Acting on PhD student feedback to create new learning resources

Angela NewtonDan Pullinger

In todays workshop

New 2011/12 PhD workshopsWhat we createdStudent feedbackFuture activities

First steps in PhD teachingStudent feedback

Over to youGroup work

2005 - format for workshops

Whats worrying you?

Discussion activity in workshop 1Threw up more and more challenging questionsTopics not covered in either workshop

Conclusion?Change the workshops!*

*Teacher feedback on issues raised by attendees was also taken into account

Over to you

How would you respond to these student worries? In your group, devise a learning activity that addresses the

problems Use the resources on your table to show & describe how it

would work

You have 15 minutes!

Quotes 1

Is this paper worthwhile/valid? How to distinguish between relevant and irrelevant literature

When papers say contradictory things, which do you trust?

How to filter un-useful information

Quotes 2

How do I get full-text scientific papers online? I often worry there's crucial papers out there I don't know are there...

How do I know when to stop looking for information? Uni doesnt have subscriptions to useful papers/journals I dont want to pay too much

[How do I find] unpublished and ongoing work? Some papers cant be accessed online

Quotes 3

How to make selections of what is important in a vast number of research sources?

Which of the articles is most important? How can I know this work is significant? How do you find/know papers that are the most cited/respected, i.e. people who really know their stuff

How to check the top rating research in certain areas? Credibility of authors? What order should I read the literature in?

Quotes 4

How do I extract the important information [from a paper]?

Organised reading by theme / topic? I get distracted & find irrelevant information interesting too

How to distinguish what is essential to read from what is not

Choosing the most relevant papers to read Reading methods dont want to read all papers from beginning to end

2011 - format for workshops

How we responded to the feedback

New activities integrating academic skillsCritical analysisResearch information landscapeBibliometricsReading and note-taking strategies

Learning Development, University of Plymouth

Critical analysis

What are bibliometrics?

A variety of statistical measures used to quantify research Often make use of citation counts Relate to journals Relate to researchers

individuals or groups

Which authors are the most important/influential?

How it works: h-index, or Hirsch indexA scholar with an index of h has published h papers, each of

which has been cited by others at least h times.

You have a go:Search for the h-index for the lead authors of the articles you

have foundWhat do you think is a good h-index score?Will the h-index be a useful tool for your research?What are the pros and cons of the h-index?

3 different ways to read

Text mapping

2011/12 students liked

H-index, how to create groups in EndNote, critical analysis of papers

How to determine influence and impact of authors, journals and articles

Ideas about best ways to take notes Factors which determine the importance of a piece of work Idea of text-mapping - good way to think about and internalise ideas

2011/12 students disliked

Reading - skim, scan, close - too basic Did not really see how bibliometrics help to prioritise literature for my subject

Not enough explanation of reading strategies It didn't give the magic answer to solve all my reading problems! (high expectation maybe!)

roll of paper scroll - impractical

What will you do next?

Change the way I choose references. Use mind-mapping

Put some effort into learning EndNote. Text mapping Start using an explicit framework for my notes, including a section on how this article specifically can enhance my argument (to help draw strands together).

What will you do next?

Rearrange my work Be more structured about which articles I select, using citation and impact factors

Now understand I'm a more visual person & will use text mapping

Change my note-taking techniques Buy coloured pens, mindmap and use RSS feeds

Future plans

Rebalance parts of each workshop: More reading & note-takingChange emphasis for bibliometrics

Long-term student impact survey Animate the research information landscape slide Video input featuring academic staff EndNote vs. Mendeley Create a skills collection