Occasionally during your doctoral coursework at NCU, you may be asked to prepare a discussion post as part of a weekly activity or assignment. Take time to review the NCU expectations for student discussion in the document Preparing a Discussion Post, located in your weekly resources.

Warm-Up Activity 1.2: Visit the Dissertation Center

Your doctoral studies will end with the successful completion and defense of your dissertation. While that is still some time away for you, as you progress through your course work, you will be asked, reminded (and yes, sometimes even nudged) to consider how the information you are learning might be used in your eventual dissertation. Think of this reminder as application of the old adage – work smarter, not harder. For now, take a minute to become acquainted with the dissertation process at NCU by visiting the NCU Dissertation Center. It is accessible through the Academic Success Center link in your course room. While this will be your first visit to the Dissertation Center, it definitely will not be your last as you start to encounter milestones in your doctoral studies. Additional information about those milestones, as well as other aspects of doctoral study at NCU, can be found in the Dissertation Center. Take a minute now to review the topics in the left-hand navigation area, and then review any of the information that interests you.

Assignment

Your first task this week is to log into your NCU email account and reply to your faculty instructor who has sent you a welcome letter to that account. All of your NCU-related communication with your course faculty and NCU staff will be sent to your NCU email account so it is critical that you get in the habit of checking it regularly. If you need assistance with logn-in credentials or your password, please contact the IT Service Desk at servicedesk@ncu.edu.

Your second task this week is to discuss with your faculty your concerns and questions about returning to school. Reflect on your professional and educational aspirations, and how you feel Northcentral can help you meet them. Once you have done this, address the following in your discussion post:

• Background and interest: Briefly share your professional and educational backgrounds, special areas of research or professional interest.
• Personal/professional vision: Where do you see yourself 5 years from now?
• Northcentral and you: How you see your education at Northcentral as fitting into your overall personal and professional development plans and goals?
• The NCU Doctoral Process: Did the information and expectations outlined during the orientation and referenced in the NCU Dissertation Center match your initial expectations? How were they the same or different, and what might that means for how you approach your doctoral studies?
• The Northcentral Community: What questions do you have that might be answered by someone in the NCU community? Whe