3 Questions for An Alt-Academic Working Towards A PhD | Inside Higher Ed - Technology and Learning

3 Questions for An Alt-Academic Working Towards A PhD appeared on Technology and Learning by Dr. Joshua Kim, A space for conversation and debate about learning and technology. 

Technology and Learning

A Q&A with Ashley Kehoe, Associate Director of Experiential Learning at the Dartmouth Center for the Advancement of Learning.

Photo: Ashley Kehoe

Ashley Kehoe is the inaugural Associate Director of Experiential Learning at the Dartmouth Center for the Advancement of Learning. (Where I also work).

Ashley has graciously agreed to share her thoughts and experience as full-time alt-academic who is also working towards a PhD.

Question 1:  Why are you studying for a PhD?  How does your graduate work relate to your job?  What will a PhD give you that you think will contribute to your goals for your institution and your career?

A:  Something I’ve discovered in my first year as a doctoral student is that I’m not actually studying for a PhD, I’m studying to become a PhD. The distinction there is that this experience is inspiring me to think more deeply, approach problems more critically, and engage with my own learning differently than I ever have. It’s really not about what the degree will do for me, it’s about what the experience is doing to the way I think and how I approach my work. It’s truly been a transformative process so far.

The program itself - Antioch University’s PhD in Leadership and Change - connects strongly to my career in higher education. I purposefully chose a program that cuts across disciplinary boundaries, so I have the opportunity to study higher education from multiple lenses beyond the field and learn in a diverse community of faculty and students with years of experience in a wide range of industries.

As an aspiring leader in higher education, a PhD is sort of a mandatory credential for career advancement, but I try not to think of it that way, as a box to check. Instead, I’m framing this as a multi-year opportunity to dedicate time and energy to questions and ideas I have about higher education that I’ve otherwise been too busy to explore as a full-time professional working in the field for the past decade. A year into life as a PhD student, I fully believe this will make me a more effective professional in the long-run, and that I will come out of this program deeply rooted in the scholarship of my field with significant contributions to make and the skills to actually make them.
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Source: Inside Higher Ed (blog)