Pedagogy and Professional Development

Teaching Through the Eyes of Doctoral Students

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Abstract

Doctoral students have become the primary driving force of research activities in universities throughout the world. This study aims to fill the literature gap by exploring doctoral students' perspectives on their independent teaching experience in universities. Specifically, the study includes two objectives: (1) to explore how doctoral students perceive their independent teaching experience in higher education and (2) to investigate their dual roles. A phenomenological approach was used to address the purpose of the study. Findings suggest that the perceptions of doctoral students about independent teaching are analyzed and categorized as the challenges, benefits, and unique dual role. The challenges include initial teaching preparation, communication barriers, classroom management, acceptance by students, balancing the doctoral study and teaching. Participants indicated several benefits of independent teaching, including learning and growth, feeling of independence, confidence and self- esteem, improving presentation skills, and enriching resume. The dual role at the same university is a unique phenomenon experienced by doctoral students. They can mentally feel that they are not the teacher at the university, but from a responsibility perspective, they are.

Keywords: teaching, doctoral students, higher education

How to Cite:

Iqbal, M., Su, J. & Islam, A., (2022) “Teaching Through the Eyes of Doctoral Students”, International Textile and Apparel Association Annual Conference Proceedings 79(1). doi: https://doi.org/10.31274/itaa.15853