tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3522311.post7544011671789004102..comments2024-03-12T03:23:42.976-04:00Comments on NeuroDojo: Steering into the skid: what can we fix with formal training in grad school?Zen Faulkeshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07811309183398223358noreply@blogger.comBlogger1125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3522311.post-73722441934998931452013-03-26T16:32:12.954-04:002013-03-26T16:32:12.954-04:00With so many possibilities for training, I wonder ...With so many possibilities for training, I wonder if we could use this as a measure of which are more (and less) important: how many people will be harmed if the grad student does <b>not</b> get the training. For example, if a grad student has poor communication skills, they harm themselves. Poor research ethics? Definitely themselves but also their professional peers, like the co-authors on the retracted paper and the group's PI. <br /><br />I'm working my way up the one I care about most: teaching. Traditionally, grad students get very little training about how to teach. New faculty are thrown into a class (usually a large, intro class that no one with seniority wants to teach) and the instructor tries to figure out how to teach through trial and error. We see this a lot in Physics where students start the term interested and hate physics 3 months later.<br /><br />This, in my opinion, is too large a sacrifice, too many people harmed. And it's why a growing number of universities like mine, UCSD, are offering intense, extended courses on teaching to grad students and post docs. We're sending them out onto the skid track and we're riding shotgun to give them training and feedback when they need it. Hopefully, we don't have to grab the wheel too often.<br /><br />PeterPeterhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/03400198346975940474noreply@blogger.com