Reflections on developing student authors: From class paper to journal publication

Abstract

In this article, I describe my reflections on developing student authors through a class research project. I review the assignment origins and description and my role in the students' developmental journey from transforming a class assignment to a publishable work.

While Wright's (this issue) article provides an overview of the potential for popular culture archetypes to influence workplace learning, the following three articles offer a focused review of a particular media example and the emergent representations of adult learning concepts and theories. The student-authored papers were composed in my Methods of Adult Learning course where students (graduate Human Resource Development students) explored representations of adult learning concepts and theories in a media example. Specifically, the authors used learning theory as a lens to examine how the characters and settings were representative of different adult learning concepts and to critically reflect on their experiences as both researchers and consumers (see Hutchins & Bierema, this issue) of popular culture. In this article, I provide an overview of the media analysis assignment and an introduction to the papers noting the benefits and challenges of moving the assignment from a student class paper to a publishable work.

Contextualizing the Assignment

Exploring adult learning through popular culture provides an opportunity to engage critical pedagogy in the classroom, workplace, or any experience where exposure of differences is important. A primary outcome of the adult learning class was for students to understand the myriad of adult learning theories and concepts, as well as how these theories guide human resource development (HRD) practice and research. The specific course project assignment (among two other assignment options) was to assist students in recognizing how adult learning theory is evident through various forms of popular culture, opportunities where it can be leveraged as an instructional method that promotes critical thinking, and to consider how media analysis might offer an alternative form of pedagogical inquiry. As Wright (this issue) opined, using media as a text for exploring learning concepts moves past traditional class mediums to narratives that are both close, familiar and exciting to students. I used Merriam, Caffarella, and Baumgartner's (2007) Learning in Adulthood as the primary course text because it provided a comprehensive grounding in adult development concepts and learning theories. Students also read targeted articles on adult learning theories as applied to workplace learning.

My idea for this assignment originated after my own experience with the movie SlumDog Millionaire, a film that chronicled the retrospective journey of a teenager as the last contestant on the Indian version of “Who Wants to be a Millionaire?” Having just returned from a two-week trip in India, my reaction to the film portrayals of poverty and child abuse confirmed many of the images I observed during my travels. I often asked my Indian counterparts how a culture so rich in democracy, spirituality and education could allow this treatment of their citizens, many of whom are children. However, as I watched the movie, I began to consider the larger question of the character representations in the film; that is, how were the images and characters used to convey a message about India, its people and its culture?

Although Slumdog Millionaire is not the only theatrical portrayal of India, it did reach a wide audience given its large release and subsequent popularity. While the movie depicted a country of greed, deprivation, and abuse, I wondered how this portrayal of India would influence viewers who would use this movie to primarily inform their perception of Indian culture, people, and values. Although I experienced some of those same aspects of India, I also encountered a country and people fiercely dedicated to social justice, education, and beauty. As I began to critically question the motives behind the movie and what stereotypes the characters were attempting to portray about India, I experienced what Shapiro (2002) describes as a “decentering moment” (p. 5) that left me questioning my own experience compared with the constructed narrative of the movie. From this experience, I developed an assignment where I asked my students to consider some of these same questions; namely, to explore the extent to which popular culture creates and guides our understanding of our own learning and development, and how can we use popular culture as a medium in developing a critical perspective of self and others.

The Media Analysis assignment option (Figure 1) was one of three options students could choose to complete for their course project (worth 30% of their grade) with the top paper authors invited to adapt their papers for potential publication in a HRD or adult education outlet. Students shared their course projects using poster sessions with selected popular culture media representations (video clips, text samples, narratives) in their final course presentations. The ensuing discussions were riveting, insightful and energizing, to say the least, and the experience helped the student authors make the representations and application of adult learning theory “come alive” for themselves and their peers.

Figure 1. Media Analysis paper

Article Overview and Review Process

The three selected articles included in this issue review a diverse array of popular culture examples that highlight how life's unexpected, and sometimes tragic, events can transform deeply held perspectives of justice, acceptance, and belief. Two of the articles focus on transformational learning, while the other article reviews various adult development concepts all of which were covered in the class. In Sharma's (this issue) review of the film American History X, she offers targeted suggestions for using the film to teach Mezirow's (1997) process of perspective transformation and critical reflection around issues of race and class disparities. She provides a unique approach to teaching transformational learning theory by examining how the main character (Derek) in American History X moves through the stages of transformational learning on his path to change. Similarly, Morntountak (this issue) explores how transformational learning theory can be understood through the popular novel, The Shack, and raises questions concerning hegemonic and religious representations of race, religion and gender. Her review highlights how learning can occur through grieving by challenging the main character's belief in spirituality and diversity. Finally, Koenig and Smith (this issue) analyze the film The Curious Case of Benjamin Button by tracing cognitive, physiological and social learning theories to examine Benjamin's (main character) process of aging backwards. Their review identifies several adult development concepts and learning theories as Benjamin's “off time” process of aging and learning occur in reverse. Koenig and Smith posit the film as a useful vehicle for understanding the aging process, the assumptions made about older workers, and conforming to societal behavioral norms.

I selected the three papers as “papers with potential for publication” based on their initial writing, conceptual understanding and application, and implications for research and practice. When students agreed to improve their papers for publication, I provided iterative reviews and feedback over several months that included writing style and paper organization, conceptual development, methodology, results, and implications for research and practice. Two of the four students had completed my Research Design course (also a HRD program core course) where they learned aspects of scholarly writing and were required to design a research proposal. As expected, these students' work needed fewer revisions and feedback. Student authors also received additional feedback and requests for changes during the journal submission process noting both strengths and challenges to the papers. Overall, the papers still have areas of improvement (elaborated in the next section) but are included here as examples of developing student scholar works.

Assignment Reflections

My goal of having students explore a non-traditional text (popular culture) to identify adult learning concepts and theories was successful as they chose compelling examples for their data and drew inferences to multiple representations of adult learning concepts and theories. Additionally, and as discussed in Hutchins and Bierema (this issue), the student authors developed a more critical perspective of media representations which prompted each to reflect on their own experience with stereotypes, marginalization, and hegemonic control. The second goal of moving some of those works from class papers to publishable articles was harder than initially expected, as the writing quality and organization, literature synthesis and conclusions, and links to practice and future research were more difficult to address. Helping students move class papers to manuscripts suitable for scholarly publication requires time to develop students' competencies in scholarly writing and is difficult to achieve through providing feedback on a single paper. As noted in Nielsen and Rocco's (2002) research on graduate student perceptions of writing for publication, developing student writing competencies often requires multiple developmental experiences (e.g., writing/research class, mentoring, publication standards for review). My reflections on working with student authors in readying their papers for publication include requiring student writing and research competencies prior to working on a publication paper and clarifying (and staying present) in my role as advisor and coach.

As previously mentioned, two of the four students (Koenig and Smith, this issue) had taken a graduate course on research design and scholarly writing before completing the adult learning assignment. This experience proved helpful for them in conceptualizing the research issue, selecting an appropriate method, and knowing how to organize a research paper. Expecting students to learn how to write in a scholarly manner while also learning about the subject matter is a difficult feat, thus making my future process for identifying papers as “potentials for publication” dependent on the writing experience of the student author(s). Novice scholars often struggle in both fully knowing their subject and in using common discursive practices to present research in a credible manner to a particular audience (Lee & Atchison, 2011). As most graduate students learn research skills and writing in their graduate program, working with students that either exhibit a high level of research competency resulting from taking a graduate research and writing class (or comparable experience) should be a prerequisite to working with student authors in developing class papers to publishable manuscripts. When lacking such experience, students (and the faculty advisor) endure numerous challenges that risks discouraging students about research given the amount of editing and revisions involved to meet publication standards. Some of the specific challenges included formulating a problem statement, linking the results to the implications for research and practice, and providing a thorough review of primary works rather than relying on secondary sources. Each of these challenges are reviewed below.

In all three papers, students struggled with developing a compelling problem statement that a general audience (rather than just a professor as reader) would be interested in reviewing. While students noted the utility of using popular culture as a way of informing instructional practice and as a non-traditional form of understanding about learning theories, the expanded readership commensurate with a published paper would require a more convincing discussion of why such inquiry is important and relevant. Other issues could have included critiques of or contradictory evidence concerning teaching practices of adult learning, deficiencies or gaps in using popular culture as an instructional medium, or conceptual or methodological conflicts within the extant literature (Jacobs, 2011). Successfully articulating a problem statement requires a firm understanding of the literature to understand the spaces where such gaps and inconsistencies exist, and is difficult to teach when students are both learning about the topic and how to revise their class paper into a form that meets publication standards.

Students were also challenged with aligning their results (i.e., the emergent representations of learning theory in their sample) with their subsequent implications for practice and research. In their review of management articles implications for practice section, Bartunek and Rynes (2010) define the implications for practice section as “explicit statements that the findings suggest the value of implementing some type of activity or practice” (pp. 102–103), that may include increasing awareness, implementing training or learning, or redesigning a process or area. They suggest improving the implications section by linking implications to well-established generalized principles found within the research, connecting results to current areas of practice and issues practitioners struggle to resolve, and clearly explicating the research context so that readers can infer whether the situation is similar enough that the suggestions may be relevant to their situation. Each of these suggestions requires an advanced reading and understanding of the literature and to current practice trends and issues where the results could be applied, knowledge that is usually difficult for novice writers and researchers. A third challenge was in getting students to review primary works, rather than relying on secondary sources to interpret the major findings. While the Merriam, et al. (2007) text is a comprehensive review of adult learning theory and proved an excellent primer for a graduate adult learning course, student authors would rely on the text rather than reviewing the primary sources for the concept or theory.

My second reflection is in needing to clearly define and stay in the role as a coach and advisor through the feedback phase. Whilst my feedback did help students edit their papers, I observed students were anxious and often disappointed when they received additional feedback requests and edits by me or by the reviewing editor, a finding commensurate in other research on graduate students and writing development (Caffarella & Barnett, 2000). I grew increasingly concerned about asking for additional work when I knew my or others' requests exceeded their skills, thus resulting in my move from the role of coach and advisor to “ghost writer” (i.e., making the edits for them) on a few occasions. Although student confidence tended to improve as they moved closer to finalizing their edits, I suspect their anxiety was heightened given the source of the feedback requests (their professor) rather than a more neutral party (their peers). For example, Cuthbert & Spark (2008) found that the use of writing groups helped students writing for publication by reducing writer apprehension from critiques and gaining support for writing development. I believe peer reviews can also help foster student critical thinking of their interaction with and analysis of popular culture in terms of motives, intention, and interpretation in student writing. Tisdell and Thompson (2007) call for adult educators to focus more on teaching critical media literacy as way for students to examine how their attitudes about others (gender, race, class, orientation) is influenced by popular culture. As related to my prior reflection of the need for students to have some formative research and writing training, including alternative methods of feedback for writing improvement (in class or part of small groups working on publishing their work) and as a mechanism for engaging critical thinking may have better supported my role in coaching for support and feedback.

In summary, my reflections shared here are not in any way critical of any one individual student, but rather of my professional practice of developing emerging scholars. I cannot underscore the amount of time the authors dedicated to revising their papers into publishable works, and I am honored to have been with them on this journey. Their passion for and commitment to research speaks to the kind of developing scholars we have in our HRD and adult education programs today. In addition to their articles, their lived experience with the assignment are rich examples of their own developing critical literacy, a skill that we hope all of our students leave a program doing more of. I believe readers will benefit from understanding how the students engaged with and used popular culture narratives to complete their assignment in an adult learning class. I also hope that my reflections on moving student papers to a level of publication quality are useful for instructors who attempt to develop student (published) authors in their courses.