Chapters in Books (Centre for Higher and Adult Education)

Permanent URI for this collection

https://scholar.sun.ac.za/handle/10019.1/101594

Browse

Browsing Chapters in Books (Centre for Higher and Adult Education) by Author "Bitzer, Eli"

Now showing 1 - 6 of 6
  • Thumbnail Image
    Item
    Becoming doctorate as an endpoint and a point of departure
    (SUN MeDIA, 2016) Bitzer, Eli; Leshem, Shosh; Trafford, Vernon
    INTRODUCTION: There are generic features of ‘the doctorate’ that transcend disciplines, universities and doctoral procedures. Perspectives on doctoral outcomes include features of received wisdom, which scholars often refer to as the ‘gold standard’ of the doctorate (Trafford & Leshem 2008: 34–35). When standards at such a scholarly level are met, they constitute ‘doctorateness’, which is what examiners expect to be displayed in doctoral theses (Halse & Malfroy 2010; McAlpine & Ashgar 2010). To achieve generic scholarly standards, doctoral candidates are expected to progress beyond merely reporting facts; levels of knowledge, skills and attitudes that involve intellectualising, conceptualising and contributing to existing knowledge are required. Candidates and supervisors who display this understanding appreciate connections between doing research and writing a doctoral thesis, and for candidates at some institutions, defending their thesis in a doctoral viva. When these criteria for a doctoral degree are met, then ‘doctorateness’ is demonstrated (Trafford & Leshem 2008; 2011).
  • Thumbnail Image
    Item
    Candidates, supervisors and institutions: pushing postgraduate boundaries: an overview
    (SUN PRESS, 2014) Frick, Liezel; Bitzer, Eli; Albertyn, Ruth
    INTRODUCTION: Academic boundaries are in some ways similar to national boundaries – they are set up to colonise and govern, but at the same time are constantly challenged to reaffirm their authority and meaning. The postgraduate environment has been and is still colonised and governed by a variety of boundaries: inter/national, geographical, cultural, institutional, disciplinary and paradigmatic; also those of knowledge and relationships, and many more. The contributions to this book set out to explore and challenge such boundaries as they exist within the postgraduate environment. The work of Thomas Kuhn (1962) and others on paradigms set the scene for establishing boundaries both within and between academic disciplines in terms of research. The earlier work of Becher and Trowler (2001) on academic tribes and their territories may also be useful to explain academics’ search for a scholarly identity in the higher education environment. An academic tribe provides its members with an identity and a particular frame of reference. The characteristic identity of a particular academic tribe is developed from an early age – usually already at the undergraduate level, where patterns of thought are imprinted. These ‘tribal’ associations are often solidified at the postgraduate level.
  • Thumbnail Image
    Item
    Conceptualising risk in doctoral education: Navigating boundary tensions
    (SUN PRESS, 2014) Frick, Liezel; Albertyn, Ruth; Bitzer, Eli
    Introduction: If you are not willing to risk the unusual, you will have to settle for the ordinary. – Jim Rohn Risk-taking is an important form of human behaviour, but can be conceptualised in different ways (Byrnes, Miller & Schafer 1999). Some researchers in higher education point to the association between academic risk and its negative consequences (McWilliam, Lawson, Evans & Taylor 2005; McWilliam, Sanderson, Evans, Lawson & Taylor 2006; McWilliam, Singh & Taylor 2002) and therefore conceptualise risk as something that should be avoided or at least carefully managed. Others highlight risk as an opportunity for achievement (Backhouse 2009; Frick 2011, 2012; Holligan 2005). If innovation is key to the generation of new knowledge, then risk is seen to be an integral part of this process (Brown 2010). Knowledge and innovation are considered to be critical contributors to national wealth and welfare and therefore doctoral education has gained increasing significance within the context of human capital development (Bloland 2005; CHE 2009). In this context, the dynamics of balancing risk and innovation (Brown 2010; Latham & Braun 2009) may provide challenges for the supervisory relationship and the research process. Education – and more specifically doctoral education – seems to be risky given the requirement to produce original knowledge. Students need to have “the courage and confidence to take risks, to make mistakes, to invent and reinvent knowledge, and to pursue critical and lifelong inquiries in the world, with the world, and with each other” (Freire 1970, cited in Lin & Cranton 2005:458). MacKinnon (1970) agrees that the courage to take risks is an important characteristic of creative endeavours – such as doctoral studies. In this chapter we therefore take the position that risk is unavoidable within the context of doctoral education, but in order to extend the boundaries and manage risk constructively, supervisors could gain from understanding the concept of risk within this context.
  • Thumbnail Image
    Item
    Journeying with higher education studies and research: A personal perspective
    (AFRICAN SUN MeDIA, 2009) Bitzer, Eli
    This chapter captures different ‘stages’ of the development of my own journey with the field of higher education (HE) studies and research. It reflects change and development of the field from personal experiences covering five ‘developmental stages’ and a period of almost 30 years. Stage one represents a novice position from where I knew absolutely nothing about the field of HE and when the learning curve was exceptionally steep. Questions I try to answer include: What literature was available at the time? What were the seminal works? What were the themes that dominated the field? The second stage covers my own master’s and doctoral studies. In each instance there were dominant influences, forces and literature that guided my postgraduate work. I explore the question of how these studies influence my perspectives concerning higher education and how they impacted on my future work. The third stage deals with projects and post-PhD research and the initial stages of publishing in the field leading onto a fourth stage where I started supervising PhD students. Stage five represents the present with a broader view is taken within the limitations of one person’s perspective to take such a stance. This last section also ties in with the chapter by Bitzer and Wilkinson elsewhere in this book that addresses aspects of higher education as a field of study in South Africa.
  • Thumbnail Image
    Item
    (Re)Considering postgraduate education and supervision in the knowledge society
    (SUN MeDIA, 2016) Fourie-Malherbe, Magda; Aitchison, Claire; Bitzer, Eli; Albertyn, Ruth
    INTRODUCTION: The title of this publication, Postgraduate supervision: Future foci for the knowledge society, locates higher education – and more specifically, postgraduate education and supervision – explicitly within discourses on the knowledge society. The aim of this volume is to employ this concept of the knowledge society and its corollary, the knowledge economy, as a heuristic for (re)considering the forms and purposes of postgraduate education and supervision in relation to contemporary realities and future possibilities. Thus the edition will be of interest to a wide range of postgraduate education stakeholders: national and institutional policy makers will value the broad range of up-to-date comparative case studies, while those at the coal-face – supervisors, support staff and students – will appreciate the many and varied renditions of postgraduate experiences at various ‘local’ sites. Key international and local authors combine in this edition to create a unique mix of global and local voices – some already well known, plus newer commentators. The chapters have been selected to provide a rich and nuanced balance of country and personal perspectives and experiences that explore and theorise contemporary concerns within the sector.
  • Thumbnail Image
    Item
    Research into doctoral education: A survey of institutional research projects in Southern Africa
    (SUN PRESS, 2016) Bitzer, Eli
    Introduction: The title of this book indicates an exploration of intersecting contexts and practices of institutional research (IR) in South African higher education. Amongst the many definitions of the concept of IR worldwide (Chirikov 2013; Shreeve 2010), the term is often described as exploring, understanding and explaining the institution for the institution, but also as having a broader function (Webber & Calderon 2015:10-11). As this volume highlights different dimensions of IR related to higher education issues, contexts and practices in South Africa, this chapter focuses on IR and doctoral education. I address here three objectives. Firstly, the question of what constitutes a doctoral degree or ‘doctorateness’ in order to provide some background to doctoral education as an object of investigation. Since the interrelated sets of factors that influence doctoral education are also important, I emphasise the contextual, administrative and academic factors related to doctoral education. Secondly, I probe international research related to doctoral education in order to provide a backdrop to the role of IR in Southern Africa; and thirdly, I report on the results of a limited survey on doctoral education in Southern African and suggest possible future roles for IR and agendas for doctoral education.