Exploring Doctoral Student Identity Development Using a Self-Study Approach

Foot, Rachel; Crowe, Alicia R.; Tollafield, Karen Andrus; Allan, Chad Everett

doi:10.2979/teachlearninqu.2.1.103

Cited by 4 publications

(7 citation statements)

References 21 publications

(35 reference statements)

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“…As non-traditional doctoral students, we experienced several challenges and novice-expert conflicts during specific role transitions in our program, which is not unique to the doctoral student experience (Coffman et al , 2016; Foot et al , 2014). Doctoral programs have used effective strategies such as supervisory relationships, cohort models, writing groups and peer mentoring to support students (Bergen et al , 2020; Gardner, 2010; Lake et al , 2018; Lam et al , 2019; Lechuga, 2011; Mason and Hickman, 2019; Roulston et al , 2016).…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Students and faculty have effectively initiated self-study to adjust to new settings, identify support needs and improve practice, due to a lack of systems in place to assist students with acculturation and connection (Gregory et al , 2017; Gregory and Burbage, 2017; Butler et al , 2014; Foot et al , 2014; Li, 2018; Lynch et al , 2018). In doing so, the common experiences of exhaustion, role conflict and novice-expert mindsets were resolved through dialogue, collaboration and reflection.…”

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…In doing so, the common experiences of exhaustion, role conflict and novice-expert mindsets were resolved through dialogue, collaboration and reflection. Self-study offered both reassurance and process clarity (Foot et al , 2014).…”

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Doctoral students experience a series of challenging role transitions during their program and their post-graduate profession (Austin, 2002; Callary et al , 2012; Foot et al , 2014). A considerable amount of time is invested into coursework and research in an effort to become experts in subject matter and scholarship can lead to a series of difficult personal and social negotiations.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Leveraging critical friendship to navigate doctoral student role transitions

Gregory

Burbage

2021

SGPE

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Purpose The purpose of this study is to investigate the influence of critical friendship on a first- and last-year doctoral student’s novice and expert mindsets during role transitions. Doctoral students are challenged to navigate role transitions during their academic programs. Experiences in research expectations, academy acculturation and work-life balance, may impact doctoral students’ novice-expert mindsets and contribute to the costly problem of attrition. Universities offer generic doctoral support, but few support sources address the long-term self-directed nature of self-study. Design/methodology/approach The authors participated in a collaborative self-study over a 30-month period. The authors collected 35 personal shared journal entries and 12 recorded and transcribed discussions. The authors conducted a constant comparative analysis of the data, and individually and collaboratively coded the data for initial and focused codes to construct themes. Findings The critical friendship provided a safe space to explore the doctoral experiences and novice-expert mindsets, which the authors were not fully able to do with programmatic support alone. The authors identified nine specific strategies that positively impacted the novice-expert mindsets during the following role transitions: professional to student, student to graduate and graduate to professional. Originality/value While researchers have identified strategies and models for doctoral student support targeting specific milestones, this study identified strategies to support doctoral students’ novice-expert mindsets during role transitions. These strategies may benefit other graduate students, as well as faculty and program directors, as they work to support student completion.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Leveraging critical friendship to navigate doctoral student role transitions

Gregory

Burbage

2021

SGPE

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“…Being praised by supervisors or other academics or receiving recognition and approval at a public conference may influence a doctoral student's self-validation of themselves as academics/researchers (i.e., Curtin, Stewart, & Ostrove, 2013;Mantai, 2015). Dialogue and collaboration with others provides reassurance for doctoral students (Foot, Crowe, Andrus Tollafield, & Allan, 2014), adds to the perception of a positive learning environment, and is related to students' persistence in studying (Pyhältö, Stubb, & Lonka, 2009) and personal commitment (Martinsuo & Turkulainen, 2011).…”

Section: Theoretical Backgroundmentioning

confidence: 99%

Doctoral Students’ Experiences of Feeling (or not) Like an Academic

Sarıkaya¹,

McAlpine²,

Amundsen³

2017

IJDS

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Aim/Purpose: This paper examined the balance and meaning of two types of experiences in the day-to-day activity of doctoral students that draw them into academia and that move them away from academia: ‘feeling like an academic and belonging to an academic community;’ and ‘not feeling like an academic and feeling excluded from an academic community.’ Background: As students navigate doctoral work, they are learning what is entailed in being an academic by engaging with their peers and more experienced academics within their community. They are also personally and directly experiencing the rewards as well as the challenges related to doing academic work. Methodology : This study used a qualitative methodology; and daily activity logs as a data collection method. The data was collected from 57 PhD students in the social sciences and STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics) fields at two universities in the UK and two in Canada. Contribution: The current study moves beyond the earlier studies by elaborating on how academic activities contribute/hinder doctoral students’ sense of being an academic. Findings: The participants of the study generally focused on disciplinary/scholarly rather than institutional/service aspects of academic work, aside from teaching, and regarded a wide range of activities as having more positive than negative meanings. The findings related to both extrinsic and intrinsic factors that play important roles in students’ experiences of feeling (or not) like academics are elaborated in the study. Recommendations for Practitioners: Supervisors should encourage their students to develop their own support networks and to participate in a wide range of academic activities as much as possible. Supervisors should encourage students to self-assess and to state the activities they feel they need to develop proficiency in. Future Research: More research is needed to examine the role of teaching in doctoral students’ lives and to examine the cross cultural and cross disciplinary differences in doctoral students’ experiences.

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Team teaching in doctoral education: guidance for academic identities on the threshold

Thielsch

2021

Teaching in Higher Education

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Exploring Doctoral Student Identity Development Using a Self-Study Approach

Cited by 4 publications

References 21 publications

Leveraging critical friendship to navigate doctoral student role transitions

Leveraging critical friendship to navigate doctoral student role transitions

Doctoral Students’ Experiences of Feeling (or not) Like an Academic

Team teaching in doctoral education: guidance for academic identities on the threshold

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