How the process of doctoral enquiry developed my openness and criticality
Date
2014-04-07
Authors
Dean, Catherine
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Abstract
In my recently concluded doctoral enquiry I evaluate and make public nine years of my educational
practice at Strathmore University (Kenya). My research focuses on the process of transformation in
myself and others through the development of my teaching and learning methods and fostering positive
educational relationships with those around me.
In this paper I will show how the process of my doctoral research helped me to develop my openness to
critical engagement with my own ideas and those of others. This allowed me to identify the deeper
values underlying my practice and my relations with students and colleagues. Simultaneously I clarified
the historical dimension of the evolution of these values.
In this contribution I will highlight some key features that enabled me to evaluate my doctoral research
and make it public. I will refer to elements which are normal within this context, but which require one
to foster openness to sharing their ideas by interacting with and learning from others. For example, the
very first feedback I received from my potential supervisor opened up a totally new horizon for my
doctoral enquiry. It also required me to engage in a critically intellectual mind shift to adjust to the
proposal. Other contributors to developing my openness and criticality were the process of selfreflection;
on-going recourse to student feedback; the transfer paper and oral exam; the use of video
and photos to evaluate myself in the classroom; critical analysis of my findings using philosophical and
theological perspectives; presentation of my research at various conferences; the oral defence of my
final dissertation, etc.
My paper will illustrate how I held myself accountable for my doctoral enquiry by evaluating and making
it public through openness to and critical engagement with others.
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Keywords
Research, Critical engagement, Values, Relationships