Doctoral Digital Portfolio

This webpage is designed for doctoral students who have chosen the Doctoral Digital Portfolio (DDP) route or are considering it for their year three research project. It also offers information for first and second readers who have been invited to guide doctoral students and review the DDPs.

First and Second Readers

The first and second readers have similar responsibilites to dissertation committee members, i.e., to guide a doctoral student in conducting research and to support the student for completing a DDP. The doctoral students who chose the DDP route will be in the following sequence of coursework:

Year 2 Spring 2 EDOC 7005 Research Design for DDP (online) 

Year 2 Summer EDOC 7902 Comprehensive Exam and Project Proposal (online) 

Year 3 Fall Semester EDOC 8001 DDP I (online)

Year 3 Spring Semester EDOC 8002 DDP II (online) 

For each of these courses, there would be a main professor who is responsible for guiding the students regarding narrowing down the topic, choosing a research method, and designing the project. However, in order to diversify the guidance, it is critical to have two other readers, who have doctoral degrees and expertise in the research area and method. Therefore, first and second readers are invited to perform such duties. Each doctoral student will be guided by a main professor and two readers. There is no difference between "first" and "second" readers and they essentially carry the same responsibilities. 

Expectation and Responsibilities of First and Second Readers

Readers are recommended to meet with doctoral students one-on-one via Zoom or in-person. Required meeting hours for each reader: 

A total of 8 hours (it can be 1 hour in Spring 2 and 3 to 4 hours towards the end). Please see the following suggested meeting arrangements:

A minimum of 2 hours meeting with a student in Spring 2 EDOC 7005;

a minimum of 2 hours meeting with a student in Summer EDOC 7902;

a minimum of 2 hours meeting with a student in Fall Semester EDOC 8001; and 

a minimum of 2 hours meeting with a student in Spring Semester EDOC 8002. 

In addition, readers are expected to read and comment on any substantial draft written by the doctoral student as proposal or final report for the DDP. Such drafts would be shared on One Drive with edit features turned on. The expectation for turnaround time is 14 calendar days. Readers are expected to offer comments and feedback within a 14 days timeframe. 

Total of $500 per student under the reader's guidance.

Notes: 

• Readers are required to stay with the same student until the successful completion of EDOC 8002. In the event that the reader needs to be changed, half of the compensation may be issued if the service ends in EDOC 8001. If the service ends before the end of EDOC 8001, the reader will not receive any compensation. 

• The compensation is available to full-time and adjunct faculty at Webster University. Full-time faculty may receive the compensation if teaching load is met. If under load, please refer to the Flexible Load Policy regarding the credit towards load (0.5 credits towards load). 

• The Director of Ed.D. will need to approve faculty or experts who are not employed by Webster.

• Full-time staff members at Webster are not allowed to receive payment per Office of Academic Affairs guidelines. 

Substantial Drafts Reading and Comments:

(Year 2) Spring 2 EDOC 7005 Research Design for DDP course: First and Second Readers will agree to the research topic and sign the DDP Form if time permits. Doctoral students may enter a typed name as suggested reader for the time being. 

(Year 2) Summer EDOC 7902 Comprehensive Exam and Project Proposal: Read the revised proposal for DDP and offer comments.

(Year 3) Fall Semester EDOC 8001 DDP I: Read the final project draft and offer comments.

(Year 3) Spring Semester EDOC 8002 DDP II: Read the final project draft and offer comments.

Note: Readers are not obligated to guide doctoral students on completing other assignments. 

DDP Requirements by the End of Year Three

DDP to be submitted in PDF

“The Ed.D. program at Webster University is designed for preparing well-rounded educator-scholars who have the passion and competence to make a difference in this world through scholarship and service…Beyond the four foci: theory, research, practice, and leadership, the program values social consciousness, criticality, and advocacy. Social consciousness corresponds to the connectedness of the dissertation projects to the sociopolitical, socioeconomic, and sociocultural contexts. As Webster is well respected as a leader in global citizenship, our program also values dissertation projects which engage in cross-cultural research with global contextual relevancy. Criticality refers to our critical thinking and analytical capacity to challenge the status quo and create new proposals for advancing the knowledge base and specialty area. Advocacy reminds us to take the findings from our dissertations to the next level and become a voice and advocate for the people that we represent and care for,” (from Ed.D. Google Site).

As the doctoral program fosters social consciousness, criticality, and advocacy, the final project, Doctoral Digital Portfolio, is aligned with these core values and objectives. The following paragraphs discuss the steps involved in this project. The DDP is built upon social constructionism and so you will create your own knowledge base, website, and social media profile. Though it is not a dissertation, it still contains the necessary elements of framing a study, literature review, appropriate research methods, and a discussion of findings. The DDP should have a wider reach of audience, which democratizes the knowledge dissemination and maximizes the impact of the work. 

In this project, you will continue to construct your own professional website (use any other free website services that you prefer), a social media account[1] (choose any social media platform such as Twitter, Facebook, etc. You can use an existing account), a Research Gate account, and construct your own knowledge base with your research topic. The project should help you make connections with existing body of research by following the works of academics and experts in the field through social media and Research Gate. 

The following paragraphs discuss the steps involved in the DDP. The project is built upon social constructionism and encourages students to create their own knowledge bases through professional websites, academic writing, and oral presentation.

There are 3 parts to the final project. Make sure to review and complete all three parts. 

Part 1: Professional Website

Assignment description:

As the doctoral program fosters social consciousness, criticality, and advocacy, the final project is aligned with these core values and objectives. The following paragraphs discuss the steps involved in this participatory project. The project is built upon social constructionism and so you will create your own knowledge base, website, and social media profile.

In this project, you will create your own professional website (use any other free website services that you prefer). The topic could stem from a theory, a social movement, with a clear identification of the problem of practice. 

Steps:

1.      Outline basic content
Create a Google Site to introduce yourself, your professional identity and positioning, research interests, and professional organizations that you belong to

o   Include a picture

o   Introduce yourself and your research interests

o   Include the professional organizations that you belong to

o   Are you an advocate for any particular causes or marginalized population?

o   If applicable, include publications, blog articles etc.

o   Optional: You may choose to link relevant social media accounts (Twitter, LinkedIn, YouTube channel etc.)

2.     Create a Research Gate (https://www.researchgate.net) account and link this profile to your professional website

o   Start to identify relevant theorists, scholars, academics that are relevant to your research interests and topic and follow their works.

3.     Construct your knowledge base

o   State the Problem of Practice that you are tackling with contextualization and rationale.

o   Start to write in your own words (with citations following APA) about the topic 

§  What is the historical development of your topic? How did it happen? Who are the important founders of the knowledge?

§  What are the sociocultural and sociopolitical contexts of the topic?

§  How has the topic of interest been received by other cultures in the world?

§  What is the gap in the existing knowledge base (please also use Google Scholar, our Library, and Mendeley) that you can contribute to?

§  How do you position yourself among the different perspectives?

§  How can you develop this into a research project?

4.     Construct your educational philosophy or teaching philosophy

o   Incorporating attention to social-global considerations. Include in your website.

o   You may choose to articulate your philosophy in the format of your choosing on your professional website. For example:

§  Written Philosophy

§  Video Presentation

§  Visual Representation

5.     Optional components
You may choose to include any of the following components in your website:

o   Link to relevant social media accounts (i.e., LinkedIn, Twitter)

o   Visual representations that help convey your philosophy, researcher identity,

o   Poem, song, or other artistic representation

o   Short film or documentary

o   A series of podcast that feature your presentation of the problem of practice

Part 2: DDP Research Paper

·       DDP Research Paper Guidelines:

o   60-120 pages, double-spaced, 1-inch margins

o   APA 7th Edition for citation and references (a minimum of 40 references required)

o   References can be journal articles, book chapters, and respected websites

o   Section headings required

o   Any inclusion of reprints from copyrighted materials (images, photos, tables, charts, illustrations) require a Copyright Release Permission Form

Sections in the written paper need to include:

·       Contextualization of the topic (historical, sociocultural, and sociopolitical contexts)

·       Theoretical Framing (Choose ONE theory that connects to your topic)

·       Literature Review (Identify at least 10 empirical studies with citations based on what you found online)

·       Statement of Problem of Practice (What is the problem? Who do you advocate for?)

·       Research Questions (What can you contribute to this problem?)

·       Methodology (quantitative, qualitative, or mixed)

·       Discussions & Impact in the Field (How does this relate to transformative education? How can this study benefit the research community and the marginalized population?)

·       IRB approval is required for projects that involve human subjects in the research.

Part 3: Oral Presentation

In addition to the professional website and research paper, you will record a 20-minute oral presentation of your DDP.

Guidelines for the Oral Presentation:

·       First 5 minutes: Present a summary of what you have done and the outcome of the project.

·       Next 5 minutes: Present a summary of the knowledge base that you built in this project, with at least 10 bullet points listing your major contribution.

·       Next 5 minutes: Explain your research design and methodology.

·       Last 5 minutes: Explain how your project is transformative and how you can develop research studies that connect with your topic of interest.

·       You do not need to include a reference list in your PowerPoint, as such is required in the written paper. Please use proper in-text citation (APA). 

[1] You may want to be thoughtful and check with your supervisors about having the chosen topics associated with you as a professional in the field.

Please note that the above requirements are subject to change. Rubrics are listed in EDOC 8002 syllabus.