Becoming a scholar: a duoethnography of transformative learning spaces

Abstract

Researchers have examined learning partnerships from one-dimensional perspectives, exploring the voices of faculty or the voices of students. This duoethnographic study explored the learning partnership between a faculty member and graduate student on a research team. The authors situated this study employing a tripartite conceptual framework that included Freirean liberatory pedagogy, the learning partnerships model, and duoethnography. The researchers used personal narrative essays and transcripts from two interviews as the basis for this duoethnography. This work revealed key strategies for navigating dissonance including: validating, being vulnerable, and engaging the material. This study has implications for faculty members striving to enhance critical reflection strategies for facilitating transformative learning experiences for graduate students as well as graduate students aiming to build efficacy as scholars.