Nature and scope of enquiry This thesis explores how emotional dimensions of supervising doctoral students are accommodated in supervisory identities. It aims to answer two key questions: What is the nature of the emotional labour involved in doctoral supervision? To what extent does an acknowledgement of emotional labour in the supervisory process have implications for the academic development of doctoral supervisors? The conceptual framework for the study is developed from Woods' (2010) definition of emotions as physical responses to situations involving an element of risk to self, Butler's (2005) notion of accounting for oneself, and Archer's (1995; 2000; 2003; 2012) model of identity formation based on the ability of human beings to reflect on their social situation through internal conversations. Archer states that identities are formed through the way we monitor, prioritise and accommodate our concerns about our social reality. It is on the basis of this priority of concerns that we embark on our life-projects and it is these concerns that shape our behaviour and actions. It is believed that all humans strive towards a modus vivendi which Archer defines as a set of practices which at the same time respects what is unavoidable and privileges what matters most to the person concerned (Archer 2003: 149). In this study I apply Archer's theory to doctoral supervision by viewing the supervisory process as a project and exploring the nature of the emotional labour involved in this project. Based on interviews with doctoral supervisors, I identify three supervisory identities from Archer's typology of reflexivity – the autonomous reflexive supervisor, the meta-reflexive supervisor and the communicative reflexive supervisor. These identities are constructed around the ways in which individual supervisors accommodate emotional labour in their practice. The thesis goes on to consider appropriate ways of supporting academics in dealing with emotional dimensions of doctoral supervision. Contribution to knowledge and practice This thesis makes a contribution to knowledge in two ways. First, it identifies the nature of the emotional labour that is invested in supervising doctoral students, and by doing so adds empirical evidence to the small number of studies that exist in the field. Second, it develops a conceptual framework that includes emotional dimensions and accounting for one's own practice. This framework can be applied as a theoretical foundation for discussing supervisory practice in an academic development context. The study contributes to practice within the context of academic development. Conventional academic development for doctoral supervisors focuses on procedural and managerial aspects of the supervisory process. This study proposes addressing emotional dimensions as well in such development. Method The thesis is based on interviews with fourteen supervisors from five universities – three post-92 and two pre-92 institutions. Between them they represent eleven disciplines, three from the social sciences, six from the sciences and five from arts and humanities. All interviews were transcribed and analysed through close reading and thematic analysis. Principal arguments in this thesis are that: emotional labour is a key feature of doctoral supervision emotional dimensions of doctoral supervision should be included in academic development for doctoral supervisors timely completion is increasingly becoming a performance indicator for supervisors, and a need may arise for structures to be set in place to provide better support for academics, in particular, in the early stages of their supervisory practice Conclusions The findings suggest that the doctoral supervisors interviewed in this study invest considerable effort in managing emotions – their own, those of their students and those of their colleagues - as part of the supervisory process. Three supervisory identities can be mapped against Archer's typology according to how doctoral supervisors accommodate and manage these emotions in order to achieve a modus vivendi. The thesis concludes that acknowledging, articulating and addressing emotional dimensions of doctoral supervision should be included as part of the academic development offered to staff planning to supervise doctoral projects.

The purpose of this thesis is to explore the field of influences on the occupational trajectories of physics graduates in the United Kingdom. My research examines the assumptions by government and policy makers that school education holds the key to providing more physicists available for employment in physics-related occupations. The research analyses qualitative data from current and recently graduated students to explore the field of influences on their decisions to take physics, and how these experiences influence their identity as a scientist. My hypothesis tests these assumptions by examining the significant events, or critical incidents, during the educational experience on a physics degree. The research design is a case study of the physics departments of two UK institutions. A series of interviews provides insight into the educational journeys of current and recently graduated physics students and the consequent analysis identifies emergent themes. These themes include how the influences of school education and social and individual expectations engage people into enrolling on a physics degree. Further analysis explores how events occurring on the degree courses may influence occupational trajectories. My findings identify attitudes to laboratory work and institutional feedback as significant influences to this sample of individuals during their degree experience. This work has implications for highlighting the significance of laboratory work in future science education policies, as well as contributing to the extant research on STEM education.

Identity development, through time, of graduate students is a topic understudied in most disciplines, and completely unstudied in optics and photonics. As a physical science and engineering discipline with blossoming scientific value, optics and photonics is growing a small number of graduate programs. With this growth, a more in depth and detailed understanding of the exposure, recruitment, development and enrollment experiences of those students are needed. Identity-trajectory offers a promising theoretical framework to understand academic and professional development of professionals through time and has been shown to be reliable in many social science and humanities disciplines. The narrative methodology is emerging in use and acceptance within the engineering education research community. The provoking combination of a growing discipline, a theoretical framework with little prior application in physical science and engineering, with a creative methodology were intentionally selected for this study. A semi-structured interview protocol was developed to prompt participants through a reflective description of their academic and professional development. Twenty-five current and recent graduate students from nine degree granting optics and photonics graduate programs participated in the study. In addition to participating in the interview, averaging about forty-five minutes, participants submitted a curriculum vita in advance of the interview. Both the interview and the vita provide the primary data used in this study. Interview transcripts were coded with the theory of identity-trajectory's three strands: intellectual development, institutional influence and network. The findings are grouped into pre-graduate training and graduate development experiences. Considering pre-graduate training, research experience as an undergraduate facilitates future decisions and access to graduate education. For graduate students, the structural experience within the graduate program, specifically related to research, facilitate progress through the program and beyond. The graduate program experience generally prepares students for academic research, but not the broader career pathways that students seek and eventually follow. All of these findings center on the laboratory, as the conduit for developing undergraduates to graduate students, and graduate students to professionals; the experience within the laboratory frames identity-trajectory throughout undergraduate and graduate experiences. These findings were used to provide strategies for departments, faculty and students in these fields, but are applicable in similarly structured disciplines. / Ph. D.

Doctor of Philosophy / Department of Educational Leadership / Royce Ann Collins / Higher learning institutions identify the teaching of critical thinking skills to students as a goal of the academic programs offered. This study examined faculty perceptions for teaching critical thinking skills at the U.S. Army’s Command and General Staff College (CGSC). CGSC is charged with educating the nation’s mid-career military officers for the world’s complexities that will challenge them during the next 5 to 10 years of their career. To accomplish this task, CGSC has a dedicated faculty development program to expose new faculty to critical thinking concepts and principles, and a curriculum that integrates critical thinking throughout the lesson plans designed to improve the students’ critical thinking skills during the course of the academic year. An exploratory mixed methods approach was used to examine the research questions. Faculty participated in a survey providing quantitative results (n = 83), and eight volunteers were interviewed expanding upon the quantitative results. Analysis of the quantitative results showed that instructors believe the most effective teaching techniques for fostering critical thinking skills are small group facilitated discussion, role play/simulation – which is manifested in planning exercises – and the use of case studies. Instructors identified monitoring classroom discussions and providing feedback on argumentative essays as the most effective techniques for assessing critical thinking. Analysis of the qualitative results uncovered three themes for effective teaching of critical thinking skills–use of instructional strategies, effectiveness in teaching, and faculty development–and four areas viewed as inhibitors to fostering critical thinking skills among students–faculty development, doctrine as a constraint, student experience, and time restraints in the curriculum. Those interviewed believed the institution has an effective program for fostering critical thinking skills among students, but identified areas for improvement in the faculty development program and the curriculum. Instructors considered the faculty development program at CGSC an effective program that provides a foundation for teaching critical thinking skills, and offered recommendations to improve the existing program. The study showed that faculty perceptions for fostering critical thinking skills among students are positive, with a belief that critical thinking skills may be taught at the graduate level.

Plagiarism is a serious, yet widespread type of research misconduct, and is often neglected in developing countries. Despite its far-reaching implications, plagiarism is poorly acknowledged and discussed in the academic setting, and insufficient evidence exists in Latin America and developing countries to inform the development of preventive strategies. In this context, we present a longitudinal case study of seven instances of plagiarism and cheating arising in four consecutive classes (2011–2014) of an Epidemiology Masters’ program in Lima, Peru, and describe the implementation and outcomes of a multifaceted, “zero-tolerance” policy aimed at introducing research integrity. Two cases involved cheating in graded assignments, and five cases correspond to plagiarism in the thesis protocol. Cases revealed poor awareness and high tolerance to plagiarism, poor academic performance, and widespread writing deficiencies, compensated with patchwriting and copy-pasting. Depending on the events’ severity, penalties included course failure (6/7) and separation from the program (3/7). Students at fault did not engage in further plagiarism. Between 2011 and 2013, the Masters’ program sequentially introduced a preventive policy consisting of: (i) intensified research integrity and scientific writing education, (ii) a stepwise, cumulative writing process; (iii) honor codes; (iv) active search for plagiarism in all academic products; and (v) a “zero tolerance” policy in response to documented cases. No cases were detected in 2014. In conclusion, plagiarism seems to be widespread in resource-limited settings and a greater response with educational and zero-tolerance components is needed to prevent it. / This study was funded by the training Grant 2D43 TW007393-06 awarded to the U.S. Naval Medical Research Unit No. 6 (NAMRU-6) by the Fogarty International Center of the U.S. National Institutes of Health. The funders had no role in study design, data collection and analysis, decision to publish, or preparation of the manuscript.

Doctor of Education / Department of Educational Leadership / Royce Ann Collins / Transfer of learning research traditionally relies on quantitative research to determine the occurrence of transfer. Many of these studies generally result in a failure to transfer. Few of these studies utilized either mixed methods or a qualitative methodology to determine transfer of learning, and none of these studies looked at graduate level education. This study addressed the gap between the occurrence of transfer of learning and workforce application of learning. A qualitative multi-case study methodology was used to explore the activation of previous learning by graduates of a graduate level education degree program. The conceptual framework of this study was situated on Bransford and Schwartz’s transfer of learning approach as the preparation for future learning blended with Dufrense’s definition of transfer as an individual learner’s complex, dynamic, and highly selective activation and application of knowledge in response to context to explore how graduates of an Adult and Continuing Education degree program transfer learning into the educational workforce (Bransford & Schwartz, 1999; Dufresne, Mestre, Thaden-Koch, Gerace, & Leonard, 2005). The multi-case study research design included semi-structured interviews, classroom observations, participant reflective journals supported by other data sources. A comprehensive comparison was used to analyze each case and a cross-case analysis was conducted to codify the findings to answer the research questions. The findings support the activation of previous learning as the complex, dynamic and highly selective and application of knowledge of the individual learner. The results have implications for degree programs and instructional practices.

Community College Baccalaureate (CCB) programs have proliferated during the past two decades but research on post graduate educational pathways CCB graduates follow is limited. The purpose of this multiple case embedded design comparative study (Yin, 2012) was to describe and further understand the experiences of CCB graduates as they explored educational pathways after they graduated from the community/state college, specifically post degree education. The study also examined if faculty in master’s programs at universities are aware of the CCB graduates’ intentions to enroll in their master’s programs. A multi-case study was conducted in South Florida utilizing qualitative research methods. Building on literature from scholars about 2+2 Transfer, articulation of programs between community/state colleges and universities, and the CCB (Cohen et al., 2014; Floyd et al., 2012; Floyd & Walker, 2009; Ignash, 2012; Skolnik, 2016), as a conceptual framework, this study explored educational pathways for CCB graduates and the students’ perceptions about their experiences. / Includes bibliography. / Dissertation (PhD)--Florida Atlantic University, 2021. / FAU Electronic Theses and Dissertations Collection

One challenge facing graduate education is the preparation of future faculty members across disciplines to assume faculty positions (Wulff & Austin, 2004). This qualitative study explored the socialization process of doctoral students in education and engineering fields committed to a career as a faculty member. Specifically, this study attempted to understand what knowledge, skills, and understandings (Weidman, Twale, & Stein, 2001; Van Maanen & Shein, 1979) are acquired during the research collaborations some doctoral students have with their faculty mentors and how this relationship prepared doctoral students for a future as a faculty member. Core elements of the Graduate and Professional Student Socialization model (acquisition of knowledge and skills, investment, and involvement) were used to explore doctoral student socialization (Weidman et al.). Semi-structured telephone interviews were conducted with forty doctoral students (20 education, 20 engineering) from four predominately White research institutions (PWRIs). Five themes emerged from the data regarding the role research collaboration played in socializing doctoral students in education and engineering to faculty careers. First, the research collaborative process with mentors aided doctoral students in learning how to communicate research to different audiences, the realities of research, how to conduct problem solving research, and the competitive nature of research. Second, participants identified learning about the complexity of a faculty role, particularly responsibilities that extend beyond teaching and research for faculty members. Third, doctoral students reported learning about the requirements of the tenure process. There were ways the collaborative experience positively or negatively contributed to an interest in a faculty role. Positive factors included enjoyment of research and the perceived autonomy and flexibility of research. Negative factors included the perceived low priority given to teaching and the demands placed on faculty members. Participants reported varying levels of commitment to the research collaborative relationship depending on whether they had competing interests. Exposure to the research collaborative process with a faculty mentor allowed doctoral students to conceptualize the entire research process from beginning to dissemination and to get an intimate idea of the realities of faculty life. Implications for practice, research, and theory are outlined. / Ph. D.

This study uncovers the experiences of Latinos/as in allied health graduate programs and provides vital information which may help increase the number of Latino/a healthcare providers. It focuses on the testimonios (life narratives) of 9 Latinos/as who graduated from allied health graduate programs. Academic resilience and community cultural wealth theories framed the study while testimonio methodology guided data collection. Alumni were interviewed about the personal experiences and educational journeys that led them to successfully complete graduate allied health degrees. Participants’ family background, educational history, personal and environmental factors were considered. Participants described learning about the value of education early in their lives in home and school settings. The interviews also revealed the importance of participants’ personal drive and desire to excel academically and professionally. Participants noted that the academic rigor and adjustment required to succeed in graduate allied health programs, combined with feelings of social isolation, made their transition to the graduate program challenging. Family and social networks were noted as the most supportive in regards to participants’ retention and success. Research implications include the use of methodologies and theoretical frameworks which focus on the voices and experiences of underrepresented students in the allied health professions. Implications for allied health schools include intentional recruitment of underrepresented student populations, the establishment of social support systems, student affairs offices, and the inclusion of social class, ethnicity, and cultural diversity as standards by which allied health schools are rated for accreditation and re-accreditation purposes.

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