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Article
Publication date: 18 September 2019

Michelle Yvette Picard and Alistair McCulloch

337

Abstract

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Studies in Graduate and Postdoctoral Education, vol. 10 no. 3
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 2398-4686

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Article
Publication date: 11 May 2015

Alistair McCulloch and Michelle Yvette Picard

The purpose of this paper is to provide an overview of the relationship between the quality in postgraduate research conference (QPR) and the developing doctoral education agenda…

336

Abstract

Purpose

The purpose of this paper is to provide an overview of the relationship between the quality in postgraduate research conference (QPR) and the developing doctoral education agenda, as well as serving as an introduction to this special edition of the International Journal for Researcher Development.

Design/methodology/approach

The paper adopts a conceptual and rhetorical approach.

Findings

The paper argues that, over its two decades of existence, the QPR conference has been at the forefront of developments in doctoral education and has also influenced practice and policy in the area.

Originality/value

The paper is the first to review the QPR conference and its place in the development of doctoral education.

Details

International Journal for Researcher Development, vol. 6 no. 1
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 2048-8696

Keywords

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Article
Publication date: 10 May 2013

Tariq Elyas and Michelle Picard

The purpose of this paper is to critically examine the impact of 9/11 on education in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. The authors take a historical approach in order to speak more…

1451

Abstract

Purpose

The purpose of this paper is to critically examine the impact of 9/11 on education in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. The authors take a historical approach in order to speak more broadly about higher education policy in Saudi Arabia and show how the post 9/11 context of education in Saudi Arabia has led to a new paradigm in educational policy, which has moved away from what McCarthy et al. call “safe harbors” in schooling and education.

Design/methodology/approach

The authors first define neoliberalism and then describe its manifestations and impact on the Saudi Arabian educational context, particularly post‐9/11. The authors also describe the arguments against adopting a neoliberal approach and suggest a new neoliberalism that addresses the needs of a glocalized Saudi higher educational community.

Findings

A neoliberalism paradigm has been adopted by education policy writers and university academics. In addition, the university learners have enthusiastically embraced neoliberalism and globalization. However, the authors argue that the local conditions make a complete transformation to neoliberalism inappropriate and that, instead, a glocalized form of neoliberalism is required to meet national and individual needs and to ensure the buy‐in of local teachers/lecturers.

Practical implications

This paper has implications both locally and internationally. It provides insight into the changes that occurred in the educational policy of Saudi Arabia post 9/11. This in turn explains how Saudi Arabia's sudden shift in education gears towards the local market needs. Hence, this “glocalized” neoliberalism could hopefully address the needs of local learners and teachers to operate in a globally competitive environment, as well as address the fears of local critics.

Originality/value

This is the first paper in the context of Saudi Arabia that deals with a “Neoliberalism approach” in unpacking the educational policy paradigm shift post 9/11.

Details

Education, Business and Society: Contemporary Middle Eastern Issues, vol. 6 no. 1
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 1753-7983

Keywords

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Article
Publication date: 1 June 2010

Tariq Elyas and Michelle Picard

The purpose of this paper is to critically examine the history of education in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia and its impact on modern teaching practices. It explores the…

3792

Abstract

Purpose

The purpose of this paper is to critically examine the history of education in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia and its impact on modern teaching practices. It explores the relationship between traditional practices, teacher identity and English language teaching within an increasingly complex context.

Design/methodology/approach

The authors undertake a critical review of education in Saudi Arabia utilising critical reflexivity and their local social knowledge as a means of interrogating practice, research of the field, and related texts.

Findings

The paper indicates a direct link between historical teaching practices in early Saudi Arabia and the current teaching of English. It suggests the concept of “hybridity” as one way for local English teachers to construct identities that meet the contextual challenges.

Practical implications

This paper has implications both locally and internationally. It provides insight into teaching practices preferred by teachers and students in an Arabian context. This in turn has the potential to inform policy and curriculum development by local educators and foreign contractors in Saudi Arabia that take teacher and student identity into consideration. It also facilitates a more nuanced understanding of their Saudi Arabian students by Western educators and administrators.

Originality/value

Although work has been done on teacher identity in Saudi Arabia and limited studies have examined the impact of English as a global language, this is the first study to examine the interplay between historical praxis, teacher identity and the conflicting pressures of teaching English in this context.

Details

Education, Business and Society: Contemporary Middle Eastern Issues, vol. 3 no. 2
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 1753-7983

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Article
Publication date: 11 May 2015

Pam Green and John A. Bowden

The purpose of this paper is as follows: locate our moral compass framework (Bowden and Green, 2014) within the moral development literature; demonstrate how the framework can be…

558

Abstract

Purpose

The purpose of this paper is as follows: locate our moral compass framework (Bowden and Green, 2014) within the moral development literature; demonstrate how the framework can be used to analyse complex system-wide problems; and propose change in doctoral education.

Design/methodology/approach

This paper shows the analysis of transcripts of 50 interviews with doctoral students and supervisors. Four scenarios, each a composite derived primarily from the interview data, were analysed using the framework, complemented by reference to the moral development literature.

Findings

The structure of the framework and meaning of the constructs’ collective morality, moral advocacy and moral mediation are elaborated and further explained through the analysis of the four scenarios, showing how the framework can contribute to resolution of complex system-wide problems and how they facilitate moral development within a multi-level system. Six proposals for change in the doctoral education system, at the individual, organisational and national levels, are derived from those analyses.

Originality/value

The use of our moral compass framework to analyse the four scenarios demonstrates its applicability to real situations and its complementarity with the moral development literature. The paper also shows that the framework is more powerful and of broader impact than the moral development models published to date. The changes proposed for the doctoral education system, based on the moral compass framework and its application to the four scenarios, have the potential to change practice in ways that benefit everyone involved in the system – candidates, supervisors, management and government personnel.

Details

International Journal for Researcher Development, vol. 6 no. 1
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 2048-8696

Keywords

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Article
Publication date: 11 May 2015

Satomi Ohnishi and Judith Helen Ford

The study aims to reveal how the students improved their academic presentation skills and the limitations to improvement with or without influences of students’ language…

3594

Abstract

Purpose

The study aims to reveal how the students improved their academic presentation skills and the limitations to improvement with or without influences of students’ language backgrounds. Since the career paths of postgraduates have become more diverse in recent years, generic skills training is increasingly included in postgraduate programmes in addition to specific research training. However, PhD education generally adopts a traditional style, often relying on an individual supervisor without the inclusion of specific programmes to improve students’ generic skills. As academic presentation skills are crucial to research and are a generic skill that PhD students in science must acquire, we propose that existing student seminar programmes can be used effectively as an active training programme to improve these skills.

Design/methodology/approach

To design effective student seminars, we investigated how PhD students improved their academic presentation skills when opportunities to give regular seminars were provided and students were given detailed scores that measured performance in specific areas of presentation competency. We outline an extensive case study of 95 PhD students who presented at student seminars over a period of six years (2006-2011). Valid data of 73 students were collected, and data of 58 students were used for detailed analysis. Performance in three major factors important to presentation skills: structure, visuals and delivery, were scored for each seminar, and the scores underwent detailed statistical analysis.

Findings

Our key findings are that international students obtained better scores than Australian students for their first presentations while Australian students obtained a better score than international in for their second and the later presentations. The improvement of international students is slower than Australian students but occurs at a steadier pace. International students showed difficulty in improving answering questions.

Originality/value

This is the first time that a longitudinal study on PhD students’ development of academic presentation skills has been undertaken. Our results revealed how the students improved academic presentation skills and that the limitations to improvement depended on their language backgrounds. We discuss our findings from the viewpoint of student language backgrounds and the process of adaptation to academic culture.

Details

International Journal for Researcher Development, vol. 6 no. 1
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 2048-8696

Keywords

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Article
Publication date: 11 May 2015

Peter Copeman

The aim of this paper is to help higher degree by research (HDR) students understand the intrinsic nature of a Three Minute Thesis (3MT) presentation as a pitch and how this…

1422

Abstract

Purpose

The aim of this paper is to help higher degree by research (HDR) students understand the intrinsic nature of a Three Minute Thesis (3MT) presentation as a pitch and how this differs from normal academic discourse, and to present a suite of principles and practices with which they can develop the quality and impact of their presentations.

Design/methodology/approach

The paper is based on a three-year University of Canberra (UC) research project involving three phases: distillation and analysis, with reference to theories and practice of dramatic narrative and performance, of key components of successful past 3MT presentations; establishment from this analysis of a suite of principles and practices to help students develop the quality and impact of their 3MT pitches; and trial, evaluation and refinement of these principles and practices via workshops with around 40 UC competitors.

Findings

Presentations are framed firstly as an exercise in pitching and consequently as a type of dramatic monologue performance. Preparing such a presentation requires scripting a research narrative as a story with emotional as well as intellectual impact, developing a vocal and physical performance presence to connect with an audience and planning the use of the presentation space and constraints for best effect. Evaluations by workshop participants, reinforced by their success in the UC tournaments relative to non-participants, suggest that advantages of this approach to research pitching by these students apply not only for 3MT contests but also for clarifying and crystallising their research ideas, and for enhancing the quality of their presentation skills more generally.

Research limitations/implications

The research methodology is a qualitative participant-observer action research study over three years. Although in part a kind of intervention study because it makes some comparison of 3MT success rates of study participants with non-participants, it is not a randomised control trial, as this would be inequitable by arbitrarily excluding subjects who might wish to take part. The primary value of the research is its adaptation to the research communications sphere of well-established modes of dramatic and business communication, and the value placed on these by participants.

Practical implications

The principles and practices presented here make explicit for 3MT contestants knowledge that they are likely to possess already implicitly, and provide practical, achievable methods for developing and honing their presentations so as to maximise their impact on their audiences.

Social implications

The paper makes a case for the legitimacy of emotionally connected storytelling within the array of acceptable academic discourse.

Originality/value

The paper draws on theory and practice from the literary and performing arts to synthesise emotionally connected storytelling with traditional academic thinking and writing conventions of detached, dispassionate, reasoned argument based on quantifiable evidence.

Details

International Journal for Researcher Development, vol. 6 no. 1
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 2048-8696

Keywords

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Article
Publication date: 11 May 2015

Marion Blumenstein

This paper aims to provide insights into the experiences of and challenges confronting higher degree research students and learning advisors (LAs) regarding data analysis support…

1623

Abstract

Purpose

This paper aims to provide insights into the experiences of and challenges confronting higher degree research students and learning advisors (LAs) regarding data analysis support. The ability to handle data and use numerical evidence systematically is an important transferable skill and essential for the successful completion of a quantitative research thesis.

Design/methodology/approach

A combination of qualitative and quantitative data was used, enabling a convergence of findings: the questionnaire and one-on-one advisory sessions feedback gathered information on the student experience, while semi-structured interviews provided data on the LAs’ perspective.

Findings

Phenomenographic analysis of interviews revealed many challenges associated with centralised learning support provision. Learning advisors recognised not only different disciplinary needs but also the tensions associated with working centrally and cross-disciplinary. Students identified a need for more practice-orientated training opportunities in data analysis during their postgraduate and doctoral research.

Practical implications

Understanding gained from students’ and LAs’ experiences are essential for changes of university-wide teaching and learning strategies. The collection of “bottom-up” data on the student experience combined with data on learning thresholds provided by faculty and student learning support units would allow a coordinated, institution-wide approach to identified learning needs.

Originality/value

Developing a community of practice concerned with quantitative literacy means that staff with expert knowledge, regardless of discipline affiliation, can provide an environment in which students are able to develop their analytical skills further and can participate in ongoing discussions on real-life research and data analysis issues.

Details

International Journal for Researcher Development, vol. 6 no. 1
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 2048-8696

Keywords

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Article
Publication date: 11 May 2015

Penelope Goward

– This paper aims to describe a case study of how an unexpected event created an opportunity to reconsider and rewrite the methodology chapter in the author’s PhD thesis.

1061

Abstract

Purpose

This paper aims to describe a case study of how an unexpected event created an opportunity to reconsider and rewrite the methodology chapter in the author’s PhD thesis.

Design/methodology/approach

The approach that the author used that assisted her to change her methodology involved a combination of reflective and reflexive reading, thinking and writing. It was a slow and thorough process through which the author considered widely the choices that she was making. Through an iterative process of writing, reading and talking, and then re-writing, the author was able to establish a position or standpoint from which she felt confident about the underpinnings of her study.

Findings

The author came to understand herself ontologically in a new way. The author could see how she had moved significantly from a positivist view of static bodies of knowledge creation to a paradigm involving a more dynamic knowledge creation. Correspondingly, the author was able to revise and focus her methodology, and in the course of the process, she learnt and grew as a person and as a researcher. The author understood her values, assumptions and beliefs about the world much more clearly. The author also became much more aware of her own PhD journey, how she was developing personally and how her identity was evolving.

Originality/value

This paper will be useful for those who are embarking on their PhD journey and attempting to critique and/or rethink their methodological approach in the qualitative or interpretivist paradigm.

Details

International Journal for Researcher Development, vol. 6 no. 1
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 2048-8696

Keywords

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Article
Publication date: 11 May 2015

Carolyn Gregoric and Annabelle Wilson

– The purpose of this paper is to explore an informal interdisciplinary peer-mentoring relationship between two early career researchers.

533

Abstract

Purpose

The purpose of this paper is to explore an informal interdisciplinary peer-mentoring relationship between two early career researchers.

Design/methodology/approach

A case study approach, using autoethnography, was employed to explore the relationship from a complex adaptive systems (CAS) perspective.

Findings

Informal peer-mentoring relationships may improve the work effectiveness and quality of the doctoral student and early career researcher experience. CAS can be an effective overarching theory for expanding understandings about mentoring.

Research limitations/implications

This case study is limited to two early career researchers.

Practical implications

Informal peer mentoring may help to overcome challenges encountered by doctoral students, early career researchers and university staff members. CAS accounts of mentoring have the potential to open new possibilities for future mentoring research.

Originality/value

This paper provides unique insights into the experiences of doctoral students postgraduation and a long-term informal peer-mentoring relationship. Explorations of mentoring relationships from a CAS perspective are innovative.

Details

International Journal for Researcher Development, vol. 6 no. 1
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 2048-8696

Keywords

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