Begin with The End in Mind: Storying The Post-Pandemic PhD

This article probes the value of stories, storytelling and storying the PhD. While policies and procedures – rightly – punctuate a doctoral candidature, it is the stories that move a student beyond individual experiences, disappointments and traumas, and into meaning, reflection and propulsion into the future. As the ‘new normal' of the post-pandemic PhD becomes clear, there is a necessity to understand, support and enable the very specific cohort of students enrolled during Covid-19. The first half of this article introduces ‘storying' as a reflective practice for PhD and post-PhD students, to configure alignments between beginnings and endings, decisions and choices. The second half presents ten mantras, slogans or triggers to commence meaningful storying in and from doctoral education. The goal of this paper is to move (post)pandemic, (post)PhD students beyond remorse, blame, guilt, anger and shame, and to find resonance and purpose in and through decision making.

Approaches to embodied interaction in the design of playful environments for young children

The research conducted in this doctoral study will consider how digital technologies can be used in the design of interactive environments that enable open-ended play for children. The practicalities of interactive technology may be interpreted as at odds with the ambiguity necessary to facilitate open-ended play. However, I argue that this remains underexplored and that the lived experience of the COVID-19 pandemic, profoundly blurring the limits of the digital and non-digital, offers an opportunity to explore how technologies may be used in the design of playful spaces where children participate in the creation of the meaning of their interactions. Future work will follow an iterative methodological structure that combines qualitative observational approaches with Research through Design (RtD) methods to answer the defined research questions while designing and deploying workable prototypes of playful interactive environments for children. © 2022 Owner/Author.

Doctoral Journey During Covid-19: Reflections From a Collaborative Autoethnography

Aim/Purpose This paper identifies and examines cross-cutting experiences from the perspective of two doctoral students, whose research was affected by the coronavirus pandemic (COVID-19).

Mapping the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on pharmacy graduate students' wellness.

BACKGROUND: The COVID-19 pandemic has resulted in significant changes in pharmacy graduate students' (PhGS) lives. While pharmacy graduate programs across the U.S. have reported adjustments due to the pandemic, there is currently no data on the PhGS' wellness, and the impact on and extent to which offered supports and guidance has met PhGS needs. OBJECTIVE: This study's objectives were 1) to explore PhGS' perspectives on their challenges and the impact of these challenges on their wellness, and 2) to identify PhGS' suggestions for pharmacy graduate programs to improve guidance and support offered during the COVID-19 pandemic. METHODS: This study conducted semi-structured interviews based on the Objective, Reflective, Interpretative, Decisional (ORID) methodology. Pharmacy students working on completing a PhD in programs across the United States were invited to participate. All interviews were conducted using the Zoom platform between May and June 2020. Digital audio recordings were auto transcribed using the Trint platform. Thematic analysis was conducted using the six-dimensional model of wellness developed by Hettler as a guide, while open coding of the PhGS' suggestions was conducted inductively. RESULTS: Thirteen PhGS across six universities in the U.S. were interviewed. During the pandemic, all six dimensions of the Wellness model were found to be challenged for PhGS. PhGS' challenges differed based on their laboratory-based vs. non-laboratory-based research settings. International PhGS reported differing challenges from domestic PhGS. PhGS also provided 18 practical suggestions for improving the teaching process and facilitating student's academic growth in the context of the COVID-19 pandemic. CONCLUSIONS: Despite the COVID-19 pandemic, graduate programs should continue developing a robust and tailored system to encourage and maintain mentorship programs to facilitate graduate students' successful path through their doctoral studies. Moreover, the suggestions offered by the PhGS participants in this study, when appropriately implemented, can also position graduate program success post-pandemic.