Helping postgraduate research students learn

This paper argues for the systematic development and integration of student research skills in postgraduate programmes. Case studies from Griffith University, arising from action research projects with university teachers, illustrate five different strategies: (1) The review of a postgraduate programme, identifying student problems and a gap between institutional expectations and students' needs; (2) the workshop model for developing skills in dissertation research and writing; (3) the focus on two key problem areas in the process of writing a thesis; (4) the design, implementation and evaluation of a course on Problems and Methods in Research for the beginning researcher in the social sciences as an alternative model and supplement to the single-supervisor model in postgraduate education; and (5) student metacognition and learning to do research through eliciting some changing personal constructs of research effectiveness. There has been little educational research and development in postgraduate education. This paper explores some of the issues and problems identified at Griffith University and elsewhere. Our methods may be adapted by other universities to their particular educational contexts.     

Replacing Lecture with Peer-led Workshops Improves Student Learning

Peer-facilitated workshops enhanced interactivity in our introductory biology course, which led to increased student engagement and learning. A majority of students preferred attending two lectures and a workshop each week over attending three weekly lectures. In the workshops, students worked in small cooperative groups as they solved challenging problems, evaluated case studies, and participated in activities designed to improve their general learning skills. Students in the workshop version of the course scored higher on exam questions recycled from preworkshop semesters. Grades were higher over three workshop semesters in comparison with the seven preworkshop semesters. Although males and females benefited from workshops, there was a larger improvement of grades and increased retention by female students; although underrepresented minority (URM) and non-URM students benefited from workshops, there was a larger improvement of grades by URM students. As well as improving student performance and retention, the addition of interactive workshops also improved the quality of student learning: Student scores on exam questions that required higher-level thinking increased from preworkshop to workshop semesters.     

Supervision of Higher Degree Students — Problem Areas and Possible Solutions

Supervision of postgraduate students remains an area of concern to university administration, to supervisors, to student unions and the individual research student. Many studies have examined student dissatisfaction with supervision. However, there is also considerable uneasiness among academic staff about the extent of their supervisory role and functions. In a series of workshops in several tertiary institutions problem areas were discussed with supervisors, both experienced and inexperienced; and practices and strategies were explored which facilitate effective supervision. Those provisions for and approaches to supervision which supervisors have found to be effective are presented and discussed as they apply at the institutional, departmental or individual level.     

“Problems and Methods in Research”: A Course for the Beginning Researcher in the Social Sciences

The conventional single‐supervisor model of postgraduate teaching has shown itself to be deficient in a number of areas. In this paper, it is argued that a useful supplement to this model would be a course on problems and methods in research for the beginning researcher. The authors describe their experiences with such a course at Griffith University. Evaluation suggests that the course can provide not only formal research guidance, but also a support system of staff and fellow‐students which can serve to reduce the intellectual isolation of the postgraduate student. This may lead to lower attrition rates and improve the performance and productivity of the postgraduate student.     

Talking about contract cheating: facilitating a forum for collaborative development of assessment practices to combat student dishonesty

Contract cheating presents an existential threat to university assessment integrity and, therefore, to the reputations of universities and their graduates. We report on two workshops, with academic development participants who collaboratively addressed assessment identity verification through problem identification and solution creation. As facilitators, we iteratively reflected on the workshop processes to design and refine subsequent offerings. The corresponding research sought to increase sectoral collaboration and evidence student authorship in assessment. This work provides one approach to developing practice-driven resources and insights for academic developers to encourage others to collaboratively address complex problems that are difficult to resolve, like contract cheating.     

中学政治学科名师工作室的实践探索与理性思考

中学政治学科名师工作室是指由某一地区中学政治学科首席名师领衔,多名中学政治学科骨干教师组成,以政治学科研究和青年政治教师培养为主要内容,以提高中学政治教师教育教学、教育研究能力和促进中学政治教师专业成长为目的的研修共同体,是名师工作室的重要组成部分.它既具有名师工作室的共性,又具有自身的特点.随着实践的不断深入,中学政治学科名师工作室在具体实施过程中,暴露出了不少问题,如定位不准、方向不明,自主专业发展的意识不够,持续性发展的后劲不足,评估手段繁琐、效果差等,这些问题严重影响着中学政治学科名师工作室作用的充分发挥.因此,为实现中学政治学科名师工作室的高效、科学运行,必须要采取转变观念、明确自我定位、树立“政治名师服务工作室”思想;大力发展政治名师工作室“草根化”经营道路;进一步强化政治名师工作室的区域辐射功能;完善政治名师工作室考核评估体系等有效措施,推进中学政治学科名师工作室的建设与发展.     

基于OBE理论的研究生导师团队建设机制研究

研究生导师团队建设是整个研究生培养的核心,关系到研究生的培养质量和科研水平的提升,需要引起足够的重视。文章从自动化专业研究生培养现状出发,通过调研研究生培养环节的各个方面,梳理了现阶段研究生培养的问题,并结合本单位研究生导师团队建设的经验体会,基于OBE理论,对研究生导师团队建设的机制进行了研究,对提升研究生培养质量进行了初步的探索,以期能对后续研究生培养的规范化和可操作化提供参考。     

以“实践解题”为导向的军队专业学位研究生培养模式

军队专业学位研究生培养的特殊性体现在生源以指挥类学员为主,其技术基础薄弱但应用需求明确。本文针对军队专业学位研究生培养的现状,分析了专业选题、课程设置和评价机制等方面的问题,提出以"实践解题"为导向、以培养"工程应用人才"为目标、以"建立实践性教学体系、突出逻辑解题能力培养"为方法的培养模式,以期为军事院校的专业学位研究生教学改革提供有益思路。     

Students learning orientations and adult work: The SLOG project

Over the past few years a collaborative research network known as the Students Learning Orientations Group (SLOG) has been developing new measures of learning orientation among secondary school students in England, India, Japan, Malaysia, Nigeria and Sri Lanka. The research is part of a long-term project examining the links between student learning orientations and subsequent work orientations and behaviour. This paper describes briefly the research problem, the objectives of the international study, the organisation of the collaborative research network, the annual research workshops, problems of funding and research design, methods and preliminary results.     

Postgraduate training in student learning and teaching

A postgraduate training programme in the areas of student learning and supervision is presented. An experiential method of training is employed which involves laboratory and pilot plant supervisions in the Chemical Engineering Department of Imperial College. A series of workshops is used to facilitate discussion on teaching theory and practice, as well as on student counselling and communication issues. Log-book entries are used for the documentation of specific events arising from the supervision sessions, which provide a good basis for peer discussion, as well as an opportunity for self-reflection. A number of examples arising from the workshops are used to demonstrate the mutual benefits of the training programme to academic staff and students. In addition to training in teaching skills, the programme is shown to provide a mechanism for the quality control of demonstrators involved in undergraduate teaching, as well as a regular feedback mechanism to staff on the efficacy of the laboratory-based courses. Through teaching and a structured staff support scheme, the programme is believed to address some of the current concerns on the non-technical (soft) training, and on the further development of the broad science and engineering knowledge of UK postgraduate students.     

Postgraduate Supervision Practices: Strategies for Development and Change

This paper describes strategies for enhancing postgraduate supervision procedures and practices developed at Sydney University in response to a national focus upon improving the quality of postgraduate research education. The results of needs analyses conducted in Departments and Faculties and amongst postgraduate coordinators, supervisors and students are reported, and the subsequent development of an ongoing and systematic training program for supervisors of postgraduate students is described. The structure of the program, training methods adopted, and participant evaluations of the constituent workshops and seminars are discussed. Finally, consideration is given to aspects contributing to or militating against the success of the program and to alternative or complementary strategies for improving the quality of postgraduate research supervision.     

基于“主动实践”的材料类研究生创新能力培养探析

文章探讨了以“主动实践”为核心的材料类研究生创新能力培养思路,以材料类研究生为对象,分析了“主动实践”作为研究生创新能力进行培养的必要性及其关键要素。同时,围绕“主动实践”这一理念,从构建导师团队、优化课程体系、营造良好创新氛围三方面,提出材料类研究生创新能力培养的思路。     

Guiding music students during workshop-based on-the-job learning

This article explains the realisation and impact of tutoring on learning through a new kind of on-the-job learning method in workshops led by professional musicians. The research is a qualitative case study involving 62 upper secondary Finnish vocational music students who participated in 11 workshops. The research data consist of (a) workshop plans and personal learning goals written by the students before the workshops and (b) reflective essays about experiences after the workshops. The data were analysed using theory-oriented content analyses. In the workshop, the guidance-oriented interaction promoting learning starts at the beginning of the workshop with cooperative planning. The interaction between the students and the professional musician influenced the nature of the guidance – the professional musician was more like a colleague rather than a teacher. The students expressed that they had been able to influence the workshop goals in different phases and, thus, their professional competence had increased significantly. In vocational institutes, it is important to observe different ways of realising on-the-job learning and to develop new models of action, like the workshop method, to promote the development of students’ skills and competence.     

Peer to peer support: the disappearing work in the doctoral student experience

This paper reflects on the importance of study groups in contributing to a positive postgraduate experience and explores specific concepts, such as ‘disappearing behaviours’ in contrasting the ‘official’ languages of universities with the beneficial behaviours found through study groups. Additionally the paper advocates the systematic inclusion of strategies such as study groups in the postgraduate experience. Funding arrangements and research frameworks for higher education in Australia focus on student progress and completion, as well as comparison of research quality within and between universities. As a result, there is a significant emphasis on timely completion of postgraduate degrees. This paper posits that there is an apparent contradiction between the indicators of success in this area, such as completion rates and annual progress reports and the positive contribution that study groups can make to the doctoral student experience.     

Assessing Girls' Reactions to Science Workshops

Many science education programs have recently been developed to increase girls' participation in science, however, few formal evaluations of these types of programs have been reported. The present research evaluated fifth grade girls' perceptions of a 1-day science education program. Students attended workshops describing different science fields. Study 1 revealed that attending the workshops increased students' interest in the specific field covered in the workshop. However, even after attending the workshops, students did not believe women typically entered those various fields. A second year evaluation revealed that most students agreed they had learned about individual tasks that scientists do in the various fields. However, significantly fewer believed they learned about educational requirements, problems women might face in the field, or how science can be used to help people. Results are discussed in terms of potential factors that workshop presenters might want to consider in future programs.     

教育学专业研究生培养中的问题及对策研究

我国教育学专业研究生培养中存在着生源过杂,缺乏科研后劲;专业划分过细,且无明确的课程设置;教材趋于“本科化”,内容和形式过于僵化;导师“多导、乱导、不导”现象普遍存在;缺乏有效的研究生质量评价标准等问题。要解决这些问题,可采取以下对策:一是严把招生质量关,以综合素质和专业研究能力为标准选拔研究生;二是规范专业设置,因地制宜地发展优势专业;三是注重导师管理,确保导师“能导、精导、导好”;四是制订科学、合理、先进的研究生培养方案。     

Doctoral students’ access to non-academic support for mental health

Increased doctoral student numbers has led to a growth in studies dedicated to doctoral experience. These studies have raised a range of mental health concerns around workload, supervision processes and student well-being. Despite these challenges being well documented, few studies have looked at doctoral student’s experiences of accessing non-academic support services. This article presents the findings of a mixed-method study to investigate doctoral experiences of non-academic support, conducted at one British university with a large postgraduate research population. Drawing on focus groups and a student survey, the article concludes that many doctoral students are not accessing institutional support when they could benefit from it, with many turning to external support mechanisms including family, personal doctor and online resources. Five institutional recommendations are proposed to develop improved dedicated doctoral student mental health support: clear signposting, online self-help, workshops, parity of support and supervisor training.     

Subjects of Western education: Discursive practices in Western postgraduate studies and the construction of international student subjectivities

This paper focuses on discursive practices of postgraduate research as a crucial element in constructs of international student subjectivities when they undertake postgraduate studies in Australian universities. As such, it focuses on a discursive field emerging within domains of internationalisation, globalisation, and resistance. It examines processes and protocols in a number of Australian universities’ postgraduate divisions’ practices in the conduct of postgraduate supervision, in the context of increasing pressures towards internationalisation within frameworks of globalising influences. It takes issue with Western custom and tradition as privileged within the field of supervision of postgraduate research studies and suggests a model of postgraduate research supervision as intentional and systematic intervention, based on literature deriving from research in postgraduate supervision which acknowledges the problematic natures of cultural relationships as to teaching and learning and knowledge production, and student resistances within these fields. In doing so, it examines issues of discursive practices and the problematic natures of power relationships in supervisor-supervisee protocols and possibilities suggested by alternative models of postgraduate supervision of international students.     

'I never thought they would enjoy the fun of science just like ordinary children do'– Exploring science experiences with early years teacher training students and children with severe and profound learning difficulties

Alison Bishop and Phyllis Jones both work in the School of Education at Northumbria University where they teach on undergraduate and postgraduate programmes. Phyllis Jones specialises in disability issues and Alison Bishop focuses on early years education. For the project described in this paper, they combined their areas of expertise, devising a small–scale research project to explore the experiences of a group of early years science specialist student teachers as they took part in workshops with a group of early years children with severe and profound learning difficulties. The research explores the changing attitudes and perceptions of the students with regard to the learning and teaching of science with young children. It becomes clear that there is a realization for many students that science can make a significant contribution to the education of children with severe and profound learning difficulties in the early years. The authors also discuss the need for training to equip the students to meet the challenges and rewards of working with children with severe and profound learning difficulties in their future teaching careers.     

Planning and Developing an Interactive Computerised Tutorial for Learning in Higher Education

Abstract

This paper describes how a researcher‐lecturer in higher education attempted to identify, in her course, the constraints within which the teaching was required to operate. To better understand this particular problem area in her professional practice, it was necessary to take the student voice seriously and to suggest a possible solution to the problem.

It appeared that the ‘Information Technology’ module on a specific postgraduate course was particularly unattractive to the postgraduate students required to take it. The solution proposed was to develop and introduce into the module a form of innovation in course development, namely a Computer Assisted Learning (CAL) tool entitled ‘Interactive Computerised Information Technology Tutor’ (ICITT). The research process leading to the planning, development and introduction of the ICITT is the initial focus of this paper. The ICITT itself is then described in some detail in the latter part of the work.