Time and doctoral degrees wait for no one: an autoethnography on the creation of a culture of support in an online EdD program amidst a global pandemic
| Date | 19 December 2024 |
| Pages | 245-258 |
| DOI | https://doi.org/10.1108/ILS-10-2023-0152 |
| Published date | 19 December 2024 |
| Subject Matter | Library & information science,Librarianship/library management,Library & information services |
| Author | Jess Smith,Nicholas R. Werse |
Time and doctoral degrees wait for
no one: an autoethnography on the
creation of a culture of support
in an online EdD program amidst
a global pandemic
Jess Smith
Annsley Frazier Thornton School of Education, Bellarmine University,
Louisville, Kentucky, USA, and
Nicholas R. Werse
School of Education, Baylor University, Waco,Texas, USA
Abstract
Purpose –March 2020 signaled school closures and moves online for many institutions, but an online EdD
program at a midsize, Christian university featured fewer than-expected prog rammatic changes. Because of its
modality, program operations continued with relatively fewc hanges.Although COVID-19-related campus closures
did not interrupt these students’scheduled courses, they substant ively impacted their personal and professional lives.
As a result, the authors in the program-specific writing center serving these students found themselves helping them
navigate not only stresses related to the already-strenuous task of writing a dissertation but also personal and
professional anxieties related to the COVID-19 pandemic. The purpose of this stud y is to explore and reflecton the
strategies employed by a program-specific writing center to support doctoral students during the COVID-19
pandemic, focusing on relaxed scheduling policies, emotional support beyond writing, and fostering deeper
interpersonal connections to address the unique challenges students faced during t his period.
Design/methodology/approach –The authors conducted an autoethnographic exploration of their exper iences
to consider and examine effective strategies for supporting students in times of stress. The authors guided this inquiry
by reviewing logs, notes and video recordings of sessions held or rescheduled in Spring 2020.
Findings –The authors identified three major themes in how they adjusted their approach to considering the
pandemic: relaxed scheduling policies, emotional support beyond the writing process by permitting students to set the
writing aside while they focused on the more immediate concerns emerging from the rapid onset of pandemic life and
intentionally using the opportunity to form deeper interpersonal connections with students in their home environments.
Originality/value –As institutions reflect on lessons learned during pandemic stresses, closures and mandates,
intentional exploration and reflection allow for a greater understanding of what improvements the authors can make
to future practice. This uniquely positioned study offersa valuable perspective on supporting students through crisis.
Keywords Online learning, e-learning, Student support, Doctoral education, Remote instruction,
Hybrid higher education, Pandemic pedagogy
Paper type Research paper
Introduction
While March 2020 signaled school closures and moves online for many educational
institutions (Park, 2020;Jung et al., 2021;Moja, 2021;Watermeyer et al.,2021), the online
Acknowledgement: This article was reviewed by the Editor-in-Chief rather than being reviewed by
two anonymous referees.
Information and
Learning Sciences
245
Received30 Octobe r 2023
Revised18 January 2024
29N ovember 2024
Accepted1 December 2024
Informationand Learning
Sciences
Vol.126 No. 3/4, 2025
pp. 245-258
© Emerald Publishing Limited
2398-5348
DOI 10.1108/ILS-10-2023-0152
The current issue and full text archive of this journal is available on Emerald Insight at:
https://www.emerald.com/insight/2398-5348.htm
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