What can be learned from blogging the Ph
In M. Kiley & G. Mullins (Eds). (17-18 April, 2008). Quality in postgraduate research:
Research education in the new global environment - Conference Proceedings. Canberra:
CEDAM, ANU.
What can be learned from blogging the PhD?
Mary-Helen Ward and Sandra West
University of Sydney
Australia
Abstract
As Richardson (1998) points out, research and the production of knowledge are
‘profoundly textual’. PhD students, like all researchers, keep notebooks, lab
books, fields note to record the development of the disciplinary project that is
the subject of the thesis. However, they generally do not record the process of
the PhD itself, the project of the self. In the last few years increasing numbers
of PhD students have created blogs to record their own process, and they have
the potential to influence in new ways their development as academics. Jill
Walker describes blogs as having “…no whole; they are not objects. They are
processes, actions, sites of exchanges” (2006, p. 137), a description that closely
mirrors constructivist understandings of PhD candidature, such as those of Boud
and Lee (2005).
Blogging can foreground the pedagogical relationship implicit in the PhD process
by making the relationship between supervisor and candidate transparent. It
can be a tangible record of their ‘becoming', of the project of the self that
candidates are undertaking in their journey. It can also form a part of that
journey, as a place for recording, reflecting and redeveloping understandings of
the self as candidates grow through the process of undertaking a PhD.
This presentation will explore what PhD candidates learned by blogging their
experiences of academic performances and sharing them with other candidates.
Note: The Powerpoint file with sound and comments is available by contacting
the corresponding author
References
Boud, D. & Lee, A. (2005). ‘Peer learning; as pedagogic discourse for research
education, Studies in Higher Education, 30(5). 501-516.
Richardson, L. (1998). Writing: A method of enquiry, In N.K. Denzin and Y.
Lincoln (Eds.). Handbook of Qualitative Research. Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage.
Walker, J. (2006) Blogging from inside the ivory tower. In A. Bruns & J. Jacobs
(Eds.), Uses of blogs (pp. 127-138) New York: Peter Lang
Corresponding Author:
Mary-Helen Ward
University of Sydney
Australia
mhward@usyd.edu.au
17-18 April 2008
Page 206
Research education in the new global environment - Conference Proceedings. Canberra:
CEDAM, ANU.
What can be learned from blogging the PhD?
Mary-Helen Ward and Sandra West
University of Sydney
Australia
Abstract
As Richardson (1998) points out, research and the production of knowledge are
‘profoundly textual’. PhD students, like all researchers, keep notebooks, lab
books, fields note to record the development of the disciplinary project that is
the subject of the thesis. However, they generally do not record the process of
the PhD itself, the project of the self. In the last few years increasing numbers
of PhD students have created blogs to record their own process, and they have
the potential to influence in new ways their development as academics. Jill
Walker describes blogs as having “…no whole; they are not objects. They are
processes, actions, sites of exchanges” (2006, p. 137), a description that closely
mirrors constructivist understandings of PhD candidature, such as those of Boud
and Lee (2005).
Blogging can foreground the pedagogical relationship implicit in the PhD process
by making the relationship between supervisor and candidate transparent. It
can be a tangible record of their ‘becoming', of the project of the self that
candidates are undertaking in their journey. It can also form a part of that
journey, as a place for recording, reflecting and redeveloping understandings of
the self as candidates grow through the process of undertaking a PhD.
This presentation will explore what PhD candidates learned by blogging their
experiences of academic performances and sharing them with other candidates.
Note: The Powerpoint file with sound and comments is available by contacting
the corresponding author
References
Boud, D. & Lee, A. (2005). ‘Peer learning; as pedagogic discourse for research
education, Studies in Higher Education, 30(5). 501-516.
Richardson, L. (1998). Writing: A method of enquiry, In N.K. Denzin and Y.
Lincoln (Eds.). Handbook of Qualitative Research. Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage.
Walker, J. (2006) Blogging from inside the ivory tower. In A. Bruns & J. Jacobs
(Eds.), Uses of blogs (pp. 127-138) New York: Peter Lang
Corresponding Author:
Mary-Helen Ward
University of Sydney
Australia
mhward@usyd.edu.au
17-18 April 2008
Page 206