How can I continue to forge my professional and academic development? How might I inquire (research) into my learning in an ongoing manner? How might my professional and academic development and practice be informed by my ongoing research? How do I respond to opportunities for inquiry (research)? How do I meet my own learning needs?

I feel that I can continue to forge my academic and professional development by continuing to engage in active learning. It wasn’t until I started the CD program that I realized that this was how I learned best. I began having teachers (namely you, Mrs. McComas) that encouraged information literacy and the active learning process, and when I feel involved in something (learning), I become very passionate about it. Some things that I may encounter, such as certain topics like aphasia and dysarthria, would have never sparked my interest in the past; however, now that I have been given the opportunity to research these topics and find out about them on my own, I now find them to be interesting and perhaps something that I will continue to want to learn about. This is because when I do my own research, I begin to feel passionately about what I am researching that is, if I didn’t feel passionately about it already.

I feel that I can research into my learning in an ongoing manner by continuing to be a “reflector”. I may come across things that I feel are relevant to me academically and professionally, but it’s not until I reflect upon what I have found that it becomes something learned and part of what I know. In a more concrete sense, I will definitely continue to research areas of Speech-language Pathology by means of Internet articles, ASHA publications (e.g. journals), news articles, and books so that I may maintain a “state-of-the-art” knowledge base and that I may continue to be information literate and an active learner. Also, I feel that by continuing my education, whether it be going to graduate school or attending Continuing Education seminars in the future, that I will be able to both forge my professional and academic development and research into my learning in an ongoing manner.

I feel that my professional and academic development and practice can be informed by my research in many ways. I think that by researching and maintaining an ample amount of current knowledge and information that I will be the very best student and clinician that I can be. Research will inform my practice as a student and as a clinician, but it is the REFLECTION upon that research that will truly enhance my practice. As a student, ongoing research is key when it comes to really knowing and loving what you are studying. When I do research, I always find out a little more than what I expected to learn and this is truly something that I love about being a student. When I am given an assignment or a research project to do, I often go into the assignment having that aversive “I have to do this” attitude. However, when I begin to do my own research and begin to feel that passion about something, I suddenly become open to whatever it is that I am researching and by doing this, I often find out some very fascinating things that I would have probably never known. This will probably carry on into my professional practice and knowing this excites me. Also, ongoing research into who I am as a learner will be very beneficial to me as a continuing student and a professional. Many times you think you know what kind of learner you are and then you do something or discover something that changes that. I feel that this will happen many times throughout my career as a student and as a speech-language pathologist and this too, excites me because I love finding out more about myself (and even surprising myself!).

I feel that I respond to opportunities for inquiry in two different ways: one way for research into my own learning (who I am as a learner) and the second way for research opportunities that are relevant to my academic and professional careers. As I kind of mentioned above, when I discover things about myself, I get very excited and I am very surprised. With this comes a desire to try to learn even more about how I learn so then, I begin to try different things and see which things help me to learn most effectively. This is why I love active learning and application so much, because I feel that this is how I learn best and how I learn most effectively. However, with a few more years to go in school and a professional life ahead of me, I am sure I will encounter new ways to learn and new ways to see myself as a learner and my responses to these new ways will be welcoming, inviting, and eagerly anticipating. When it comes to how I will respond to research opportunities that are directly relevant to my academic and professional careers, I feel that I will be quite inviting as well as excited. I love to learn (this is probably something I wouldn’t have said prior to my active learning quest!), because I feel involved in learning and as I had said before, when I feel involved I feel passionate. So, when opportunities for research that are directly relevant to my academic and professional pursuits, I will be genuinely excited and be waiting with open arms.

I feel that I meet my learning needs by being open to new things. I hardly ever think an assignment will be pointless and boring, because I know that something can always be learned from a “nothing” assignment. I can also meet my learning needs by continuing to be an active learner and staying involved in what I am trying to learn. Of course, being information literate allows me to meet many of my learning needs as well. Perhaps the most important thing I do to meet my own learning needs is to reflect, reflect, reflect. I mean it. I always find myself asking “why?” and “how?” and then “why?” again. Reflection upon what I learn takes my knowledge to the next level and I feel that I truly do know what I learn. I am a thinker, a reflector, and this I feel is and will continue to be a great personal asset.

Heather Perdue