Cognitive Apprenticeship in the Emerging Doctoral Education Landscape

Transcription

1 Cognitive Apprenticeship in the Emerging Doctoral Education Landscape Michelle A. Maher 1, Brett H. Say 2, Sarah Urquhart 3, & David F. Feldon 3 1 University of South Carolina 2 George Mason University 3 Utah State University

2 Session Purpose Situate Student Disciplinary Writing within Doctoral Education Consider Assumptions Underlying Cognitive Apprenticeship in Doctoral Advisor-Doctoral Student Disciplinary Writing Instruction Identify and Discuss Three Strategies That May Harness the Power of Cognitive Apprenticeship in Today s Doctoral Landscape

3 Disciplinary Writing within Doctoral Education A Defining outcome of doctoral education (Lee & Kamler, 2008; Thomson & Kamler, 2010) Fundamentally, research is writing (Thomson & Kamler, 2010) Codified written text preserves and transmits disciplinary knowledge (Norris & Phillips, 2003) Student personally owns knowledge generated through what he or she has written (Paré, 2011) Pragmatically, written products are the basis on which doctorates are awarded (Cotterall, 2011)

4 Cognitive Apprenticeship and Disciplinary Writing

5 Cognitive Apprenticeship Assumption: Advisor and Student are Physically Co-Located When Advisor and Student are Co-Located: Meetings about writing process/progress are usually face-to-face Face-to-face meetings more easily allow advisor to make transparent his/her thinking about the writing process and the sometimes tacit disciplinary writing rules However, Doctoral Students Today are Likely To Be: Geographically dispersed from campus Enrolled in an online doctoral program In asynchronous communication with advisor

6 Cognitive Apprenticeship Assumption: One-to-One Advisor-Student Pairing When Advisor and Student are Singularly Paired: Meetings about writing process/progress are tailored to individual student needs One faculty provides a student with all or most disciplinary writing instruction However, Doctoral Students Today are Likely To Be: Enrolled in a doctoral cohort Receiving multiple mentoring (i.e., advising is undertaken in a one-advisor-many students pairing) Mentored by many (not just one) programmatic faculty advisors

7 Cognitive Apprenticeship Assumption: Dedicated Writing Time When the Student Has Regular, Dedicated Time to Write: Writing is a central and ongoing student activity Writing momentum is assured and writing progress toward degree completion is continuous However, Doctoral Students Today are Likely To Be: Enrolled part-time in a doctoral program and employed full-time Mid-career and balancing work and family obligations (in addition to doctoral education)

8 Three Strategies That Might Harness the Power of Cognitive Apprenticeship in Today s Doctoral Landscape Use of Writing Groups Embedding Dissertation Chapter Development Within Sequential Doctoral Coursework Combining Journal Papers and Conference Proposals into a Dissertation

9 Writing Groups in Doctoral Education Doctoral Student Writing Group Implementation Flexibility: Can be formal or informal (e.g., for graduate credit vs. agreeing to meet at a coffee shop) Can be structured or unstructured (e.g., regularly scheduled vs. as needed meetings) Can be interdependent or independent (e.g., peers provide feedback vs. each student works independently without peer feedback)

10 Our Experience with Writing Groups in Doctoral Education Write On! Through to the Ph.D. 1 Voluntary doctoral writing group met each month on a Saturday Included both doctoral faculty and doctoral students Six-eight participants each month was common Met at a faculty member or student s home Each session began with each writer (students and faculty) stating anticipated writing session activities and goals Each session ended with each writer (students and faculty) describing activities completed and goals accomplished 1 Maher, M.A., Fallucca, A. C., & Mulhern Halasz, H. (2013). Write On! Through to the Ph.D: Using writing groups to facilitate doctoral degree progress. Studies in Continuing Education, 35(2),

11 Benefits of Writing Group Participation Protected Time and Space It is so easy to be derailed by life and everything else that is going on. So it is really nice to have the focus in all those sessions it gets you where you need to be to write. Maintaining Momentum It made me realize how valuable it was to have time away to just concentrate on writing. It was good for me and helped me to concentrate. Accountability to Others We felt we could be more accountable in terms of our own writing if we knew people were sitting near us in the same building, writing at the same time.

12 Benefits of Writing Group Participation Community of Peer Support Networks keep inching forward; that was helpful in teaching me that having a community who is in the same situation is really helpful, because you sometimes progress through things that can be isolating. Faculty Interaction She [faculty member] took me up in her library and handed me four books to help with my methods section. So it was like the physical presence of being at her house She just said, Oh and here, they re all ear-marked. It was fantastic!

13 Benefits of Writing Group Utilization Practical Strategy Easy to organize and low cost Regular Faculty Involvement Seen by students as essential to writing group success Multiple Mentoring Student participants received regular faculty feedback and encouragement Writing Transparency Made writing progress (both accomplishments and struggles) transparent and thus available for discussion by all

14 Embedding Dissertation Chapter Development Within Sequential Doctoral Coursework Many dissertations have a five-chapter format (introduction, literature review, methods, findings, conclusions) Practical Strategy Embed chapter development in coursework Our experience at Univ. of So. Carolina (Ed.D. curriculum and instruction program): Requires extensive coordination among programmatic faculty Requires a lock-step student cohort format Works well for some (but not all) students In our first year of operation, so verdict is still out

15 Combining Journal Papers and Conference Proposals into a Dissertation This strategy is often found in science and engineering fields (Cumming, 2009) Related set of papers are often coauthored by students and their faculty advisors Used to build resumes of both faculty and students in a competitive academic environment Is this strategy transferable to disciplines beyond science and engineering? Why or why not?

16 Doctoral Writing Groups, Embedded Chapters, and Combined Written Products: Discussion Questions Have you implemented and/or participated in any of these strategies? Why or why not? What are the promises and potential pitfalls of the use of these strategies on your campus? (How) can these strategies be used in online and/or asynchronous doctoral programs? Is the cognitive apprenticeship framework still inform the use of these strategies in today s doctoral environment?

17 Contact Information Michelle Maher, Ph.D. Professor of Higher Education Administration University of South Carolina Brett H. Say Graduate Program Coordinator George Mason University Sarah Urquhart Assistant Professor Utah State University David Feldon, Ph.D. Director, STE2M Center, Utah State University

18 Acknowledgements This work is supported by the National Science Foundation (NSF ) to David Feldon (Utah State University) and Josipa Roska (University of Virginia). The views in this paper are those of the authors and do not necessarily represent the views of the supporting funding agency.