Research Apprenticeship Defined

The T&L Faculty share a broad understanding of what constitutes research and scholarly activities. These are expressed in the approved Appointments, Promotion, and Tenure document (AP&T):

In the School of Teaching and Learning, and in the field Education, scholarship is broadly defined. For example, Boyer (1990) describes four distinguishable and equally valuable types of intellectual activity: the scholarship of discovery, the scholarship of integration, the scholarship of application, and the scholarship of teaching. These forms of intellectual activity are not mutually exclusive categories; they are distinct but related areas of endeavor that are mutually reinforcing.
The scholarship of discovery involves disciplined, investigative patterns of research for the purpose of the generation of discovery of new knowledge. The scholarship of integration involves work that interprets, draws together, and brings new insights to bear on original research as well as the interpretation, fitting of one’s own research – or the research of others – into larger intellectual patterns. This form of scholarship might include interdisciplinary, collaborative, and integrative studies. The scholarship of application involves the application of research-based knowledge to critical and consequential problems in education and related fields in ways responsive to social issues and concerns. The scholarship of teaching involves not only sharing knowledge but transforming, extending, and generating it as well.
We embrace such broad views of scholarship (while not necessarily limiting ourselves to these definitions), and recognize that over the course of a career a faculty member may, and likely will, be engaged I more than one type of scholarship.

The term “research,” in Research Apprenticeship, is meant to signal this broad understanding, and the experiences that constitute the Research Apprenticeship will reflect this broad understanding as well.
Likewise, we take “apprenticeship” to mean a sustained opportunity for doctoral students to work with faculty members on their (the faculty member’s) research (as defined above) in order to orient students toward the process of inquiry; provide a context for all students and faculty to develop professional, mentoring relationships; and begin students on a trajectory that will engage them in scholarly practices that should sustain them through their own dissertation work and on into the scholarly community as educational researchers.

The Research Apprenticeship Relative to the Overall Doctoral Program

The Research Apprenticeship will be a required component of doctoral study in T&L, akin to completion of the Candidacy Examinations or the Dissertation. The Research Apprenticeship hours/expectations are distinct from Independent Study hours, as reflected in a different course number (TBD), in the specific requirements, and in the assumed accomplishment of the experience prior to completing Candidacy Examinations.

Students will receive credit for the Research Apprenticeship by satisfactorily completing a minimum of a total of 10 credit hours. (Students may do more credit hours if they choose.) No research apprenticeship shall be for less than 3 credit hours within any one quarter. In most cases, Research Apprenticeships will occur under the direction of a core or affiliated faculty member of the student’s Area of Study; however, different configurations of faculty members and doctoral students may occur.

The Research Apprenticeship should be completed before the candidacy examination period. Consistent with Graduate School policies, for each credit hour of apprenticeship there should be a minimum average of one credit hour of face-to-face time with the faculty member and two additional hours of related research activity.

The Research Apprenticeship is an intensive and time-consuming activity.

Specific outcomes and work products will vary across Research Apprenticeship arrangements, reflecting the individual research agendas of faculty members; however, students and faculty members are urged to negotiate a clear, written set of expectations to guide their work together. Student performance will be assessed as either satisfactory (S) or unsatisfactory (U).

Faculty Expectations and Affordances Relative to the Research Apprenticeship

Faculty with M or P status may offer Research Apprenticeships.

A research apprenticeship needs to be approved by the student’s advisor.

Research Apprenticeship experiences/hours are distinct from Independent Study. As defined here, they require more intensive, on-going and regular meeting times between faculty members and doctoral students. As such, they constitute a significant commitment on the part of faculty members, and should count towards faculty load in explicit ways.

A key issue, relative to the Research Apprenticeship, will be to balance students’ access to apprenticeship offerings and opportunities with faculty members’ time and capacity to offer such opportunities. We suggest that faculty be assigned individual Research Apprenticeship course numbers; however, unlike Independent Study offerings, all faculty members will not necessarily be listed every quarter as offering the Research Apprenticeship. Rather, faculty may choose which quarters in which to offer Research Apprenticeships, relative to their programs of research and other faculty responsibilities.