Design and Development: Fostering Graduate Student Professional Development Through an Instructional Incubator and Teaching Apprenticeship Model

美国的生物医学研究高度依赖于主要由研究生进行的学术研究。在整个研究生学习过程中，生物医学学生沉浸在研究中，很少或根本没有接受过最佳教学实践的培训，也没有接受过关于替代的、非学术职业机会的培训，例如行业或政府机构。因此，那些没有继续从事传统学术职业的毕业生难以过渡到非学术职业，因为他们对其他选择知之甚少；此外，那些留在学术和研究领域的毕业生，也在为他们作为教师面临的日益增长的教学要求而苦苦挣扎。虽然研究生院曾经被认为是进入学术研究职业生涯的必经之路，但在学术界工作不再是保证。因此，生物医学研究生项目有责任重新考虑如何在毕业后为他们的职业生涯培训学生。这个项目的目标是为研究生开发一个课程序列，以了解更多关于替代职业和最佳教学实践的知识。研究生不仅将学习职业和教学实践，还将与博士后研究员和教职员工合作，将他们学到的东西转化为本科课堂。这将使他们有机会获得第一手教学经验，并考虑如何培养当今生物医学劳动力所需的关键技能。这个设计与开发项目的目的是为研究生作为教育工作者和非学术人员的专业发展开发一个可转移的模式。研究生教育面临着两个基本问题：1)选择从事学术研究的学生没有得到如何教学的培训；2)选择离开学术领域的毕业生几乎没有接触到其他研究生机会。这个项目的重点是开发一个孵化器/学徒模式，让研究生接触到快速变化的科技创新和劳动力趋势，同时沉浸在课程设计的学习理论和研究型教学方法的探索中(例如以问题为基础的学习、主动学习)。因此，研究生将参与以循证实践为基础的身临其境的课程开发体验，并接触到通常在高等教育中没有直接涉及的非学术研究生机会。这一创新的发展利用了教学设计过程、社会建构主义理论、情境学习理论和教师信念。虽然这一概念证明是基于生物医学工程的背景下提出的行动理论是广泛适用的。将定性和定量地研究拟议序列的影响。学生将在授课前和授课后接受调查。部分学生也将接受采访。这一拟议的教学设计序列是对一种新颖的、可转移的模式的概念证明，该模式旨在培养适应快速变化的科技创新和劳动力趋势的研究生职业发展。结果将在密歇根大学生物医学工程转化工程教育网站上发布，并通过教育会议和期刊文章传播。对实施这一序列感兴趣的其他机构被邀请参加任何课程并寻求咨询。该奖项反映了NSF的法定使命，并通过使用基金会的智力优势和更广泛的影响审查标准进行评估，被认为值得支持。

Biomedical research in the United States is highly dependent on academic research primarily performed by graduate students. Throughout their graduate studies, biomedical students immerse themselves in research, with little or no training in best teaching practices or knowledge of alternative, non-academic career opportunities, such as industry or government agencies. As a result, graduates who do not continue with traditional academic careers struggle with the transition to non-academic careers because they know very little about alternatives; also, those who remain in academics and research struggle with the increasing teaching demands they face as faculty. While graduate school used to be considered a rite of passage to a career in academic research, a job in academics is no longer a guarantee. Thus, biomedical graduate programs have a responsibility to reconsider how they are training their students for their careers after graduation. The goal of this project is to develop a course sequence for graduate students to learn more about alternative careers and best teaching practices. The graduate students will not only learn about careers and teaching practices, but they also will work with postdoctoral fellows and faculty to translate what they learn into an undergraduate classroom. This will give them a chance to have a first-hand teaching experience and consider how to develop the critical skills needed by today's biomedical workforce. The purpose of this Design and Development project is to develop a transferrable model for graduate student professional development as both educators and non-academics. Graduate education is faced with two fundamental problems: 1) students who choose to pursue academics are not trained how to teach; and, 2) graduates who choose to leave academics have little exposure to alternative postgraduate opportunities. This project focuses on developing an Incubator/Apprenticeship Model that exposes graduate students to the rapidly changing world of science and technology innovations and workforce trends, while being immersed in the exploration of learning theories and research-based teaching approaches for curriculum design (e.g. problem-based learning, active learning). As a result, graduate students will participate in an immersive curriculum development experience informed by evidence-based practices and be exposed to non-academic postgraduate opportunities commonly not addressed directly in higher education. The development of this innovation leverages the instructional design process, social constructivist theory, situated learning theory, and instructor beliefs. While this proof of concept is grounded in the context of biomedical engineering, the proposed theory of action is broadly applicable. The impact of the proposed sequence will be studied qualitatively and quantitatively. Students will be surveyed pre- and post-instruction. A subset of students will also be interviewed. This proposed instructional design sequence is a proof of concept for a novel, transferrable model for programs to foster graduate student professional development that is responsive to the rapidly changing world of science and technology innovations and workforce trends. Results will be disseminated on the University of Michigan Biomedical Enginering Transforming Engineering Education website and through educational conferences and journal articles. Other institutions interested in implementing this sequence are invited to attend any of the classes and reach out for consultation.This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.