Doctorates in the dark: Threshold concepts and the improvement of doctoral supervision

Johnson, E. Marcia

doi:10.15663/wje.v19i2.99

Cited by 8 publications

(5 citation statements)

References 29 publications

(41 reference statements)

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“…They also wanted increased opportunities to assemble and write. Student reflections supported findings emerging from my two-year participation in a research project to examine threshold concepts in doctoral writing (Johnson, 2013(Johnson, , 2014b. Two key findings emerged from my case study -students did not possess deep conceptual understanding of what research 'writing' actually means, and they did not have an agentic view of themselves as scholars.…”

Section: Reassessing the Dwc Approachsupporting

confidence: 59%

The doctoral writing conversation: establishing a generic doctoral writing programme

Johnson

2017

Open Review of Educational Research

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Over the past few decades, the number of people enrolled in doctoral study has increased dramatically across the world. In practical terms, this has meant that universities now receive increasingly diverse students with regard to ethnicity, age, language, culture, and background preparedness for higher degree study. Students can, and often do, begin their doctorates with scant understanding of the precise expectations and rigorous demands of thesis writing. Yet, regardless of academic discipline, successful completion of a doctorate requires a written thesis. To help students master thesis writing requirements, a proliferation of self-help writing books, blogs, specific writing techniques, and programmes have emerged. This paper describes an approach developed at a New Zealand university where a generic doctoral writing programme, the Doctoral Writing Conversation, has evolved to make explicit to students the implicit language understanding that accomplished academic writers use to produce text. Utilising the idea of language as a tool to mediate understanding, the paper will explore how the programme is structured and functions but will also describe some of the insights I have gained along the way. ARTICLE HISTORY

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Section: Reassessing the Dwc Approachsupporting

confidence: 59%

The doctoral writing conversation: establishing a generic doctoral writing programme

Johnson

2017

Open Review of Educational Research

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“…Hohepa (2010) takes this further and argues, "the work that supervisors do directly with their Māori doctoral students is still the most critical component in the process if students are to complete their study successfully" (p. 130). It is important to note that many supervision-related factors impact students completing their doctoral qualification (Hohepa, 2010;Johnson, 2014;Theodore et al, 2015). Some of these issues are related to quality supervision, the use of supervision models and the structural support systems needed for Māori and Pasifika postgraduate research students (Glynn & Berryman, 2015;Hohepa, 2010;McKinley & Grant, 2012).…”

Section: Background On Cross-cultural Supervision Of Māori Doctoral S...mentioning

confidence: 99%

The dual journey of navigating the ‘awa of higher education’ from a Māori doctoral student’s lens

Abraham¹

2023

rangahau-aranga

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For many Māori students, staying in the main flow of the awa (river) is not easy in New Zealand’s mainstream education system. But with the right support mechanisms and structures in place, it is possible, for a Māori doctoral student to achieve educational success as Māori in higher education. This paper discusses what is entailed in the dual journey of a first in family, Māori doctoral student when completing a doctoral qualification alongside a Māori journey in strengthening connections within te Ao Māori (the Māori world). The narrative shares insights of the researcher’s experiences which led to the development of an Indigenous methodology model called ‘He Pūtauaki Model’. A number of key factors for ensuring her success as a Māori doctoral candidate was the continual support and guidance provided from kaumātua (elders), whānau (family), hapū (sub-tribe) and iwi (tribe), over a four-year period of completing the doctoral journey, and when a Mahitahi approach was adopted by her supervisors and reinforced by other Te Ipukarea Research Institute postgraduate students made a difference for her in overcoming the challenges that an Indigenous Māori doctoral student can face when navigating the awa (structural mechanisms and psychosocial challenges) at Auckland University of Technology (AUT).

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“…However, as the traditional Australian honours/Masters Research pathway -and its scaffolded model of research training -is becoming no longer the norm (Hamilton et al, 2014), provision of research training for HDR candidates is perhaps more critical in Australia than in the USA. Moreover, not only has the number of HDR candidates increased, the cultural, linguistic, educational and professional profiles of candidates have also diversified (Johnson, 2014;Brien, in press). As a result, large numbers of international students now enrol in doctoral research degrees along with increasing numbers of professional workers who may have suitable, and even comprehensive, content knowledge, but little pre-existing experience, knowledge or skills in either planning, conducting or theorising formal research projects.…”

Section: Literature Reviewmentioning

confidence: 99%

Researching, Implementing, and Evaluating Industry Focused and Cross-Disciplinary Doctoral Training

Owens

Brien

McAllister

et al. 2019

IJDS

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Aim/Purpose: This article reports on university-funded research conducted to inform, design and implement applied industry-integrated training that could support higher degree by research (HDR) candidates in the disciplines of nursing and creative arts. Background: Doctoral candidates contribute in steadily increasing numbers to the intellectual and economic capital of universities globally, however, the quality of candidate progression and outputs has also been widely criticised. How to best support doctoral candidates for success is therefore a critical focus for universities and an ongoing area of research. Methodology: The study was framed as an action research project as it was driven by the identification of a problem embedded in professional practice that invited action and reflection as well as participation from other practitioners in the field. Contribution: This article presents a multidimensional, industry-focused model for HDR training that effectively engages HDR candidates with key threshold concepts for research. Findings: Doctoral training needs to be more holistic, integrative and career-focused to meet the needs of increasing numbers of candidates with diverse backgrounds and post-doctoral career pathways. Recommendations for Practitioners: This article provides a doctoral training model that can be adapted to other disciplines and industry contexts. Recommendation for Researchers: This article provides a doctoral training model that can, and should, be adapted to other disciplines and industry contexts in order to build more substantive and reliable evaluative data. Impact on Society: As secure career pathways in academia are diminishing, while the number of doctoral candidates are increasing, the integration of industry partners and applied contexts into holistic doctoral training is critical for the working futures of doctoral graduates. Future Research: Further implementations and evaluations of the training workshop provided in this article would advance understandings of training design and implementation options and issues.

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Doctorates in the dark: Threshold concepts and the improvement of doctoral supervision

Cited by 8 publications

References 29 publications

The doctoral writing conversation: establishing a generic doctoral writing programme

The doctoral writing conversation: establishing a generic doctoral writing programme

The dual journey of navigating the ‘awa of higher education’ from a Māori doctoral student’s lens

Researching, Implementing, and Evaluating Industry Focused and Cross-Disciplinary Doctoral Training

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