'It gives you that motivation to keep pushing on': reflecting on the role of dialogic skills workshops on postgraduate researchers’ academic preparedness and 'belonging'
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.47408/jldhe.vi36.1509Keywords:
postgraduate researchers, academic skills, belonging, dialogic pedagogyAbstract
Completing a doctorate is reputed to be uniquely academically challenging and isolating. To challenge this, doctoral supervisors, academic developers, and peers can play a significant role in academic preparedness and enhancing feelings of ‘belonging’ on a doctoral programme. During the 2023-2024 academic year, a new provision for doctoral academic skills enhancement was piloted at a large university in southern England, with ten workshops aimed to develop academic writing, research integrity, presentation skills, and criticality. The workshops were designed to align with Alexander’s (2004) model for dialogic teaching and adapted Lee and Murray’s (2015) supervision framework to provide facilitated spaces for postgraduate researchers (PGRs) to cultivate curiosity, confidence, and collaboration. In reflecting on the first year of this provision, three focus groups were conducted with ten PGRs to explore their engagement with and evaluation of the workshops’ format relating to their experiences of ‘becoming’ and ‘belonging’ in doctoral study. The focus groups highlighted various challenges in transitioning to doctoral study and anxieties about academic preparedness. However, engaging with dialogic workshops alleviated some anxieties, enhanced academic preparedness, and ‘normalised’ challenges experienced by PGRs. On this basis, there is potential for dialogic PGR initiatives to heighten feelings of academically ‘belonging’ on doctoral programmes.
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