Month: February 2020

Online questionnaire/survey time…

david.ruttenberg.18Blog

Gorilla Experiment Builder ImageThis day was spent considering, conceiving, creating, piloting and launching an online questionnaire/survey in response to a Doctoral Training Research Methods Module assignment.

While not a lengthy project (in terms of questions/scope), the amount of planning and reflexivity was not trivial. This is because the activity occurs at an extremely poignant time in my research trajectory; specifically, implementing interviews for at-risk individuals that form that underpinnings of the first stage of my research.

Specifically, critical Participant Public Information studies (in the format of both focus groups and questionnaires) determine whether or research participants confirm my proposed hypotheses. Without their “buy in” and willingness to tolerate wearable devices, my PhD Project will not “have the legs” to withstand the community’s rigor regarding respect, difference and adaptation. Until this point in my academic career, I had not explicitly defined any guideposts with respect to the scope, design and implementation of a PPI questionnaire and its related guidance and adaptability to focus group input; hence, the timing could not have been better.

Once I completed and deployed the questionnaire, I prepared for additional peer review assignments and editorial posts by completing half of the modules in the academy program I mentioned I enrolled in earlier this week. My goal is to complete the remaining modules within a week’s time (including the generation of two pre-print reviews) so that I may focus only on my mentoring role my colleague. Looking further into the future, I intend on requesting my supervisors consider me as a volunteer/assistant in their peer review roles by helping alleviate their schedules.

Before the end of the day, I completed mapping out the remaining KL Seminar announcements for February 2002’s events. Even though this process hasn’t been fully automated, my intention is to do as much as I can via computer macros; such that, when it comes time to hand-off the opportunity to my successor, their job will be made that much easier.

And with that, tomorrow starts another interesting and hopefully productive week.

Another day in paradise…

david.ruttenberg.18Blog

NVivo Application ScreenAnother day of writing…

However today was focussed on utilising newly acquired interviewing skills and applying them in a practical method of transcription for my doctoral training modules.

Specifically, I elected to transcribe a Prince William conference keynote speech, and utilise newly acquired video/voice/transcription software to determine the efficiencies and efficacies of these application types. Thereafter, I downloaded and installed the latest version of NVivo in order to begin on-ramping much of the qualitative data captured. I am hoping to begin this process in two days’ time.

Once the practical work was out of the way, I spent the remainder of the day refining my upcoming DDL Lab PowerPoint presentation. I realised that I needed to edit more thoroughly my messaging from the perspective of someone having absolutely no knowledge of artificial intelligence, cognitive enhancement and neural networks.

After spending a good deal of time reworking the flow, my presentation is now considerably more refined, easier to digest and–I pray–compelling. I am eager to present this in less than a week.

As a UCL Student Trustee, I spent the evening reviewing both the National Student Survey Briefing and the latest updates to the UCLSU Trustee Reports and Governance Committee documents. Combined with myriad amendments, survey/recommendation reports and various pro forma, I feel I am in a considerably better prepared position to attend, participate and contribute to next week’s meetings.

Peer review

david.ruttenberg.18Peer Review

Today started with an unexpected invitation…

A dear colleague of mine located in Qatar suggested that, because of my previous editorial and writing experiences, I should consider enrolling in an online peer review academy (Publons) and become a certified, credentialed academic reviewer. Moreover, she suggested I serve as her mentor during her progression through the academy; something I was all too happy to oblige.

Later in the morning, I attended my first KL seminar and composed a post-mortem report describing the technology efficacy for provisioning the meeting from a distance PhD researcher perspective (it was most positive!). Thereafter, I further contributed through a volunteer position at the KL by scheduling additional and upcoming KL seminars and broadcasting these to the appropriate UCL channels in order to invite attendees.

Because I am a full-time PhD student, I have to carefully balance other business and family/personal responsibilities. Today was such a day; in that, following a busy academic day, I tended to third-party business matters over the course of a 4-hour night-time  recording studio session for an upcoming artist on a well-known recording label. Curiously, there is a blending of my academic and business pursuits in that I found myself employing many of the technologies in the music domain that are to be leveraged as part of my audiometrics methodology utilised in my PhD research and trials.

Oh happy day

david.ruttenberg.18Blog

An excellent day…

I received excellent news from both supervisors that after only a minor iteration, my project’s initial Data Protection Application and Data Protection Impact Assessments were fully approved and submitted for review well in advance of their deadlines. Now it’s time to iterate the larger Ethics Application due in two weeks’ time. The initial draft was completed last week, and I am looking forward to guidance from my supervisors.

While Monday’s focus was writing, and Tuesday’s focus was online participation and PowerPoint creation, today’s motivation was reading. And a massive amount of reading at that, including the introductory units to both Qualitative and Research Methods modules—combined with the extended recommended reading lists as well.

After several hours of note-taking and review, the coffee ran out and bleary eyes prevailed.

Rapport building 101

david.ruttenberg.18Blog

Today was emblematic of how distance students build rapport with colleagues…

Better than one-quarter of the day was spent “live and online” either within the Blackboard Collaborate Ultra or Zoom applications environment attending a variety of meetings, classroom modules, inductions, etc.

Included were one of two laboratories (the alternate to my Knowledge Lab; that is, the Institute of Cognitive Neuroscience’s Developmental Diversity Lab) where lab mates assisted one another in creating content and programming the lab’s website. Thereafter, I participated in a mid-year induction for online and returning doctoral students where we discussed mentoring, PGR Student Representative and Student Trustees and our individual research projects.

Later the same day, I participated in another online-line supervisory meeting with my secondary supervisor to discuss both upgrade and ethics application related to my research and MPhil/PhD. We also discussed my upcoming presentation to the aforementioned Development Diversity Lab; hence, I spent the afternoon updating the PowerPoint mentioned in yesterday’s blog post.

This upcoming presentation is a particularly challenging exposition; in that, the material is highly technical, and not very well known among my DDL colleagues. In addition to the attending Masters and PhD students, I plan on repurposing this presentation to future audiences consisting primarily of non-academics and laypeople.

Of course, there was a mountain of email and scheduling issues to attend to, and because the day started at 0900 GMT (4am local time), I was in bed and asleep earlier this evening than what would be considered normal. Up again tomorrow before the sun rises!

Monday monday….

david.ruttenberg.18Blog

Today is a writing, writing and “more” writing day!

After inhaling the magic of my morning coffee elixir, I began early today by creating, editing and publishing a brand-new website announcing my PhD Project Research (along with the first official project-centric blog post). Once completed, these pages (screen captures) became a component of my MPhil/PhD Upgrade Report’s “Appendices Section”.

In order to round out this Appendix, I completed authoring a Post-mortem Participant-Public-Information Survey. This particular document is to be completed by participants who complete the lived-experience PPI Study (e.g. either a focus group or questionnaire) that form the first phase of my three-part study.

And finally, after spending the afternoon programmatically coding the aforementioned questionnaire in the Gorilla Experiment Builder application, I ran preliminary tests on the actual “main section” of the PPI. Once test data collection was confirmed, secured and anonymised, I then captured screens for inclusion in the aforementioned Appendix.

Of course, there were about two dozen email relating to doctoral training modules, student government documents for upcoming Governance Meetings and several National Student Survey documents that needed my attention prior to convening next week’s UCL Trustee/Student Union Meetings.

Certainly, there’s never a dull moment as a PhD Student…distance learners included! Now I am off to get some exercise with our daughter and prepare—what will hopefully be—a lovely dinner for the family. The it’s back to (you guessed it) more literature research!

And so it begins

david.ruttenberg.18Blog

A brief backgrounder:

I enrolled at UCL as a full-time distance learning student in June 2019. As a U.S.-based entrepreneur since 1993, and a family man (with a magnificent, special needs teenager and brilliant wife of 25 years), UCL’s Post Graduate Research Program appeared as the best solution to help make transformative research and contributions to what I perceived to be an underserved and deserving segment of our society.

Today is a typical weekend day, packed with a variety of meaningful and motivating scholastic work. I started quite early (5.a.m.) by placing the finishing touches on my first draft of an MPhil/Upgrade Report (due four months from now). Having uploaded this to my brilliant supervisors (Prof Kaśka Porayska-Pomsta and Dr Sarah White), they will now have the opportunity to iterate the content by (re-)considering all that we have learned through my pursuits up to this point.

Later this same morning, I refocussed my efforts on the few remaining Doctoral Research Training modules I have left in my “requirements bin”. My final three subjects include Qualitative Analysis, Research Methods and IMPCorC. As today is an induction week for new students, the reading load is uncharacteristically light; however, Dr Sveta Mayer (who is the Programme Leader for Online MPhil/PhD) firmly believes in establishing and maintaining esprit de corps among the cohort of both returning and newly minted PhD students. Hence, I will spend a good deal of time “online” today reinvigorating my responsive efforts to supply answers to questions about my research, how mixed methodologies and theories affect my proposed study, etc. Then, I shall “turn the tables” and enquire about new student’s research and provide an encouraging soliloquy of life as a distance-learning researcher. “It’s the best thing I have taken on next to my marriage and birth of our daughter!”

After a quick email reminder to both supervisors about looming Ethics Application Deadlines, I spend the majority of the afternoon authoring an upcoming presentation I am to make at the Development Diversity Lab (within UCL’s Institute of Cognitive Neuroscience) in two weeks’ time. This will be my second presentation which is streamed live to my secondary supervisor and attending students/participants at Alexandra House (on Queens Square, just a short walk from the Knowledge Lab). As a “mature” student who completed computer and electrical engineering undergraduate degrees in the mid 1980s, it amazes me that I can work in Florida—some 7,500 kilometers away from London—and confer in real-time what knowledge, experiences and camaraderie ensues with my fellow laboratory mates.

If only I could partake of the complimentary tea and treats provided….

As the evening approaches, I map out specific readings related to my ever-mounting literature research. Combined with a few extracurricular modules on neural network training (MATLAB Onramps, etc.), I dive in after a nice dinner with my family. If I have the strength, I’ll start porting my lab presentation outline to a PowerPoint Template; but something tells me I may be out of coffee…so a quick run to the market may prove useful for a morning re-start.

Welcome to the blog

david.ruttenberg.18Blog

David Ruttenberg is a mid-career, distance-learning full-time PhD Research Student in UCL’s Knowledge Lab. He is enrolled in the Institute of Education faculty within the Culture, Communication and Media department and also participates in the Developmental Diversity Lab within UCL’s Institute of Cognitive Neuroscience.

David’s research aspires to design, test and curate customized wearables that employ artificial intelligence, deep-learning and cognitive enhancers for those diagnosed with autism. By lessening distractions and anxiety, whilst increasing attentional focus and quality of life, his research aspires to adjust user-experiences that de-emphasize environmental and physiological stimuli through alerts, filters and haptic coaching.

You can learn more at www.davidruttenberg.com.