Thomas W Maxwell

Bio: Thomas W Maxwell is an academic researcher from University of New England (Australia). The author has contributed to research in topics: Higher education & Teacher education. The author has an hindex of 16, co-authored 62 publications receiving 899 citations. Previous affiliations of Thomas W Maxwell include University of New England (United States).

From First to Second Generation Professional Doctorate

Abstract: The development of professional doctorates in Australia and elsewhere in the 1990s has led to a reconsideration of the nature of the doctoral award. There is evidence in Australia for the emergence of what has been called a second generation of professional doctorates. In this inductive article, the features of the latter are developed from three case studies. Research into an EdD and its subsequent development from a first to a second generation programme are also presented.

Research Training in Doctoral Programs - What can be learned from Professional Doctorates?

Abstract: Doctoral education in Australia is currently under pressure to become more industry focused. This report discusses the relatively recent experience of offering doctoral education through professional doctorate programs as a contribution to the improvement of doctoral education in Australian universities. The evaluation focused on the extent to which such programs had developed practices for sustaining closer collaboration between universities and industry, through: • a review of the general literatures relating to the role of doctoral research in contributing to the growth of knowledge and innovation; • a multi-method exploration of the range of practices and relationships associated with professional doctorate programs; and • the development of strategies and policy recommendations for optimising doctoral education in Australian universities in terms of industry-focused outcomes. When set against the 800-year history of the PhD, the professional doctorate is a young doctorate, the first being set up in Australia within the last two decades. The nature and status of professional doctorates remains unclear to many, including a number of university administrators of research training, as well as government and industry personnel. The fact that 61 per cent of professional doctorate programs fall under the classification of ‘research’ higher degrees is not widely understood. Moreover, the 131 programs we found to exist in 35 of the 38 Australian public universities, exhibit a wide range of structures and features. While there is strong evidence of an increase in the number of professional doctorates being offered in Australian universities, and there is some evidence of innovation in a number of professional doctorate programs, it appears that industry-focused doctoral education is still in its infancy. With a few exceptions, neither industry nor universities were engaging in any significant way to develop sustainable partnerships to serve and support the work of doctoral education. While the government White Paper Knowledge and Innovation (Kemp, 1999a) is clearly having an impact on universities in terms of active improvement of the quality and accountability of research training, industry remains to be engaged in any systematic or sustained way. Most operational professional doctorates programs may be characterised as having ‘surface’ level links, in that they exhibit the following features: • A particular industry or group of industries is the source from which most clients come and to which they return; • There is some attempt made to involve non-academic individuals from industry and/or a professional group in course delivery, supervision or assessment (this is likely to be limited and ad-hoc); • Research and research activities are workplace-based; and • Marketing materials stress the value of the program to targeted professions. A few programs exhibited ‘deep’ levels of linkage with professional and industry bodies as indicated by the following: • Their establishment is driven by a particular industry or professional association (eg, peak industry groups define the nature of the training to be undertaken and the skills/attributes that are to be developed); • Industry and/or professions are partners in the delivery and supervision of programs, and this is built into the funding and/or sponsorship arrangements that exist between universities, participants and external bodies; • Industry/professional bodies play a substantial role in the assessment and credentialing process; • Research training outcomes are of a nature and in a form that is recognisable as beneficial to the industry/professional partner; and • The community of learning built around the program includes both academic and industry and/or profession based participants. While the strengths in a number of the ‘surface’-linked programs investigated are impressive, the potential for professional doctorates to offer a context for more innovative and industry-focused doctoral training is yet to be realised. In particular, there are significant possibilities for the design and development of doctoral programs that deliver new types of quality research training. Programs that are deeply linked to industry and/or the professions are needed to achieve this. There is no evidence that surface levels of engagement evolve into deeper ones.

School Climate and School Culture

Abstract: The concept of climate is a recurring theme of the three sections of this article. The inadequacy of climate as a metaphor is addressed in the first section. Teachers do, however, use the term “climate” in an explanatory and predictive way. When evaluators and researchers work with teachers they have a particular responsibility both in provision of data and in the use of concepts which frame the data. These and related issues form the second section. The third and major section portrays a model of culture which acknowledges overt and covert meanings as well as the interaction of the different levels of the model, namely beliefs, values, norms and standards, and finally behaviour. The discussion develops a linkage from the culture of the organisation to wider societal influences. School climate is placed as the most superficial level of the interactive model of school culture.

Towards a reconceptualisation of the doctorate: Issues arising from comparative data relating to the EdD degree in Australia

Abstract: The Doctor of Education (EdD) in Australia has burgeoned to the extent that in the 1990s more than half of Australian universities have introduced the award and more than 550 students have enrolled. A survey of EdD provision found that, although literature provided by universities indicated that the awards were professional in orientation, the structures of the awards were typically academic: coursework plus thesis with the majority being one-third coursework. The nature of the awards was likely to be academic in the majority of cases. Questions raised by these findings underpinned the rethinking of the nature of professional doctorates via an argument that placed the context of the professional as central, with the culture of academia being less central. The reconceptualisation is explored further through a consideration of policy issues including the nature of programmes and the relations between academics and professionals.

Producing the professional doctorate: the portfolio as a legitimate alternative to the dissertation

Abstract: This paper outlines the potential of the portfolio as a product of doctoral work, especially in the Professional Doctorates. It compares the traditional mode of a single, lengthy but clearly focused doctoral dissertation with the portfolio as a collection of shorter research reports, held together by a linking paper articulating the thesis. We argue that the portfolio is appropriate for the Professional Doctorate that focuses upon improvement in the professional workplace and that coherence and significance are key issues.

Democracy and education.

Abstract: Course Description In this course, we will explore the question of the actual and potential connections between democracy and education. Our focus of attention will be placed on a critical examination of democratic theory and its implications for the civic education roles and contributions of teachers, adult educators, community development practitioners, and community organizers. We will survey and deal critically with a range of competing conceptions of democracy, variously described as classical, republican, liberal, radical, marxist, neomarxist, pragmatist, feminist, populist, pluralist, postmodern, and/or participatory. Using narrative inquiry as a means for illuminating and interpreting contemporary practice, we will analyze the implications of different conceptions of democracy for the practical work of civic education.

English as a global language

Abstract: A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library ISBN 0 521 82347 1 hardback ISBN 0 521 53032 6 paperback Contents List of tables page vii Preface to the second edition ix Preface to the first edition xii 1 Why a global language? 1 What is a global language? 3 What makes a global language? 7 Why do we need a global language? 11 What are the dangers of a global language? 14 Could anything stop a global language? 25 A critical era 27 2 Why English? The historical context 29 Origins 30 America 31 Canada 36 The Caribbean 39 Australia and New Zealand 40 South Africa 43 South Asia 46 Former colonial Africa 49 Southeast Asia and the South Pacific 54 A world view 59 v Contents

Teaching for quality learning at university

Abstract: by J. Biggs and C. Tang, Maidenhead, England, Open University Press, 2007, 360 pp., £29.99, ISBN-13: 978-0-335-22126-4