The final papers for my writing and thinking class are starting to arrive. \u00a0I don’t know whose bright idea it was for the due date for the papers to be two weeks after the last class because I am already feeling the summer schedule. \u00a0Oh, yeah. \u00a0That was me. \u00a0Well, it seemed like a good idea in December.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
Anyhoo, I’ve been using the word “aspirational” when I think about this class. \u00a0Aspirational <\/a>is usually used in the context of Pinterest<\/a>. It suggests a lifestyle that is inspirational to us and that we aspire to (e.g., a clean house, organic cleaning products, densely growing organic garden, yummy food, crafts, knitting projects, and chickens). Or maybe those are just my boards on Pinterest<\/a>.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n This class is \u00a0aspirational because we’ve spent the entire semester stressing the importance of in depth thinking and creativity in regards to our research. \u00a0We’ve critiqued and supported each other’s research. \u00a0We’ve plumbed the depths of the meanings of their constructs and played with all sorts of thought analyses of their research problems. The students have been validated in the importance of their<\/strong><\/span> approach to their<\/strong><\/span> research. \u00a0We’ve read editors from top journals discuss the importance of developmental reviews and why 13 pages of single space comments from a journal editor and three reviewers is a Good Thing. \u00a0I feel like every student has expanded their capacity to Think About \u00a0Research. \u00a0That’s pretty cool, and it goes way, way, way beyond looking for ways to “fill a gap in the research” when making a research contribution.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n That’s the good part. \u00a0The reason I worry that what I’ve taught them is aspirational and not always “real life” \u00a0is that sometimes the pressure to get a publication out the door \u00a0interferes with thinking. \u00a0Sometimes it’s easier to just claim you’re filling in a hole in the research instead of re-conceptualizing previously problematic constructs \u00a0(affective organizational commitment, I am looking at you). \u00a0Sometimes reviewers don’t take a developmental approach and just say “this paper needs more theorizing” in a one paragraph journal submission review.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n But that’s ok. \u00a0To continue the Pinterest analogy, if they have pinned to their Good Research Board ways to think, conceptualize, critique, and review research that is better than they would have done otherwise, how is that bad? \u00a0The thing about Pinterest (for me) is that occasionally, I do go back and pick out a craft or recipe I’d like to try or a chicken hint I’d forgotten about and I do it. \u00a0Maybe there will be a ripple effect for these students and for other academics who read these articles, so that eventually it becomes the norm and not the cutting edge. Crafts and foods show up in my life that I’ve seen get passed around on Pinterest. \u00a0I think the more attention we pay to creativity and clarity in thinking and research, the more likely we will to see projects we recognize as reflecting this principles start showing up to review or read in journals, too.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n I hope.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n But right now I have to go grade those (brilliantly written and conceptualized!) papers. \u00a0And then summer can start.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" The final papers for my writing and thinking class are starting to arrive. \u00a0I don’t know whose bright idea it was for the due date for the papers to be two weeks after the last class because I am already feeling the summer schedule. \u00a0Oh, yeah. \u00a0That was me. \u00a0Well, it seemed like a good […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":124,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[3],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-184","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-news"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p67nDP-2Y","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":180,"url":"https:\/\/pages.charlotte.edu\/anitablanchard\/2012\/04\/20\/writing-and-thinking-thinking-and-writing\/","url_meta":{"origin":184,"position":0},"title":"Writing and Thinking: Thinking and Writing","author":"Anita Blanchard","date":"April 20, 2012","format":false,"excerpt":"It has taken me forever to get this post up on my blog! \u00a0I am finally being shamed into finishing up this post after drinks, snacks, and dinner with my students last night. \u00a0Why so hard to write? \u00a0I think it's because one becomes very self-conscious about writing when one\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "News"","block_context":{"text":"News","link":"https:\/\/pages.charlotte.edu\/anitablanchard\/category\/news\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":259,"url":"https:\/\/pages.charlotte.edu\/anitablanchard\/2014\/02\/21\/writing-and-thinking-and-theorizing\/","url_meta":{"origin":184,"position":1},"title":"Writing and Thinking and Theorizing","author":"Anita Blanchard","date":"February 21, 2014","format":false,"excerpt":"So I'm teaching my Writing And Thinking in the Organizational Sciences graduate class again. \u00a0(Wow! \u00a0My academic blog is two years old. \u00a0I really need to post more often) \u00a0This is a course that I took with Allan Wicker many years ago and is based upon Allan's (1985) paper on\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "News"","block_context":{"text":"News","link":"https:\/\/pages.charlotte.edu\/anitablanchard\/category\/news\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":191,"url":"https:\/\/pages.charlotte.edu\/anitablanchard\/2012\/08\/28\/non-dualistic-thinking\/","url_meta":{"origin":184,"position":2},"title":"(Non) Dualistic Thinking","author":"Anita Blanchard","date":"August 28, 2012","format":false,"excerpt":"Last week, for the first week of the first semester for our first year PhD students, I assigned a reading that made my students cry.\u00a0 Or at least whimper.\u00a0 Or perhaps merely curse my name.\u00a0 The article was Feldman and Orlikowski\u2019s (2011) Theorizing Practice and Practicing Theory in the journal\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "News"","block_context":{"text":"News","link":"https:\/\/pages.charlotte.edu\/anitablanchard\/category\/news\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":262,"url":"https:\/\/pages.charlotte.edu\/anitablanchard\/2014\/05\/13\/writing-by-hand\/","url_meta":{"origin":184,"position":3},"title":"Writing By Hand","author":"Anita Blanchard","date":"May 13, 2014","format":false,"excerpt":"So \u00a0sometime during the last semester, a study came out demonstrating that taking notes by hand (i.e., writing) helps students retain more information than typing notes on their keyboard. \u00a0I posted that to both my undergrad and graduate class online pages. \u00a0But it ended \u00a0up sparking a discussion a few\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "News"","block_context":{"text":"News","link":"https:\/\/pages.charlotte.edu\/anitablanchard\/category\/news\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":434,"url":"https:\/\/pages.charlotte.edu\/anitablanchard\/2020\/10\/23\/podcasts-during-zoom\/","url_meta":{"origin":184,"position":4},"title":"Podcasts During Zoom","author":"Anita Blanchard","date":"October 23, 2020","format":false,"excerpt":"My mentor, Dr. Lynne Markus, wrote a very important article (Culnan & Markus, 1987 and while that is not the direct link to it b\/c it's a handbook article, the article I do link to is a follow-up that is similar). ANYHOOOOO, the gist of Culnan & Markus is stop\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "News"","block_context":{"text":"News","link":"https:\/\/pages.charlotte.edu\/anitablanchard\/category\/news\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/pages.charlotte.edu\/anitablanchard\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/3\/2020\/10\/VICE-Lab-2020.png?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/pages.charlotte.edu\/anitablanchard\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/3\/2020\/10\/VICE-Lab-2020.png?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/pages.charlotte.edu\/anitablanchard\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/3\/2020\/10\/VICE-Lab-2020.png?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/pages.charlotte.edu\/anitablanchard\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/3\/2020\/10\/VICE-Lab-2020.png?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/pages.charlotte.edu\/anitablanchard\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/3\/2020\/10\/VICE-Lab-2020.png?resize=1050%2C600&ssl=1 3x"},"classes":[]},{"id":343,"url":"https:\/\/pages.charlotte.edu\/anitablanchard\/2018\/10\/18\/your-students-are-cheating\/","url_meta":{"origin":184,"position":5},"title":"Your Students Are Cheating","author":"Anita Blanchard","date":"October 18, 2018","format":false,"excerpt":"So, this is not a comfortable topic. And, surprisingly, the reaction I most frequently get from my academic colleagues is \"Not my students.\" Alas. Your students are cheating.\u00a0 Not all of them. Not on everything. But on a hell of a lot more than you know, and, apparently, are willing\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "News"","block_context":{"text":"News","link":"https:\/\/pages.charlotte.edu\/anitablanchard\/category\/news\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/pages.charlotte.edu\/anitablanchard\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/184","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/pages.charlotte.edu\/anitablanchard\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/pages.charlotte.edu\/anitablanchard\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pages.charlotte.edu\/anitablanchard\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/124"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pages.charlotte.edu\/anitablanchard\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=184"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/pages.charlotte.edu\/anitablanchard\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/184\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":185,"href":"https:\/\/pages.charlotte.edu\/anitablanchard\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/184\/revisions\/185"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/pages.charlotte.edu\/anitablanchard\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=184"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pages.charlotte.edu\/anitablanchard\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=184"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pages.charlotte.edu\/anitablanchard\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=184"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}