NORTHCENTRAL UNIVERSITY

ASSIGNMENT COVER SHEET

Student: Leila H. Liberman
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EDU7101-8

Mel Finkenberg

Foundations for Doctoral Study in Education

Assignment 9: Personal

Narrative

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Leila Liberman
EDU7101-8
Professor: Mel Finkenberg
Course: Foundation for Doctoral Study in Education
Assignment 9: Personal Narrative
March 2015

Leila Liberman
EDU7101-8
Professor: Mel Finkenberg
Course: Foundation for Doctoral Study in Education
Assignment 9: Personal Narrative
March 2015

Personal Narrative
Being a clinical dental hygienist is fun, exciting, people-oriented and physically
challenging. These facts lead me to other musings. How long will I be able to scale teeth?
How long will I work in the private sector for a dentist, who fills me with guilt when I need
time off for my son? If I was working at the University of Maryland School of Dentistry
(UMSOD), I would have personal and sick time to care for my son without guilt. If I was
working at UMSOD Ryans college education would be paid by the school. These questions and
comments I said to myself regularly. After several years in private practice I found a clinical
position at UMSOD. I devised a plan to secure a faculty position in the Department of
Periodontics. The first step in this plan was too enrolled at University of Maryland University
College (UMUC), starting a Masters program in E-learning. Three classes into my program, all
the stars started to line up, a faculty position opened in the Department of Periodontics and I was
awarded the position. By December 2014, I had earned my Master of Distance Education and Elearning degree from UMUC-YEAH ME!! Now, I say to myself, you still need to stand out,
you still need to be more marketable and where are you getting your doctoral degree? This
personal narrative will be divided into two parts to closely examine who I, Leila Liberman, am
and what has brought me to the next step in my academic career. The first part of the narrative I
will discuss what I already know about myself and my accomplishments. The second part of the
narrative will review my growth through my initial course at Northcental University (NCU).
What is there to know about me?

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Leila Liberman
EDU7101-8
Professor: Mel Finkenberg
Course: Foundation for Doctoral Study in Education
Assignment 9: Personal Narrative
March 2015
I am a person who puts everyone before myself. I am a person who believes very strongly
that giving back/paying it forward is essential. I am a person who lives life organized, scheduled
and within my financial means. I place family at the top of everything. I expect people to treat
me as I treat them. I put my all into every project that comes my way. I trust very few people.
Many times I lack self-confidence. I am a tough and fair evaluator of my students. I hate green
vegetables. I hate to floss. I love chocolate and cotton candy!
What have I accomplished thus far in my professional life?
I began my college education when I was in 10th grade. I never went full time until I
began the UMSOD, dental hygiene program. I have been a very successful clinical dental
hygienist and am becoming a successful clinical instructor at UMSOD. An academic career is
based on service, research and teaching. Earning a more advanced degree in E-learning will help
my teaching and research within the dental education field. Generation X is the upcoming
generation which will reach higher education and demand a program that is more intense in the
digital realm. Earning an EdD will ensure my academic growth, even if I leave the world of
dental education.
Where do I plan to go with this new degree?
As I work through all the courses in this program, I need to expand my papers to reach
outside the face-to-face didactic dental world. In order for me to grow as a professional person as
I advance through this program, it is essential that I maintain an open mind toward moving the
didactic part of dental education to an online program with virtual labs, knowing full well that a
hands on approach will be required for success as well. Though I enjoy teaching, I have
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Leila Liberman
EDU7101-8
Professor: Mel Finkenberg
Course: Foundation for Doctoral Study in Education
Assignment 9: Personal Narrative
March 2015
aspirations to secure an administrative position-possibly a Dean of Students. An EdD will help to
make this goal possible.
What challenges do I anticipate?
Facilitating change at UMSOD will be the biggest challenge. The majority of the faculty
see e-learning as simply posting a lecture on Blackboard and consider themselves done. Having
them understand the use of other digital technologies and embracing them is a major obstacle.
Having the faculty at UMSOD use collaborative teaching in a virtual world will be difficult as
well. Likewise, Moazami, Bahrampour, Azar, Jahedi, and Moattari (2014) report that computer
literacy among educators is finite and must be increased. On the other hand, the IT department
here at school is constantly bettering our digital means and having their support and the Deans
support for growing technology will be in my favor.
Now that you know who I am and what makes me tick, let me review my progress
through my initial course at NCU. I will discuss visualizing my overall goals, read and analyze
complex text and time management skills that I either just learned, need improvement, or have
mastered.
Visualizing goals-just learned about skill
I always knew starting in the academic world I had an ultimate goal of being Dr.
Liberman, but was not sure I could do it. The part of this course which centered on goals scared
me. However, watching the videos helped me set my goals and intermediate goals and immediate
goals. I knew I had tasks which needed to be done, but seeing them in this fashion made them
much clearer. All goals should be linked together in harmony and not in conflict, leading for a
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Leila Liberman
EDU7101-8
Professor: Mel Finkenberg
Course: Foundation for Doctoral Study in Education
Assignment 9: Personal Narrative
March 2015
better success rate of ones goals (Dalton & Spiller, 2014). The ultimate philosophy to having
goals is to improve my outlook on life, earn a feeling of self-satisfaction and most importantly,
turning the seemingly impossible-a doctoral degree-into a reality.
Read and analyze complex text-needs improvement skill
Yes, I struggle here and need significant improvement. I have learned, as I have earned
my Masters, and now with this journey that I need to;
1.
2.
3.
4.

Eliminate any distractions near me when reading an article

Keep notes on what I read and highlight in the text itself
Review my notes to be sure I understood what I wrote
Ask myself as I am reading, what were the authors intentions, key points, theories and

strategies?
5. Rereading an article is not a bad thing and may often be necessary
Time management-a mastered skill
Often times, I am referenced to as The Queen of Organization. I live and breathe by my
datebook! I take it everywhere and have been known to sleep with it. Please, never, ever use ink
in my datebook-that might send me over the edge! This year, I got brave and switched to a new
design in datebooks, the Erin Condren Life Planner. I LOVE IT! It has plenty of room for my
lists to keep me on target with all aspects of my life-person life, professional life, work life and
play activities. Benjamin Franklin once said, If you want something done, ask a busy person,
well that is me! I normally can accomplish any task I accept. However, in this course, the time
management videos I was assigned to watch, gave me the permission I needed to say no more
often and more concretely. In my mind, an organized life is one in which time is managed well.

Liberman 6

Leila Liberman
EDU7101-8
Professor: Mel Finkenberg
Course: Foundation for Doctoral Study in Education
Assignment 9: Personal Narrative
March 2015
My keys to successful time management are, to-do-lists, prioritizing, a do it now attitude, taking
breaks and keeping to a schedule.
Conclusion
Clinical dental hygienists are a dime a dozen. Dental hygienists with Masters Degrees in
Public Health or Dental Hygiene are rather common. However, a dental hygienist with a
Masters in Distance Education and E-learning is rarity. A dental hygienist who holds a doctoral
degree in the field of distance education is a singular individual. I plan to be that unique person.
Every person has aspects of their life needing improvement. I do as well. The two main areas I
will work on regularly as I work to earn my EdD are reading comprehension and saying no. As
I move forward with my studies in this program, I will grow as a stronger health care
professional and educator, who has embraced lifelong learning and conquered the interweaving
of e-learning in dental education.

References

Dalton, A. N., & Spiller, S. A. (2014). Too much of a good thing: The benefits of implementation
intentions depend on the number of goals. Journal Of Consumer Research, S97-S111.
doi:10.1086/664500

Moazami, F., Bahrampour, E., Azar, M. R., Jahedi, F., & Moattari, M. (2014). Comparing two
methods of education (virtual versus traditional) on learning of Iranian dental students: A
post-test only design study. BMC Medical Education, 1445. doi:10.1186/1472-6920-1445

Liberman 7

Leila Liberman
EDU7101-8
Professor: Mel Finkenberg
Course: Foundation for Doctoral Study in Education
Assignment 9: Personal Narrative
March 2015

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