The main idea that is shared in the article written by Al-Adeem (2017) is that the process of learning should be highlighted as the essential path for individuals searching for wisdom. The experience that one might gain throughout academic hardships represents a significant step toward motivating oneself to enter doctoral programs and extend their professional and personal reach (Al-Adeem, 2017). For the author of the article, it was crucial to share knowledge with the audience in order to link back all the experiences to the literature on the subject and validate the need to keep learning. One of the essential values that are praised by Al-Adeem (2017) is open-mindedness because it may be overly important to pay attention to a variety of outlooks when conducting research. Otherwise, doctoral studies would merely signify a waste of time and an unnecessary stage in one’s educational journey.
To build awareness on the subject of learning and siding with the significance of doctoral studies, Al-Adeem (2017) explains that many students overlook their career potential due to lacking a long-term plan. Notwithstanding the topic studied over the course of the doctoral program, corresponding students could be affected by the inability to enhance their knowledge base due to being unprepared to struggle. Thus, without practical expertise and the willingness to move forward, it can be too hard to move forward and build awareness (Al-Adeem, 2017; Lam et al., 2019). The author reviews his experience with a doctoral program at Case Western Reserve University as partially lucrative on account of the lack of recommendations that could help him excel in the professional field. Irrespective of all the theoretical rigor, the inability to apply knowledge to practice could result in unprecedented concerns and a lack of motivation among students.
When interpreting the findings presented within the framework of the article written by Al-Adeem (2017), it is crucial to consider one of the unintended verdicts reached by the author. He found that doctoral programs could eventually become an instrument to build up student mindfulness and apply critical thinking to see and process alternative arguments. Even though it sounds relatively easy, the real-world implications make it much harder to achieve a significant practical impact (Buirski, 2020). Consistent with the author of the article, doctoral students’ experiences could be hindered by the need to constantly explore phenomena without the actual possibility to interact with certain scenarios. With the help of detailed descriptions of his experience at Case Western Reserve University, Al-Adeem (2017) went beyond outlining the importance of the research agenda and claimed that proper doctoral education in any field should revolve around the exploration of different phenomena while being accompanied by professional practice.
Overall, the author of the article can be seen as a knowledgeable speaker whose experience and feedback could be incorporated into further theoretical frameworks and turned into real-life evidence. In other words, Al-Adeem (2017) advocated for a thorough consistency across doctoral education in order to convey the idea that students should be given an opportunity to enlarge their knowledge base and then convert it into practical experience. His experience at Case Western Reserve University was invaluable for him because it made him realize that education should be multifaceted in order for the intended students to reap benefits. With doctoral studies not being an exception, Al-Adeem (2017) focused on the fact of similarity among learning processes in different fields. The author proved in his article that open-mindedness and awareness could crucially aid doctoral students in analyzing opposing arguments and reaching valid verdicts that are connected to real-life implications and not theoretical assumptions.
References
Al-Adeem, K. R. (2017). Role of doctoral education in shaping minds and thinking: Reflection on my doctoral education at Case Western Reserve University. International Journal of Critical Accounting, 9(5-6), 494-513.
Buirski, N. (2020). Is mindfulness a useful next trend in doctoral supervision? Australian Universities’ Review, 62(2), 61-68.
Lam, C. K. C., Hoang, C. H., Lau, R. W. K., Cahusac de Caux, B., Chen, Y., Tan, Q. Q., & Pretorius, L. (2019). Experiential learning in doctoral training programmes: Fostering personal epistemology through collaboration. Studies in Continuing Education, 41(1), 111-128.