My PhD: Incorporating Student-Centered Assessments into the core of PhD Training

STEM(科学、技术工程和数学)项目的博士培训通常包括课程作业、资格考试和论文研究。每个组成部分主要侧重于特定学科的概念和技能，研究往往与顾问的拨款有关。这可能是寻求终身教职、教师或独立研究职位的学生的理想选择。然而，博士毕业生的机会和兴趣越来越广泛。认识到职业成果的日益多样化，有必要将职业探索和专业发展纳入博士培训。为了实现这一目标，授予北卡罗来纳大学的国家科学基金会研究生教育创新(IGE)奖将开发一种模式，以最大限度地提高以学生为中心的具有个性化能力的博士培训，名为“MyPhD”，可被任何STEM研究生项目采用。预计MyPhD将把个性化的、可翻译的技能发展(如领导力、沟通、管理)与传统上要求的学科特定能力(如科学知识、技术技能、数据解释)无缝结合起来。尽管一些博士项目为学生提供了发展专业技能的机会，但它们往往是自愿的和课外的，由于隐藏着不成文的学术规则、文化和期望的课程，导致潜在的不平等，特别是对第一代学生或来自历史上被排除在外的群体的学生。此外，专业技能没有在主要的监督博士培训计划进展的机制中进行正式评估，例如资格考试、委员会会议和论文/论文答辩。因此，这些学术博士里程碑的传统设计似乎过时了，缺乏灵活性来解决学生的职业目标，并且缺乏基于证据的支持。为了改变博士培训，MyPhD将开发基于证据的指导方针，以促进在整个学生博士培训期间发展以学生为中心的个性化能力和评估，这些能力和评估可以进行定制，以更好地匹配职业兴趣。这种方法预计将增加博士项目的留存率，加快学生毕业后的职业发展，减少培训中的不平等，改善项目环境，并提高学生的幸福感。以下目标，以生物医学博士项目为初始重点，将有助于该项目实现其目标：1)评估当前用于确定学生进步的评估方法，重点放在合格考试和论文/学位论文委员会实践及其与计划定义的能力的关系；2)开发和实施以学生为中心和基于能力的方法来确定资格考试，并将该方法与多个项目中的当前实践进行直接比较；3)通过学位论文委员会开发和实施以学生为中心和以能力为基础的学生评估方法，并直接将该方法与多个项目中的当前实践进行比较；4)通过直接将学生结果以及学生和教职员工对使用当前实践的培训的看法与建议的MyPhD方法进行比较，评估建议的转型。研究生教育创新(IGE)项目专注于研究生教育的研究。IGE的目标是试验、测试和验证研究生教育的创新方法，并产生将这些方法推广到更广泛社区所需的知识。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。

PhD training in STEM (Science, Technology Engineering, and Mathematics) programs generally includes course work, qualifying exams, and dissertation research. Each component focuses primarily on discipline-specific concepts and skills with research frequently related to an advisor’s grant. This may be ideal for students seeking tenure track faculty or independent research positions. However, the opportunities and interests of PhD graduates are increasingly broad. Recognizing the growing diversity of career outcomes warrants the need to incorporate career exploration and professional development into PhD training. Towards this goal, this National Science Foundation Innovations of Graduate Education (IGE) award to the University of North Carolina will develop a model to maximize student-centered PhD training with individualized competencies, entitled “MyPhD”, which can be adopted by any STEM graduate program. MyPhD is expected to seamlessly integrate individualized, translatable skill development (e.g., leadership, communication, management) with traditionally required discipline specific competencies (e.g., scientific knowledge, technical skills, data interpretation). Although some PhD programs provide opportunities for students to develop professional skills, they tend to be voluntary and extra-curricular leading to potential inequity due to the hidden curriculum of unspoken academic rules, culture, and expectations, particularly for first generation students or those from historically excluded groups. Moreover, professional skills are not formally assessed in the primary mechanisms for monitoring progress in PhD training programs such as qualifying exams, committee meetings, and the thesis/dissertation defense. As such, the traditional designs of these academic doctoral milestones seem antiquated, lack flexibility to address student career goals, and lack evidence-based support. To transform PhD training, MyPhD will develop evidence-based guidelines that facilitate the development of individualized student-centered competencies and assessments throughout a student’s doctoral training that can be customized to better match career interests. This approach is anticipated to increase retention in PhD programs, accelerate student advancement in careers post-graduation, decrease inequity in training, enhance program environments, and increase student wellbeing. The following objectives, with an initial focus on biomedical PhD programs, will help the project to achieve its goals: 1) evaluate current assessment methods for determining student progression with a focus on qualifying exams and thesis/dissertation committee practices and their relationship to program-defined competencies; 2) develop and implement student-centered and competency-based approaches to qualifying exams and directly compare the approach to current practices within multiple programs; 3) develop and implement student-centered and competency-based approaches to student evaluation by dissertation committees and directly compare the approach to current practices within multiple programs; 4) evaluate the proposed transformation by directly comparing student outcomes and student and faculty perceptions of training using current practices to the proposed MyPhD approach. The Innovations in Graduate Education (IGE) program is focused on research in graduate education. The goals of IGE are to pilot, test and validate innovative approaches to graduate education and to generate the knowledge required to move these approaches into the broader community.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.