Graduation Year

2022

Document Type

Dissertation

Degree

Ed.D.

Degree Name

Doctor of Education (Ed.D.)

Degree Granting Department

Graduate School

Major Professor

Veselina Lambrev, Ph.D.

Committee Member

Barbara C. Cruz, Ed.D.

Committee Member

Sarah Kiefer, Ph.D.

Committee Member

John Mann, Ph.D.

Keywords

appreciative inquiry, arts-based research, steward of practice, reflexivity, transformative learning theory

Abstract

Doctoral students who engage in a Professional Doctorate of Education degree program (EdD) are expected to experience a transformative shift from practitioner to scholarly practitioner. Through their engagement in the EdD program, they enter as practitioners, who become equipped to transfer and reintegrate their knowledge within their practice and field, and through this transformative process, they become scholarly practitioners. The EdD becoming represents the critical learning events, dialogues, and reflections experienced by doctoral students. Researchers have conducted studies to examine various aspects of the EdD degree including the credibility of the degree, the effectiveness of programmatic elements, rigor within programs, and how EdD doctoral students experienced aspects of their doctoral journey for the purpose of continuous improvement. This study aimed to explore the EdD students' perceptions of their becoming from the purview of an EdD doctoral student for the continuous improvement of one EdD program. The exploratory nature of the study was framed by a qualitative methodology to include arts-based research, interviews, and field notes. The data were analyzed through a triangulation of analytic memoing, thematic reflexive analysis, poetic inquiry, and the lens of appreciative inquiry. Exploring the narratives of five EdD students through these lenses provided me with a glimpse into how each EdD student constructed meaning from their lived experiences. The narratives of the participants revealed they perceived their experiences of becoming a scholarly practitioner to be challenging, rewarding, and empowering.

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