For those of you who are ready to graduate and you want to look your best, you will have to look at the different kinds of doctoral graduation gowns that you can get. There are all different colors that you can choose from with these gowns and most of them come with the graduation cap as well.

These gowns and hoods are normally made to measure and offer the wearer a high quality finish. They can be made from velvet and often have piping, bell sleeves, and other things. You normally have to order these doctoral graduation gowns from the internet or your university will also offer places that you can order them from.

Some colleges and universities have specific colors that you have to wear and the degree you are graduating in will determine the color of your hood. For a PhD, the color is supposed to be royal blue, for agriculture, the color is maize, Journalism colors are crimson, medicine is hunter green, and there are many others. You should have a look at what the correct colors are before you order your doctoral robe.

There are plenty of professional outfitters and makers of these robes and they will know the correct colors that are to be used along with the usual material choices. The combinations of colors will be designed according to the type of degree you get as well as the level you have achieved and the colors of your school will also be included.

Another item which most people choose to buy for their graduation ceremony is a mortarboard cap with bullion tassels. These can be 4, 6 or 8 cornered and the tassels are usually in gold or plain. There are lots of options to choose from when you graduate, so you should look around and decide well before the time, because these outfitters usually need about 8 weeks to make the doctoral graduation gowns.

By: Jason Panero

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Working towards a doctoral degree, people could have hundreds of reasons for doing so. Traditionally, people should have a PhD in order to enter the academic circle and teach in a tertiary institution. Holding a PhD means you got formal training in the highest academic level, you can do knowledge in an ‘independent’ and critical way. Heavily emphasize on scientific way of doing knowledge, making scientific inquiry outweigh many other kinds of ‘knowledge’. Article 1 is introducing the difference between traditional doctorate (PhD) and professional doctorate.

Working as a social scientist and professional, we do place emphasize on theory and evidence-based knowledge, it is an essential tool for us to work in a profession, accountable to our service funders and give reasons for our judgments and interventions. Sometimes, we may find our knowledge is not wide and deep enough to explain complicated people’s sufferings and predicaments. Initially, we start feeling self-doubt and frustrated. After criticizing ourselves for not being knowledgeable enough, we start reflecting on the theories and practices, when we look closely to the ‘knowledge’, we may find it is not localized and tailored-made enough.

Most of the theories underestimate or can not cater the complex side of human being, so we should find some other knowledge to fill in the gap, we may call it ‘practice wisdom’. It is localized, culturally or contextually bounded, sometimes it sounds quite ‘post-modernism’. I am not here to veto the formalized, scientific-based knowledge (mode 1 or the first generation professional doctorate), but when we are working with people, a variable constantly changing, creating their own meaning and behaviors, pure scientific inquiries may not be the only option for accumulating knowledge.

Second generation Professional doctorate can be a way for different kind of researchers to embark on their journey towards advanced and improved professional practice. Professional doctorate students are usually working for mode 2 knowledge, it is characterized as a kind of context knowledge; it can also be reflective and action-oriented. Mode 2 knowledge is increasingly popular with evidence of professional (e.g. Nursing, Social Work, Psychology and Education) turning their attention away from Universities and formal institutions to in-house training and peer support. Professional doctorate may offer a new option for people in industries formally conduct inquires and reflection on their daily practices, formalize certain kinds of their practice wisdom.

Put it into an analog, people working for mode 1 knowledge is just like a team of Formula One experts working in a laboratory, some of them can calculate data for developing a racing car (end-product), some of them are researching for pure knowledge accumulation (e.g. pure physical or mathematic calculation), then the team could win a Grand Prix? Surely not. In order to ‘fine-tuning’ the car, some expert teams are working in the field or even particular racing course, they are expert in the ‘field’, and they are working with the lab. teams, but they can concentrate on the things like drivers’ psychological state, opponents’ strategies and etc. This kind of knowledge (mode 2) can be implicit, tacit and maybe culturally-bound (the driving behaviors between Japanese drivers and their western counterpart are quite different).

To be the end-user of the knowledge accumulated throughout the journey of professional doctorate education is the aim of the highest professional training. As I mentioned before, people could embark on the journey with different reasons and motivation, but one thing we may neglect is self-development. When we are working for the thesis, it may involve self reflection; develop self awareness and self discipline. The process of the inquiry may be wonderful to some people or may be torturous for others. No matter what motivation or reasons you discover, the end of the journey may be marked by a piece of paper (your thesis). One thing we should bear in mind is that what kind of ultimate findings you would like to share and for whom?

By: Chin Pang Wong

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