Building a Community of Education Researchers: An Example from Physical Therapy

• In Event: Creating Community, Navigating Boundaries, and Traversing Diverse Landscapes: Evolving Education Researcher Identities in Rehabilitation Professions

Abstract

Purpose: With support from the American Physical Therapy Association (APTA), Academy of Education of the APTA, and the American Council of Academic Physical Therapy, a group of established education and clinical researchers created GAMER (Grant writing and Mentorship in Education Research) as a vehicle for education researcher development. This study explored GAMER participant experiences, perceived outcomes, and the role of their institutional sponsor.

Perspective/Theoretical Framework: The study examined the GAMER experience using two theoretical frames. In Bland’s model of research conducive organizations,17 the individual, institution, and leadership dimensions are essential in predicting faculty research productivity. The GAMER application process addresses the institutional and leadership dimensions by requiring institutional financial support and the designation of an institutional sponsor for the participant (mentee). The GAMER program elements (curricular design, intentional mentoring, and immersive social-relational learning environment) address the mentee individual development.

The community of practice (COP) framework, grounded in Lave and Wenger’s situated learning theory,4-8 provides an interpretative lens for exploring the learning where groups of people share a passion, a desire to learn and improve their practice. The five stages of development of a CoP:18 potential, forming, maturing, self-sustaining, and transformation, and within these stages, learner identity through the modes of engagement, imagination, and alignment provided structure for exploring the GAMER experience.

Methods: This qualitative case study used a constructive interpretive approach.15 Data were collected via semi-structured interviews with institutional sponsors and focus groups with GAMER participant cohorts (years 1-4). Interviews were conducted via Zoom and transcribed verbatim. Transcript data were coded and analyzed using a template analysis approach. A priori themes from the theoretical models were redefined and revised in an iterative process to develop integrative themes. 12

Results: Twenty-one GAMER participants, representing four mentee cohorts, engaged in the focus groups. Individual interviews were conducted with 5 institutional sponsors. Data from the mentee cohort focus groups were organized into an integrative theme visible across all cohorts and experiences: professional identity formation as an education researcher. 13,15 Across the cohorts of mentees, the immersive GAMER experience and activities served to effectively catalyze development of a COP through multiple phases (potential, forming, maturing, and self-sustaining).18 For identity development, the GAMER experience and activities contributed to learner engagement in the COP. Following the workshop, mentees developed their own cohort communities for support through continued interactions and collaboration (imagination), and some mentees facilitated learning lab development within their programs as a structure and evidence of alignment within their institutional research community.5,8,15

The institutional sponsors’ lens engaged in COP development during the application process and financial support (potential phase) and through a commitment contract with the GAMER participant (forming phase).18 The institutional sponsors also demonstrated variable degrees of identification and deidentification with the modes of identity development of the GAMER participant.

Scholarly Significance: The GAMER experience serves as an amplifier of the participant’s identity formation and career trajectory as an education researcher. Situated, intentional, immersive learning experiences can successfully build capacity by engaging institutional support and accelerating the development of education researchers in physical therapy.

Authors

• Chris Sebelski, Saint Louis University

• Gail M. Jensen, Creighton University

• Melissa Tovin, University of Miami

• Elizabeth Mostrom, Central Michigan University