 "Getting Outside The Box"
In the distance learning doctoral program I attend, we have on-campus residency for all the classes. About 60% of each class is lecture, the rest is discussion. I think this discussion helps each of us in the class get more clear about the box we are in and start to understand what other boxes there are in the room.Our assignments are on a 30-day cycle. The first is about 50% re-stating the course material and about 50% clarifying where we are, after the exposure to the other frames-of-reference from the classroom. The second cycle is to submit our reading citations for the topics of this course. We receive a reading list of one or two books, and we have to beef up that reading list to 10 to 20 books and scholarly journal articles. (This exercise prepares us for the reading and research aspects of our dissertation. We end up doing this reading list citation exercise about 35 times as we complete the coursework for the doctorate degree program.) The next two cycles are purely outside-the-box. We have to answer a series of questions which are designed for us to explore the course topics from new perspectives and we have to clarify what we have learned (how we have changed) as a result of our exposure to these ideas. There is no rote memorization in the courses I have had so far. I am constantly challenged to get out of my box as I go through the courses of the program. | 
