I’m wrapping up another term, and reflecting on the things I’ve learned. I took four classes this semester: research methods, research data management, human-information interaction, and bibliometrics. All four were research-focused, which aligns well with what I want out of the course. I got to do my first REB application and human subject research project, help teach a workshop, and play with a 1.7tb bibliometric dataset.
I got more practice working with a group. Communication remains an area of challenge, but most of the people in my cohort know what’s going on now and things have gone fairly smoothly. I continue to bounce back and forth between taking the lead and stepping back, which seems to be a delicate balance for me to strike. I feel more comfortable when I’m in control, and I’m usually ahead on assignments so I have more time I can spend on group things. Hopefully I’m not depriving my teammates of learning opportunities.
I also had the opportunity to work on my first research project involving human participants in marginalized groups. Since community-led participant-researcher research is an area I want to focus on after I graduate, this was an invaluable experience. I worked my way through the research proposal process, secured research ethics board approval, recruited participants, conducted interviews, and did some qualitative thematic analysis. The results were well received when presented to the class.
Academics-adjacent, I got through the first few stages of getting some of my work published, though the journal’s publication timing haven’t allowed me to make as much progress as I’d hoped. The First Draft Matchmaking team gave some amazing feedback, and now that the semester has come to an end, I’m hoping I’ll get feedback from the journal’s peer reviewers soon and I can work through the edits needed. I’ll continue to provide updates here as that process continues.
On the international front, I got to file Canadian taxes for the first time with the help of the international student centre. I secured a lease on an apartment and moved out of university-provided housing. I’ve gotten to visit the university’s bicycle service centre a few times, and I’m enjoying being able to ride my bike most places I need to be around the city.
I published 14 blog posts this term, including this one, keeping up with my goal of one blog post a week while school is in session. I’ll be doing an unpaid practicum along with working as a research assistant for two community-led minority population research projects, which I’m excited to talk about soon. And now that things are thawing, I’ve got a lot of goals for the summer to pursue. I’m terrible at resting, so I’m sure I’ll have plenty of things to share here despite being on “break.” See you next week!