Vision

On Friday the 13th (no joke), I will begin to write my qualifying exams. This process, a 10-day rite of passage, separates the first part of PhD work (classes) from the second (independent research and writing). Then my five-person committee that consists of at least three members of my department and at least one member from an outside department will gather at my oral defense which is to be held at least two weeks after delivery of the written exam (in my case, scheduled for much later — Thursday, August 25) to determine whether I am qualified to begin dissertation research. If so, I will be awarded a Master of Arts in Communication, entitled to a title change (from doctoral student to doctoral candidate (also known as ABD, or “all but dissertation”)), allowed to teach stand-alone courses, required to submit a dissertation prospectus within 30 days of the oral defense, and expected to get quite drunk (with joy!).

The exams have students choose four or five areas to bracket, investigate, and write about. This work is intended to create/demonstrate the student’s mastery of each area, clearly delineating discrete areas of expertise. The first step is selecting a professor to supervise an area. The second step is drawing up a reading list, or a bibliography of journal articles and books that a person must read in order to become an expert in this area. The third step is reading, note-taking, thinking, etc. The fourth step is writing the exams (which consist of one essay per area, each answering a question written by that area’s supervising professor, delivered via email to the student on the first day of the 10-day writing period). The fifth step is defending these exam essays.

Theoretically, at the end of this process, the student should be able to teach a course about each area, with each reading list inspiring a syllabus. Some students select well-trod areas (such as “framing and agenda-setting” or “quantitative research methods”) while some students create their own unique groupings of scholarship (that’s me). Some students choose areas that will directly inform their dissertation projects and, in the most efficient case scenario,turn each area’s essay into a chapter in their dissertation’s literature review.

Such was my attempt in identifying my four qualifying exam areas. I would love to “work smart” and make my essays count for more than bureaucratic exercise. Moreover, my overarching goal is to make a difference. That’s what I’ve been trying to figure out how to do through my coursework, and that’s what my dissertation is going to try to figure out how to do too. I read a bunch of stuff, put together some ideas, try em out, see what happened, report back. (The “see what happened” and “report back” parts are lacking for me — I’ve got reams of unanalyzed data and an anorexic publication record, but everybody’s gotta start somewhere.) So, my exams reflect this mission, my attempt to figure out how to make a difference. What makes people tick? How do we support people’s healthy development? How do we optimize our learning potential? How do we make the world a better place? These are my deep-seated questions, my North Star. Should be simple to take em on, no?

Here is my vision:

These qualifying exam essays will examine how people learn, arguing that this process occurs in community, via participation, guided by emotion, and organized as stories. As such, change-making endeavors (e.g., curriculum launches, campaigns and interventions, reform policies) must leverage community context, work-related skills, individuals’ character and feelings, and storytelling/meaning-making. Each essay will: explore several interdisciplinary theoretical frameworks; synthesize these academically separate yet philosophically complementary theories by constructing tables or models identifying consistent categories/patterns; review relevant case studies; and offer a set of recommendations for enriching theory and praxis. Case studies will range from formal and informal educational initiatives in classroom and after-school contexts, to community development and community-based youth development projects, to entertainment-education programs. Separately, each essay will provide a deep dive into a specific (albeit interdisciplinary) area – respectively, community and youth development, participatory learning, empathy, and narrative. Holistically, these essays will chart a course for future research and practice aimed at making – in whichever way possible, however large or small – the world a better place.

Here is the supervisor and working title of each (as yet unwritten) essay:

Michael Cody & Doe Mayer: Participatory community development and development in participatory communities

Henry Jenkins (Chair): Participatory learning: Philosophies and models of education for today and tomorrow

Stacy Smith: The origin of everything?: Empathy in theory and practice

Sheila Murphy: “Almost as necessary as bread”: Why we need narrative and what makes it work


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2 Responses to Vision

  1. Allie says:

    Laurel, it’s lovely to read this post as I begin the quals process myself. I’ll be thinking of you come Friday. Do let me know if I can help during those 10 days. A baket of muffins, perhaps? :)

  2. Susan Christopher says:

    I think I am exhausted. Yikes –
    I have great faith that you will get through this with flying colors
    and we will celebrate on the other side.
    Now, get back to work.
    Proud of you!!!!

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