400 word Discussion and 3-5 Page Paper

Anna Bryant

Hi, my name is Anna Bryant. And I'm from Anchorage, Alaska. You're surrounded by other people who are looking towards the same goals that you are, to be educated, and to put the same goals that you are, to be educated, and to put their minds together, and to help each other achieve great things. You're surrounded by people that are in the same situation that you are. They're trying to balance their home life, their work life, and to study, and to wrap their mind around this APA stuff and things like that, where, when you're at home you're not surrounded and you don't have that support system. I have met people in my situation. And I've been able to personally talk to people who are just as frustrated by their class work, or by their life, and what's going on. And they can't believe they're in Atlanta and doing this. And it's just wonderful to be able to talk to people who actually are in the same situation.  The benefits of the residency are that you finally get to see what it's all about. Where maybe you've read about it on the website, but here you're in person. And you get to hear from people who have been through it before. But also you get to meet people and find out the details. I just want to be a skilled practitioner in my field. And I have no real professional goals with this other than to be as educated as I could be. Living in Alaska, there's no doctoral programs at all in this state. So I knew that I needed to go online to find it, because there was no way I'd be able to move and make that happen. So I looked into all the online schools, and Walden was the closest to my personal goals. I'm only in my second course, but I broke my ankle in the fifth week of my first course. So that kind of changed some things. And it was not something I'd planned for. But I made it through with the support of my faculty and have been able to move forward instead of throw up my hands and throw in the towel. And being from Alaska, of course, that's a little bit further because I am four hours time difference from, it seems like, every other student in my class. So whenever I am trying to find somebody to talk to online, it's a little bit odd. But otherwise it's nice to be able, this time of year, to stay inside and get warm with my books. Manage your time wisely. And when you sit down and realize that you need to spend< 12 hours a week to stay ahead of your coursework, then schedule that 12 hours being away from everything else in your life, because you need to focus. And you just need to find that time, otherwise you'll be behind.

Eric Barton

My name is Eric Barton. I'm from Knoxville, Tennessee. To be part of the Walden learning community, it means that I am associated with an organization that not only is a part of academic excellence with a goal of empowering and improving the students and faculty, but it also means that I'm connected to an organization that really looks at the importance of social impact and sustainability. I benefit, personally, to be a part of an organization, again, that has something more in mind than just academic excellence. I benefit professionally by, obviously, learning how to research, how to work at the highest academic level, and also how to be a better businessman. The residency fosters a spirit of cooperation with our peers. It's one thing to be online and to be a part of discussion groups and conference calls. But it's another experience to not only learn from other students and faculty, but really for the experience to become more real. To be only online is good, but to be able to come here, and to meet folks, and to understand the challenges, and share in the successes and the obstacles that we all face as we pursue our doctoral degree is something that has been very important to me. The benefits of attending residency is, for me, most important to meet the faculty. The faculty and professors, we were able to get to know them somewhat online. But for me, it's a little bit intimidating to go through a process of the class work, and then knowing that at the end, the doctoral project is awaiting. And so to talk to some of the folks here-- and a lot of them are former veterans, such as myself, and people that have had similar life experiences and different life experiences-- but to be able to engage folks that have been through the process, and to know they're really on your side-- it's not an us against them type mentality, but it is a peer-fostering attitude that says, we're here to help and to teach you what we've learned, and to help you to do it better as you go forward and pursue your ultimate degree. I think the most important thing to know and to prepare for as you attend your first residency is not that there are people here that are smarter, or that know more, or that are better qualified than you are. A lot of people, I think, that I've talked to, especially as they attend their first residency-- and this is my second-- is that it's a little bit intimidating to come to this type of atmosphere with folks that have maybe been in the program longer, that know a little more about what they're writing about, what their research is about, and their topic statement. And so I think the most important thing to remember is we were all there once. We've all been through the first residency, or we are going to the first residency. And the critical component is that the professors are here to really help you advance in your studies. The longer you wait, the longer it's going to take to complete the program. My personal goal was to achieve, for my family, the first person on both my father and mother's side to attain a doctoral degree. Professional goals are I own and operate several businesses internationally. And professionally, it's not for the money. But it's to gain wisdom, and not only to be an astute operator or operational manager, but to understand the academics and research, and how to really analyze and compile data and make it useful for my business. For me, it is time management, as with others in the program, to understand and balance your family life, your professional life, and also your personal life in terms of hobbies and being able to know when to step back and take a break from your studies. There's been several times in the program where I've asked myself why am I doing this. And I've wanted to stop. And I wanted to take a break. But professionally and personally, I need to move forward, and continue to move forward, and feel like I'm making progress. And so it's been a constant reminder for myself that there are going to be bad days, there are going to be more challenging days, and not to give up, and regardless of how challenging it becomes, lean on some of your peer groups. Lean on your professors. And that, again, is why it's important to attend residency, so you get that face-to-face and share that conversation with not only your professors, but with your peers that are going through the same thing you are. I think the advice that I would give, most importantly, is to know why you're here. You don't have to know your purpose statement for your project. But you need to know why you're here and why you're willing to put the money and time into it. If you can clarify, in your own mind, the outcomes that you want to achieve, then that'll help to continue to move you forward towards your end goal.

Jamila Malti

My name is Jamila Malti. I'm from Lebanon. I live in Saudi Arabia with my husband. I'm 27 years old. And this is my first year with Walden University. Being part of Walden learning community added a lot to my life, since I am now more proud of myself. I'm more confident. I'm going to be a doctor soon. So I like it so much. Being a student in Walden University. How to connect with people from different backgrounds that have different ideas, we can share our experiences. And that will add so much to my knowledge. Since this is my residency two, so I attended my residency one in Madrid, and it was great. I met lots of people. We became friends. We are always chatting. We share our fears. I know what they are going through. They know what I am going through. They can help me. I can help them out with things. This is so important. First residency is fun, fun, fun. And then you meet people. You will learn more about APA. You will learn more about how to use the writing center library. So you can come here and get so much information. So you don't have to worry about anything. Just come, have fun, and learn. Sincerely, when I began my DBA, I did it just for my dad. It what his dream for me to be a doctor. Now, when I'm with my fourth course, and I'm getting A, A, A, A, I'm so proud of myself. I'm doing it just for me. I want to be called a doctor. ust study day by day. Try to read articles that are peer reviewed. Try to take your teachers' advice. And don't hesitate to ask anyone about anything you want to know about. When I started with Walden University, the English language was like a barrier for me, since the English language is my third language. My first language is Arabic. And then I did BA and the masters in French. So now I'm going the DBA in English. But with the Walden support, the writing center, Grammarly, the doctors, they are helping me a lot. My English language is better now. [speaking arabic] My name is Jamila Malti. I'm a Walden University student. [speaking french]

Dean Desper

My name is Dean Desper. And I'm from Woodbine, Georgia. Being part Walden learning community allows you to be a student of a reputable university that has a higher purpose, higher degree, motivation for those students, which allows you to focus on business practices and social practices in your industry. And allow your student also to network and utilize their resources from their students, faculty, and staff to assist you and help you along the way. Being part of the Walden learning community for the benefits, such as when you go into a residency, allows you to network with your students, fellow colleagues, your staff, the professors that will help you and assist you along the way. It helps you and points you in the right direction. And then also assists where possible even doing a participant pool, because certain people might have similar ideas, doing a similar study, you could kind of tag team or help each other. You might find a certain article that would help or assist another student, and likewise.  Benefits of residency, for myself, I would think it's the clarification of new standards, because they're always developing and trying to have a higher standard with their proposal. So throughout the time they develop new standards and new requirements that a student is required to uphold within their proposals. So it allows you to get clarification on the direction that you need to go in for your proposal. Also, the experiences from other students that you can foster from certain conversations and friendship, networking, that is the key that's a major key element of residency for myself.  My personal professional goals initially is, and still is, one day for the potential to teach. To teach on online or on traditional environment for hopefully one day partake and be similar to like what my chair is to the doctoral student, help them guide them through the doctoral study process in the future. And then also on another professional level other than education is to either work in the capacity of a consultant within my industry or take on a senior executive leadership position eventually, as like a director or VP for my career field. To achieve my goals, the key thing as a student I feel is to be very organized. Organization and time management of your daily task are very important. Also as a student, I feel that with zero procrastinating you have to stay on top of your assignments, utilize your resources. Walden University has wonderful resources such as, library research, analyst library technicians, writing center tutors. They provide resources, such as grammarly, to help you and assist you with your writing. And their databases, there's a lot of tools that are available for students. Also, focus your assignments on if you've already identified your topic, try to maximize your time and your study, as focus all your assignments and anything that you can do in relation to your study. All you're doing is just adding to your literature review by conducting more additional research. And not be afraid to ask questions, I've personally called on the phone or sent emails. Every single professor, it's that interaction to ensure that you know exactly what's identified by following the rubric and your syllabus, to know what is required of you as a student. A student for success in the DBA program, there's a few, but the priority I think is the school gives you a thing called DBA 8100 course. It's a doctoral study mentoring class. And I feel some students don't take full advantage. This is opportunity that you're working with each year, you're doing your literature review, working on your five annotated bibliographies each week, you're working on your study, at this point this is where you could get a strong head start on your proposal, which will help save you a lot of money in the long run. And also stay motivated, reward yourself. When I submit an assignment I get something back. It helps me stay motivated and on track. Stay focused without getting burnt out and like I'm repeating myself, but utilizing your resources such as the writing center. These resources should be your best friend throughout the program.