A two year journey to building the

ACCESS Community

Advancing Community, Critical Thought, Engagement, Scholarship, and Success

Introduction

ACCESS Presenters

Overview

School of Advanced Studies

Our purpose is to prepare leaders who put scholarship to work as they improve their communities and build a legacy of learning.

Our vision is to be recognized by peers, students, and employers as the school of choice for working professionals to earn a practitioner doctoral degree.

Our mission is to develop scholar-practitioner-leaders who conduct research as a foundation for creative action to

influence policy and guide diverse organizations

through effective decision-making.

Essential Questions

Early 2012: Jeremy Moreland, Academic Dean of SAS asks

“How can we get more active inquiry that produces higher quality research and dissertations?”

“How can we engage and retain our entering doctoral students?”

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SAS Change Imperative

To produce agile, innovative scholar /practitioner / leaders who co-create original, innovative dissertations

(by creating / testing theory)

To do so – we need to understand the critical role of theorizing in active inquiry throughout the student experience (including the dissertation process)

The ACCESS Story

So what is the role of theorizing in active inquiry?

Theory cannot be improved until we improve the theorizing process and we cannot improve the theorizing process until we describe it more explicitly, operate it more self-consciously, and de-couple it (discovery) from validation more deliberately (Weick, 1989, p.1)

Johnston & Kortens, 20139

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De-coupling Discovery from Validation

Discovery Validation

Exploring alternatives

What if questions

Thought Experiments

Sense Making

Model building

Use of metaphor

Confirmations

Replication

Verification

Consistency

Reducing Bias

Proof

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What would we see if the (SAS) system was designed to emphasize Validation?

Element Form Produces a student experience of:

Curriculum Rigid, centralized/content driven/ activity bound,

Inflexible learning, limited application Trivial theories, undifferentiated dissertations, replicating past designs

Faculty Pedagogy

Support all assertions Passive stance, reduced opportunity to engage in critical thinking

Predominant Logic

Deductive premature closure of inquiry / creativity

Program structure

Tight, fixed, linear Anxiety, rush to completion

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What would we see if the (SAS) system was designed to emphasize Discovery?

Element Form Produces a student experience of:

Curriculum Individualized A genius of their own

Instruction Differentiated instruction Higher achievement

Faculty discourse What other angles might you consider?

Support for Critical Thinking

Predominant Logic Inductive / Abductive Epistemic Agility

Program structure Iterative Continuous improvement

Critical Reading and

Writing

3 Weeks

Critical Thinking and Leadership

8 Weeks

Critical and Creative Thinking

Residency

5 Days

Introduction to Research

8 weeks

Portfolio and CWE workshops

Critical Reading and

Writing

3 Weeks

Critical Thinking and Leadership

8 Weeks

Critical and Creative Thinking

Residency

5 Days

Introduction to Research

8 weeks

Curriculum Model

Analysis

Synthesis

Evaluation Ideate

Empathy

Critical Thinking

DesignThinking

Context

Concluding Questions

How can we get a more appropriate mix of discovery and validation across all of our programs?

How can our assessment model and activities support discovery?

Speaker InformationElizabeth Johnston, Ed.D,

ljohnston@email.phoenix.edu

Anthony Kortens, PhD

AnthonyK0203@email.phoenix.edu

Shawn Boone

Shawn.Boone@phoenix.edu

Reference slides

­ Additional slides if needed for illustration

A Mixed Epistemological Approach

Social Constructionism Positivist (+ post-positivist)

Main Benefit Enables innovation Enables standardization

Learning Model Situated Learning Cognitive model

Learning Emphasis Active, collaborative Independent, passive

Voice Dialogic Monologic

Point of focus Discovery process Validating the product

Result of Over-emphasis Over-abstraction Triviality

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Improving theorizing could afford us …

More original scholarly achievements/ contributions by students & faculty

Alignment with peer accreditation

Active/engaged inquiry by student and faculty body

Increased generative capacity for the entire system

Increased Credibility and competitive posture of SAS

Students more agile better prepared for societal impact and excellence in a competitive global environment

Achieving the SAS Mission

Johnston & Kortens, 2013

Working with visuals

Core Findings: Curriculum

Logics

DeductiveInductiveAbductive