A Purpose Lost
Recently, my advising colleagues and I developed a new webinar to further discuss “comps preparedness.” Content ranging from the philosophical and historical foundations of the comprehensive examination down to the nitty-gritty logistics and academic standards of an individualized learner’s situation and preparedness.
Last week, I was giving one such session and was speaking to the core competencies of Capella’s PhD program and what it is we mean when we say “doctoral competent.”
Competencies here defined as scholar-practitioner. That is, the learner’s ability and challenge to extend and apply your knowledge in a scholarly context. To move beyond simply experiential learning as a practitioner professional to a greater emphasis on scholarship first.
The competency of critical thinking. That is, you move from simply accepting knowledge at face value and begin to draw new conclusions or challenge past assumptions about what is known. You demonstrate an ability to systematically question information, enlarging your perspective to what it is you know and what it is you seek to know. Can you assess and really demonstrate an ability to “decode” complex situations or ideas to better anticipate future, changes or trends?
The competency of research. The core of any PhD program, but here fundamental to your identity as a scholar-practitioner. You have learned how to analyze existing research, synthesize research from various sources to fully establish and defend relevant questions that would develop important resources and information for the future.
And finally, professional communication. That is, you are competent as a developing, credible scholar. Your ideas, your research, your conclusions and hypotheses are clear and appropriate for an academic context.
Okay, so all very complicated and hopefully, also recognized as four ongoing works in progress. But what struck me in this latest session was the advice I provided the group was this; that a college or a university, a doctoral degree program, by nature is an opportunity or a forum for you to safely observe, practice, and ultimately, try (and fail) developing these skills in an academic context. The emphasis here, the safe forum and opportunity to try and fail.
In a doctoral program, there is such a high degree of self-pressure and almost competition on yourself to be successful, that we perhaps forget the great value in failing from time to time. For the majority, if not the whole, our population represents a educationally, academically, professionally, proven-to-be-successful group of bright individuals. So for many, failing, is viewed not as a means to an end, but simply, an end. And unfortunately, as an institution, we are perhaps not supporting or well-preparing folks to fail successfully.
So today, I close these thoughts and encouragement, it is better to try and to fail than to have tried and have never failed. A college or a university, Capella, is your forum for you to do so safely. Learn, desire, and help us learn to better help you, by allowing yourself the permission to fail from time to time. In so doing, we as an institution will all be better for it and you, you will achieve the highest level of “competency” as a Ph.D. scholar-practitioner. Fail, because you desire to succeed.
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January 14th, 2009 at 12:27 pm
Jon:
I have said that the construct of failure has earned a bad rap in American society. We would have nothing, NOTHING, in terms of technology, medicine, academics, relationships, etc., if there weren’t failures in these areas before. The point is that, as you inferred, this is a process whereby we are allowed a safe place to try. No one thing in our world simply happened successfully the first time out of the gate.
Additionally, I have found that, for so many doctoral learners, education in the past has come pretty easily. Many times, it is only at the doctoral level that individuals are truly CHALLENGED to think, really, really think, critically for the first time. And for many, this level of academe represents the first time many learners will received hyper-critical feedback on their skills, and yes, fail.
Your last sentence is particularly salient. If one truly wants to succeed they will try, try, and try again…which of course, implies failure has occurred. We need to shake the negative connotation that “failure” holds and celebrate that, when something needs to be redone, we have progressively eliminated a potential path. So, we have narrowed our focus by eliminating a possibility that didn’t work! Scientific method – I love it!
Change the paradigm – embrace the failure. That will be my credo for 2009.
Thanks!
Johnna Williams
January 14th, 2009 at 4:35 pm
One of the things that I really gravitatied to in my process of completing my Phd was the concept of become doctoral. When I heard the concept of scholar-practitioner for the first time it helped me to synthesize what it was that I had undertaken. A masters in my field is really a terminal degree in terms of compensation but the idea that one could expand beyond the accepted and truely become more by challenging the paradigm is what helped me to keep my eye on the prize and to risk failure to gain success. In the words of the band BonJovi ” you can’t win until you are not afraid to lose”
Peace.
January 15th, 2009 at 7:30 am
Jon, Johnna, Lyle:
Would you articulate more on ‘failure’?
Failure might be my own perception of performance.
It might be someone else’s judgement of my performance. Does one need to fail a course to learn?
What is the learning process of failure?
January 15th, 2009 at 2:01 pm
Many times over the years I have seen that failing provides the most lasting lessons of all. If you failed a test when you have always breezed through classes, you might want to rant and rave and blame the professor. Or you can have a chat with the professor about how to make changes in the way you read and process the readings, how you go about studying for the exam, how to make sure you pass the next exam. If you fail to back up your work and you lose it. . . you are going to be very careful about that in the future!
January 16th, 2009 at 1:46 pm
Lynn,
Failing a course is not necessary to learn. However as Constance says, life lessons often come from challenges. I once read that Edison made hundreds of attmpts before finding the right filament for his incandescent bulb. His attitude was not that he failed hundreds of times to find the correct filament; he felt as though he had learned what did not work hundreds of times. If he had however stumbled on the correct one on the first try, look how many learning opportunites he would have lost.
Failing to get a perfect score or getting a “B” for the first time makes you a better scholar because it allows you to get strong in the weak places. if you don;t learn form the little failures you will ultimately learn about failure the hard way from a big failure.
I see failure in this sense as a self focused concept that can build one to success.
January 22nd, 2009 at 1:48 pm
Lynn and others,
I think Lyle sums it up nicely. Added piece, I’d offer, how often do folks “succeed” when actually failing?
Example, on the surface, it would give the appearance that a learner who took three courses a quarter and maintained a 4.0 was successful. However, the failure will come at the dissertation; when the learner’s then failure to fully immerse in the literature, manifests in an inability to articulate and engage in discourse how his or her proposed research represents a contribution to the field or how the proposed method is in fact appropriate for the research questions being asked.
The fortunate few are those who receive the “F” grade in a course or an assignment. But for many, failure will be far more subtle. And for some, not learned until they leave Ph.D.
I am deferring my response to your question about “the learning process of failure,” but will note it as a future blog entry.