EDUC 800 – Ways of Knowing
Description:
This course is a foundation course for the Ph.D. in Education program. The purpose of the course is to explore how we come to know and accept a method(s) of inquiry among the various ways of knowing. Using a seminar approach structured around readings, reflections on those readings, class discussions, and individual research, the course seeks to develop in students an ability to reflect critically on the strengths and limitations of the various ways of knowing and to become aware of the implications of the different ways of knowing for research and practice.
Reflections:
The Ways of Knowing course served as a preparation for me as a future scholar. It was an indepth exploration of ways in which humans reason and make sense of the world around them. In other words, it served as an introduction to the research world, an insight for me to examine hypotheses from different angles.
Prior to this course, I thought that theories are fixed and cannot change and that the world around us adapts to these theories, but all of this changed after I read the different philosophies behind humans’ ways of knowing. I, myself thought that the objectivist, quantitative approach to research was more accurate than its counter narrative, qualitative methods. However, at the end of this course, I came up with a conclusion that both qualitative and quantitative methods of research combined serve as a good triangulation method to collect and analyze data. Below is a collection of the weekly journal articles that I wrote to reflect on the readings, the final Ways of Knowing Paper, and a final reflection paper about the course.
EDUC 800-Journal 1, EDUC 800- Journal 2, EDUC 800- Journal 3, EDUC 800-Journal 4
EDUC 800-Journal 5, EDUC 800-Journal 6, EDUC 800-Journal 7, EDUC 800-Journal 8
Women Ways of Knowing (Final Paper)
EDUC 800- Final reflection Paper