Ph.D. students, particularly in STEM-related fields, are in need of a more holistic approach to their graduate training, according to a recent study conducted by professors at Portland State University and Florida International University.

The study, released in late June, found that graduate training in teaching does not undermine research confidence in graduate students. It concluded that training in evidence-based teaching may even build research confidence and output in Ph.D. students.

The study challenges the assumption that a “tension” exists between graduate training in teaching and graduate training in research.

Though the study was not connected to Syracuse University, multiple graduate faculty at the university said the results were not surprising because it reaffirmed longstanding efforts to strengthen graduate teaching training.

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Most Ph.D. students have to balance the dual role of research assistant and teaching assistant, two positions that have different responsibilities.

Teaching assistants help professors maintain and organize their undergraduate classes by running discussion-based classes based off of large lectures. Research assistants help professors with their publications, which often brings in funding for additional research.

At large research institutions like SU, many Ph.D. students in STEM-related fields — who compete for external, research-based grants for much of their funding —  are utilized primarily for research rather than teaching, said Glenn Wright, director of SU’s Graduate School Programs Office.

“In fields where research is grant-funded, the name of the game is getting research money flowing into your lab,” Wright said. “I think this phenomenon of faculty perception (is) that graduate students need to be doing research all of the time and not other stuff such as teaching.”

SU spent more than $84 million on research and development across all academic fields in 2016, according to the National Science Foundation. More than $53 million of that funding came from research relating to science and engineering, per the NSF. Funding for the research came from 50 sources, the top three of which were nonprofit organizations, the federal government and institutional funds.

Nationally, SU ranked 158 out of 902 research institutions surveyed for total research and development expenditures in 2016.

Still, SU administrators have been promoting teacher training by hiring faculty to focus on graduate training in teaching.  

In late June, SU’s Office of Academic Affairs hired Martha Diede to direct a new Center for Teaching and Learning Excellence. The College of Arts & Sciences recently appointed Lois Agnew as their dean of curriculum and pedagogy, Diede said.

SU also holds a three-day orientation program for all new teaching assistants, with extra time added for international teaching assistants.

The Signature Hires Initiative, which is part of Invest Syracuse — a $100 million plan to advance SU’s academics and student experience — has also committed to hiring 100 new faculty members in the next five years. This focuses on both research initiatives and teaching initiatives.

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Wright still describes this as the “early stages” of a culture change within research-based departments at SU. Figuring out the right way for each school to promote training in evidence-based teaching to fit their own culture is a big challenge, he said.

Sarah Eddy, an assistant professor of biology at FIU and co-author of the study, says this shift in priorities could become a national trend.

“I think it promotes the idea that there may be opportunities to broaden the training of graduate students and to bring in other skill sets that they’re going to need to be successful in their careers,” she said. “Not everyone goes into academia, so we could have all these different skill sets that would make them marketable in industries, and maybe we could start bringing those in.”

During her years in graduate school, Eddy said she had friends who were interested in teaching, but trained themselves without their advisers knowing because faculty were more focused on research.

Wright said it may be hard to convince older faculty to switch from the current status quo, largely because contributions from students help bolster their own publications and because many faculty who have decades of experience may not be as open to change.

Diede echoed this, saying that administrative efforts can only go so far to change what happens inside a process that is controlled by individual faculty.

“No one can control what happens in the classroom apart from the faculty member themself,” she said. “So, realistically, all of this falls on the faculty member, because I can help somebody, but not if they don’t want it.”

Published on August 6, 2018 at 6:41 pm

Contact Gabe: gkstern@syr.edu | @gabestern326