Seminars are held weekly during fall and winter semester on Fridays at noon in room 185 of the McKay Building.
Faculty and students from all departments are invited to attend.

Community of Inquiry

To further enhance education doctoral students' methodological expertise and to help them acquire the dispositions needed to be contributing professionals, a community of inquiry will be created in which education doctoral students and education faculty can come together in a collegial environment in which questioning is not only valued but expected, and in which the doctoral students and professors regularly engage in intellectual interactions that include

1. discussing unsettled theoretical issues, methodological problems, and differing philosophical perspectives;
2. listening to each other's ideas with respect;
3. challenging each other to clarify concepts and identify underlying differences in their points of view;
4. challenging each other to justify claims by providing supporting reasons or evidence;
5. building on and extending each other's ideas; and
6. proposing questions and hypotheses for further inquiry.

Culture of Collaboration

To create this culture, education doctoral students and education faculty will be provided with regular opportunities to

1. analyze and critique published reports of completed studies;
2. collaborate in designing and conducting new inquiry projects;
3. write proposals for new projects;
4. analyze data from inquiry projects, interpret the findings, and draw warranted conclusions;
5. prepare reports suitable for publication or dissemination to clients and other stakeholders;
6. review and critique prepublication reports of inquiry projects completed by their peers;
7. review and critique proposals written by others;
8. serve as apprentice consultants helping less experienced researchers solve problems related to research design, data analysis, and interpretation; and
9. participate in a biweekly seminar in which education faculty, doctoral students, and guests will be invited to present reports of inquiry projects they have conducted.

For the seminar, students will earn 0.5 credits per semester and will be expected to enroll for a minimum of four semesters. Each week one or more professors and/or graduate students will be invited to present the results of a study they have completed or to address current issues related to educational research, evaluation, assessment, or policy analysis. At least three times each semester, professionals from other BYU colleges, other universities, or outside agencies will be invited to report the results of their studies or to describe opportunities for potential projects. Hence, students will have opportunities to learn from a diversity of voices and points of view rather than being limited to the perspectives of faculty members in this program.