It Has Been Awhile...

It has been a while since I have been on Steemit. Since a good three months ago, I have been stuck with the same project that has kept me occupied every night for a while now. That project has been my PhD thesis.

The Last Few Months...

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I have been working on my Ph.D. thesis for the last three years. A few months back in Oct 2019, I was called for my Viva, which is the time where they get to assess how good (or bad) my work was. I had an inkling about how bad things were going to go. However, I had no idea the extent of the carnage that would ensue. So I would not bore you with the details of my thesis. But, a few days before my viva, I received news that my supervisor would not be there with me. There was a death in the family and he had to go away.

Normally, that would not be an issue, but having him there to help me with my case with the panel would have been better. So on that day, after presenting for about half an hour, the panel got down to questioning me for the next 3 hours. I assumed all would go well. It did not. I assumed that I did a good job, but it was not. So after the entire assessment, I was slapped with a 12 month correction period. What that means is that I have 12 months to correct all my work that the panel deemed to be unsatisfactory. The "recommended" correction was more than 80% of my work.

Thus, with this result, I have been spending nearly every night and some early mornings trying to get it done. Though many have pointed out that I did not fail, but what would you call a work that is 80% wrong?

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Imagine putting all that effort into something for the last three years and being assured that it would all be ok, only to find out that it was not. Now, I have been ordered to complete a work that took me three years to complete, in a few months. Talk about achieving the impossible. Some have called it a setback and others have mentioned that it was a mere bump in the road.

I would disagree.

The thing is, there are some very serious repercussions with the results. For one, my sponsors would slap me with a big fat fine for not graduating on time. If it were my fault, I would have no one to blame. But after yearly positive reports on my performance, it comes as a shock to know that my work was on the wrong track all along.

So What Now?

I really don't know, to be honest. I had the benefit of not working and staying home for the last years. That was why I had time to complete a 90,000-word long thesis. Now that I am back at work, that task seems rather daunting.

But, the way I see it, I have two options. I could either stay where I am and complain. Or move on. Thus, I have chosen to move on. So, wish me luck and pray for me. I would rather be writing here every night but alas, that will not be happening for the next few months.

That being said, I still believe in Steemit and what it is. So much so that I have started introducing Steemit to my college and incorporating it into our assignments. Over the last few weeks, we have signed up 60 students and most of them have gotten their accounts approved! I'm still excited to see how can Steemit be applied at the tertiary level. I just wish that I had more time with it instead of my thesis.

Oh well, this was fun, now back to work...

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Posted from my blog with SteemPress : https://www.alvinauh.com/2020/02/09/it-has-been-awhile/

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