Forward Momentum: Providing Supportive Space for EdD Students’ Dissertation Progression through Weekly Online Writing Sessions

Authors

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.5195/ie.2021.186

Keywords:

online writing sessions, education doctorate, writing, community building

Abstract

This essay describes an online writing group introduced to a CPED EdD program at a research-intensive, land-grant university during the summer of 2020 when the existing face-to-face program shifted to fully online delivery. The purpose of the writing sessions was to support EdD student practitioners with dissertation writing productivity by offering multiple weekly opportunities for synchronous writing sessions via Zoom online video conferencing. Although this new program is still in development, initial student feedback suggests that the writing sessions not only supported students’ dissertation progression, but it also established a sense of community and social support in an online environment. Lessons learned are shared, and we argue that this could be an ideal time to offer online writing sessions, especially since the pandemic will continue into the coming months. 

Author Biographies

Laura G. Maldonado, North Carolina State University

Senior Research Associate

Belk Center for Community College Leadership and Research

J. Jordan Dolfi, North Carolina State University

Coordinator, Postsecondary CTE Research Fellows Program, Belk Center for Community College Leadership and Research

James E. Bartlett, II, North Carolina State University

Associate Professor

Director Charlotte Chort - EdD in Community College Leadership

Belk Center for Community College Leadership and Research

Michelle E. Bartlett, North Carolina State University

Assistant Teaching Professor

Director Raleigh Cohort - EdD in Community College Leadership

Belk Center for Community College Leadership and Research

References

Aitchison, C. (2009). Writing groups for doctoral education. Studies in Higher Education, 34(8), 905-916. https://doi.org/10.1080/03075070902785580

Aitchison, C. (2010). Learning together to publish: Writing group pedagogies for doctoral publishing. In C. Aitchison, B. Kamler, & A. Lee (Eds.). Publishing pedagogies for the doctorate and beyond (pp. 83-100). https://is.muni.cz/el/sci/jaro2011/ZD500/um/39424704/Publishing_Pedagogies_for_the_Doctorate_and_Beyond.pdf

Aitchison, C., & Lee, A. (2006). Research writing: Problems and pedagogies. Teaching in Higher Education, 11(3), 265-278. https://doi.org/10.1080/13562510600680574

Bartlett, J. E., Jr., Bartlett, M. E., Dolfi, J. J., Jaeger, A. J., & Chapman, D. D. (2018). Redesigning the education doctorate for community college leaders: Generation, transformation, and use of professional knowledge and practice. Impacting Education: Journal on Transforming Professional Practice, 3(2), 59-67. https://doi.org/10.5195/ie.2018.80

Capello, S. (2020). Leveraging PhD students to support EdD dissertation writing. Impacting Education: Journal on Transforming Professional Practice, 5(3), 8-13. https://doi.org/10.5195/ie.2020.110

Carnegie Project on the Education Doctorate [CPED]. (n.d.) The CPED framework. Retrieved January 15, 2021, from https://www.cpedinitiative.org/the-framework

Cirillo, F. (2018). The Pomodoro Technique. Currency.

Colwill, D. A. (2012). Educating the scholar practitioner in organization development. Information Age Publishing.

D’Andrea, L. M. (2002). Obstacles to completion of the doctoral degree in colleges of education: The professors’ perspective. Educational Research Quarterly, 25(3), 42-58.

Ferguson, T. (2009). The ‘write’ skills and more: A thesis writing group for doctoral students. Journal of Geography in Higher Education, 33(2), 285-297. https://doi.org/10.1080/03098260902734968

Inouye, K., & McAlpine, L. (2019). Developing academic identity: A review of the literature on doctoral writing and feedback. International Journal of Doctoral Studies, 14(2019), 1-31. https://doi.org/10.28945/4168

Lassig, C. J., Dillon, L. H., & Diezmann, C. M. (2013). Student or scholar? Transforming identities through a research writing group. Studies in Continuing Education, 35(3), 299-314. https://doi.org/10.1080/0158037x.2012.746226

Lee, A., & Boud, D. (2003). Writing groups, change, and academic identity: Research development as local practice. Studies in Higher Education, 28(2), 187-200. https://doi.org/10.1080/0307507032000058109

Lim, J., Covrig, D., Freed, S., De Oliveira, B., Ongo, M., & Newman, I. (2019). Strategies to assist distance doctoral students in completing their dissertations. The International Review of Research in Open and Distributed Learning, 20(5), 192-210. https://doi.org/10.19173/irrodl.v20i5.4532

Maher, D., Fallucca, A., & 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), 193-208. https://doi.org/10.1080/0158037X.2012.736381

McAlpine, L., & Asghar, A. (2010). Enhancing academic climate: Doctoral students as their own developers. International Journal for Academic Development, 15(2), 167-178. https://doi.org/10.1080/13601441003738392

McPherson, C., Punch, S. & Graham, E. (2018). Postgraduate transitions from masters to doctoral study: Managing independence, emotion, and support. Stirling International Journal of Postgraduate Research SPARK, 4(2018), 1-24. https://spark.stir.ac.uk/

Muirhead, B., & Blum, K. D. (2006). Advising online dissertation students. Journal of Educational Technology & Society, 9(1), 1-8. https://pdfs.semanticscholar.org/3a12/6b8596c4841cf2b54bfbcb21580323a9c36e.pdf

Murphy, S., McGlynn-Stewart, M., & Ghafouri, F. (2014). Constructing our identities through a writing support group: Bridging from doctoral students to teacher education researchers. Studying Teacher Education, 10(3), 239-254. https://doi.org/10.1080/17425964.2014.949656

Okahana, H., & Zhou, E. (2019, October). Graduate enrollment and degrees: 2008 to 2018. Council of Graduate Schools. https://cgsnet.org/ckfinder/userfiles/files/CGS_GED18_Report_web.pdf

Page, C. (2020). Influences on doctor of education students who have completed all program requirements but dissertation (Publication No. 2458039647) [Doctoral dissertation, University of the Pacific]. ProQuest Dissertations and Theses Global.

Perry, J. A., & Abruzzo, E. (2020). Preparing the scholarly practitioner: The importance of socialization in CPED-influenced EdD programs. In J. C. Weidman, & L. DeAngelo (Eds.) Socialization in higher education and the early career (pp. 129-146). https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-33350-8_8

Rockinson-Szapkiw, A. J., Spaulding, L. S., & Spaulding, M. T. (2016). Identifying significant integration and institutional factors that predict online doctoral persistence. The Internet & Higher Education, 31, 101-112. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.iheduc.2016.07.003

Russell-Pinson, L., & Harris, M. L. (2017). Anguish and anxiety, stress and strain: Attending to writers’ stress in the dissertation process. Journal of Second Language Writing, 43, 63-71. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jslw.2017.11.005

Wegener, C., Meier, N., & Ingerslev, K. (2016). Borrowing brainpower—sharing insecurities. Lessons learned from a doctoral peer writing group. Studies in Higher Education, 41(6), 1092-1105. https://doi.org/10.1080/03075079.2014.966671

Weidman, J. C., Twale, D. J., & Stein, E. L. (2001). Socialization of graduate and professional students in higher education: A perilous passage? (ASHE-ERIC Higher Education Report, Vol. 28, No. 3). https://files.eric.ed.gov/fulltext/ED457710.pdf

Downloads

Published

2021-07-30

How to Cite

Maldonado, L. G., Dolfi, J. J., Bartlett, II, J. E., & Bartlett, M. E. (2021). Forward Momentum: Providing Supportive Space for EdD Students’ Dissertation Progression through Weekly Online Writing Sessions. Impacting Education: Journal on Transforming Professional Practice, 6(3), 13–20. https://doi.org/10.5195/ie.2021.186

Issue

Vol. 6 No. 3 (2021): Online EdD Programs

Section

Themed - Online EdD

License

Authors who publish with this journal agree to the following terms:

  1. The Author retains copyright in the Work, where the term “Work” shall include all digital objects that may result in subsequent electronic publication or distribution.
  2. Upon acceptance of the Work, the author shall grant to the Publisher the right of first publication of the Work.
  3. The Author shall grant to the Publisher and its agents the nonexclusive perpetual right and license to publish, archive, and make accessible the Work in whole or in part in all forms of media now or hereafter known under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License or its equivalent, which, for the avoidance of doubt, allows others to copy, distribute, and transmit the Work under the following conditions:
    1. Attribution—other users must attribute the Work in the manner specified by the author as indicated on the journal Web site;
    with the understanding that the above condition can be waived with permission from the Author and that where the Work or any of its elements is in the public domain under applicable law, that status is in no way affected by the license.
  4. The Author is able to enter into separate, additional contractual arrangements for the nonexclusive distribution of the journal's published version of the Work (e.g., post it to an institutional repository or publish it in a book), as long as there is provided in the document an acknowledgement of its initial publication in this journal.
  5. Authors are permitted and encouraged to post online a prepublication manuscript (but not the Publisher’s final formatted PDF version of the Work) in institutional repositories or on their Websites prior to and during the submission process, as it can lead to productive exchanges, as well as earlier and greater citation of published work. Any such posting made before acceptance and publication of the Work shall be updated upon publication to include a reference to the Publisher-assigned DOI (Digital Object Identifier) and a link to the online abstract for the final published Work in the Journal.
  6. Upon Publisher’s request, the Author agrees to furnish promptly to Publisher, at the Author’s own expense, written evidence of the permissions, licenses, and consents for use of third-party material included within the Work, except as determined by Publisher to be covered by the principles of Fair Use.
  7. The Author represents and warrants that:
    1. the Work is the Author’s original work;
    2. the Author has not transferred, and will not transfer, exclusive rights in the Work to any third party;
    3. the Work is not pending review or under consideration by another publisher;
    4. the Work has not previously been published;
    5. the Work contains no misrepresentation or infringement of the Work or property of other authors or third parties; and
    6. the Work contains no libel, invasion of privacy, or other unlawful matter.
  8. The Author agrees to indemnify and hold Publisher harmless from Author’s breach of the representations and warranties contained in Paragraph 6 above, as well as any claim or proceeding relating to Publisher’s use and publication of any content contained in the Work, including third-party content.

Revised 7/16/2018. Revision Description: Removed outdated link.