Education Commons^™

Advancing The Next Generation Of Higher Education Scholars: An Examination Of One Doctoral Classroom, Caroline Sotello Viernes Turner, J. Luke Wood, Yvonne J. Montoya, Idara R. Essien-Wood, Rebecca A. Neal, Gabriel Escontrías Jr., Aaron Coe

School of Education and Leadership<br />Faculty Publications

Course content in graduate school is especially important in terms of helping students make progress toward a doctorate. However, content is merely one aspect of developing successful students. This article highlights the value of creating an affirming learning environment by discussing one graduate class on Qualitative Policy Research. The majority of student participants were graduate students of color. The authors discuss the pedagogical approaches guiding this course and outline ways in which the instructor served to create safe spaces that invited as well as validated diverse perspectives and made the research process transparent. These efforts resulted in the production of …