Name: Should Your Department Offer a Course on How to be a Successful Graduate Student?
Start: 2024-09-20T14:00:00-0400
End: 2024-09-20T14:50:00-0400

George Mason University faculty and staff to present their teaching-focused research at the 16th annual ITL Conference

Friday September 20, 2024 2:00pm - 2:50pm EDT

Johnson Center - Go to Registration Desk

Should Your Department Offer a Course on How to be a Successful Graduate Student?

Should your department offer a course on how to be a scientist and a successful graduate student? Although eager to participate, new graduate students may not yet know how to conduct scientific research, which includes the practical and logistical realities of working in a research lab and within an academic institution. Complicating this further, new graduate students also need to learn how to navigate the competing priorities and expectations of graduate student life, balancing coursework, teaching, outreach, and research while not losing sight of their own professional development to meet their goals. Students know that to become good researchers and contribute to the field during graduate school, it is essential that they quickly acquire and develop proficiencies in fundamental research skills and learn to navigate the demands of graduate school. But where might a new student learn fundamental research skills and how to be a successful graduate student? Although considered a fundamental component of graduate training, the process of teaching research and professional skills (and which ones) is not consistent across departments, research labs, or cohorts of students. We offer a course in the Bioengineering department to teach students fundamental research skills and how to be successful in graduate school. Audience includes educators of graduate students from across STEM.

Speakers