POSTGRADUATE RESEARCHER COMMUNICATION SKILLS TRAINING Dr Bob Lawlor NUI Maynooth

1. POSTGRADUATE RESEARCHER COMMUNICATION SKILLS TRAINING Dr Bob LawlorNUI Maynooth ABSTRACT Resources and Methods Blended Delivery ABSTRACT A supervisor-friendly model for integrating communication skills training into science and engineering research programmes is presented. The model includes five related units including communication skills (written and verbal, intra- and inter-disciplinary) and information literacy. Elements of the model have been piloted individually and feedback from these pilots has been used to refine the proposed composite module. The resulting module has been discussed in detail with heads of departments and directors of research institutes and has been broadly welcomed. During 2007/08 a number of postgraduate researcher generic skills modules were piloted in the Faculty of Science and Engineering at NUI Maynooth, under HEA SIF1 funding. These included: • Information Literacy • Communication Skills (written and verbal) Pilot module delivery was based on a blend of face-to-face interactive workshops supported by online learning resources e.g. pre- and post-workshop reading material and moderated discussion forums [18, 19]. Efforts were made to minimize the necessary number of face-to-face workshops (typically 3 hour) and to maximize the scope for self-paced progress. Module feedback was gathered through end of module questionnaires. The pilot modules were not formally assessed. Based on the pilot modules feedback and on current international practice in postgraduate generic skills training, particularly [15], the following five ECTS communication skills training model was derived: Unit 1. One ECTS credit for Information Literacy, the outcome of which will be a written literature review (draft) including a short section outlining the student’s information search strategy. Unit 2. One ECTS credit for writing a short document (~1000 words) aimed at communicating their work to an interdisciplinary target audience. Unit 3. One ECTS credit for giving a short presentation of their work to an interdisciplinary target audience. Unit 4. One ECTS credit for presenting their work at an appropriate forum e.g. a departmental research seminar, a national or international conference or similar. Unit 5. One ECTS credit for writing a research paper with view to submission to a conference / journal or similar. Video Screencast available online Industry (mis)-perception Conclusion The key-point of this poster is that communication skills (written and verbal) are the most important of the recommended generic skills. Embedding and integrating communication skills training into a science and engineering postgraduate research programme is a challenge. This challenge is accentuated if the research programme is nominally of three years duration. A supervisor-friendly approach to meeting this challenge is to maximize scope for self-paced and student-directed learning in their communication skills training. In practice, this means to a large extent integrating this training into work which the student is likely doing anyway within their research programme. Online Resources Acknowledgement The author wishes to most gratefully acknowledge the invaluable contributions of the following colleagues to the above pilot generic skills modules: Dr Liam Downey and Ms Hellen Fallon (Communication skills), Ms Mary Antonessa (Information Literacy). References 1. Tomorrow’s Skills: Towards a National Skills Strategy. Forfas 2007. 2. Graduate Education - Key Guiding Principles, HEA, May 2006. 3. Reform of 3rd Level and Creation of 4th Level Ireland, IUA, Oct 2005. 4. National Guidelines of Good practice in the Organisation of PhD Programmes in Irish Universities, IUQB, February 2005. 5. Postgraduate Skills Development: Summary Report. NUI Maynooth, March 2007. 6. Doctoral Programmes in Europe’s Universities: Achievements and challenges. EUAssociation, 2007. 7. Educating Engineers for the 21st Century: The Industry View. March 2006. 8. Sharing pedagogical practice on the teaching of generic skills. December 2004. 9. SET for Success - Sir Gareth Roberts, April 2002 10. UK GRAD Programme website: http://www.grad.ac.uk 11. UK GRAD Programme – Database of Practice 12. Joint Statement of the UK Research Councils' Training Requirements for Research Students, 2001. 13. UK National Review of emerging practice on the use of Personal Development Planning for postgraduate researchers. 14. Autumn (2007) update on emerging practice on the use of personal development planning (PDP) for Postgraduate Researchers (PGRs). 15.Implementing Research Degree Graduate Qualities At UniSA. 16. Career Success Guide - Transferable skills, (11/8/2007 revision) Carnegie Mellon University, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania: 17. On-demand learning – How work-embedded learning is expanding enterprise performance. Nancy DeViney and Nancy J. Lewis. Chapter 5 of: The Handbook of Blended Learning – Global Perspectives, Local Designs, Curtis J Bonk and Charles R. Graham, Pfeiffer 2006. 18. Curtis J Bonk and Charles R. Graham, The Handbook of Blended Learning – Global Perspectives, Local Designs, Pfeiffer 2006. ISBN-10: 0-7879-7758-6. 19. Bob Lawlor, A Blended-Learning Approach to Engineering Education, Plenary Presentation, International Symposium for Engineering Education, ISEE-07, 17th - 19th September 2007, Dublin City University. Available online at: http://www.eeng.nuim.ie/~rlawlor/ISEE2007/Keynote/revisionpack.html 20. Gilly Salmon, e-moderating – the key to teaching and learning online, 2nd ed.,. RoutledgeFalmer 2004, ISBN: 0 415 33544 2. Source: Google Images Introduction Recent years have seen a growing recognition and general acceptance of the need for the introduction of structured generic skills training into fourth level education in Ireland [1, 2, 3, 4, 5]. This recognition and acceptance is consistent with international practice in fourth level education development [6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16]. Despite such a widespread development, effectively embedding and integrating generic skills training into postgraduate research programmes remains a challenge for a number of reasons such as • Time pressure to complete the research workload can result in little or no time for generic skills training. • Many generic skills are more conducive to experiential learning than formal training courses e.g. communication skills. • Each student’s research programme is unique to the student and ideally generic skills training should be available at a time most appropriate to the student’s needs [4, 17], i.e. embedded in their research programme. • Depending on the career aspirations of each individual student, different students will require different generic skills modules and these modules will require some level of customization [13, 14]. Module Resources available to students through moodle VLE Discussion Despite general acceptance of the need for structured generic skills training within postgraduate research programmes, effectively and efficiently integrating such training presents a number of challenges. Issues such as the following need to be considered: • What level of resourcing is available for generic skills training? Remember – perfection is the enemy of progress! • Which generic skills modules (if any) should be made compulsory? Remember – nothing great was ever achieved without enthusiasm! • How best to handle the trade-off between flexible delivery and module control. • Are the target students on 3 or 4-year research programmes? Or indeed a mix of each. • Are the students engaging in a Personal Development Plan (PDP) process [13,14]? • Should the faculty prioritize some generic skills over others e.g. communication skills over entrepreneurship? • How best to assess the generic skills modules? Author Contact Details Dr Bob Lawlor Dept of Electronic Engineering, NUI Maynooth Tel: 01 708 6199 Email: bob.lawlor@nuim.ie Web: http://www.eeng.nuim.ie/~rlawlor For a more detailed paper version of this poster see the Author’s website