Preparing New Doctoral Students
for Academic Practice:
Cultivating New Students’
Scholarly Identity and Practice
through Cognitive Apprenticeship
Ann E. Austin
Michigan State University
Second International Conference
Oxford University
April, 2008
Doctoral Education as Anticipatory
Socialization
Definition of Socialization
– Merton, Reader, & Kendall: “the processes through
which [a person] develops [a sense of] professional
self, with its characteristic values, attitudes,
knowledge, and skills…”
– Weidman, Twale, & Stein: Offered a framework to
understand socialization in doctoral education
Students learn knowledge and skills
Interact with faculty and peers
Integrate into activities of their fields
Concerns about Doctoral Education
Lack of systematic, developmentally organized
preparation experiences
Lack of clear expectations and feedback
Limited attention to academic and non-academic
careers
Concerns about advisors and sense of
community
Limited opportunities for “guided reflection”
Theory of Cognitive Apprenticeship
A framework for teaching and learning in
doctoral education that may enhance the
socialization process
“A model of instruction that works to make things
visible” (Collins, Brown, & Holum, 1991)
Comparison to Traditional Apprenticeship
– Thinking is less easily observable process
– Involves work that is separated from situation where it
may occur
– Skills must be transferrable
Practice of Cognitive Apprenticeship
Modeling:
– Providing demonstration
Scaffolding:
– Offering suggestions, diagnoses, feedback
Coaching:
– Guiding students to do more complex work
Articulation and Reflection:
– Helping students ask questions and articulate processes of thinking
Promoting Transfer of Learning:
– Helping students see wide applicability in diverse settings
Importance of Learning Context:
– Encouraging active engagement in a community of scholars
Cognitive Apprenticeship and
Doctoral Education
Using a teaching approach informed by the
theory of cognitive apprenticeship helps provide:
– More systematic preparation
– More focused guidance and scaffolding
– More explicit feedback
– Preparation for being part of a community of scholars
Case Example:
First-Year Seminar Higher, Adult, and Lifelong
Education
Purpose of Course
– Increase students’ familiarity with history, key
concepts, questions, and literatures relevant
to scholars and practitioners of higher and
adult education
– Help entering doctoral students enhance their
abilities in the areas of critical reading, critical
thinking and analysis, writing, and inquiry
Practice 1:
Making Explicit the Challenges,
Responsibilities, and Opportunities of Doctoral
Education
Help students make productive transition
into doctoral education, develop identities
as scholars, and deepen abilities as
thinkers and writers
Make explicit the ways of thinking, habits,
and abilities associated with productive
scholarly work in the field
Practice 2:
Guiding Students through the Process of
Creating a “Mini-Research Proposal”
The goal is to help students understand
the research process
– Students frame problems, identify questions,
develop literature review
– Scaffold process with guidance and feedback
– Provide examples
– Model thinking
– Provide coaching—feedback, individual mtgs.
– Emphasize transfer—practice conference
talks
Practice 3:
Coupling Purposefulness with Flexibility
Adjust work to student needs
Emphasize Articulation and Reflection
– Short written reflections
– Mid-semester feedback
– Students self-assess
– Students provide feedback to each other
Practice 4:
Cultivating a Community of Scholars
Discuss and develop learning community
– Respect for and support of others’ learning
– Mutual responsibility for quality of class
Strategies:
– Writing groups
– Practice giving feedback
Practice 5:
Creating an Environment of High
Expectations and High Support
Expect excellence and hard work from
everyone—students and faculty
High support—accessibility of teacher,
openness to conversation
Mutual respect
Results/Outcomes
Strong positive results
– Self-confidence
– Gains in ability to conceptualize important porblems
and frame relevant questions
Example: “The teacher …modeled behaviors—
ways of responding to people, ways of
presenting one’s own ideas so that the door is
open to other ideas, ways of bringing up
contradictory evidence for mutual consideration
instead of blunt disagreement.”
Concluding Thoughts
Cognitive apprenticeship
– a theory about how learning occurs and
specific ways in which teaching practice can
enhance the learning process
A very useful theory in explaining aspects
of how doctoral students learn to think as
scholars
Practical implications for teaching practice