Discussion Question

Review the document defining the Dissertation Roles and Responsibilities on the DC Network. Find it using the DC Network search function. Identify any questions you have on the responsibilities. How does the role of your chair differ from the role of instructors in previous classes you have taken?

How is your role different? Are these roles different than you expected? Why or why not? Why is it very important to you, personally and professionally, to be proactive in establishing a positive working relationship with your chair and committee members? Knowing that professional difference of opinion or conflict is inevitable on dissertation committees, how will you leverage these to improve creativity?

The DC network is a resource for doctoral learners to gain understanding of the dissertation process, timeline, and templates to utilize when writing the dissertation. It also provides resources on methodology resources and content experts. In addition to this, the Grand Canyon University website provides, the role of the dissertation chair is to guide you through the finish line and helps you address all the issues and get through that bump in the road. The role of the instructor is to provide you with the information and rules of the game, and then coordinate between the doctoral learner and the chair and bridge the gap.

My role is to take constructive criticism and apply all the changes necessary to complete the dissertation. An interesting study by Black (2017) discusses some of the challenges of faculty who mentor online doctoral candidates and opportunities that also arise from the mentor/mentee relationship in the online doctoral journey.

The only difference in the online mentorship is the interaction of only online space rather than the traditional face to face and sitting in the classroom. However, Black (2017) says online doctoral mentoring and dissertation prospectus process is that it can be structured, coaching, and develop close relationship even in the online space and can be just as meaningful as if the doctoral journey was in a classroom setting and face to face.

Conflict between different personalities in a group setting can get explosive, it is just the same potential possibility when working and dealing with the dissertation committee. My plan is to lose the ego, follow the templates and the guidelines, then make myself an empty shell and absorb all the knowledge and information and criticism to complete the dissertation.

Reference(s)

Black, R. (2017). E-MENTORING THE ONLINE DOCTORAL STUDENT FROM THE DISSERTATION PROSPECTUS THROUGH DISSERTATION COMPLETION. Journal of Learning in Higher Education, 13(1).