Impacting Education: Journal on Transforming Professional Practice

What Can We Learn from Early Childhood Theory and Practice?

Samantha Cohen — 2024-10-31

Education doctoral programs have an essential role to play in this moment of American history, as we train, teach, guide, and prepare education professionals to learn, unlearn, and lead as antiracist education activists. EdD program faculty and administrators sit in critical roles and must examine our own antiracist beliefs, while also facilitating anti-racist learning for our doctoral learners, who, in turn, must create anti-racist learning communities where they teach and lead.

Reframing Higher Ed Spaces and Belonging

Christiane Petrin Lambert — 2024-10-31

The COVID-19 pandemic ushered in changes to higher education, including how campus spaces are used and defined. Institutional pivots to meet health and safety protections impacted the way we think about public and private spaces in lasting ways. The end of the acute emergency presents an opportunity for colleges and universities to reflect about the physical and virtual student experience to cultivate a renewed sense of place and belonging. Campus spaces have historically been linked to students’ sense of belonging, which correlates with student engagement and academic success. Over generations, higher education has been shaped by social factors, evolving to become more equitable and inclusive. Campus spaces are now physical and virtual, and the COVID-19 endemic period presents an opening for higher education to recenter a student’s sense of belonging in community-based locations, physical campus spaces, and virtual learning environments.

International Learning for EdD Learners

Catherine Dunn Shiffman — 2024-10-31

This essay explores the potential of short international study trips and virtual exchanges to foster EdD learner engagement with new ideas, practices, and peoples in other parts of the world. To frame the discussion, I consider alignment of frequently articulated goals for international learning with CPED (2022) Guiding Principles for Program Design, and related EdD preparation needs in three areas: culture and communication, global views, and professional expertise. I draw on research literature and my own work to discuss goals, curricular activities, and reported evidence associated with both approaches. I identify strengths and challenges for each approach. The essay concludes with recommendations for designing and leading short study trips and virtual exchanges for EdD learners.

The Role of Theory in a Practitioner-Based EdD Program

Theresa L. Burriss — 2024-10-31

In this exchange between an EdD professor and one of their practitioner-scholars, the two recount their respective and overlapping journeys in Critical Social Theories for Just Schools and Communities. While the professor was trained as a philosopher and has embraced the theoretical throughout her career, the practitioner-scholar enrolled in the class with much skepticism about the usefulness of theories, especially coupled with the word “critical” in our politically divisive society. They share the educational unfolding that occurred for both of them as they navigated various challenges of infusing theory into a practitioner-based educational doctoral program. The professor offers insights into their pedagogical strategies when presenting sometimes contentious topics, and the practitioner-scholar provides an honest unveiling of their self-awareness.

Reclaiming the Education Doctorate: A Guidebook for Preparing Scholarly Practitioners

Veselina S. Lambrev — 2024-10-31

Educator Empowerment: Faculty Development for Change

Nicole Elmasry — 2024-10-31

Grounding the Dissertation in Practice (DiP) in Dialectic Pluralism

Lester A. C. Archer — 2024-10-31

The use of Improvement Science (IS) for the dissertation in practice (DiP) must be encouraged because the questions and concerns addressed in these projects go beyond answering basic research. Authors of dissertations in practice will bring philosophical assumptions, select research designs, and situate themselves somewhere along the practitioner continuum. DiP authors should be aware of the larger philosophical questions relating to the ontological, epistemological, methodological, axiological, and rhetorical grounding of Improvement Science. Grounded in these large philosophical questions, the Improvement Science project should be identified as a metaparadigm and counted among other research methodological paradigms.

More Knowledgeable Other(s)

Caroline B. Rabalais — 2024-10-31

Vygotsky’s (1934; 1980) sociocultural theories of learning posit that learning is a socially negotiated activity. Learners can sustain this activity, and specifically how they engage in literacy practices, through participatory experiences with experts, known in sociocultural theory as a more knowledgeable other (MKO). However, hierarchies in academia can make these possibilities for collaboration scarce or difficult to break through for doctoral students, sustaining traditional hierarchies and bureaucracies of education. Digital platforms, though, can afford the possibility of subverting these divisions of social order in the academy and make room for different interlocutors to not only better access these MKOs but to also become an analogous MKO. In socially-mediated spaces such as Twitter, otherwise known as X, an acceptance of ontological and epistemological plurality can occur in virtual communities of practice. Through three examples with the American Educational Research Association’s (AERA) Writing and Literacies monthly Twitter chats, the authors showcase how Vygotsky’s concept of the MKO can appear in digital spaces, demonstrate the participatory nature of online writing communities, present the possibilities in providing opportunities for online collaborative experiences, and highlight the importance of a plurality of knowledge in public scholarship.

To CRT (in your Dissertation) or not CRT? That is the Question!

Reginald D. Wilkerson — 2024-10-31

Recently the notion of Critical Race Theory (CRT) has come under fire by those with a limited knowledge of the theoretical underpinnings surrounding the intersection of education, law, and race in American society. To support those students eager to incorporate CRT as a framework within their research, the authors analyzed the dissertations of students receiving Education Doctorates (EdD). The researchers set out to determine how EdD students used CRT, how they framed problems of practice (POP), how they operationalized CRT, and to understand how those former students interrogated their findings in the pursuit of truth. The authors intend for this work to expand the knowledge base on CRT and inform scholarly practitioners on how to operationalize CRT to create sustainable change in the American education system.

Collaborative Advising

Jess Smith — 2024-10-31

This article describes a novel approach of integrating writing center professionals into online EdD dissertation committees to enhance student success and writing proficiency. Departing from the traditional “master-apprentice” model of doctoral studies, the study explores the rationale behind restructuring dissertation committees to better align with evolving programmatic outcomes and the diverse career trajectories of doctoral students. Drawing on existing scholarship and theoretical foundations, it clarifies the ambiguity surrounding the roles of committee members beyond the dissertation advisor and advocates for a coalition of experts approach to dissertation committees. We describe the establishment and functions of a Research and Writing Development Center (RWDC), highlighting its role in supporting students throughout the dissertation process. Emphasizing close collaboration between faculty advisors and RWDC professionals, the article shares the successful relationship forged to provide comprehensive feedback and guidance to scholarly practitioners writing dissertations of practice. Programmatic overviews and outcomes underscore the efficacy of this collaborative advising model in enhancing student completion rates and addressing the evolving landscape of EdD programs. This study offers valuable insight into reimagining dissertation committees to foster the holistic development of scholarly practitioners in EdD programs.