It's been nearly 5 years since my last post. In that time, I finished my Fulbright program, completed a PhD, and had two kids (whew!). Throughout this, I have thought about this site a lot, never bringing myself to cancel the domain and knowing that I wanted to come back to it when the time was right.
In my first go, this site was really difficult to maintain. I found myself burdened by perfection and wanting to ensure that every word I typed could be backed up by evidence for fear of internet backlash on my opinions. It was very slow going. This go - in interest of time, I will be more off the cuff and honest with my current opinions and thoughts and just ask for grace. I am sure I'll make a mistake but it's more important to me to ensure that the knowledge I've gained can be helpful to those exploring new learning spaces.
I am still working for DLR Group. This company has been incredibly supportive through all of my life changes and continues to design fabulous schools throughout the country. A lot of my time is spent working locally with the Austin Independent School District. During the implementation of their last bond effort, I was able to review the designs of all schools undergoing major modernizations, ensuring that the design teams aligned their work to AISD's educational specifications (written with best practices and research in mind). This work was incredibly fulfilling and up my alley as I had high impact on many campuses and got to work my research-driven brain constantly. Now that those projects are nearly complete, I am helping with their holistic long-range planning process. This work utilizes an "Equity by Design" framework to ensure that the eventual facilities (or other district shifts in policy or new strategies) focus on students and neighborhoods who have been historically underserved. Again - incredibly fulfilling work that flexes my planning, technical, and facilitation muscles. DLR Group is also leading a team on a scoping project for the 'sequel' to the program behind my PhD, Innovative Learning Environments (ILEs) and the Student Experience (my PhD was focused on ILEs and Teaching Change). I am very grateful to love my job.
I plan to write about my work when particularly relevant but will be prioritizing the dissemination of my PhD research. If you'd like to get a head start, you can read the whole thing here: https://minerva-access.unimelb.edu.au/items/e2f894bb-a5f0-4638-9c61-4009d7d9269b
I'll be breaking it down into bite size chunks throughout the year so stay tuned!