A tale of two cultures : building community by researching community

Jon Drane, Wenjie Cai, Andrea Wechsler, Eveline Mussi, Ye Shi, Laura Crommelin

Research output: Chapter in Book / Conference PaperConference Paperpeer-review

Abstract

![CDATA[Upon beginning postgraduate research at the Faculty of Built Environment at UNSW, the authors were surprised to find themselves working in a library like environment, where a culture of silence prevailed. Assuming initially that this was just how postgraduate research was, they soon learned that the building also housed a second postgraduate lab with a different work environment featuring more interaction. This discovery prompted the authors to create an informal research community group, the Cohort Knowledge Share Group (CKSG), and to develop a ‘mini-thesis’ to explore the lab differences and to share the thesis creation process. Auto-ethnographic perspectives shaped the mini-thesis study, which utilized mixed methodology incorporating a questionnaire, individual reflections and interviews, focus group sessions and observation. The mini-thesis results illustrated that despite undertaking a common journey, the research student community’s diverse and multicultural nature created complex needs for facilities, community engagement and personal support. In addition, while undertaking the mini-thesis study, the authors discovered that the innovative CKSG model had changed the sense of community in the main postgraduate lab, as well as the broader research student journey. As this case study will show, the CKSG has therefore been a transformative experience in more ways than one.]]
Original languageEnglish
Title of host publicationRegional and Global Cooperation in Educational Research : Proceedings of the Joint Australian Association for Research in Education and Asia-Pacific Education Research Association Conference (AARE-APERA 2012) : University of Sydney, 2-6 December 2012
PublisherAustralian Association for Research in Education
Pages1-13
Number of pages13
Publication statusPublished - 2012
EventAustralian Association for Research in Education. Conference -
Duration: 2 Dec 2012 → …

Publication series

Name
ISSN (Print)1324-9320

Conference

ConferenceAustralian Association for Research in Education. Conference
Period2/12/12 → …

Keywords

  • graduate students

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