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MSc Dissertation completed… and now passed!!!

Posted on June 19, 2012 by mragregory

One of my longest running challenges this year has been to complete a dissertation that I had previously failed (see post here).  I handed my 2nd attempt at completing an MSc Social Research Methods Dissertation in earlier in the year, around March time, and have been informed this morning that I have passed the course!  This means I can now be awarded the MSc degree.

I am incredibly pleased about this as I was very downhearted when I failed at my last attempt.  So much so that I wasn’t going to bother to try again.  I don’t need the degree and it would have been easier not to have another go.  I’m so pleased that I did though because I learned from the mistakes I made last time and now feel that I am a much better researcher because of it.

Just need to get that PhD proposal sorted now :-)

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Dissertation Deadline

Posted on January 22, 2012 by mragregory

 

Along with my physical challenges I’m also trying to complete an academic one.  I hold a Postgraduate Diploma in Social Research Methods and need to complete a dissertation module in order to turn this in to an MSc.  I failed this the first time I tried (see here) so figured it would be a good candidate for inclusion in the list of 30 challenges before my 30th birthday.  I’m not at the stage were the 5 assignments I needed to submit  over the past few months have been handed in and I’m on the final stretch.  I need to hand in the completed dissertation by the 17th of March so just under two more months to work on it.  My 5th assignment was submitted yesterday and this consisted of chapters from the final dissertation.  I am hopeful that I have done more this time around than I did last time and also more confident in the fact that I have focussed on what I need to do rather than what I wanted to do!  I should get some feedback from my supervisor in the next week or so then its a case of making the necessary changes before the final submission.  Wish me luck!

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Plan for the week(s) ahead

Posted on November 20, 2011 by mragregory
Cycling

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Just back in from my Sunday afternoon swim.  Had a good session and maintained my 50 lengths a session that I’ve aimed for.  Now seems like a good time to plan for the week ahead.  One of the biggest challenges of challenges30 so far has been the organisational and logistical task of working on 30 separate challenges whilst also fulfilling my other obligations.  This is what I need to do in the coming week:

Monday- Drive to work remembering to take work clothes for the days I’ll be cycling, teach my lessons, Phone my dissertation supervisor about the progress I’m making on my research at 4pm then cycle the 25 miles home from work (5pm-6.30pm), work on dissertation (7-9pm)

Tuesday- Cycle to work in the morning (6am-7.30), teach my lessons (9am-3pm), faculty meeting after work (3.15-4pm), read some of War & Peace and try to get something to eat (4.30-6pm), attend governor training session (6.45-8.45pm), drive home (9-9.45pm)

Wednesday- Drive to work, teach lessons, cycle home, Celebrate finishing the 30 day vegetarian challenge by having a meat feast!

Thursday- Cycle to work in the morning (6am-7.30pm), teach lessons, drive home

Friday- Cycle to work in the morning (6am-7.30pm), run a careers event for Yr11, cycle home (4-5.30pm)

Saturday- do no physical activity and rest!

Sunday- Work on dissertation (6am-9am, yes I know it’s Sunday morning but this is when I work best…), Swim 60 lengths, read some more of War & Peace

So, by the end of the week I’m hoping to have

  • swum another 60 lengths
  • cycled 150 miles
  • learned more about my role as a school governor
  • made progress on completing my MSc dissertation
  • read at least another 100 pages of War & Peace
  • completed my 30 day vegetarian challenge
  • fulfilled all of my other obligations to a high standard- lessons I’m teaching, things I’m doing at work, etc.

Bring it on ;-)

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Posted in 12 Novels, 30 days, Academic, Cycling, Physical Challenges, Volunteer and tagged , . Bookmark the permalink.

A good week for publicity

Posted on November 13, 2011 by mragregory
It’s been a good week or so for publicity for my 30 Challenges with articles in the following:

Leigh Journal

Leigh Reporter

Wigan Evening Post

Bolton Evening News

I’ve been pleased with the progress I’ve made with the cycling to work having now notched up over 400 miles.  I’m getting into the swing of it now and think I’ll be able to get my weekly total up to the 125 miles a week I need to meet my goal of 500 miles a month.  I’m also really enjoying going swimming which has surprised me a lot!

I’m on day 21 of my 30 day vegetarian challenge and the end is in sight.  This is one challenge that I’m finding hard to look on the bright side with.  I’m eating lots of different things which is a bit of a novelty but I doubt I could maintain my vegetarianism any longer than the 30 day challenge.  It doesn’t however seem to be having any impact on my physical challenges, something I was worried about beforehand.

 I’ve also just submitted another assignment for my MSc dissertation course.  The focus group discussions I have conducted so far have been fascinating but there’s still a lot of work to do.  I need to run 6 more focus group sessions and transcribe them before Christmas.  My literature review chapter could do with being rewritten and I need to make a start on the project review chapter.  Before the end of January I could do with having all of this finished so that I can submit a draft copy of my dissertation, prior to handing in the finished product by the 17th of March.

Tomorrow I’ll be attending another full governor meeting at my school.  I go to all three sub committee meetings- finance, curriculum & staffing and pupil welfare and am the governor responsible for looked after children and children with special educational needs.  So far I’ve been to two governor training sessions run by the local authority and I’ve got one this coming Tuesday on improving the attainment of children in care.

So in summary… I’m incredibly busy but loving every minute of juggling all of these challenges alongside my other responsibilities.  The fact that the students I worked with managed to raise over £4000 for Cancer Research as part of our harvest appeal is giving me a further boost and spurring me on.  Well done guys!

Cancer Research UK

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The Devil’s highway

Posted on November 3, 2011 by mragregory

It’s been an interesting few days that I’ve been having.  The cycling is going well and I’m now on day 11 of 30 being a vegetarian.  I’m finding being vegetarian much tougher than doing without caffeine (my last 30 day challenge).  I know exactly how many days I’ve got left to go.  On one of the few days I decided to drive rather than cycle home I was treated to a 2hour traffic jam, the majority of which was spent alongside a Burger King lorry and it’s giant picture of a succulent burger…  

The cycle home from work is definitely providing me with the toughest challenge so far though.  I usually  really enjoy the cycle to work- the roads are quiet, the world is peaceful and it’s nice to be around to watch the sun come up.  This isn’t the case for the ride home!  It’s stressful, people constantly seem to be trying to injure me or knock me off the bike.

A roads in Zone 6 of the Great Britain numberi...

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Wednesday evening was probably the hardest ride, what with being pelted with stones by kids stood at a bus stop and then crashing the bike in the dark on the A666.  Without street lighting this part of the public highway seems to be living up to it’s code and it’s pretty treacherous.  Fortunately my only injury was a bruised ego and a slight laughing fit at ending up in a heap at the side of the road.  I’ve cycled 300 miles so far which equates to a saving of 360 miles that I would usually drive (it’s 30 miles driving on the motorway, 25 miles if I cycle).  I need to be averaging 125 miles a week to achieve my target of 500 miles a month and I’m happy I’ll be able to get up to this figure now that I’m feeling fitter and more comfortable on the bike.  Overall I’m glad to be doing the cycling from a fitness and environmental point of view.

Continuing with the environmental theme, tomorrow is the first meeting of our school eco-council.  This is part of the challenge to make the school that I work in more sustainable.  I’m looking forward to hearing the ideas our young people have to make the school a greener place.  Other progress I’ve been making recently includes submitting an assignment for my MSc, reading some more of War and Peace for the 12 novels challenge and attending some school governor meetings this afternoon.

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Posted in 12 Novels, 30 days, Academic, Cycling, Eco School, Environmental, Physical Challenges. Bookmark the permalink.

A busy week

Posted on September 30, 2011 by mragregory
List of invasive species in the Mid-Atlantic r...

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This has possibly been the busiest week of my life but I’ve loved every minute of it.  I had a curriculum evening at work and an after work union meeting to attend but I’ve managed to do lots of things that contribute to my challenges:

  • On Wednesday we held a meeting in school to discuss the report from our environmental audit and how we could implement the recommendations.  We have chosen reducing energy and paper recycling as our main focus for the start of our eco journey.  The keen staff that we’ve got together will be delivering assemblies over the next few weeks to recruit students to our eco council.  We then hope that they will choose which way the school should progress.  This is all part of my improving the environmental credentials of the school challenge.
  • After this meeting I carried out my first of ten focus group sessions to collect data for the MSc challenge that I’m completing.  The students were amazingly frank and mature in the discussion and raised some interesting points.  They managed to talk for the whole hour which means I’ve got a lot of typing to do.  I reckon it will easily take 3 hours to transcribe the discussion and I need to get this done before the next one takes place next week.  I’d complain but I find it fascinating!
  • Also on Wednesday I attended some excellent training for school governors on Performance Management.  Despite being a member of staff in a school I was correct in thinking that I didn’t already know it all!  It was particularly interesting to hear how headteachers are performance managed by some of the governors.  It’s a challenge of mine to volunteer as a governor but in addition to this I’m also hoping to attend 7 evening training sessions I’ve booked myself onto.  One down six to go!
On top of all this I am part way through my 30 days of no caffeine.  I seem to be having less problems with this than I was expecting.  The main difficulty I’ve encountered is asking for decaf instead of just keeping my mouth shut and getting what I’m given!
This weekend I’m hoping to:
  • Crack on with with of the 12 books I’m attempting to read
  • Update and complete some more random acts of kindness
  • Sort the bike out I’ve bought so that I can start cycling to work
  • Go swimming
Anyway… after a quick update I best get back to transcribing the focus group recording…. :-)

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Dissertation Update

Posted on September 8, 2011 by mragregory

I managed to submit the 5000 word assignment for the course that I’m doing for work before I went away on holiday and on my return I submitted a dissertation to finish my MA in Human Rights and Ethics through Salford University.  All of which means that I’ve no more excuses for not getting on with the dissertation I’m completing for an MSc in Social Research Methods!

I’ve made some good progress on the initial stages- literature review, choice of methodology and research question but I could really do with stepping it up a gear.  I failed this Open University module last time I attempted it so I don’t want to do the same second time around.  I could do with getting on with the data collection asap.

For anyone that’s interested I’m researching the attitudes of secondary school students to police officers based within their schools.  I should now get on with re-drafting the things I’ve written instead of procrastinating by writing blog posts…

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Dissertation Progress

Posted on July 26, 2011 by mragregory

I’m working hard on my dissertation this week before I go away on holiday on the 1st August for 3 weeks.

I need to have assignments completed by the following dates:

19th August- Revised literature review/ Methodological discussion

28th October- Revised methodological discussion/ Discussion of data collection

20th January- 1st Draft of Dissertation

17th March- Completed Dissertation

The assignments break the 12,000 word dissertation down into smaller sections so it’s more of a gradual process.  I messed it up last time I attempted this course, so this is my second attempt at writing a 12,000 word MSc dissertation!

As well as the one I need to complete for this degree before I go away I could also do with submitting another draft of my MA dissertation (final draft of which needs to be done by 1st October) and completing the 5000 word essay I need to do as part of a course I’m completing through work…

You can find more out about the qualifications I’m studying for here:

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