Have you ever thought about the potential for unintended
consequences in acquiring disciplinary expertise? While one might assume that you see the
rewards as worth the risks, this might not be the case, as some of you might be
in the program more for the post-credential opportunities than for a genuine
desire to become an “expert.” How does all of this relate to your situation and
also to the current state of Doctoral
Education in Education?
Kurt here...d;lgh;lhja.dsgha.sdfjs;fdj;SDLJ
ReplyDeleteI originally entered the Ph.D program with intentions of earning my degree and wanting to "teach future teachers", I never considered research or the need for it. However, after finishing my first year I see the importance of being a "steward of the field." The author states, "...will place stewards in a position to work with educators, policymakers, legislators, and the public to raise the level of analysis and understanding about education." Being a "well-rounded" doctoral student (obtaining formal and practical knowledge) could lead me to become an "expert" to disseminate this information in a meaningful way to a variety of individuals and make a difference.
ReplyDeleteI thought the article Doctoral Education in Education addressed made good points including the broadness of the field, which I feel has an impact on the other points the article made, including diversity of the programs, participants, backgrounds, etc. One point I thought that was interesting the author made was that they stated, "for many, researcher is not, nor will it ever be, at the center of their professional identity." I think as future faculty, we want to be considered researchers and educators and experts and wear many hats and be well rounded, but I guess what would most faculty consider themselves at this moment... would they say they are researchers or educators? or is dependent upon their background; I am still thinking about that......
Unintended consequences I think can come from multiple directions. From the “expert” out, specialization in something can leave a person traveling such a narrow track they cannot see the forest for the trees, and lose sight of a larger picture. Individuals risk being unable to take their specialty and relate or connect it to others, becoming an academic silo. On the other hand, the view of specialization by others may leave a person being discounted intellectually if they wish to contribute in an area beyond the exact scope of their specialty. Like Lauren said just now, then a person is left wondering the exact nature of their “hat”, if it only fits in one area, and if that could limit the ability to be more well rounded.
ReplyDeleteI came into the program looking to be a part of the solutions to the issues I perceive to be surrounding the implementation and outcomes of special education. In my practice as a special educator, I saw so many issues that are negatively affecting students and teachers. Therefore, my goal is too broad and requires me to narrow my focus. However, it is difficult for me to do this. I am worried it will be difficult for me to really develop my "expertise" because my interests are so varied (kind of like the discussion in the Richardson article about how vast the field of education is). So for me, the largest unintended consequence of becoming an "expert" is having to restrict my focus in special education.
ReplyDeleteWhen I began the doctoral program, my belief was that interventions aren't always working for teachers or students. I wanted to contribute to research that betters student outcomes and improves teachers opportunities to use strategies in the classroom. This is a very lofty goal that needs more focus, an individual cannot solve all of education's problems. It seems that in order to contribute meaningfully I need to become an expert in an area, however the caveat is that you run the risk of "tunnel vision" and losing sight of the big picture. It seems risky to just focus on one area at the chance of missing other important and interesting domains of research, yet to become an expert in a discipline this may be required.
ReplyDeleteI started the Ph.D. program as a former teacher with what Richardson calls “strong beliefs about the nature of teaching and schooling.” I had big ideas, and I was going to solve all of the problems in our educational system. Clearly, one person cannot fix all of education. I have come to realize that I need to limit my focus and choose one topic. The great thing about my track, educational psychology, is that it is connected to every other discipline in the field of education. However, I have also come to realize that I cannot be an expert within the entire discipline of educational psychology. Even in my track, I have to narrow my focus. This is scary for me because I want to be able to get a job once I graduate. I worry that if I narrow my focus too much, I will miss out on learning other important things. From reading the other comments though, I realize that I am not alone in feeling this way.
ReplyDeleteVeronica Shuford -- The Golde and Walker (2006) article suggests that most students' desire to return to school is guided by their professional goals. I would say this statement applies to me. My goal is to become an expert in educational assessment and institutional effectiveness on a national level. I have worked in health sciences education for nearly 20 years, with responsibilities for faculty development, academic technology, and within the past seven years, assessment. The discipline of assessment and institutional effectiveness in health sciences education became very prominent in the early to mid-2000s. Schools of Pharmacy began hiring education specialists and other experts in the field of education to help them develop and measure outcomes for their Pharm.D. programs to support accreditation efforts, which is part of my current position at the University. I entered the Ph.D. program intending to become an expert in research, measurement, and evaluation in health sciences so that I can contribute to the body of research on health sciences education in a scholarly manner. An unexpected positive consequence of acquiring a Ph.D. would be the knowledge, skills, and abilities that I will gain that can be applied to areas outside of pharmacy education or health sciences education. In higher education, I have never worked outside of health sciences education, which could be rewarding.
ReplyDeleteAuthor, Allison: I think the figure of speech, "Jack of all trades, master of none" used to reference a person competent in many skills, but not an expert in any particular area is analogous to the Ph.D. program. The program allows me to become an expert in my chosen area of interest. In addition, as the Richardson (2006) article suggests the program allows me to deeply examine my own misconceptions and beliefs about education. I think however, in the 21st century interdisciplinary and multidisciplinary approaches are and will be needed to solve educational problems-so we need to be open to other fields and discourse.
ReplyDeleteFatemah Khawaji - I came from a different education system that has a very different expectation of what art education class should offer and how the art teacher can achieve that. So, when I started my master, I began to look at art education differently. By the time that I got my master degree, I felt that I need to dig deeper into the field if I wanted to make a change of art education viewpoint among Saudi art educators. Therefore, I started my Ph.D. with beliefs that are “ deep”, “strong”, as Richardson describes it, but instead of saying incorrect I would say incomplete. Because, after a year in the program, I found out that I have one sided and narrow vision of what I want and how to achieve it.
ReplyDeleteI think that expertise may make you a great researcher, but it can also make you a one dimensional teacher. As I mentioned in class, I want to be a Sport Management professor that would help prepare sport practitioners. While I love Sport for Development and would like to conduct my research in that realm, I would be remiss to say that it is the most aspect of Sport Management. Thus, I don't feel like it's necessary for me to become a Sport for Development expert. Like others have said, expertise can narrow someone's view point to the point that their perspective is very narrow. I think it would be a disservice to my future students if I only came to them with that one perspective. I think it is important for teachers to have their hands in many different pots so that they can offer their students the knowledge necessary to be a good practitioner.
ReplyDeleteFirst off, hi to all my friends from the 702 class!!! There aren't many of us in the evening 703 course this summer, but I see we will be sharing the blog site so I can still communicate with all of you and steal all your wonderful ideas…lol.
ReplyDeleteI entered this program with the intent of becoming an expert researcher with the ability to find the ONE hidden truth that will save the academic lives of young people in PreK-12 schools. In just a year I have discovered that there is no absolute truth and an expert must be comfortable with change and fluidity because knowledge is constantly being discovered, elaborated upon, or reaffirmed. For some this “fluidity” is viewed as an impairment to scholarly discovery in the field of study and enterprise of education, as educators and politicians search for a “cookie cutter” approach to education that will yield the same results and have the same level of positive impact on all students. However the multi-disciplinary (I believe education should be considered an “inter-discipline”) nature of education makes this shifting and moving of understanding a necessity for obtaining practical knowledge to be used effectively to meet the unique needs of individual students. Education requires input from a variety of disciplines including, psychology, sociology, and social work.The collaboration of "experts" in those fields will be necessary to foster practical knowledge in education. The key is for those pursuing a doctorate or a certain level of expertise, to never forget that their specific understanding connects to a much broader overall body of knowledge.
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ReplyDeleteJorli:
ReplyDeleteI have long been told that the further you progress in school, the more you know about very little. This has always been a challenge for me, because I desire to learn about as many things as I can. Looking at my track up until this point I have jumped around various disciplines. My undergraduate degree is in business, my master degree in counseling, and now I am working towards my PhD in curriculum, culture, and change.
Looking back at the various fields that I have studied in, what strikes me is how interrelated they are. Richardson states that one of the arguments against Education being seen as a discipline is that it “borrows from and combines with other, more traditional, disciplines.” Human resource management and counseling are considered to be two separate disciplines, however they are very interrelated. Both fields borrow techniques and skills from each other that are used to obtain different results. However, we do not consider either field to be any less of a discipline because they add to their body of knowledge through the use of an outside field.
According to the Doctoral Education in Education, I am the very typical PhD student, which suppressed me. I am female, working full-time, have returned to school, a minority, and do not have my undergraduate degree in education. As I mentioned above, I began my school career as a business major and worked for several years for the federal government. The reason I entered the world of education is that I wanted to make a difference in the world. That still remains my driving goal, to one day be the person that changes the world, even if I am changing it one individual at a time.
I have chosen to use mental health and counseling for my way of changing the world. This is a very broad field and the choice has to be made to either specialize in one area or to know a little bit about the broad field. While I tend towards mental health, specifically depression, my challenge is to continue learning about the field as a whole, so that I continue to develop my skills. The old adage is that when all you have is a hammer, everything looks like a nail, well my students are not all the same and cannot all be treated the same, which encourages me to keep my toolbox broad so that I do not see all my students as nails.