Ways of Knowing class was quite a challenge. However, as I realize now, my biggest problem was the extremely constructivists environment rather than the course content. I most definitely learned to be more tolerant and open to unusual for me ways of knowing (e.g., feminist ways of knowing). We had several collaborative and creative projects in this class. For one of them we, as a group, had to develop and discuss multiple perspectives in response to a book or a movie. Our group chose the movie "I Am Sam." I was quite cynical at the beginning thinking that there can be only one perspective on that movie. I could not imagine how differently various people perceived the film. As a result we directed, filmed, and edited our own movie where we discuss "I Am Sam" from the point of views of a teacher, psychologist, parent, cynical critic, pregnant teen, and an advocate for the rights of people with disabilities (that was me). This project was a lot of fun and very informative. I think that was the first time I truly realized that there ARE different ways of knowing and all of us come to know differently depending on our background, education, history, etc. (pretty insensitive for somebody from another country, but that was truly the first time I thought about it).

As one of the big projects (Knowing Project) we were suppose to choose a new to us way of knowing, explore it though the literature review, and conduct a mini-research project. My classmate and I decided to collaboratively explore self-study as a way of knowing and explore how we came to select our dissertation topics/areas of concentration. After this project I feel very excited about self-study as a (supplementary) research area and look forward to applying it to my research projects. The Reknowing Paper summarized how we first framed and then reframed our thinking and understanding of ways of knowing throughout the semester. For this assignment I was able to sort out all new ways of knowing I learned about and how I could apply them to my research interests.

Overall, with all the complains I had about this course, it was very useful in terms of developing myself as a professional and a person.

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Leadership class was one of the best classes I took so far. Dr. Galluzzo has taught me to look at leadership from multiple perspectives. Over the semester I have learned from 5 different authors about different approaches to leadership from Machiavellian hierarchy to Wheatley’s flat organizations. It was definitely a valuable experience because, due to my cultural background, the only leadership I knew before taking this class was the coercive, authoritarian one. So it was really helpful to learn about other existing views.

Right from the beginning we have learned about conceptual analysis from John Wilson’s Thinking with Concepts. First I could not understand why we were reading that because it did not necessarily touch on leaders’, their attributes or leadership in general. Then, we had a chance to apply conceptual analysis in writing two essays. It was an amazing learning experience. However, it was also the first time my language and cultural background interfered with my thinking in a major way. In the Leadership and Conceptual Analysis essay I was trying to analyze if “knowledge is a lesser requirement for leading others in comparison to power and authority” and that was when I faced a problem because “authority” and “power” are synonyms meaning absolutely the same thing in Russian language. Through a lot of thinking and speculating about model, contrary, and borderline cases, I have grown tremendously and got close to achieving clarity of thought and communication.

I truly enjoyed reading The Prince by Machiavelli. Regardless of his sometimes-cruel ideas on leadership, I am truly amazed by how many attributes of the leader Machiavelli described in XVI century are still essential these days. Gardner and Fullan described familiar, comfortable to my ideas leadership. It was a great pleasure to learn about the life and pathways of 11 outstanding leaders in different domains in Gardner’s Leading Minds. Additionally, I found interesting and promising the possibility of combining direct and indirect leadership in the effective manner. The reason that’s intriguing is because I really hope to provide indirect leadership in this country through my work and expertise and hopefully to engage more in direct leadership in Russia trying to change the attitudes of general population towards people with disabilities.

I really had a hard time understanding and tolerating Senge’s and Wheatley’s flat approach to leadership where the leader does not use control but let people lead themselves. For a long time I have thought that flat organization is utopia, a wish that is unreasonable and unreal. Although I still find it hard to tolerate some of their points, the main lesson I have learned is that flat organization does not imply that there are no leaders. It just suggests leaders having different roles empowering people.

Over the four months I have certainly developed new skills and knowledge in the area of leadership. Back in Russia leadership is not something you study at school. So I guess I have always seen leadership as something you are born with; you either have it or you do not. The biggest thing I have learned here is that you can definitely educate and train yourself in being a leader and/or being a better leader if you are already one. As a result, this realization determines my place at the very beginning of the process of becoming a leader having plenty of material ahead of me to learn and practice. I summarize those essential attributes of the leader, explain the reasons they are important, and reflect on where I am in the process of becoming a leader and what I still have to learn in the final paper "The Most Essential Attributes of a Leader". That paper represents the attempt to find convergences between all 5 different approaches to leadership we have learned in this class.

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EDUC 805
Doctoral Seminar
Dr. Mark Goor
Fall 2005

Dr. Anastasia Samaras
Spring 2006

The Doctoral Seminar was truly fun. We were introduced to several faculty members in the Graduate School of Education, to their personal journeys, their research interests and work. The chance to see all different types of research and studies going on at George Mason was breathtaking. I am sincerely glad I have had such opportunity.

All the presentations we have heard in this class have impacted my way of thinking. Some of them were more interesting and intriguing to me, but all of them were valuable. I was able to take something away from each presentation that certainly enriched me and enhanced my knowledge.

I guess the biggest surprise and relief for me has been the fact that a dissertation can be just a replication and/or extension of the existing research. I always thought that I would have "to invent the wheel". It maybe very frustrating because a lot of research has already been done and it would be almost impossible to come up with something new. Now I am looking at existing research in a different way asking myself questions about how it could have been replicated or extended. Since I have started doing that I came up with some great ideas. The prospect of replicating and/or extending existing research is the relief and the force that moves me through the program because now I think I can actually make it.

I had a chance to see great passion and devotion to their work expressed by many faculty members, I have learned more about different research methods and writing skills from professors’ first hand experiences, I have found several topics that I now seriously consider for my dissertation. Overall, it was a wonderful opportunity that introduced me to endless possibilities in this new for me university.

The second part of the Doctoral Seminar class was as exciting as the first one. I had a chance to meet more professors, learn about more their research interests and numerous studies taking place at GMU. Every presentation touched my research interests in some way. This was a great opportunity for internal networking!

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What a wonderful way to begin learning about research. Dr. Mastropieri was absolutely fabulous teaching us the basics of educational research without making us feel intimidating and panicked. This was probably the class I learned from the most so far. What I loved the most about it was that Dr. Mastropieri was very fair and equal to all areas of research. We learned about both quantitative and qualitative research as well as touched on single-subject research designs. This course provided me with solid basics of research that I look forward to expand through my other research classes.

The main focus of this class was on the research methodology and its description in any research paper. We have prepared Quantitative Research Methodology Section and Qualitative Research Methodology Section that I used for my real research studies and publications. Through this experience we learned and practiced to focus on the main elements that make any research study stronger. In addition, we prepared the Human Subject Research Application, which allowed me to go through the process and receive permission for the study with real subjects. It was in all the ways the invaluable experience because now I feel knowledgeable about the application and the submission processes that proved to be very handy for my other projects.

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I have really enjoyed this class! I felt comfortable with the statistics and the way this class was taught. Dr. Dimitrov is an outstanding professor, who makes hardcore numbers sound so easy! I was very fortunate to take this class with him. In addition, this course has been taught in a very familiar to me "lecture" format. I have learned about the major statistical tests in relative detail. I have learned about t-test, ANOVA, correlation, simple and multiple regression, as well as chi-square tests. It was an amazing feeling to be able to understand all those "big" numbers and make sense of them. I remember my first experience with a quantitative research and a guess game about which test to choose. After this class I know what test to use in which situations. Furthermore, I have learned to make connections between research questions, type of data necessary to answer those questions, statistical tests used to analyze it, and how to interpret the results. In addition, I had an opportunity to play with SPSS program and learn how to enter and analyze data in this program, as well as how to interpret the SPSS printouts.

Besides two in-class exams, we were responsible for applying all new knowledge and skills to a real research study. I have conducted a survey study "Implementation of Assistive Technology with Students with High-incidence Disabilities: Current Status and Training Needs." I have used the real data I collected earlier. This paper is a first draft of the manuscript that I am hoping to publish. Although I do not really need to take any more research classes, I am seriously considering taking advances quantitative class.

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I just loved this class! I think I found myself as a researcher. I really enjoy and feel very comfortable with a single-subject research design. In addition, if I continue to work in special education, this would be the most feasible research design for my future studies. Throughout the course we were responsible for designing and implementing a real single-subject research study. My study was on "Word Prediction Software for Students with Writing Difficulties."

This hands-on project gave me an opportunity to apply the acquired knowledge and skills in single subject research. This was a wonderful chance to experience how things are different in practice than they are in books. First of all, now I have a better understanding of single subject research, so I can design a new better-developed study with less number of limitations. However, I have also learned that sometimes real life circumstances impose specific requirements for less effective research designs. As for the visual analysis, this project made me realize why it is important to have as many data points as possible. I had a great variability within and between phases that alters my results.

Single subject design has a very flexible nature that can change based on the data. If I had a chance to do this study again and had more time in the camp, I would prefer to wait for the stable baseline, establishing the behavior pattern. I really enjoyed calculating percent of non-overlapping data. From my point of you, it is a very reliable procedure and it really can demonstrate the effectiveness or lack of it of the intervention on target behaviors. While it was quite challenging to implement randomization tests, I look forward to conducting another study when I begin with designing the study to meet the strict requirements of such tests. Nonetheless, I was able to find a design applicable for my study and obtain statistically values for all my variables across three programs per each participant. I can see how randomization tests can enhance findings of a single subject design study. It was interesting to see that sometimes my mean line would demonstrate one result (mostly because of outliers) but randomization tests reveal the opposite one. Overall, it was an excellent experience. I am looking forward to compressing this largely descriptive analysis to a publishable article and conducting more single subject research studies

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This introduction to Instructional Design was a very difficult course for me. The fact that the majority of my classmates were currently working as instructional designers was also a challenge. It was the first time I have heard about instructional design and However, after completing I can see how important and valuable it was for my future career. It is one of those courses that you want to be over as soon as possible but then, amazingly, find yourself quoting and applying what you have learned almost daily.

We studied in details all the elements of the instructional design, ADDIE model and demonstrated application of that knowledge on practice. Over the time of the course we were responsible for choosing any topic/problem that could be solved with the training and completing two metatarsi. Just like in real world all the assignments were collaborative projects and I was fortunate to have another graduate student in that class who was also very interested in the area of assistive technology. Our identified problem was that teachers, especially in rural area school do not know about AT, specifically about different switches available. More than that they lack knowledge and skills on how to choose an appropriate switch based on students' needs. In addition, counties removed from the large cities do not even have the AT coordinators/specialists, so the selection and use of AT depends solely on special education teachers. We have conducted needs assessment and surveyed teachers in Frederick County. The results supported our problem statement and the willingness of teachers to be trained.

Just like in real world, we were prepared the Design Document (PDF file only) where we stated the problem; proved that it existed through needs assessment; developed the effective training solution considering all key elements of the instructional design process: learner characteristics, subject content, instructional objectives and strategies, and evaluation instruments.
After that based on the information from the design document we developed a segment of prototype of the instructional module. In our case, it was the part of the training with the instruction on how to consider student's abilities and reliable body parts in order to find the perfectly fitting switch. We have developed Training Manual (PDF file only) for that module following the prescriptions described in the design document. We also designed the prototype of the Job Aid (PDF file only), something that our learners could take home and use in the switch selection process.

Over all it was an incredible amount of work but it made me realize how instructional design is important for developing my own courses. Curriculum development is an essential part of higher education and training modules designed with the instructional design in mind can be so much more effective.

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This was a fun and exciting class. It was really helpful in two aspects. First of all, it finally clarified the purpose and the content of the PhD portfolio. Each section was discussed in great details including the due dates. It certainly decreased the level of anxiety and gave me the opportunity to look at my work and classes in prospective.

Second, I learned the basics of the web design and different elements of it that are important to consider when creating a web-based product. I was happy to learn the basics of the Dreamweaver program. Prior to this class I had an experience of hand coding the web site (the English version of my Russian University) and I was dreading the HTML coding again. But I was pleasantly surprised when the Dreamweaver did all the work for me.

This class also game me the opportunity and the time to start developing my electronic portfolio. Although it was only my first semester in the program, I was able to create several pages. That certainly gave me a good start with the process.

I believe that in this era of computerization it is very important to know at least the basic of web design. I'm sure that I will apply all the knowledge and skills from this class when designing online classes and training modules in the future.

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In this assessment class I had a chance to remember why I decided to pursue education in assistive technology. After learning about different AT assessments and required procedures (very valuable knowledge that will be used greatly in my future career), I had a chance to help real people. First, we had a group project when my classmate Angie and I met and assessed Mike's abilities and needs. Michael suffered from traumatic brain injury after a motorcycle accident couple years ago. That left him wheelchair bound and unable to express himself. We were able to find the way to connect his Vanguard communication device so he would use it both for speaking and typing on the computer. We also trailed and found a mouse substitute for Mike (because of ataxia it is hard for him to manipulate the regular mouse). We had to write everything up in our Team Report.

Then, through social services providers we had a chance to work with a client individually. I was very lucky to be introduced to Dr. Dennis, extremely intelligent and highly educated man (PhD in Biochemistry), who had a stroke several years ago that resulted in a partial paralysis of his right side and inability to read and write. Working with Dr. Dennis made everything I learned real. After more than two months of trials we found an alternative (one handed) keyboard for him and a word prediction program to help him with spelling. In addition, text-to-speech program was offered to Dr. Dennis for reading electronic materials. Details can be found in the Assistive Technology Assessment. At the end, knowing that with these tools Dr. Dennis was able to contact his family for the first time in more than two years was the biggest reward. Making difference in person's life with the help of AT is the real and only purpose I am in this program!

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Developing an online program in assistive technology is quite a challenge. That is because the most important component of any technology program is the hands-on activities. In this course I had a chance to learn Breeze web communication system in depth. We designed Breeze classroom materials and outlines through detailed task analysis. That was the first time I analyzed the course lecture in details allowing me to realize the important features/components of a successful lesson plan (distance or not). We collected information from students and instructors in the AT programs summarizing the positive and negative aspects of the AT program. I believe that will help me in my future career if I ever consider developing and/or refining an existing AT program. I am looking forward to continue brainstorming and trying different online options in order to find the most suitable solution for the AT program. If that happens, that will be a discovery. However, even if it doesn't, the experience will still be invaluable.

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I took the online version of web accessibility class and was very glad I did so. Besides all extremely important knowledge in the area of web accessibility, I had an opportunity to see that it was possible to make online (mostly written) materials interesting and exciting. Paul Bohman is now my etalon of writing. I could not stop reading all those technical documents that were suppose to be boring.

In terms of web accessibility, this class was full of practical applications of all the concepts of web accessibility. It made it real when we had to go and evaluate an existing website on how accessible it is for people with different disabilities. I chose www.whitehouse.gov and found it generally accessible (the details can be found in the Web Evaluation Document). Moreover, that prepared us for designing our own fully accessible website. I have begun developing Assistive Technology Resource Box (opens in the same window) where I plan to collect useful information and links in different areas of assistive technology. As of right now, my resource box includes just few links in the areas of AT for learning and sensory disabilities, computer access, and alternative and augmentative communication.

I know for sure that I will be able to use everything I have learned in this class in my future career. Designing an accessible website is much easier than trying to make an existing one accessible. In addition, I became more familiar and comfortable with the general website design, that is always a nice addition to any set of skills.

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Assistive technology for students with learning disabilities is my biggest research interest, so I could not wait to take this class. Although I knew a majority of discussed technologies, especially in the area of reading and writing, I was very excited to learn more about math and other areas of academia. Overall, it was a nice opportunity to learn about many practical aspects of using those programs that I was already aware of.

I enjoyed the practicum, when I was engaged into a real project working with a child with learning disabilities trialing different technologies with him. In addition, as a group project we came up with an Electronic Resource Notebook that included information on 1o low-tech and 10 software programs in reading, writing, math, and content areas for students with learning disabilities.

It was a very positive experience. In addition, I always enjoy taking classes taught by different professors because everybody else's approach is different and I am excited to try several tricks and share all the numerous resources in AT classes that I teach.

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EDUC 994
Advanced Internship in Education: CompuWrite Camp
Dr. Michael Behrmann
Summer 2006

The first time I heard about CompuWrite Camp was way before I even applied to the PhD program. I was very excited about the opportunity to work with students with high-incidence disabilities again. My role at CompuWrite Camp was the university supervisor and did not assume working with children directly. I was in charge of training and supervising university interns who worked with students. For the training I developed an Internship Manual and conducted the one-day long training session. It was an excellent experience as I practiced both managing and teaching skills. Throughout the internship I observed interns during their teaching, discussed their progress with the cooperating teacher, and completed an enormous amount of paper work in the form of various reports. Thinking back to my internship and my university supervisor, I never thought it would be so hard. Even now I would probably change the way I dealt with some interns, so I was glad I had this experience at the beginning of my career. I feel prepared now to this role of a leader that incorporates many elements of politics and diplomacy.

Although my job was to conduct just several observations, I chose to be at CompuWrite all day, every day. I was conducting a research study with 5 out of total 13 students examining their use of three different word prediction programs. Just like above, I would probably design my study completely different now, but "you live, you learn." I didn't analyze the data from the study yet but I had a chance to interact with students, the experience that cannot be compared to anything else.

Overall, CompuWrite Camp internship allowed me to grow as a leader, researcher, and a person. It was a wonderful experience that enriched all aspect of my professional life.

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I truly tried to move forward with the development of the program. We have spent plenty of time brainstorming but due to several constrains the program is yet to be developed. I think the most valuable lesson I learned from this experience is the amount of time it takes to conceptualize a product. I unrealistically expected to be able to develop a program in one semester. I am not giving up the idea yet, but now I know that it is crucial to plan wisely when attempting an endeavor like that.

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(transfer credits from the Master's)

SPED 6010
Issues, Trends and Research in Special Education
Fall 2001

SPED 6020
Curriculum Development and Program Planning in Special Education for Students with Mild/Moderate Disabilities
Spring 2002

SPED 6022
Instructing Students with Learning Disabilities
Spring 2002

These courses were transferred from my Master's Program in Learning Disabilities from East Carolina University. They were the core content courses in my specialization.

SPED 6010 a research class where we discussed several issues and trends in special education that were on target at that time. The topics like legislation and litigation, identification, eligibility, inclusion, and placement received special attention in the class. It became even more relevant to my major when we had to complete an extensive literature review on the selective topic. I chose to do the overview of Assistive Technology for Students with Learning Disabilities. So the acquisition of knowledge and understanding of research methods focused on the area of my interest and specialization. After that class I pursued that topic and research further in the program for my major project development.

You can tell from the title that SPED 6020 was a practical course. It taught me many essential skills that "saved my life" when I actually started working in a school system. I learned about North Carolina Standard Course of Study (NCSCS), IEPs and the ways to complete them. We had plenty of practiced on lesson and unit planning with the focus on NCSCS competencies and adapting the content and the instruction to the needs of students with mild disabilities (obviously, my focus was on students with learning disabilities.) In this class I created my first management plan and an electronic portfolio for the real student with learning disabilities (that was actually the first time I worked in the classroom with a real student and not just observed. I still remember how scared I was the first day!)

SPED 6022 was another great practical course that focused specifically on providing instruction to students with learning disabilities. Emphasis was placed on applying research literature to acquire and refine best practices in educating students with learning disabilities.

I feel like these are the main courses that truly prepared me for teaching in the classroom. I went back to class materials several times during my first year of teaching. In addition, the fact that in each of these classes I could choose a topic that I liked to research allowed me to add the technology component to my program. In each class I was looking at assistive technology (specifically for writing) for students with learning disabilities and continued to extend and refine my research that resulted in the development of the interactive CD-Rom "Assistive Technology for Students with Learning Disabilities" in two languages: English and Russian. The CD was disseminated among several schools in the district for introducing LD teaching to the AT for writing. It was also employed by several universities in Russia for educating their perspective special education teachers on what is being done in the world. I'm very proud of that product.

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This was one of my favorite classes in the program. Dr. Mastropieri has an amazing talent to make research sound easy and doable. In this class, we have learned to synthesize original intervention studies in research meta-analysis. It was really fun to create my own coding instrument, code articles, determine the effect sizes and PND (percent of non-overlapping data) for each study, analyze results in SPSS, and thus synthesize existing research. I find meta-analysis to be a very useful technique that has a lot of potential to empirically summarize literature, so readers can get an overall idea about the intervention. In addition, we have learned to prepare proposals for national conference and publications.

For the purposes of this class, I have studied the efficacy of video instruction. My study "Efficacy of Video Instruction Meta-Analysis: Preliminary Findings" quantitatively synthesized the efficacy of video instruction presented in various formats as an intervention tool for teaching academic, functional, and behavioral skills to school-aged children with and without disabilities. I had fifty one studies, including 24 with group design and 25 that employed single subject research, that were integrated through a meta-analysis technique. I practiced calculating effect sizes for the group design studies and determine PNDs for the single-subject research studies. This paper offers only preliminary findings. I am yet to finish the in-depth analysis of the data.

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