on my paper regardless of work and family obligations.

In my next session I intend to finish my rewrite by:
- completing the originality report work
- adding a few more sources to my paper
- addressing comments from Margaret
- including a quote that I have from Diop as an example
- address flow of the new paper

Kai

I was able to get a good flow this morning but I had to stop and go to work. For next time, I will continue making my turnitin modifications. I need to start over with my original document so that I can then make the changes that MR suggested. I will do that after turnitin. There are also several articles that I wish to integrate that I have collected. Plan for next time:

1. Finish source problems
2. Make writing suggestions made by MR
3. Integrate other 4 or 5 articles
4. Read and check for flow
5. Removed unneeded
6. Recheck on Sakai

It has been awhile since I have had an opportunity to start rewriting my chapter 1. Work and family have been very busy the last few weeks. My wife and I celebrated our 7th Wedding anniversary by spending 2 days at Moody Gardens in Galveston. We had a wonderful time. Work has been a challenge as I have been very busy striving to release a piece of software that I have been working on for weeks. But, today I rose early and began to rewrite my paper based on the results of the turnitin report I received a few weeks ago. It was tough getting started, but I have begun the process. My goal is to complete the rewrite by Sunday. I need to figure out if I want to run it my self and also if I need to contact Regina for help with my writing. I think I understand what I did wrong, so maybe I will just complete the rewrite and have Margaret check the paper before I resubmit.

This week I took a step back. My professor accused me of plagiarism and I was nearly dropped from the program. This was very upsetting to me as it was more an error on my part as opposed an intention to deceive. But whatever, it is what it is. I have had time to work on my paper recently because of work and family obligations. I am now aware of a tool called TurnItIn that I need to use to check my paper for originality. After going back and forth with my professor it is clear that I do not have a proper understanding of how to use sources. I will spend a few hours today working on my dissertation. One of my goals for this session is to review the links Margaret gave me as well as reviewing the APA Manual and hopefully, start the rewrite of my paper. This rewrite should not take a lot of time, so I should have something to submit by Sunday.

Hotep,
Kai

I submitted my first draft and received positive feedback. This week I plan to read Karen's proposal. That is next on my list. I also want to review the comments received from Margaret. Additionally, I want to catch up on my citations, and begin to think about how to attack my chapter 2.

Since I may be up against it in terms of IRB and permission slips and the like I am also thinking about interviewing professionals. While being honored at Texas A&M-Commerce this past week, my former professor connected me with a African American IT professional who is willing to be interviewed and has friends that I could also contact. This may expedite my study if it allows me to avoid the rigors of IRB. This is something I need to think about. Below are comments received from the potential interviewee:

Kai can give me a call anytime. I know several black men in my field. He's right, there are not a lot of us, but more importantly not a lot of us in senior positions (Directors, CIOs, CTOs...) No complaints on my end, just facts. I used to think it had to do with pedigree/polish and would kick myself in the butt for not going to SMU or other schools that wanted me out of EHS. I soon learned that wasn't it either after one of my colleagues that went to Cornell couldn't advance. I'm happy to share my experience. IT is a great start, but more studies need to be done on corporate America general.

Kai

This week was able to contact the counselor's of the students I met during my keynote at Microsoft's Student Minority Day. This is really exciting to me. There was one drawback. If I am unable to have my proposal accepted before may, then I would have to wait until the next school year (september) to interview the students. I am not sure what that would mean in terms of the population that I would have available. Also, this week I corresponded with the authors of the study I found a few weeks ago. I did not gain much from that interaction, but I am least not part of the circle of those who are investigating this problem. And finally, I have something to submit. I have attachec my rough draft of my chapter one for Margaret to review. Congrats to Karen.

Kai

This week I found a new article and I fixed some of my citations. I still need to continue to read and fix my citations. I think I have enough I just need to continue and clean up. I will continue to work on that and improve my delimitations, and definitions and I will be ready to submit. I also heard from Juan Gilbert and Jerlando Jackson. I also emailed some of the contacts I made at Microsoft regarding my study. I MUST complete this chapter this week.

Kai

This week I continued to make progress. I did not get as far as I would have liked, but I moved forward and I am pleased by that. I was able to come up with my first draft of research questions that I think are a good starting point. Also, I wrote my significance of the study section as well as started the definition of terms. I had hoped to submit this week but is still not ready. I will use this week to read and clean up missing citations, transitions, etc. Hopefully, next week I will submit it.

Kai

Made progress today.

Feel good about the purpose statement, not so good about the research questions. Next session work on research questions, and significance of the study. I need to get both of them done this week. Also, i need to find the articles reference in my previous note, and determine if they have a place in chapter 1. I have decided to drop all of my other activities and focus on completing this paper. Any energy that i have will go to work, fitness and my dissertation. I will put the speaking on hold including product creation. That is easier and less time consuming and requires less focus. starting here, after i finish my talk at MIcrosoft, I will focus soley on the dissertation.

Kai

Today I worked exclusively on my statement of problem. Below are my notes for my next session:


Locate Research Design by Creswell as referenced on page 120 of Dissertation Journey
Organize articles that i am yet to use (NIC, Gates, Duncan, etc) and put them into one place, determine if I need to use them or not in chapter 1 or 2. I think they should be used.
Investigate The National Action Council for Minorities in Engineering
Add the proper citations for Blacks In Computer Science
Goal for next Session will be to write the Purpose of the study. This seems to be short. I should complete this in my next session.

This stuff is not hard, it is simply new to me. I need to stop trying to be perfect and just write, let me chair guide me. Next session where I can spend a couple of hours should be on Monday.

Goal for next session: Write Purpose of the study!

Hughes STEM High School was made possible by a partnership between the university and Cincinnati Public Schools, and has emerged at a critical time: Education and government advocates have claimed for decades that a coming shortage of U.S. scientists and engineers will hamper homeland innovation and economic development.

Tonight I worked on my Statement of the Problem. I made some progress about what I wish to use here. I also worked on the purpose of the study and my research questions. In my next session I need to finish those areas at least the first draft of them before moving on to Significance of the Study and Definition of Terms. I am hoping to get some work done on these areas this weekend and get this first draft submitted on Sunday. If I do not make Sunday, my goal will be to submit on Monday night. I am working very slowly but I do feel that I am making progress.


I am going to use references to the Bill Gates article and also the NIC article. I also wish to ask Margaret about replicating or using NIC as a starting point.

Kai

I spent a couple of hours today working on my dissertation. I tried to work in my home which I just really need to accept the fact that I can not. On Monday I am going to try getting up very early before my family and working for a few hours then before I start the workday. I can not wait to see how this works out. Mainly I was working on my chapter 1. I went over all of what I had written and improved my transitions and organization. I still have a couple of citations that I need to add and I will take care of those on my next session which I wish to be Monday (Jan 11th, 2010). The next session will involve the following work:

1. Add citations
2. Add cite from Watkins
3. Add cite from Duncan article
4. Write Problem Statement

It is slow but it is moving. I am setting another goal to submit my chapter 1 on Friday. That will be my next check-in.

Kai

This morning I got back to writing. This is very hard to do during the holidays and considering the fact that I am very busy at work with people being out. My driving from Houston to Austin every week does not help either. Ok, no more pity. :-) No one cares anyway, the sooner you learn that the better. So, I got up this morning at 530 am and worked on my paper for about an hour and a half. If I want to get more done I simply need to be more disciplined about going to sleep. I am also preparing for an opportunity that is coming up and that is taking away some of my time as well. So, today I worked more on my transition sentences from one section to another and moving from cites around. I now feel pretty good about my first seven pages. I have 18 total that I am reworking to submit. In my next sitting which I am targeting to be Friday morning, since I am on the road tonight, have a meeting early on Thursday in Houston, then driving back to Austin and working all day on Thursday, should be Thursday night or Friday morning. The plan is to continue working my at least better transitions. If I make it through that, I want to add more cites that I have collected (see notes) and then start my problem statement section and move on to there. No more projections regarding when I will submit this draft. I will simply keep working on it as much as I can. I am definitely progressing, just not as frequent or fast as I would like. I would love to keep momentum and write tonight but I simply wont have the opportunity. The next source I would like to cite in my section on education is Watkins work on the history of Black Education.


Until Next time,
Kai Dupe

I spent some time this reworking my introduction. I think it is stronger now and makes the case of why this is important. It took me an hour just to do that. I could not find my notes from my last session which had my next steps on it. From now on I will post my notes for next time here so do not run the risk of losing valuable night and insights that were generated while working. I also looked over Blacks and Technology, Volume II by Raymond L. Chukwu and used it as a source in one of my sections for chapter 1.

Kai

I am still writing my chapter 1. I have 18 pages. I am still adding citations that I think are important. However, I also need to work on the flow of it and continue to produce my headings. Early in this week, I intend to finish my citations for this first draft and get all of my headings done and complete the flow. I should submit this first draft on Sunday. I will work on my paper every day this week including Saturday and Sunday in order to reach this goal. During my quiet time this morning, the thought arose that perhaps the reason I am still in an IT workplace is because this is the context I need to ask my research question. It is where I have the most familiarity with the profession and where I have the best access. The question is does the workplace provide the population that can answer the question: Why Are There So Few African Americans Choosing Careers in Information Technology?
And if so, how can I design a study around that question?

-Kai

After meditating this morning for about an hour, I worked on my chapter 1 of my dissertation. I have about 18 pages now but this will need to be distilled. But man I have some good stuff. There is still more work to be done. I have material from at least four other books and several articles that I want to include. That will make it even better. It will need to tighten up. The hard part for me now is going back and linking everything together better and really honing in on how I am going to study this problem so that the chapter 1 can lead into it. I know what I want to study, 'Why Are African Americans so underrepresented in the field of Information Technology? The question is how do I go about asking this question? My work for next time is to review the materials mentioned above, think about my headings and transitions and work on them, and maybe after that re-arrange a few things for flow. My goal is to have it arranged and tight and about 15 pages by Sunday night. I would have to do some work on Friday, Saturday and Sunday to submit Sunday morning. We will see how it goes. It will be tough since we are having a birthday party for my son on Saturday. I am going to try to rise early on Saturday and Sunday and see what happens. My backup plan is to submit during the week of Thanksgiving. I am very close to submitting so I feel pretty good. This week has been my only opportunity to work. If I had been able to focus this week I definitely could have submitted by Sunday. Oh well, I will keep plugging away. Time to go workout and then off to work.

Dr. Kai (someday soon)

I have been writing. I have 9 pages of my chapter 1 written and I have been thinking about my research design. I have not worked on my paper this week as work has been busy and family has been busy. My son John Kai celebrated his 2nd birthday this week. I am having the time of my life. I should get some work done on it this weekend and over the ThanksGiving Holiday I should complete chapter 1.