scholarly journals Teacher-Researchers as Levers of Doctoral Curriculum in Engineering

2017 ◽  
Vol 7 (2) ◽  
pp. 48
Author(s):  
Pia Helena Lappalainen
Keyword(s):  
Doctoral Students ◽  
Course Design ◽  
Working Hours ◽  
Learning Needs ◽  
Publication Productivity ◽  
Teacher Capacity ◽  
Teacher Renewal ◽  
Doctoral Research ◽  
Teacher Resources ◽  
Teacher Researchers

Policy-level interventions aim to expedite institutional change in universities but the related decisions rarely materialize as sustained grassroots-level implementations genuinely transforming teaching or learning practices. A vision without execution remains mere rhetoric or could even disrupt the persistent long-term development that committed teachers pursue as their more subtle and routine mode of operation. This article therefore suggests that attention be turned to classroom processes and research efforts that allow university teacher-researchers to practice their occupation in the most effective way possible. Such efforts draw on teacher resources, competence and motivation, and benefit the students through an elevated quality and targeted content of education. This article showcases an empirical development endeavor from Aalto University that, while responding to doctoral students’ learning needs and institutional demands for higher publication productivity, enhances teacher capacity and paves the way for a more extensive bottom-up institutional reform of doctoral education. The data-driven, quantitative analysis of a sample of 381 doctoral candidates in engineering directs the pedagogic focus in a doctoral writing course away from grammar and linguistic proficiency towards writing support that accentuates usability and communicative value. In particular, the study proposes foci on writing efficiency, effect and reader satisfaction, ultimately facilitating publication productivity and quality. This article describes the pedagogical basis for the Writing Doctoral Research course that was built as a result of the needs analysis, and presents the related course design and organization. The ultimate aim is to substantiate allocation of language teacher working hours to research by demonstrating how audience needs analyses can benefit both the quality of education and teacher renewal.

Exploring Barriers to Doctoral Education in Communication Sciences and Disorders: Insights From Practicing Professionals

2020 ◽  
Vol 5 (6) ◽  
pp. 1552-1563
Author(s):  
Denise A. Tucker ◽  
Mary V. Compton ◽  
Sarah J. Allen ◽  
Robert Mayo ◽  
Celia Hooper ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Doctoral Students ◽  
Online Survey ◽  
Academic Research ◽  
Doctoral Degree ◽  
Full Time ◽  
Doctoral Study ◽  
Doctoral Research ◽  
Part Time ◽  
Advance Research ◽  
Doctor Of Philosophy

Purpose The intended purpose of this research note is to share the findings of a needs assessment online survey of speech and hearing professionals practicing in North Carolina to explore their interest in pursuing a research-focused PhD in Communication Sciences and Disorders (CSD) and to document their perceptions of barriers to pursing a PhD in CSD. In view of the well-documented shortage of doctor of philosophy (PhD) faculty to attract, retain, and mentor doctoral students to advance research and to prepare future speech and hearing professionals, CSD faculty must assess the needs, perceptions, and barriers prospective students encounter when considering pursuing a doctoral research degree in CSD. Method The article describes the results of a survey of 242 speech and hearing professionals to investigate their interest in obtaining an academic research-focused PhD in CSD and to solicit their perceived barriers to pursuing a research doctoral degree in CSD. Results Two thirds of the respondents (63.6%) reported that they had considered pursuing a PhD in CSD. Desire for knowledge, desire to teach, and work advancement were the top reasons given for pursuing a PhD in CSD. Eighty-two percent of respondents had no interest in traditional full-time study. Forty-two percent of respondents indicated that they would be interested in part-time and distance doctoral study. The barriers of time, distance, and money emerged as those most frequently identified barriers by respondents. Conclusion The implications inform higher education faculty on how they can best address the needs of an untapped pool of prospective doctoral students in CSD.

scholarly journals A research note: Video conferencing interviews

2020 ◽  
Vol 25 ◽  
pp. 101-107
Author(s):  
Atif Khalil ◽  
Bronwen Cowie
Keyword(s):  
Doctoral Students ◽  
Recent Literature ◽  
Video Conferencing ◽  
Good Condition ◽  
Research Note ◽  
Female Participant ◽  
Doctoral Research ◽  
Cultural Aspects ◽  
Research Interviews ◽  
Building Rapport

This research note aimed to highlight the reflections of the researcher while conducting videoconferencing interviews as a part of his doctoral research project. The researcher drew some inferences based on recent literature and two videoconferencing interviews conducted with the doctoral students via Zoom. It was a crucial experience to deal with the recruitment of research participants, building rapport/understanding, especially with the female participant, exchanging nonverbal cues between researcher and participants, considering socio-cultural aspects of the participants, writing the interview summaries and getting them reviewed by the participants. Moreover, technological aspects were also considered important like having a PC, laptop or android of good condition with consistent internet connectivity, appropriate software (Zoom) and recording of the interviews, backup of the recordings, making sure electricity and other equipment essential for videoconferencing interviews was available. Besides, reviewing the order of questions and time for the research interviews is also important for videoconferencing interviews. The researcher believes that it might be possible to increase the trustworthiness of the videoconferencing interviews by considering all these aspects.  

scholarly journals Educational Leadership Doctoral Students’ Perceptions of the Effectiveness of Instructional Strategies and Course Design in a Fully Online Graduate Statistics Course

2019 ◽  
Vol 23 (4) ◽  
Author(s):  
Mei Jiang ◽  
Julia Ballenger ◽  
William Holt
Keyword(s):  
Educational Leadership ◽  
Instructional Strategies ◽  
Doctoral Students ◽  
Course Design ◽  
New Technology ◽  
Guided Practice ◽  
Statistics Instruction ◽  
Learning Success ◽  
Statistics Course ◽  
Online Statistics

In the past several decades, higher education has witnessed exponential growth of online learning, as well as the need for it. New technology has dramatically transformed the way education is delivered compared to what takes place in the traditional classroom. It has enabled online delivery of course materials to students outside of face-to-face classroom in an asynchronous manner and provide students with self-paced flexibility at their convenience. Given the abstract nature of statistics content, effectiveness of the instructional strategies and course design in online statistics instruction has become particularly important to students’ learning success. In this qualitative study, the authors explored perceptions of the Educational Leadership doctoral students towards an online graduate level introductory statistic course in terms of whether the online course instructional strategies and course design helped them learn statistics. The authors assessed effectiveness of the instructional strategies and design of the online statistics course as well as students’ needs, so more effective instructional strategies could be used for online statistics teaching. Students identified the PowerPoint presentations with recorded lectures to be the most useful strategy. This strategy, along with live Q&A sessions, guided practice and activities, helped make the textbook information more real-world and connected the elements of statistics to application.

scholarly journals Doctoral Dissertation Supervision: Identification and Evaluation of Models

2014 ◽  
Vol 2014 ◽  
pp. 1-9 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ngozi Agu ◽  
Christy O. Odimegwu
Keyword(s):  
Doctoral Students ◽  
Academic Community ◽  
Face To Face ◽  
Interactive Model ◽  
Doctoral Research ◽  
Descriptive Research ◽  
Research Supervision ◽  
Supervision Models ◽  
Research Questions ◽  
Students Satisfaction

Doctoral research supervision is one of the major avenues for sustaining students’ satisfaction with the programme, preparing students to be independent researchers and effectively initiating students into the academic community. This work reports doctoral students’ evaluation of their various supervision models, their satisfaction with these supervision models, and development of research-related skills. The study used a descriptive research design and was guided by three research questions and two hypotheses. A sample of 310 Ph.D. candidates drawn from a federal university in Eastern part of Nigeria was used for this study. The data generated through the questionnaire was analyzed using descriptive statistics andt-tests. Results show that face-to-face interactive model was not only the most frequently used, but also the most widely adopted in doctoral thesis supervision while ICT-based models were rarely used. Students supervised under face-to-face interactive model reported being more satisfied with dissertation supervision than those operating under face-to-face noninteractive model. However, students supervised under these two models did not differ significantly in their perceived development in research-related skills.

Creating the [Insert Name Here] Methodology

2022 ◽  
pp. 182-203
Author(s):  
Melissa Riley Bradford
Keyword(s):  
Doctoral Students ◽  
Research Methods ◽  
Research Methodology ◽  
Ways Of Knowing ◽  
Curriculum Studies ◽  
Methods Courses ◽  
Doctoral Research ◽  
New Directions ◽  
Student Researchers ◽  
The Right

In this chapter, the author uses a first-person narrative to describe her dissertation journey as she shifted from deductively hunting for the “right” methodology in order to follow an inductive process as she developed the “Melissa Methodology” of value-creative dialogue inspired by Ikeda's philosophical perspectives and practice. She illustrates one way that non-Western ways of knowing, being, and doing might inform curriculum studies student researchers. In addition, she highlights the importance of having supportive advisors and colleagues who pose and answer questions that push one's thoughts in new directions. Finally, she discusses implications for doctoral students based on her observations as an instructor of doctoral research methods courses. By sharing her journey, she hopes to provide an example of how doctoral students can be guided by their pursuit of what is worth knowing in creating their own research methodology.

scholarly journals Vicarious trauma and emotional labour in researching child sexual abuse and child protection: A postdoctoral reflection

2020 ◽  
Vol 13 (2) ◽  
pp. 205979912092634 ◽  
Author(s):  
Michael A. Guerzoni
Keyword(s):  
Doctoral Students ◽  
Child Protection ◽  
Vicarious Trauma ◽  
Doctoral Degree ◽  
Lecture Hall ◽  
Emotional Labour ◽  
Doctoral Research ◽  
Social Settings ◽  
Active Filtering ◽  
The University

Criminology almost inevitably involves the study of sensitive and sorrowful research topics. Consequently, criminologists fall victim to the inherent risks of exposure to vicarious trauma, requiring many to practice emotional labour in the field, in the lecture hall, and perhaps, even along the corridors of the university campus itself. This article offers a reflective account of the experiences of vicarious trauma and the self-imposed, protective practice of emotional labour within doctoral research on child protection initiatives within a religious institution. It explores my experience of self-regulating my emotions in response to the reading of disturbing content, and of the active filtering of points of conversation when asked about my research within professional, familial and social settings, to prevent disturbing the emotions of others. The article encourages potential doctoral students to consider how they might prepare for themselves emotionally, socially and physically, for their inevitable encounter with difficult content, prior to the commencement of candidature, thereby increasing their resilience in facing the difficult components of a doctoral degree tasked with exploring content of a bleak and emotionally unnerving nature.

Analysing the Needs of EFL/ESL Learners in Developing Academic Presentation Competence

RELC Journal ◽  
2019 ◽  
pp. 003368821987951
Author(s):  
Sabina Ho-yan Mak
Keyword(s):  
Hong Kong ◽  
Course Design ◽  
English For Academic Purposes ◽  
Learning Needs ◽  
Major Subject ◽  
Efl Students ◽  
And Performance ◽  
Esl Learners ◽  
Basic Communication Skills

The literature on how to develop competence in giving academic presentations (AP) (e.g. Zappa-Hollman, 2007) shows that apart from basic communication skills (i.e. the ability to speak accurately, fluently and appropriately), university students are expected to perform specific roles and develop advanced skills for intellectual exchange and the construction of new knowledge (e.g. skill in expressing their personal voice through evaluation). However, these advanced speaking skills are often neglected by English as a Second Language (ESL)/English as a Foreign Language (EFL) students in Asian contexts, such as Hong Kong, as generally observed by English for Academic Purposes’ (EAP) instructors (e.g. Bankowski, 2010). Although there has been some discussion on factors that potentially inhibit the development of ESL/EFL learners (e.g. Confucian education values and an exam-dominated culture), more research is needed on the design of EAP courses to cater for learners’ needs. To fill this gap, this article reports the results of a needs analysis of a group of undergraduates (N=81) in Hong Kong. The study was based on a triangulation of data which included sources, and included questionnaires administered to both students and the course instructors of their major subject disciplines to identify the perceived importance of specific AP skills/features and learning needs, semi-structured follow-up interviews, and a diagnosis of students’ AP competence using a research-based assessment rubric. The findings reveal gaps in students’ understanding of their required roles and performance in both EAP and content courses, gaps in expectations between the students and their content course instructors, and gaps in their AP competence (e.g. ability to use linguistic and discourse features to structure interpretations and facilitate the audience’s understanding of the information they present). An EAP instruction course design framework is then proposed to develop ESL/EFL learner competence in AP, based on the teaching and speaking cycle of Goh and Burns (2012).

Classroom Diversification: A Strategic View of Educational Productivity

2007 ◽  
Vol 77 (1) ◽  
pp. 28-80 ◽  
Author(s):  
Omar S. López
Keyword(s):  
Production Process ◽  
Student Performance ◽  
Research Policy ◽  
Student Diversity ◽  
Learning Needs ◽  
Teacher Capacity ◽  
Policy And Practice ◽  
Education Production ◽  
Instructional Interactions ◽  
Educational Productivity

This article advances a theory of educational productivity based on a paradigm of classroom diversification that defines a strategic view of the education production process. The paradigm’s underlying premise is that classroom student performance, and the instructional interactions that produce such outcomes, depend on economies derived from the learning relationships that exist across and among students in a classroom and on the technological fit between students’ learning needs and a teacher’s capacity. In addition to the conceptual classroom diversification framework, measures of classroom student diversity and teacher capacity are presented, followed by a discussion of the implications of the proposed classroom diversification paradigm for educational research, policy, and practice.

scholarly journals Pinpointing Where to Start: A Reflective Analysis on the Introductory Evaluation Course

2021 ◽  
Vol 35 (3) ◽  
Author(s):  
Robyn Thomas Pitts
Keyword(s):  
Learning Outcomes ◽  
Design Process ◽  
Course Design ◽  
Student Learning Outcomes ◽  
Lessons Learned ◽  
Learning Needs ◽  
Theory Theory ◽  
Introductory Course ◽  
Theory To Practice ◽  
Integrated Course Design

Th is reflective analysis details four approaches to an introductory course for evaluation learners within a methodologically focused graduate-level program on statistics, measurement, and research design. Evidence of student learning outcomes, or SLOs, was utilized within Gibbs’ reflective cycles to redesign the course using Fink’s integrated course design process. The purpose of each approach varied along a theory-practice continuum, including theory, theory-to-practice, practice, and evidence building. The purpose, SLOs, and learning experiences of each approach are accompanied by longitudinal reflections on evaluation learners, course purposes, and the creation of a multi-course learning progression. Th is exploration offers perspectives and lessons learned that may assist new and experienced instructors in determining how an introductory course may best fi t the learning needs of their students.

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