Agreed.
I have found the SIG a very useful network.
Ruth
From: Online
forum for SEDA, the Staff & Educational Development Association
[mailto:[log in to unmask]] On Behalf Of Alastair Irons
Sent:
16 February 2012 10:08
To: [log in to unmask]
Subject: Re:
If you ever considered doing a doctorate....
Hi
I
think this whole discussion is very interesting. Having completed an Ed D I have
great empathy with the issues that are concerning
colleagues.
At
Sunderland we run a very successful DProf programme, led by my colleague Peter
Smith. Peter has suggested that a useful resource is the Professional Doctorate SIG which is run by Kevin Flint at Nottingham
Trent
http://www.professionaldoctorates.org/
Cheers
Alastair
From: Online
forum for SEDA, the Staff & Educational Development Association
[mailto:[log in to unmask]] On Behalf Of Gina Wisker
Sent: 16
February 2012 08:22
To: [log in to unmask]
Subject: Re: If
you ever considered doing a doctorate....
Me?
modest?
Anyway
yes this might well be helpful
and
if we are now beginning to recognise a large group of SEDA docs in the making
/made – it could form part of the support –
Happy
to suggest something in addition which is more structured and community
oriented if people think this is a good idea? Julie? Mike? James?
Liz?????
Oh
and
see
my (Gina Wisker) The postgraduate research handbook, Palgrave Macmillan 2007 and
The Good supervisor , same pub, 2005 updated and out 2nd edn any
minute now May 2012 -
not
so modest then – these should also be useful Id hope
Best
wishes Gina
From: Peter
Hartley [mailto:[log in to unmask]]
Sent: 16 February 2012
00:03
To: Wisker Gina
Cc:
[log in to unmask]
Subject: Re: If you ever considered doing a
doctorate....
Gina was too modest to mention the software we have developed
and which we talked about at the last SEDA conference. This gives users a mock
viva interview on their pc. While it can be used specifically to prepare for the
viva itself - and users report back that it really does 'work - we feel that it
can also be used much earlier in the PhD process (with and without supervisor
input) as both a stimulus to discussion and a progress check. Happy to discuss
this with anyone interested and send out a demo and/or explanatory
powerpoint.
Peter
On 15 Feb 2012, at 10:29, Gina Wisker
wrote:
fascinating!
weve uncovered a rich seam of beavering away colleagues -and an agreement
about supportive communities and structure.
I
agree about the work related topic - another problem with it though is
confidentiality and some colleagues I know have had difficulties with the
ethics, and the spotting of who might have said what at 'X university in
the North' or 'Y small specialist college in the
south'
do we
need an online SEDA community for this ongoing exchange Gwen
started???
Gina
From: Online
forum for SEDA, the Staff & Educational Development Association [[log in to unmask]] on behalf of Cash,
Caroline [[log in to unmask]]
Sent: 15 February 2012
10:23
To: [log in to unmask]
Subject: Re: If you ever considered doing a
doctorate....
Hello
Gwen, Peter, Debra, Gina.... and all,
I’m
currently in the second stage of an EdD with University of Exeter and endorse
all the comments about the strength of peer support. We have regular weekend
meetings (three times/year) and an online forum where we can share progress,
issues etc. I was a reluctant EdD-er at the outset, feeling that I ‘ought’ to do
this, but now it is so core to my life I couldn’t be without it and the journey
has taken me to new areas of knowledge and been far more fascinating than I
could ever have imagined.
Time
management is a real issue: juggling full-time work, home, life and creating
some sort of balance needs careful planning. One way of trying to achieve this
is to choose a topic of research that is closely aligned to your work, hopefully
creating double wins for your targets. A word of caution though, four/five years
is a long time in which roles, responsibilities and strategic priorities change,
so you do need to choose an area with some longevity of interest (both for
yourself and the sector).
At
the start of my writing phase I attended a very helpful Vitae workshop on time
management which really did focus on strategies for (already) busy people and
things that I took away from that session include:
·
Pyjama
writing
·
JFDI
·
Using
Outlook for planning
·
Focus
on task, not time
·
Writing
space/place
Happy
to share more if you are interested.
Best
wishes,
Caroline
Caroline
Cash
Award
Leader, MA Education
University
College Falmouth
E-mail: [log in to unmask]
Tel:
01326 214390 (internal 4390)
From: Online forum for SEDA, the Staff & Educational Development
Association [mailto:[log in to unmask]] On Behalf Of Kahn, Peter
Sent: 14 February 2012
16:11
To: [log in to unmask]
Subject: Re: If you ever considered doing a
doctorate....
Gwen,
Debra and all
Good
to hear that you’ve had such a positive experience of undertaking a professional
doctorate, Gwen. I believe my colleague Professor John Taylor who is now here in
Liverpool had earlier been involved in setting up your DBA, so I’m sure he will
be pleased to hear.
Several
of my colleagues here in Educational Development at the University of Liverpool
have also recently undertaken professional doctorates and cohort-based PhDs,
including those at the Open University and Lancaster University. They all speak
very highly of their experience, and we’ve benefited as a centre from all of
this learning. It has made a difference to their support that they have
colleagues around them who are engaged in research or undertaking similar
qualifications, Debra. But several of them have also very found supportive
communities on the programmes. If you are proactive, then the community is
there.
We
started an fully-online EdD in Higher Education here at the university last year
(for which I’m now Director of Studies), and it’s clear that the participants
make very earlier gains, well before they get to the thesis.
Time
management though is a real challenge – so you do need to be up for it. It’s
certainly more work than undertaking SEDA’s Senior Fellowship (even for those
who have taken the old scheme!) But networking at the same time within
SEDA (e.g. through the Fellowship scheme) would only help in developing a
supportive community. In coordinating some of the final assessments on the old
scheme it’s evident that there is a research base in the field at
large.
All
the best
Peter
From: Online forum for SEDA, the Staff & Educational Development
Association [mailto:[log in to unmask]] On Behalf Of Gwen M. van der
Velden
Sent: 14 February
2012 15:26
To: [log in to unmask]
Subject: If you ever considered doing a
doctorate....
Dear
colleagues,
If you
ever considered doing a doctorate and didn’t get round to it ‘first time’ (like
me), then maybe you’re interested in a professional doctorate like the one I am
taking at the moment. If not, I am sorry to have filled up your
mailbox…
Mine
is a research doctorate in International Higher Education Management, offered at
the University of Bath (yes, that’s my own institution, but I’m no less
critical, not to worry). In brief, it consists of four residentials in the first
phase, each with their own research assignment to follow and then a full thesis,
just like you would produce for a PhD. The big advantage of not going for the
individual PhD route, but taking this type of doctorate is that you meet a group
of fellow students from universities all over the world, and you build up a
study network that keeps you going, inspires you and challenges you to do better
than you thought you could. But you also learn how to write at publication
level, even before you start on your thesis. By the time you start, you should
be well prepared for ‘the real thing’. Your fourth assignment is your research
methodology and so you will have lots of help and assurances on that aspect
before you start collecting data.
In my
case, I am now a year an a half into the programme. Working on finalising
assignment three, I have just had my first assignment accepted for publication
in an international journal (Higher Education Quarterly). The wider
research and reading I’ve done so far on student engagement and organisational
cultures has also helped inform the talks and seminars I am giving in a few
universities and at conferences, and the stronger research underpinning is well
received. I have also made professional and personal friends in countries across
the world and this has led to new insights into how universities could be organised that I would never have
had otherwise. Incredibly useful for my day to day work. In my year group there
are 22 HE managers studying on the programme, from 19 different countries. And
that is not unusual, it seems. The whole experience so far, has been ‘brain
candy’ as one of my Canadian fellow students descries it. This Saturday, five of
us met online to catch up on our study progress, and this is how we all keep on
track with our studies.
I am
not writing this out of any other interest than encouraging perhaps just one or
two of you, to give a doctorate a go, no matter where you are in your career. I
can honestly say, it is absolutely worth it. To be fair, you may also want to
have a look at alternatives, such as the Doctorate at the Institute of Education
which I know some colleagues are also quite happy with. I guess there are others
as well, but I’m afraid I like the Bath one so much, I didn’t look that far! If
you are interested, have a look at the brochure the programme team has just
released: http://www.bath.ac.uk/management/dba/
.
Also,
feel free to drop me a line if you want to hear more about my own experiences,
or talk to me at any next event we might both be at, but keep in mind, I’m still
going, who knows what I’ll say when I reach the other end of the
course?
Best
wishes,
Gwen
van der Velden
Director
of Learning and Teaching Enhancement
Learning
and Teaching Enhancement Office
Wessex
House 5.38
University
of Bath
Claverton
Down
Bath
BA2 7AY
t: 01225 383775
m: 07891 790105
e: [log in to unmask]
w: www.bath.ac.uk/learningandteaching
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