Rethinking Education for the Practitioner Using Fink’s Taxonomy of Significant Learning: Lessons Learned in Redesigning an Introductory Level Doctoral Course

Authors

Keywords:

Doctoral student experiences, Doctoral course design, College teaching, Doctoral student identity, Doctoral student dispositions

Abstract

In this paper, the author provides insight into the course redesign process of an introductory doctoral level leadership course for a Doctor of Education in Educational Leadership program. Students needed more support in bridging the scholar and practitioner identities; therefore, to support doctoral student skill development and academic experiences, faculty sought to address several weaknesses with a redesign process using Fink’s Taxonomy of Significant Learning. The discussion follows the redesign process, as well as offers observations and lessons learned for faculty seeking to support doctoral student identity development and disposition skill acquisition and retention.

Author Biography

  • Ashley Wicker, Southeastern Louisiana University
    Ashley Johnston Wicker is an Assistant Professor of Educational Leadership at Southeastern Louisiana University and teaches leadership courses in a masters’ and doctoral program in Educational Leadership. Her research interests include research self-efficacy of doctoral students, mentoring relationships in graduate education, and professional identity development of graduate students. She is an active member of various organizations, including the Association for the Study of Higher Education, Southern Regional Council on Educational Administration, Mid-South Educational Research Association, and the Louisiana Educational Research Association. She currently serves as Secretary of SRCEA and the Higher Education Representative for LERA. She earned a Master of Education in Counseling Personnel Services, with an emphasis in College Student Personnel, and a Doctor of Philosophy in Higher Education Administration from The University of Southern Mississippi.

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2022 Research Issues in Contemporary Education 7(3)

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Published

2023-01-17

Issue

Vol. 7 No. 3 (2022): Research Issues in Contemporary Education

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Peer-Reviewed Articles

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Research Issues in Contemporary Education (RICE) is a nationally indexed, double-blind, peer-reviewed online journal that publishes educational research studies, literature reviews, theoretical manuscripts, and practitioner-oriented articles regarding issues in education. Views expressed in all published articles are the views of the author(s), and publication in RICE does not constitute endorsement. Submission of an article implies that it has not been published and is not currently under review for publication elsewhere. 

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