PhD Oral Exam - Jeannette Novakovich, Education

When studying for a doctoral degree (PhD), candidates submit a thesis that provides a critical review of the current state of knowledge of the thesis subject as well as the student’s own contributions to the subject. The distinguishing criterion of doctoral graduate research is a significant and original contribution to knowledge.

Once accepted, the candidate presents the thesis orally. This oral exam is open to the public.

Abstract

Research has found that professional communicators are not prepared for the challenges that social media presents and face a number of barriers due to a lack of social media knowledge and skills. Correspondingly, higher education has failed to include enough social media and online content to provide learners with the necessary skills for professional practice. Furthermore, the neoliberal objective to shape a flexible workforce has engendered a new form of professionalism that tasks individuals with developing an incorporated branded self. Within the framework of the higher education curriculum, social media can perform two roles for learners: foster workforce competences and provide an authentic community of practice to comodify their brand. The issue for educators is that no comprehensive studies have fully examined the incorporation of a social media component into a professional writing course, identifying the barriers, skills, and processes that will facilitate or foster the professionalization of the tools for learners and enable them to use these technologies both appropriately and strategically. This dissertation employed a design-based research methodology to systematically study how to design an effective learning environment for the integration of social media technologies and addressed the following research questions:

• What problems might educators face when integrating social media practices into the curriculum?
• How can social media technologies facilitate professional identity formation to bridge the transition from the everyday practices of learners to professional practices?

The results indicated that students lacked agency on social networks and required guidance when articulating modes of online authenticity. The final iteration of the course design effectively produced a virtual community of practice, as measured through learning analytics, and provided a means to shape professional social media practices and foster professional identity. Those who are young believe that they own social media simply because they are contemporaneous to it. While most users can upload and download social media content, producing high-quality professional content demands the same high-level writing skills used offline. Additionally, employing an inappropriate strategy can lead to disastrous consequences and cause considerable harm to an organization’s reputation. For this reason, perhaps, teaching a fish to swim might actually make sense.