Oh my goodness what a week.  Things are starting to pick up.  Chris and i drafted/revised questions for the questionnaire that accompanies the letter to grantee.  We also have discussed both documents with Dr. Gant and Prof Sue Ann along with the Lansing team.. I think this is like a Ken Burns documentary--the art of aligning different perspectives as well as vocabulary.  Chris and i also had a conference call with Prof Sue Ann to discuss our coming to class and just getting on the sane page regarding the big picture. 

We drafted a note to Cody Kangas in UP  to followup on request from Tracy introducing us. We have been discussing for a while now going to the UP sites because of the challenge of proximity; also discussed air travel vs. vehicle so still working on this.  Chris finally heard back from him and received some information but we still need more specifics so we will keep plugging away.  We may contact Shelly as she and Chris have a good rapport.

In some ways this is kind of like the excitement of a roller coaster ride--uncertain, then at tone fast and furious.  We had a team meeting on Friday with all of the team present so that was very good.  This also included a portion of time allotted to finalizing some details and answering questions regarding what the students would be doing for the evaluation project.  First just to be all in the same space and coming together to discuss next steps.  Sue Ann did some refashioning of the letter after having a discussion with students.  It was good to be reminded of how it feels as a student trying to make sense of the adventure of research--and the anxiety of unknown territory.  I am confident that everyone is committed to cultivating the confidence of students and providing them with tools that facilitate the learning experience. Footnote:  I have been added to Sue Ann's class on Ctools

Sue Ann discussed what she reviewed with students in the past couple of weeks.  Students are researching GEAR UP and creating logic models for each grantee site.  They also have questions so we agreed that Chris, Kelli and I would attend class this coming Thursday @3p.  We also agreed to a classroom check in time of maybe every three weeks to facilitate learning, consistency, check in, help anxiety... Finally, Sue Ann gave us a list of questions that students had so we agreed that we would bring handout and support docs to answer those questions.

Next steps are creating a source document file for students on Ctools and creating a confidentiality statement for students.  I worked on the confidentiality statement and emailed it today to Chris.  She and i are meeting Monday to follow up on preparing handout and supporting source documents file for SW  grad research students, completing the questionnaire and letter to grantee and any other remaining details.

Its been a little while;  my bad so much good programming going on.  We met to prepare for our Lansing session and the supporting documents that need to be developed for the meeting.  Chris and i revised the agenda based on a session that she, Dr Gant and Prof. S had around planning for the student evaluation team.  Dr Gant forwarded a overview draft of what the students would be doing and Chris and i sort of reviewed that process looking at time lines.  She and I are scheduled to meet the professor (Chris took her class) and student in the upcoming weeks so that's exciting. On aonther note i continue to read Stack's dissertation and now i am reading MSU;s APR.  The more i engage with staff and different discussions around the program the better the connections are.

Yesterday we met with the Lansing team and this was another good cognitive and social connection to GEAR UP for me.  I feel more confident in that i can make better connections with how GEAR UP works as an overall program.  I thought the meeting went well and everyone is clearly invested in building this evaluation model that will better reflect program impact.  We meet tomorrow to de-brief so until then...