Peer to peer support: the disappearing work in the doctoral student experience

Devenish, Rosemerry; Dyer, Sylvia; Jefferson, Therese; Lord, Linley; Leeuwen, Susan Van; Fazakerley, Victor

doi:10.1080/07294360802444362

Cited by 64 publications

(46 citation statements)

References 17 publications

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“…As stated previously, minimal research has been completed on the role of peers in doctoral education (Devenish et al, 2009;Flores-Scott & Nerad, 2012). Meghan, Laura, and Cathy depended on each other for support and encouragement throughout their journey.…”

Section: Theme Three -Peer To Peer Supportmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Some doctoral students find collaboration cumbersome when problems arise with a project or within the group (Anderson, 1996). Devenish et al (2009) stated that within a group setting, students can fear that individual student voice would be diminished over the group voice. Furthermore, group dynamics can suffer when members of the group are not contributing or putting in the same effort as others in the group, or competition might arise with authorship credit, especially when it comes to academic work (Anderson, 1996;Pemberton & Akkary, 2010).…”

Section: Literature Reviewmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…When it comes to examining the effects of collaboration and peer impact on graduate/doctoral students, minimal research has been completed within this subject (Devenish et al, 2009;FloresScott & Nerad, 2012). Anderson (1996) stated that collaboration, or group work, is beneficial to doctoral students in three ways.…”

Section: Literature Reviewmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Organic Collaborative Teams: The Role of Collaboration and Peer to Peer Support for Part-Time Doctoral Completion

Littlefield

Taddei

Radosh

2015

IJDS

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With doctoral completion rates hovering around 50%, students, faculty and institutions are seeking methods for improvement. This narrative inquiry examined the impact of collaboration and peer to peer experiences on doctoral completion of three peers in a part-time doctoral program. Prior to this inquiry, minimal research existed on the impact of peer to peer support and collaboration on doctoral completion; therefore, the three peer authors defined, described, and recommended ways to encourage organic collaboration. The authors' defined organic collaboration as a naturally-formed dynamic peer to peer support group, built on individual strengths and differences, while focused on a common goal. Themes found during the narrative inquiry included the identification of a common goal, amicable group dynamics, peer to peer support, and intentional relational learning. The peer authors provided practical knowledge on ways students, faculty and higher education institutions can benefit from encouraging and supporting organic collaboration. This narrative inquiry demonstrated the long-term benefits of peer to peer support and collaboration that led to scholarly, professional, and personal support.

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Section: Theme Three -Peer To Peer Supportmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Literature Reviewmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Organic Collaborative Teams: The Role of Collaboration and Peer to Peer Support for Part-Time Doctoral Completion

Littlefield

Taddei

Radosh

2015

IJDS

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“…No one will sink, because the other members will be there to prevent it. As Devenish et al (2009) explain, a study group encourages its members to "keep going, to reinforce that the studies are worthwhile and that completion is an attainable goal" (p.61). One of the ways this group has kept such encouragement going is through emotional support, with a specific emphasis on humour.…”

Section: Susan: Go Jacqueline You'll Ace It!mentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Whatever one of the members is undergoing, the others are party to it if they post on Facebook and therefore can be supportive in many ways, whether it is a good or bad experience. This type of behaviour is typically described as 'mutually empowering' (Fletcher, 1995), where members of the group are "keen to demonstrate genuine care for others and proactively avoid conflict" (Devenish et al, 2009).…”

Section: Reflection 1: Bonding Of the Group -The Value Of 'Cohortness'mentioning

confidence: 99%

‘Our Breadcrumb Trail through the Woods’: Reflections on the Use of a Secret Facebook Group as a Strategy for Surviving and Thriving on the Doctoral Journey

Satchwell¹,

Partington²,

Barnes³

et al. 2015

IJDS

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This article explores the value of attending to the emotional side of the doctoral journey by focusing on the use of a ‘secret’ Facebook group amongst a cohort of EdD (Professional Doctorate in Education) students at one English university. Presented as a piece of action research in which the participants created an intervention to address a perceived problem and then reflected on its effectiveness, it is co-authored by the cohort of six students and their tutor. The stresses and loneliness of the doctoral journey have been well documented and constitute the ‘problem’ addressed by this cohort of students. Their inception and use of a Facebook group was a response to challenges experienced in their studies, with the expectation of facilitating peer support. As will be shown this aim was successfully met with enhancements in academic, social, and emotional support. However, unexpected benefits arose from the interactions within the group including a normalization of the challenges of the doctoral quest and the advantage of being able to follow the ‘breadcrumb trail’ found in the group postings as group journal and aid to reflection. Further, both tutors and students have noted the development of a strong sense of ‘cohortness’ and inclination to work collaboratively. Through a process of individual and group reflection on experiences of the intervention, combined with analysis of the content of the postings, this article examines the characteristics of the Facebook intervention and considers some ethical implications. We suggest that key characteristics that have contributed to its success include the student ownership, the protection of the secret format, and the combination of emotionally supportive, academic, and irreverent exchanges between group members. It is hoped that these insights may be useful to future doctoral candidates and their tutors as they negotiate their own way through the doctoral woods.

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Towards a Cultural Historical Theory of Knowledge Mapping: Collaboration and Activity in the Zone of Proximal Development

Clark

2013

Digital Knowledge Maps in Education

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Peer to peer support: the disappearing work in the doctoral student experience

Cited by 64 publications

References 17 publications

Organic Collaborative Teams: The Role of Collaboration and Peer to Peer Support for Part-Time Doctoral Completion

Organic Collaborative Teams: The Role of Collaboration and Peer to Peer Support for Part-Time Doctoral Completion

‘Our Breadcrumb Trail through the Woods’: Reflections on the Use of a Secret Facebook Group as a Strategy for Surviving and Thriving on the Doctoral Journey

Towards a Cultural Historical Theory of Knowledge Mapping: Collaboration and Activity in the Zone of Proximal Development

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