I had to do a seminar presentation (MSc) and have been worrying about it ever since, we could do it on basically anything we had been taught on a theoretical module so far, we were told to be creative (prof likes use of video etc.). I will admit to not being the most creative student in the world but I love critically engaging with the theory, that is my strength I guess.

So for my presentation I chose a concept and evaluated different approaches to understand it, we hadn't looked at that concept in detail or made any links in terms of approaches and so I think I was being original, even if I was speaking in quite abstract terms, I did understand it. I'm worried though because the other students in my class all chose concepts that we had covered in class quite extensively, and used a film to show their understanding of them. Therefore, mine was really different and I'm worried it was different for all the wrong reasons. I was asked a really tough question about application from the second marker at the end and attempted to answer it, but it wasn't good, so I apologised and said there was nothing more I could say. It was horrible at the time, but later she said it was a bit cruel of her to ask it, and my prof said that I did a good job of it and that I should have carried on!

My main point though, I am obviously ok at understanding the theory, but awful at applying it, I feel like I'm really letting myself down here, I don't think I'm going to do very well in this presentation but I guess its a learning curve. But I'm wondering what is actually more important/better, being able to make links between theories or applying a single theory?

I'm sorry if this is all really obscure but I've been worrying about it for a few days...any sense-making/reassurance appreciated. Nx

Natassia, do you think maybe the second marker asked the question just to see how far advanced your understanding of the theory was? By this, I don't mean that she was trying to, or did 'catch you out'-she may have just been pleasantly surprised by your approach and was testing how far you could take your present understanding.May also have been the reason she apologised-she had no intention of putting you on the spot but was just doing what a lecturer/teacher might do to check the level of understanding and was concerned that she had upset you when she had no intention of doing so.

Both markers seem, from your post, to be supportive at the end, so I don't think that taking this approach has or will cause you any loss of 'academic' regard from their perspective. The other thing is-in my role in education, I have had to work over the last few years on upskilling teaching staff with regard to modern learning theories, etc. (Had to upskill myself first though and am still on a learning curve here!!) Anyway, one thing that I have learned is that brains work in very different ways-I would think that making links and connections between theories was as good as application-but in any case, they are both just single instances of your performance at that moment. One presentation or 'performance' does not indicate every thing about a person's learning and understanding so even if you did not do as well as hoped-and I'm sure you will be fine-it is probably not something that you need to be overly upset about. I imagine that your markers are aware of all of this as well.

Bottom line is- you deserve to be in your course-you are not hopeless at applying theory and thinking ahead to the Phd is not a 'vain hope' but something you should certainly be looking towards. Hope this helps....cheers

PS. I'm casting my mind to Bloom's taxonomy of thinking and while application certainly is 'higher' than understanding alone-'synthesis' (which is what I think you were doing) is higher yet. But in any case- even these taxonomies of learning and thinking and knowledge are only theories-they are not actual facts even if teachers tend to think of them that way. So as my students in Oz would say 'chillax'; it's all good and you don't need to worry over these little things.

Natassia, I have just found a brilliant quote in one of my theory texts-nothing that I can use in my own thesis but I think it is just wonderful. It might help you far more than the stuff I've written below:

" There never was a Golden Age when the pursuit of educational ideals was an easy ride, and it could not be so. As Confucius puts it: 'No vexation, no enlightenment, no anxiety, no illumination' (quoted in Huang, 1997). Learning is, to some extent, a vexatious and anxious business. It is inevitably a struggel to create, maintain and enhance the the climate for learning. That struggle is a fundamental part of learning, not merely an unfortunate condition to be resolved before learning can take place" (Rowland, 'Learning to comply, learning to contest', in Discourse, Power and Resistance, 2003).

Thanks Pjlu for the helpful and reassuring responses - I do think she could have been testing how far I could go rather than trying to catch me out, I don't know her very well as she hasn't taught me before but I think she is a nice enough person, but she is the sort of tutor who would push you, which I think is a good thing. It didn't really do me any harm anyway!

I agree with you in that we all have different strengths; however I may have been trying to run before I can walk if I was synthesising before applying, according to Bloom's theory!

Thanks again, will try not to worry so much and show my application skills next time!

Hey Natassia! First off, well done- it sounds like you have done a good job of a difficult task! I think it's scary to be different sometimes. The way I am approaching my PhD topic is very different to how it has been tackled before, and whilst it seems like an arguably logical step to me I do worry that it's too different and novel! In terms of the theory stuff, I think you have to understand a theory well before you can apply it properly. One of the hardest things to do is to synthesize different theories and find a way forwards with the research, but I think this is the first step to being able to apply it. I find the theory side of my project horribly complex, but the thing that has really helped is the written work I have done. I did a systematic lit review that has been published and that gave me a really good grounding, and I am just completing a paper on the theoretical concepts behind my topic which will be submitted for publication too. It's a bitch of a paper to write but slowly I am beginning to get to grips with it all and feel more confident that I know what I'm doing (well, on a good day!). Some people jump into their PhDs without doing a lit review, and I don't get how they can really understand what they are doing when they haven't looked at the background to it properly, but I guess everyone has different ways of working. I think the application side of the theory stuff will come in time, it just takes a lot of perseverence and patience, so take it easy on yourself! Talking of presentations, I remember in my MSc final presentation the marker asked a question but his Welsh accent was so strong I couldn't understand a word of what he was saying. I asked him to repeat it twice and still couldn't make head or tail of it so had to say that I couldn't think of an answer as I was too embarrassed to ask him to say it again! Not good! Best, KB

Thanks KB - I just think that for me its really important that I understand all the theory properly, not just because I enjoy it but because I do want to go further, therefore I'm not just going to focus on one thing and exclude others. I'm doing a theoretical MSc dissertation this year as well and it will provide a good background for my PhD, which will be empirical; I'm hoping that my dissertation will provide a starting point for my literature review, so I guess I am synthesising before applying in that sense.

I like doing really different things as well, I've always seemed to do things like that; its not always paid off but sometimes I think its better to take a risk and do something interesting rather than repeating what everyone else has done, although its generally more difficult. My tutors seem to think its a good thing though, the subject area I'm in is very new and tanscisciplinary and so lots of interesting research is being done to push it forward - I think I've come into it at the right time!

Good luck with writing your theory paper!

Nx