i've decided to post a brief chronology of how it was that i finally made the decision to begin my doctoral studies.
pursuing a doctorate has been something which i have been toying with since my time in Boston, back in '99. but i did not really go beyond getting various prospectuses, mainly because i did not at that time have a topic which i felt would be able to hold my attention for a few years :-)
from what i have dug up, i first resurrected the idea seriously in December '02 (upon secondment to the National Institute of Education (NIE)). that was when i revisited the websites of various universities and printed out as much stuff as i could find on procedures and requirements. this time, i was also serious enough to request transcripts from the various universities that i had studied in thus far, as well as applying for a GRE test date. although i cannot recall exactly how it was that i decided upon pedagogical applications of the mobile internet as my broad theme of research, i do know that i did spend the rest of the month writing my initial two-page research proposal (alas, i do not have a copy of that).
in January, i took my GRE test, as well as attended a couple of education fairs about studying in Australia. by this time, my research proposal had expanded to six pages (single-line-spacing).
in February, i went down under for a recce trip. It was also in that month when, during one of the orientation sessions organised for new staff, i found out about the work of Lim Cher Ping, right here in my workplace at the NIE. In 2001, he and several others had carried out some research on text messaging. Needless to say, i initiated contact with Cher Ping, and later Seng Chee that same month.
in March, i had my first meeting with Sengchee, and also contacted Allan Luke, who is Dean of the Centre for Research in Pedagogy and Practice (CRPP).
last month (May) i was able to confirm, by the grace of God, both Sengchee and John as my supervisors. that brings the story up-to-date :-)
