THE PURSUIT OF A PHD AS A VIRTUAL PROFESSIONAL LEARNING COMMUNITY: A PHENOMENOLOGICAL DRAMATURGY OF ONE COHORT'S EXPERIENCE

Abstract

Education can be a lonely business. Teachers and administrators

are often separated from other adult professionals in isolated

classrooms, offices, and administration buildings. Geographic

remoteness only exacerbates personal seclusion, preventing

collaboration concerning how to foster student learning and wellbeing.

Bringing a disparate group of potentially isolated educational leaders

together, in 2005 the Educational Administration Department (EAD) at

Central University in the United States created a local/distance (mixed)

PhD cohort. Pathways, a special unit embedded within EAD,

spearheaded the plan; infused the curriculum with collaborative

community literature; intended to enhance student administrative

expertise; and, if desired, prepared students for the college professorate.

I was a cohort member, and my co-author taught four research courses

scattered throughout the program. Classes are over now, and 13 out of

14 original members are defending prospecti and dissertations.

For the most part Pathways realized its expectations, and the

group became a professional learning community (PLC). This study

produced three thematic lenses through which to see the cohort's

evolution: job-related challenges, technology struggles, and interpersonal

relationships. This methodology centers on a phenomenological

dramaturgy. Cooley (1922) and Mead (1934/1967) guided our view of the

phenomenon as the cohort's historical group development toward each

individual's evolving professional- and self-perceptions within a

community context. We present the findings in a four-act play

(Goffman,1959). Our special attention to students speaks to future virtual

and local doctoral cohort developers and those who theorize about

successful doctoral education. Being a good educator means paying

attention to details--in this case, the ever-changing social selfconstructions

that can make or break a student's experience.