Feeling part of a community?

Tackling experiences of peripherality in part-time doctoral

studyDr Katy Vigurs @drkatyvigurs

Participation in social practices is a necessary condition for learning (Lave and Wenger, 1991)

WHO ARE MY STUDENTS?

• Full-time professionals in education

• Parents & carers• Multiple roles &

responsibilities (BUSY!)

• Shifting identities• Fractured student

identity? (Watts, 2008)

PROFESSIONAL OBSERVATIONS & CRITICAL INCIDENTS

• My EdD role & responsibilities.

• What was I observing in the EdD cohorts?

• What was happening?

• What wasn’t happening?

QUESTIONS I ASKED MYSELF• Do I think increasing participation within

academic/research communities of practice is an important part of the doctoral learning process?

• Do any of my EdD students lack access to such opportunities?

• Are they disadvantaged by this?• How do I identify and support students when they

are experiencing peripherality or isolation from academic communities of practice?

HOW ACHIEVE LEGITIMATE PERIPHERAL PARTICIPATION AS AN EDD STUDENT?

• Can social media help EdD students move from a position of academic peripherality to one of legitimate peripheral participation in a wider research community?

RESEARCH-INFORMED TEACHING PROJECT (2014) ‘TWITTER FOR DOCTORAL PURPOSES’

• Embedded ‘Twitter training’ into EdD Induction for new cohort.

• Produced guide for EdD staff and EdD students already on programme.

• Project evaluation.

@asb2000 @RAISECIC

@SharonInglis@Sandragog

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@fabfifty60s

@melanie_beckett

@jonrainford

RESEARCHING PART-TIME DOCTORAL STUDENTS’ USE OF TWITTER

• In depth, online questionnaire.

• 32 Qs (majority open)• All 26 Staffs Uni EdD

students completed QA.

• Also shared survey publicly via Twitter (n36)

• 62 returns (30,000 words of data)

WHAT DID I WANT TO FIND OUT?EXAMPLE QUESTIONS• Why did you start using

Twitter for doctoral purposes?• How did you learn to use

Twitter?• How do you make use of

Twitter?• Benefits & challenges?• How has Twitter impacted on

how you feel about studying your doctorate?

• How important is it that your supervisors are visible & accessible on Twitter?

RESPONDENT CHARACTERISTICS

• Group A – my students & new users of Twitter (n26)

• Group B – EdD students elsewhere (n15)

• Group C – PT PhD students (n21)

BENEFIT #1: ENHANCED BELONGING TO A COHORT

Tweets with classmates have involved banter. In class we

create good academic relationships, but there’s no time to get to know people

outside of their study interests. I need to have that

connection. (A1)

Sense of social presence with my peers has been maintained and I

think this will be of great value as I move to the independent phase of

the EdD. (A3)

I feel part of an academic cohort that is working and

thinking together. (A2)

Engaging in more informal, ongoing

conversations with my tutors breaks down

barriers & helps create better relationships.

(B2)

Most of the EdD tutors were already

using Twitter regularly so it made

sense to join in. (B1)

It helped me maintain a contact network

when I moved away (geographically) from my EdD peers. (B3)

Sense of community outside

the monthly weekend classes.

(B4)

BENEFIT #2: JOINING A WIDER COMMUNITY

I can see the bigger EdD community, not just the class I study with . (A5)

It makes me feel much more connected to other people and like

a wider group of people are looking out for me. (A7)

It’s helping me make links with other researchers and

professionals. (A10)

It’s really about being part of a wider

community beyond the walls of an individual

institution. (B7)

I’ve joined a global research

community.(B11)

After attending a conference I realised

that a lot of academics I like

tweet! (C3)

Twitter has been like an associate supervisor. (C4)

BENEFIT #3: KEEPING MOTIVATED

Noting others’ study lives has made me believe I can do doctoral study too. (A20)

It gives me timely reminders that I’m doing an EdD. Studying part-time

means I’m swamped by other commitments. Twitter helps me keep

engaged with study in a very busy life. (A9)

Twitter motivates me, especially reading tweets

from other doctoral students. (A17)

Daily use of Twitter helps motivate me to keep going, given the

task of juggling my study with full time

work and family. (B12)

The research phase of EdD can be

isolating. Twitter has kept me connected &

motivated. (B7)

As a part-timer who is never on campus, it’s let

me find a doctoral community & peers

(C12)

Wasn’t part of academic community at uni so looked to Twitter for

motivation (C5)

LIMITATIONS TO USING TWITTER TO CREATE AN INCLUSIVE RESEARCH CULTURE

• ‘I’m not a social media type.’

• Unconvinced of Twitter’s value.

• Time to learn Twitter.• Lack of confidence.• Fear of public derision.• Exclusive practices.

SUPERVISORS ON TWITTER?YES NO

RESPONDENTS WERE EXPERIENCING PERIPHERALITY

• Felt physically distant from peers, tutors, supervisors and the university.

• Experienced being on the edge of a more abstract sense of academic community.

• For some Twitter use developed access to forms of LPP.

WAYS FORWARD?• It’s not about Twitter per

se!• Explicitly educate

supervisors and students about broader approaches to networked communities & scholarship. Links to achieving LPP.

• I’ve embedded this in doctoral inductions & supervisor training.

FURTHER READING #1• Bendix Petersen, E. (2014) Re-signifying subjectivity? A narrative exploration of ‘non-

traditional’ doctoral students’ lived experience of subject formation through two Australian cases. Studies in Higher Education 39. 5: 823-34.

• Crossouard, B. and Pryor, J. (2008) Becoming researchers: a sociocultural perspective on assessment, learning and the construction of identity in a professional doctorate.” Pedagogy, Culture and Society 16. 3: 221-37.

• Deem, R. and Brehony, K. (2000) Doctoral students’ access to research cultures – Are some more unequal than others? Studies in Higher Education 25. 2: 149-65.

• Hasrati, M. (2005) Legitimate peripheral participation and supervising PhD students. Studies in Higher Education 30. 5: 557-70.

• Henderson, M., Selwyn, N., Finger, G. and Aston, R. (2015) Students’ everyday engagement with digital technology in university: exploring patterns of use and ‘usefulness’. Journal of Higher Education Policy and Management 37. 3: 308-19.

• Lave, J. and Wenger, E. (1991) Situated Learning: Legitimate peripheral participation. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

• Lupton, D. (2014) ‘Feeling better connected’: Academics’ use of social media. Canberra: News & Media Research Centre, University of Canberra.

FURTHER READING #2• McPherson, M., Budge, K. and Lemon, N. (2015) New practices in doing

academic development: Twitter as an informal learning space. International Journal for Academic Development 20. 2: 126-36.

• Murakami-Ramalho, E., Militello, M. and Piert, J. (2013) A view from within: how doctoral students in educational administration develop research knowledge and identity. Studies in Higher Education 38. 2: 256-71.

• Pilbeam, C., Lloyd-Jones, G. and Denyer, D. (2013) Leveraging value in doctoral student networks through social capital. Studies in Higher Education 38. 10: 1472-89.

• Teeuwsen, P., Ratkovic, S. and Tilley, S.A. (2014) Becoming academics: experiencing peripheral participation in part-time doctoral studies. Studies in Higher Education 39. 4: 680-94.

• Vigurs, K. (2016) Using Twitter to tackle peripherality? Facilitating networked scholarship for part-time doctoral students within and beyond the university, Fusion, 8, pp. 1-27.

• Watts, J. (2008) Challenges of supervising part-time PhD studnets: Towards student-centred practice, Teaching in Higher Education, 13. 3: 369-73.