scholarly journals Competing Discourses of Scientific Identity among Postdoctoral Scholars in the Biomedical Sciences

2018 ◽  
Vol 17 (2) ◽  
pp. ar29 ◽  
Author(s):  
Rebecca M. Price ◽  
Ira Kantrowitz-Gordon ◽  
Sharona E. Gordon
Keyword(s):  
Professional Development ◽  
Career Goals ◽  
Development Programs ◽  
Biomedical Sciences ◽  
Future Goals ◽  
Career Opportunities ◽  
Career Options ◽  
Scientific Identity ◽  
Low Pay ◽  
Bench Scientist

The postdoctoral period is generally one of low pay, long hours, and uncertainty about future career options. To better understand how postdocs conceive of their present and future goals, we asked researchers about their scientific identities while they were in their postdoctoral appointments. We used discourse analysis to analyze interviews with 30 scholars from a research-intensive university or nearby research institutions to better understand how their scientific identities influenced their career goals. We identified two primary discourses: bench scientist and principal investigator (PI). The bench scientist discourse is characterized by implementing other people’s scientific visions through work in the laboratory and expertise in experimental design and troubleshooting. The PI discourse is characterized by a focus on formulating scientific visions, obtaining funding, and disseminating results through publishing papers and at invited talks. Because these discourses represent beliefs, they can—and do—limit postdocs’ understandings of what career opportunities exist and the transferability of skills to different careers. Understanding the bench scientist and PI discourses, and how they interact, is essential for developing and implementing better professional development programs for postdocs.

Affordances and Alignments

2017 ◽  
Vol 45 (1) ◽  
pp. 84-90 ◽  
Author(s):  
R. Eric Landrum
Keyword(s):  
Professional Development ◽  
Career Goals ◽  
Self Reflection ◽  
Psychology Majors ◽  
Psychology Major ◽  
Career Options ◽  
Available Information

Challenges abound in providing accurate and useful information to prospective and declared psychology majors about their career options and how to make decisions that will lead to satisfying and rewarding postgraduate lives. One component of this challenge is that by majoring in psychology, career affordances (i.e., the opportunities and limitations inherent to psychology) lead to generalized opportunities that are available to many different disciplinary majors. Another component of this challenge is the alignment between students’ self-reflection and understanding about career goals being aligned with accurate and available information about the desired careers. Understanding how affordances and alignments affect psychology major advising may provide a fruitful framework in moving forward to provide the best professional development resources possible.

Principals’ Policy Preferences concerning Accountability: Implications for Key Competencies, Performance Indicators, and Professional Development

1995 ◽  
Vol 5 (5) ◽  
pp. 448-481 ◽  
Author(s):  
R. J. S. Mac Macpherson ◽  
Margaret Taplin
Keyword(s):  
Professional Development ◽  
Performance Indicators ◽  
Policy Preferences ◽  
Development Programs ◽  
Stakeholder Groups ◽  
Key Competencies ◽  
Professional Development Programs ◽  
Accountability Practices ◽  
State Schools

In this paper, we examine the policy preferences of Tasmania's principals concerning accountability criteria and processes, compare their views to other stakeholder groups, and identify issues that warrant attention in principals’ professional development programs. We show that there are many criteria and processes related to the quality of learning, teaching, and leadership that are valued by all stakeholder groups, including principals. We conclude that Tasmanian state schools probably need to review and develop their accountability policies, and that the professional development will need to prepare leaders for specific forms of performance and generate key competencies if more educative forms of accountability practices are to be realised in practice.

Understanding the characteristics of professional development programs for teachers’ health and wellbeing: Implications for research and practice

2021 ◽  
pp. 000494412110034
Author(s):  
Lucy Corbett ◽  
Philayrath Phongsavan ◽  
Louisa R Peralta ◽  
Adrian Bauman
Keyword(s):  
Professional Development ◽  
Future Research ◽  
Evidence Based ◽  
Development Programs ◽  
Research And Practice ◽  
Health And Wellbeing ◽  
Manual Search ◽  
Australian Education ◽  
Teacher Wellbeing ◽  
Evidence Based Programs

Professional development (PD) provides an opportunity to promote the psychological, social, and physical health tools teachers require to maintain teacher wellbeing. Despite their potential, little is known about PD programs targeting the health and wellbeing of Australian teachers. This study aimed to summarize the characteristics of Australian PD programs targeted at teacher wellbeing, identify gaps in existing PD and make recommendations for future research and practice. Three search strategies, (1) search engine results, (2) a manual search of known Australian education websites, and (3) requests for information from Australian education organizations, were combined to ensure a comprehensive inventory of PD programs was compiled. This study found 63 PD programs promoting health and wellbeing that currently exist for Australian teachers. Of these, only three provided evidence of their evaluation indicating programs are advertised and implemented without evidence of their effectiveness. Future PD should be evaluated with findings of the evaluations reported publicly so evidence-based programs promoting teacher’s health and wellbeing can be recommended and implemented.

Planning the sabbatical: Potential benefits, options, and strategies

2020 ◽  
Vol 64 (1) ◽  
pp. 582-586
Author(s):  
Ellen J. Bass ◽  
Barrett S. Caldwell ◽  
Caroline G. L. Cao ◽  
John D. Lee ◽  
Christopher Miller
Keyword(s):  
Professional Development ◽  
Human Factors ◽  
Professional Group ◽  
Human Factors And Ergonomics ◽  
Leave Of Absence ◽  
Potential Benefits ◽  
Career Options

The goal of the Mid-career Professional Group of the Human Factors and Ergonomics Society is to support the development and mentoring of mid-career professionals. One opportunity for which early mid-career professionals lack knowledge is the sabbatical. Following a designated number of years of consecutive service, a sabbatical can provide a time for personal and professional development through an approved leave of absence. While sabbaticals provide time for deep consideration of a particular topic and/or to reconsider one’s career options, few mid-career professionals are prepared to plan and to execute a sabbatical period. This panel will introduce the benefits of a sabbatical and will highlight options and strategies for those who are considering the sabbatical opportunity.

scholarly journals Reframing Professional Development Through Understanding Authentic Professional Learning

2009 ◽  
Vol 79 (2) ◽  
pp. 702-739 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ann Webster-Wright
Keyword(s):  
Professional Development ◽  
Educational Research ◽  
Professional Learning ◽  
Recent Literature ◽  
Development Programs ◽  
The Past ◽  
Research Findings ◽  
Alternative Conceptualization ◽  
Professional Development Programs ◽  
Evaluating Professional Development

Continuing to learn is universally accepted and expected by professionals and other stakeholders across all professions. However, despite changes in response to research findings about how professionals learn, many professional development practices still focus on delivering content rather than enhancing learning. In exploring reasons for the continuation of didactic practices in professional development, this article critiques the usual conceptualization of professional development through a review of recent literature across professions. An alternative conceptualization is proposed, based on philosophical assumptions congruent with evidence about professional learning from seminal educational research of the past two decades. An argument is presented for a shift in discourse and focus from delivering and evaluating professional development programs to understanding and supporting authentic professional learning.

ROSES: Remote Online Sessions for Emerging Seismologists

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Fransiska K. Dannemann Dugick ◽  
Suzan van der Lee ◽  
Germán A. Prieto ◽  
Sydney N. Dybing ◽  
Liam Toney ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Professional Development ◽  
Graduate Students ◽  
Lessons Learned ◽  
Development Programs ◽  
Content Structure ◽  
Course Content ◽  
Technical Requirements ◽  
Online School ◽  
Professional Development Programs ◽  
Advanced Graduate

Abstract In response to a pandemic causing the cancellation of numerous professional development programs for emerging seismologists, we successfully planned, promoted, and executed an 11 week online school for advanced graduate students worldwide during the summer of 2020. Remote Online Sessions for Emerging Seismologists included 11 distinct lessons focused on different topics in seismology. We highlight the course content, structure, technical requirements, and participation statistics. We additionally provide a series of “lessons learned” for those in the community wishing to establish similar programs.

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