The doctoral thesis trajectory has been often characterized as a “long and windy road” or a journey to “Ithaka”, suggesting the promises and challenges of this journey of initiation to research. The doctoral candidates need to complete such journey preserving and even enhancing their wellbeing, overcoming the many challenges through resilience, while keeping high standards of ethics and scientific rigor. This talk will provide a personal account of lessons learnt and recommendations from a senior researcher over his 30+ years of doctoral supervision and care for doctoral students. Specific attention will be paid on the special features of the (interdisciplinary doctoral research in Technology Enhanced Learning (TEL), the eventual convergence of mindsets and epistemological traditions in Information and Communications Technologies (ICT) and human-oriented learning, educational or social sciences, as well as the specific challenges posed by the human-oriented features of the TEL field.

1. Rigor, ethics, wellbeing and
resilience in the TEL doctoral
journey
Prof. Yannis Dimitriadis
GSIC/EMIC group
University of Valladolid, Spain
JTELSS 2023
Manga del Mar Menor, Spain
June 5, 2023

2. Two metaphors for PhD studies
“Long and windy road”, The Beatles
“Journey to Ithaka”, K. Kavafis
Why do you think that extracts from this poem have been
used so many times in the “intimate” introductions in the
PhD dissertations across the world?
2

3. The doctoral “journey to Ithaka”
“Hope your road is a long one, full of adventure, full of
discovery…”
“Hope your road is a long one. May there be many summer mornings
when, with what pleasure, what joy, you enter harbors you’re seeing
for the first time …”
“Keep Ithaka always in your mind. Arriving there is what you’re
destined for. But don’t hurry the journey at all …”
“Ithaka gave you the marvelous journey. Without her you wouldn't
have set out …”
“Wise as you will have become, so full of experience, you’ll
have understood by then what these Ithakas mean. “3

4. The “ocean” of a scientist
“A vast, unexplored ocean” …
“it was sink or swim” …
“When I got it [the PhD], I knew almost nothing
about physics. But I did learn one big thing: that no
one knows everything, and you don’t have to” …
4
Weinberg, S. Four golden lessons. Nature 426, 389 (2003). https://doi.org/10.1038/426389a

5. “The illustrated guide to PhD”
5
M. Might, “The Illustrated Guide to PhD”, https://matt.might.net/articles/phd-school-in-pictures/

6. “A Pilgrim’s progress”, “work in an ecology”
n The “journey” as an individualistic metaphor
n Or a “Pilgrim’s progress”
– “staged posts of hope, loss, fear, doubt and achievement”
– “loneliness, confusion, loss of voice and avoidance of temptations in
the process, as well as the final arrival at the heavenly destination”
n Or ”work”
– Learning a set of new work habits
– “In an ecology of support structures – training programmes, library
facilities, social media activities and so on, not to mention other
scholars whose writings”
n Or initiation to R&D socio-economic system
6
Hughes, Christina and Tight, Malcolm (2013) The metaphors we study by: the doctorate as journey or work. Higher Education
Research and Development 32 (5) 765-77
P. Thompson: https://patthomson.net/2015/03/23/is-the-phd-a-journey/

7. “3 qualities of successful Ph.D. students”
7
M. Mighty, “3 qualities of successful Ph.D. students: Perseverance, tenacity and cogency”,
https://matt.might.net/articles/successful-phd-students/
n Smartness (?)
– “Brilliance and quick-thinking are valuable in other pursuits. But,
they're neither sufficient nor necessary in science”
n Perseverance
– “The real hard part, of course, is solving an open problem. After all, if
someone could tell you how to solve it, it wouldn't be open”
– “ability to imagine plausible solutions, and to estimate the likelihood
that an approach will work”
– “perseverance--in the face of uncertainty, in the face of
rejection and in the face of frustration”

8. “3 qualities of successful Ph.D. students”
8
M. Mighty, “3 qualities of successful Ph.D. students: Perseverance, tenacity and cogency”,
https://matt.might.net/articles/successful-phd-students/
n Tenacity
– “fierce (yet civil) competition … To become professor, you can't have
just one discovery or solve just one open problem…. You have to
solve several, and get each solution published”
– “actively, even aggressively, forge relationships with scholars in your
field. Researchers in your field need to know who you are and what
you're doing”
n Cogency
– “the quality of being clear, logical, and convincing; lucidity”
– “clearly and forcefully articulate their ideas--in person and in writing”
– “an act of persuasion as it is an act of Discovery”
– “only way to get better at writing is to do a lot of it, balance clarity
and precision”

9. Some initial insights
9
n The PhD years are unique and need complex metaphors
to capture all facets
– Personal ”experiential” journey
– Pilgrims’ staged progress
– Initiation in a social ecology
– Swimming in an ocean …
n Awareness of the vast knowledge and societal context
n Perseverance to detect problems, envision and assess in
advance solutions and risks
n Tenacity towards a long and challenging career in a
competitive and collaborative social context
n Cogency in persuading through scientific communication

10. And some high-stake objectives
10
n Preserving and even enhancing their wellbeing
– Multiple threats to mental/social health
n Overcoming the many challenges through
resilience
– High risk of attrition
n Achieving in practice high standards of ethics
– Many ethical dilemmas in research
n Keeping rigor as the basic scientific pillar
– Methodological coherence and quality assessment

11. Three TEL-specific restrictions
n Interdisciplinary doctoral research in TEL
– Intrinsic need for work in trans-, inter-, or at
least multi- disciplinary context
n Convergence of mindsets, epistemological
traditions
– Significant gap between non-neighboring fields
(ICT, humanities, education, sociology, …)
n Challenges of human-oriented features
Don’t forget: Humans as source and target
11

12. Experience to be shared
n 66/30+ years of life/postdoc research
– Long journey, experience, stories, dilemmas
n Snapshots and suggestions based on
– Living own unique personal life
– Reflecting on own and others’ experiences
– Studying/researching on research
– Teaching doctoral students and supervisors
– Co-supervising doctoral candidates
– Coordinating/living in a 20+ member group
12

13. Is it a systematic scholarly account?
n Unique trajectories of doctoral studies
– ”Single-case” vs. cohort-based research
– Patterns may emerge
n Some research transferability across contexts
– Mostly non-systematic “ethnographic” studies
– Mostly experiential reflection
– Kind of “metacognition” or “philosophy” of science
n Limited research on doctoral students and researchers
13

14. Snapshots on doctoral TEL research
But let’s take a look …
14

15. The quest for the RQ
Or the “hill” and ”mind the door” metaphors
15

16. The imposter syndrome
16

17. Mental health in doctoral students
n How many symptoms do you experience?
n Prevalence of depression in graduate students and
general population
17
L.P. Prieto, “A happy PhD” blog, https://ahappyphd.org/

18. Progress in the uncertain PhD context
Progress as a means to fight anxiety of
uncertainty in a long-distance journey
L.P. Prieto, Cultivating the progress loop in your PhD, “A happy PhD” blog 18

19. The value of (productive) failure
n Failure as a means/approach to learn in an
unexplored authentic landscape
n Failures by others, and failures by us: The
accumulation of experience/evidence
n From gaps to questions and solutions
n Failure as a fundamental scientific principle
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20. The value of open scientific discussion
n Open and disciplined discussion with
– oneself, group, reviewers and community
n Science as a socio-technical space
n Progress through debate and persuasion
n The art of scientific rhetoric
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21. Ethics in (TEL PhD) research
n Ethics as real-life concern
n Tensions and dilemmas
n Values, ambition, context, and shortcuts
n Research with human subjects
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22. Mindsets and epistemologies
n The eternal division in disciplines
n Where do you come from?
n Where are you heading to?
n Do we need to converge?
n How do we exploit our unique trajectories?
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23. Boundaries and journeys in CoP
n Crossing professional boundaries in small
communities of practice (CoP)
n The need for trans- inter- multi-
disciplinarity in solving complex authentic
scientific problems
n The case of TEL
n Centrifugal forces in social interdisciplinary
groups
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24. Rigor and trustworthiness
Rigor as basic cornerstone of science across
disciplines and traditions
Close the gap through rigor
Do it well!!
24
Guba EG, Lincoln YS. Effective evaluation: improving the usefulness of evaluation results through responsive
and naturalistic approaches. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass; 1981.

25. (Social) wellbeing as objective/means
n Wellbeing in doctoral TEL research
– Individual goal for doctoral researchers
– Disciplinary goal for learners/teachers
– Societal goal for education
– U.N. Sustainable Development Goal (SDG)
n Wellbeing as a necessary means for PhD
students
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26. Human-centered * in TEL research
n Do not forget !
– TEL research should always consider humans
(and societies) in the center
– Primary variable/prerequisite/goal for almost
“everything”
n Data and evidence as a “proxy” to human
minds and abstract concepts
n Look for human-centered Learning
Analytics or Artificial Intelligence (*)
– Trustworthy, explainable, value-sensitive, ethical …
26

27. “Gastronomic” support to PhD
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Grupo de Investigación GSIC/EMIC ·E.T.S.I.Telecomunicación ·Paseo de Belén, 15 ·47011Valladolid ·Tel.983 42 36 96 / 98 ·Fax 983 42 36 67 ·grupo@gsic.uva.es ·www.gsic.uva.es
XVII JORNADAS GASTRONÓMICAS
GSIC/EMIC
CON LA PARTICIPACIÓN ESPECIAL
DE LOS SEXENIERS
Alejandra Martínez Monés
Eduardo Gómez Sánchez
Lugar: laboratorio 2L019
Día: jueves,23 de junio de 2016
Hora: a partir de las 14:00 h.
EL COMITÉ DE ORGANIZACIÓN DE LAS JORNADAS GASTRONÓMICAS
GRUPO DE SARAOS DE INGESTA DE COLESTEROL
ESPERAMOS A MÁS INVITADOS COMILONES
(GSIC/EMIC)
TIENE EL PLACER DE INVITARLE A LAS

28. Humor support to PhD
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29. ENJOY
JTELSS 2023
Your drink
The Sea in the Middle of the Earth
Your Journey to Ithaka
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