Socialization From Professional Practice to Scholarly Professionals

This presentation focuses on secondary professional socialization of doctoral students, who are also working professionals, into scholarly professionals (Gill, Brown, & Reifsteck, 2014). Students who are working professionals... [ view full abstract ]

This presentation focuses on secondary professional socialization of doctoral students, who are also working professionals, into scholarly professionals (Gill, Brown, & Reifsteck, 2014). Students who are working professionals and not fully immersed in typical PhD programs face unique challenges that are interwoven with the complexity of their personal and professional lives (Watts, 2008). To date, little research has been done on secondary professional socialization in kinesiology. A recent study suggests that professional organizations provide valuable socialization experiences for graduate students (Richards, Eberline, & Templin, 2016). More research is needed to consider how graduate students transition into their doctoral studies. This presentation considers secondary professional socialization during the first year of an online doctorate of education program. Participants (N = 80) represent a variety of kinesiology subdisciplines including K-12 physical education teachers, PETE faculty, and athletic training professionals, among others. Data sources include open-ended surveys and internal program evaluations. Findings suggest that several program structures enhanced the student experience and promoted high levels of retention in the program. The findings are categorized in three themes that benefited students transition into their doctoral studies: 1) an on-site campus orientation program, 2) developing an online community of learning, and 3) integrating students into the culture of academia. This presentation will offer practical strategies that have been successful in helping students in an online professional doctoral program deal with challenges and become engaged scholars who can apply scholarly approaches to advance professional practice. Moreover, this study considers the secondary professional socializations of graduate students in a new model of doctoral education. Findings may provide future research directions for individuals interested in engaging working professionals in graduate education.