Teaching & Learning

This volume extends the interactive and supportive approach of the original Scaffolding the Language of Power to the unique genre demands of the Dissertation in Practice (DiP), the capstone of the Project on the Education Doctorate (CPED)-aligned Education Doctorate. Like its predecessor, the book is grounded in three interconnected commitments: doctoral writing as social justice, as genre, and as scaffolding. However, in this edition, original author Kathryn Strom teams up with CPED Executive Director Jill Alexa Perry to reimagine that framework for scholarly practitioners with professional knowledge, practical wisdom, and contextual change agendas that are central to the work of the dissertation. The book’s unique design features stem from our understanding of the DiP as a distinct form of doctoral inquiry oriented toward understanding, improving, and leading change within a specific practice context and in service of particular communities. Accordingly, this volume emphasizes the dual-audience nature of the DiP: although students write to their committee first, DiP work simultaneously needs to serve a practitioner/professional community. To achieve that, for example, scaffolds for organization, headings, and topic sentences are framed not only as tools for writing, but also for producing writing that is accessible to multiple audiences beyond academia. Second, the book maintains a practice-to-improvement arc, reminding readers throughout that their writing is building toward something that they will be implementing, evaluating, and acting on. Third, the book is written to honor the highly contextual nature of the DiP, helping writers achieve the specificity needed to make local work understandable and transferable to readers in other settings. Finally, the volume explicitly affirms a scholar-practitioner identity, positioning professional knowledge in dialogue with scholarly knowledge rather than as something requiring academic legitimization. These design features support readers while guiding them to complete the specific tasks of the dissertation in practice, which includes articulating a problem of practice grounded in organizational urgency and stakeholder impact; constructing a review of scholarly and professional knowledge; and using that literature to create a theory of action and contextual plan of intervention. The book focuses on applied research, with specific guidance for three methodologies most common to CPED-aligned programs, Action Research, Improvement Science, and Program/Practice Evaluation. As in the original volume, each chapter follows a carefully sequenced structure that includes warm-up reflections, explicit instruction in the genre's linguistic moves, annotated modeling, and scaffolded exercises that build systematically toward independent writing. Many examples are drawn from CPED-aligned dissertations, giving readers models that reflect the scholarship of practice central to their own doctoral work. Ultimately, the book provides an affirmative apprenticeship that honors practitioners' existing expertise while making visible the often-hidden rules of academic writing, helping scholarly practitioners build confidence in their writing and facilitating the dissemination of impact in service of local change.This title is part of a series--the first volume, Scaffolding the Language of Power: An Apprenticeship in Doctoral Level Writing and the Companion Workbook are available as a bundle. 

Higher education in the United States appears to be in trouble. Much of the American public sees colleges and universities as disengaged, elitist, not open to new or alternative ideas, something to be escaped—not to mention expensive, unproductive, out of touch, unaccountable, oblivious to their own failings, and increasingly irrelevant. There are many in our society who are promoting a vision of higher education that uses these perceptions to call into question the role of colleges and universities in our democracy. But on the author’s campus of Augsburg University and on campuses across the country, in our neighborhoods, and wherever our alumni live and work, the author sees just the opposite. He sees students who view education as a gift that carries with it a responsibility to give back. He sees faculty and staff committed to the vision that students receive a three-dimensional education—an education that equips them to make a living, make a life, and build community. He sees alumni and neighbors who care about each other and the world, and who are working each and every day to support a just and inclusive democracy. For those of us who believe in the public purposes of higher education, we live in the tension between negative perceptions of our worth and the reality of what we do everyday on the ground to support social mobility, economic well-being, and a robust common life. In the context of that tension, Paul Pribbenow believes that there is a moral claim on those of us who lead colleges and universities to step forward with an alternative story. At a time when higher education is often characterized as a private, transactional good, we are called to articulate a vision that challenges the prevailing narrative and makes a moral case for higher education as an engine for a robust, pluralistic democracy. In more than two decades as a university president, he has sought to advance that case. To illustrate how, he will use the story of Jacob wrestling with the angel as depicted in the book of Genesis. A reminder of how the story unfolds. The same night he got up and took his two wives, his two maids, and his eleven children, and crossed the ford of the Jabbok. He took them and sent them across the stream, and likewise everything that he had. Jacob was left alone; and a man wrestled with him until daybreak. When the man saw that he did not prevail against Jacob, he struck him on the hip socket; and Jacob’s hip was put out of joint as he wrestled with him. Then he said, “Let me go, for the day is breaking.” But Jacob said, “I will not let you go, unless you bless me.” So he said to him, “What is your name?” And he said, “Jacob.” Then the man said, “You shall no longer be called Jacob, but Israel, for you have striven with God and with humans, and have prevailed.” Then Jacob asked him, “Please tell me your name.” But he said, “Why is it that you ask my name?” And there he blessed him. So Jacob called the place Peniel, saying, “For I have seen God face to face, and yet my life is preserved.” The sun rose upon him as he passed Penuel, limping because of his hip. Pribbenow’s argument, and sincere belief, is that higher education is about learning to wrestle with ideas, values, and relationships that demand our attention. He believes that students must learn to see the topics they wrestle with not as obstacles to overcome or defeat, but as “angels” that demand respect and thoughtful attention. The purpose of this vision of education is like it was for Jacob: to be named and claimed as those called to meaning and purpose in the world. And like Jacob who became Israel, wrestling with angels leaves students wounded, vulnerable, humbled—and also equipped for the work they are called to do - to thrive as neighbors, professionals, and citizens.Perfect for courses such as:Ethics and Higher Education; Higher Education Leadership; Education and Democracy; Leading Faith-Based Colleges and Universities; The State of Higher Education in America; Student Success and Academic Belonging

This new and innovative book, Improving Your College Courses: A Guide for Engaging in Digital Learning, provides instructors from any discipline with a guide for improving course quality and engaging learners in digital learning environments. It inspires professional development and learning (PDL) by making available an indispensable resource for higher education faculty seeking to enhance their teaching practices, propel meaningful experiences, and improve student outcomes. Instructors and administrators will want to read this research-informed, practical book authored by faculty with expertise in digital learning environments. All of them have published on this topic, some earning digital certifications and online teaching awards. Faculty and administrators attracted to a blend of theoretical insights and practical applications will welcome a solid resource for instructors engaged in continuous course improvement and PDL. At the same time, administrators overseeing faculty development as well as mentoring coordinators who sponsor PDL around instructional effectiveness and ethics will benefit from the use of the volume. Professors will find strategies that can be immediately implemented in their courses, making them a valuable tool for PDL. It will be a “must have” for new instructors and faculty who are adapting their teaching for a digital world. The book covers essential topics including course introduction; content and materials; engagement activities; accessibility and usability; and support strategies; as well as practical methods such as case studies, glossary, and appendix and supplementary materials with web content. Improving Your College Courses features pictures, figures, drawings, charts, and graphs designed to clearly illustrate the steps and concepts narrated. This book is designed to be an indispensable resource for educators seeking to enhance their teaching practices and improve student outcomes.Carol A. Mullen is the recipient of the 2026 Excellence in Research Award, AERA Division A: Administration, Organization, and Leadership. Watch a clip of her acceptance speech at: https://youtu.be/W5Ao9bGZrF0

BUY THE BUNDLE AND SAVE!BOOK:Scaffolding the Language of Power: An Apprenticeship in Doctoral Level Writingoffers an accessible, practical, hands-on guide to developing the skills needed to successfully write a doctoral dissertation or thesis. This textbook-workbook hybrid can be used both as a program/course text and as a supplement for individual doctoral students in education and related social science and humanities fields.The book is built on three main ideas. First, writing is fundamentally connected to issues of social justice. Doctoral-level writing is part of the “language of power” in academia, which builds on the linguistic patterns of the dominant culture and serves as a gatekeeping mechanism. Second, writing is genre-based. This means that doctoral level writing is a particular way of using language, or a specific genre, with distinct rules and structures that can be taught. And third, writing can be scaffolded. Approaching writing as a pedagogical act that supports readers’ understanding through purposeful scaffolding is not just a way to successfully complete a doctoral dissertation—it is a way to make academic writing more accessible in general.WORKBOOK:The workbook is a supplement to the textbook featuring accompanying activities that are scaffolded and carefully sequenced to help students identify key ideas and generate text that can be used to build out the elements of each major dissertation task (e.g., problem statement, literature review, and so on).This supplemental workbook contains all the activities from the textbook in expanded form so that students can engage more fully with warm-ups, free-writes, analysis of mentor texts and examples, graphic organizers, and guided writing exercises. These activities are also accompanied with additional free-write prompts as well as bonus discussion questions for extended sense-making.Individual chapters include:1. Introduction: A Three-Pronged Approach to Writing at the Doctoral Level.2. The Rules: Writing as a Pedagogical Act.3. The Rest of the Rules of the Language of Power.4. The Problem Statement..5. The Literature Review.6. The Theoretical Framework.7. The Methodology Chapter.8. The Findings Chapter.9. The Discussion and RecommendationsThis book and workbook combo is appropriate for any course on academic writing in EdD or PhD programs. It is also useful for courses that teach how to write a problem statement, literature review, and/or theoretical framework. Additional courses include: Qualitative Research; Qualitative Practicum/pilot study courses; and Dissertation seminar and support courses.

This workbook is a supplement to the textbook Scaffolding the Language of Power: An Apprenticeship in Doctoral-Level Writing. One of the features of the textbook is accompanying activities that are scaffolded and carefully sequenced to help students identify key ideas and generate text that can be used to build out the elements of each major dissertation task (e.g., problem statement, literature review, and so on). However, these are mainly offered in abbreviated form due to space limitations.This supplemental workbook contains all the activities from the textbook in expanded form so that students can engage more fully with warm-ups, free-writes, analyses of mentor texts and examples, graphic organizers, and guided writing exercises. These activities are also accompanied with additional free-write prompts as well as bonus discussion questions for extended sense-making.Individual chapters include:1. Introduction: A Three-Pronged Approach to Writing at the Doctoral Level. This chapter provides discussion questions that help students make meaning of the three key ideas of the three main ideas that inform the book: critical perspectives on language, systemic functional linguistics, and sociocultural theory/scaffolding. Additional free-writing prompts are included that help students make personal connections to these ideas from their past and present experiences.2. The Rules: Writing as a Pedagogical Act. This chapter provides discussion questions and personal connection prompts for the first “rule” of the Language of Power framework: doctoral writing is organized and scaffolded. Exercises are then provided for readers to practice five different organization and scaffolding strategies, including headings/chunking, road maps, topic sentences, signal phrases, and transitions/connectors.3. The Rest of the Rules of the Language of Power. This chapter explores the remaining five rules of the “Language of Power” framework. Discussion questions and personal connection prompts are provided for each rule. Exercises are provided that help students practice key skills, including making well-reasoned arguments, identifying and using compelling evidence, writing with specificity and detail, synthesizing information, and developing original voice.4. The Problem Statement. This chapter provides discussion questions regarding the problem statement and its purposes: to explain the problem, convince the reader that the issue is indeed a problem, and describe how the proposed study will begin to address that problem. Exercises are provided that help students articulate the particular problem that will be driving their study, with graphic organizers that break down each part of the problem statement, including the problem summary, the problem background, the rationale of the study, and the purpose statement. Writing activities are also provided that help students take the text generated from these organizers, craft them into problem statement sections, and edit them.5. The Literature Review. This chapter provides discussion questions and personal connection prompts relating to the purposes and processes of the literature review. Activities and tools are provided for article analysis and pre-writing, as well as exercises in which readers analyze exemplars for writing moves. Graphic organizers and writing exercises are provided to help students create an overall schema for their literature review, identify and articulate gaps in the literature, build out levels of claims, and select and summarize exemplars.6. The Theoretical Framework. This chapter provides discussion questions and personal connection prompts regarding the theoretical foundation of the dissertation and its purposes. Graphic organizers and writing exercises are provided to help students craft a rationale for using the framework, define their theories or perspectives, provide a background of the theory or theories, and discuss the key concepts of the framework.7. The Methodology Chapter. This chapter provides activities that help students think through and describe their research design in clear and detailed terms. Exercises and graphic organizers are provided that help readers generate a description of their their methodology, participants and setting, data sources and procedures, analysis methods, trustworthiness, and positionality. Additional exercises are offered to help students map connections between their methodology, theoretical framework, and study purpose to ensure a coherent design.8. The Findings Chapter. This chapter provides warm-ups and discussion questions for building out the “results” chapter of the dissertation. Activities and exercises help readers create an overarching organizational structure for their findings, anchor them with major assertions, support those claims with compelling evidence, and provide analytic explanation. Additional activities are provided to help students reflect on the ways that they purposefully scaffold their readers’ understanding throughout the chapter and the ways that they meet the trustworthiness criteria they created for themselves in the previous chapter.9. The Discussion and Recommendations Chapter. This chapter provides discussion prompts to help students think through the purposes of the discussion and recommendations sections of the dissertation and begin generating text for both. Activities and graphic organizers support students to develop conclusions based on the findings, connect their findings and conclusions to extant literature, generate theoretical readings of their findings and conclusions, and draw out recommendations for addressing the initial problem they identified in the first chapter. Final exercises help students generate main take-aways and contributions, which they will use to develop their dissertation conclusion and abstract.CLICK HERE TO BUY THE BOOK/WORKBOOK BUNDLE AND SAVE!