My first year in the Learning, Design, and Technology program at The University of Georgia has been a positive one. The wide variety of research interests by both faculty and students provides varying perspectives on the field, which I find incredibly valuable for my research and program of study.

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Coursework
Overall the coursework has been thought-provoking yet manageable. As I came back to student life after working in the field for almost ten years my experiences have been different from my class mates because I had a more focused research idea. The first-year courses helped me expand my knowledge on the learning theories, and their implications for the field of Learning, Design, and Technology, design ideas and protocols of research. I am lucky enough to have Dr. Theodore J. Kopcha as my advisor as since the beginning he gave me readings that were very pertinent to my research interests. I developed my understanding about what barriers teachers face while incorporating technology in their practices and this knowledge allowed me to design a solution to some of my research problems in EDIT 8190 Design Studio. I am also in the process of co-authoring a Journal article for AECT whose proposal is under review. 

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Program suggestions
EDIT 8900 is an excellent course on research methodologies however as a first-year student I think I was not able to make the best use of it. EDIT 8900 required in depth understanding of both qualitative and quantitative research methods in order to understand the discussed research methods, however I felt most of my fellow first year students, including me were only able to contribute based on our limited understanding of different research methods in the field. I think this course was best placed for the second years as they had completed the required QUAL and QUAN courses but for the first years it was a little challenging. 

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It would have been good to have some more opportunities of interaction with senior LDT students and faculty members. Seminar course provided a great platform to interact with peers, colleagues and faculty members which I seemed to miss in the second semester. Occasional professional meetings could be a great way for knowledge sharing, networking and research collaborations.