PhD Progression: Creating Workforce-driven Flexible Credentials for Doctoral Students

博士教育在美国劳动力大军中的角色几十年来一直在变化。授予博士学位的人数稳步增加，而终身教职员工的比例大幅下降。因此，绝大多数博士学位获得者不会获得终身职位，而是会在学术界以外和包括工业、非营利组织和政府机构在内的广泛部门寻求各种职业道路。为了补充现有的博士项目，使研究生具备在各种职业中成为成功的专业人员所必需的复杂知识、技能和态度，该项目团队创建并试行了一项微认证培训计划：博士进步。通过完成博士进步徽章，博士生可以获得关键领域的技能，如沟通、管理、自我意识、研究和教学，以便在多元化、包容性和全球化的专业环境中有效地服务。Ph.D.Progment中包含的数字标记系统还允许学生监控他们的进步，并直接向雇主展示他们投资于自己职业发展的结果。这一NSF研究生教育创新奖(IGE)将通过创建一个学术和非学术机构联盟，支持扩大博士进步内容，使其能够从劳动力的新整合角度广泛访问。该项目旨在增加博士进步徽章的数量，并将劳动力视角和评估直接整合到徽章内容中。项目团队还将为学生创造导师圈和赞助实习机会。学生将与行业专业人士一起开展短期项目，以应用他们的知识并获得实践中的专业指导。这些活动将允许学生在学术培训期间与雇主互动，并学习与他们有效沟通。此外，学生还将了解STEM博士队伍中不同的身份、背景、经验和专业知识。这些互动还将增加员工和学生的凭据价值。要实现这些目标，需要与业界、大学和其他波士顿大学办公室建立合作伙伴关系。因此，项目组打算使用和评价一个在公平协作框架内运作的联合体，以便让所有这些伙伴公平地参与项目的实施和管理。通过分析从学生、行业合作伙伴和培训人员那里收集的数据，该项目将产生和传播关于以下方面的知识：a)学术机构如何通过自定进度的徽章来加强博士生为各种职业做准备，以及b)新兴劳动力需求和不断变化的就业市场如何为专业发展和博士课程的改进提供信息。数据来源包括：入学(完成前)和完成后调查、徽章活动和评估、博士生年度离职调查数据、毕业后就业市场结果、参与者访谈以及雇主访谈和调查。项目结果将有助于回答有关学生动机、行业参与度、拟议培训模式中的学习结果、就业结果以及参与者和雇主对职业准备的看法等问题。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。

The role of doctoral education in the United States workforce has been shifting for several decades. The number of PhDs awarded steadily increased while the percentage of tenured faculty shrunk dramatically. Consequently, the vast majority of Ph.D. degree recipients will not go on to a tenured position but instead will pursue a variety of career paths outside of academia and in a wide range of sectors, including industry, non-profits, and governmental agencies. To supplement existing Ph.D. programs by equipping graduate students with the complex knowledge, skills, and attitudes necessary to be successful professionals in various careers, the project team has created and piloted a micro-credentialing training program: Ph.D. Progression. By completing Ph.D. Progression badges, Ph.D. students can gain skills in key areas such as communication, management, self-awareness, research, and teaching towards serving effectively in a diverse, inclusive, and global professional landscape. The digital badging system included in Ph.D. Progression also allows students to monitor their progress and demonstrate directly to employers the outcomes from the time they invested in their professional development. This NSF Innovations in Graduate Education (IGE) award will support the expansion of the Ph.D. Progression content to be widely accessible with newly integrated perspectives from the workforce through the creation of a consortium of academic and non-academic institutions.The project aims to increase the number of Ph.D. Progression badges and integrate workforce perspective and assessments directly into badge content. The project team will also create mentoring circles and sponsored internship opportunities for students. Students will work on short projects with industry professionals to apply their learning and gain hands-on professional mentorship. These activities will allow students to interact with employers during their academic training and learn to communicate effectively with them. In addition, students will get a sense of the diverse identities, backgrounds, experiences, and expertise within the STEM Ph.D. workforce. These interactions will also increase the value of the credentials to both the workforce and students. Reaching these goals will involve establishing partnerships with industry, universities, and other Boston University offices. Therefore, the project team intends to use and evaluate a consortium operating within an Equitable Collaboration Framework to involve all these partners equitably in the implementation and management of the project. Through analysis of data collected from students, industry partners, and trainers, the project will generate and disseminate knowledge about: a) how academic institutions can enhance Ph.D. student preparation for a broad range of careers through self-paced badges, and b) how professional development and doctoral program improvements are informed by emerging workforce needs and shifting job markets. Data sources include: enrollment (pre-) and post-completion surveys, badge activities and assessments, Ph.D. student annual exit survey data, post-graduation job market outcomes, participant interviews, and employer interviews and surveys. Project findings will help answer questions about student motivation, industry engagement, learning outcomes in the proposed training model, employment outcomes, and participant and employer perceptions of career preparation. 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.