scholarly journals Online Graduate Student Identity and Professional Skills Development

2013 ◽  
Vol 43 (3) ◽  
pp. 36-55
Author(s):  
Deborah Hurst ◽  
Martha Cleveland-Innes ◽  
Pamela Hawranik ◽  
Sarah Gauvreau
Keyword(s):  
Graduate Students ◽  
Graduate Programs ◽  
Academic Programs ◽  
Student Identity ◽  
Professional Skills ◽  
Building Relationships ◽  
Academic Tasks ◽  
Online Learning Communities ◽  
Online Study ◽  
Skill Building

Graduate students are assumed to develop skills in oral and written communication and collegial relationships that are complementary to formal graduate programs. However, it appears only a small number of universities provide such professional development opportunities alongside academic programs, and even fewer do so online. There appears to be an assumption in higher education that students develop professional skills by virtue of learning through required academic tasks and having proximity to other students and faculty. Skeptics of online study raise questions about whether graduate students studying online can participate fully in such graduate communities and access these informal professional skill-building opportunities. It is possible that such activities may have to be designed and delivered for online graduate students. This paper presents preliminary qualitative findings from a project that developed, offered, and evaluated such online opportunities. Findings suggest that while online graduate students can and do develop professional skills while navigating their studies, building relationships, and participating in online learning communities, they are keen to develop such professional skills in a more deliberate way.  

scholarly journals Online Professional Skills Workshops: Perspectives from Distance Education Graduate Students

2016 ◽  
Vol 17 (5) ◽  
Author(s):  
Sarah Anne Gauvreau ◽  
Deborah Hurst ◽  
Martha Cleveland-Innes ◽  
Pamela Hawranik
Keyword(s):  
Graduate Students ◽  
Problem Solving ◽  
Focus Group ◽  
Sense Of Community ◽  
Graduate Programs ◽  
Team Building ◽  
Academic Programs ◽  
Self Awareness ◽  
Professional Skills ◽  
Analytical Thinking

<p class="3">While many online graduate students are gaining academic and scholarly knowledge, the opportunities for students to develop and hone professional skills essential for the workplace are lacking. Given the virtual environment of distance learning, graduate students are often expected to glean professional skills such as analytical thinking, self-awareness, flexibility, team-building, and problem-solving inherently through informal means (Cleveland-Innes &amp; Ally, 2012). The goal of this study was to evaluate the experiences of online graduate students participating in synchronous online professional skills workshops. Students attended the sessions from the various graduate programs at an online Canadian university. The discussions from the focus group held at the end of the project were used to achieve the research goals. This paper used a phenomenological lens to accomplish its research goals. The participants reported that they experienced a “sense of community” and learned skills that were not included in their academic programs.</p>

A Local Resource for Advising Applicants to Clinical Psychology Graduate Programs

1992 ◽  
Vol 19 (1) ◽  
pp. 52-54 ◽  
Author(s):  
David M. Todd ◽  
Donald Farinato
Keyword(s):  
Graduate Students ◽  
Graduate School ◽  
Clinical Psychology ◽  
Graduate Programs ◽  
Additional Benefit ◽  
Personal Knowledge ◽  
Sources Of Information ◽  
Local Resource ◽  
Informal Information

Undergraduates planning to apply to graduate school in clinical psychology have few resources for identifying suitable programs. Published sources are limited and uneven in their coverage of topics that may be important to applicants. Visits and interviews can be helpful but expensive and difficult to arrange. This article describes a procedure for polling departmental graduate students and faculty who have personal knowledge of programs. This procedure does not obviate the need for other sources of information, but it makes informal information more readily available. As an additional benefit, the survey involves the support of faculty and graduate students for undergraduates.

scholarly journals I’ll Go to the Library Later: The Relationship between Academic Procrastination and Library Anxiety

2000 ◽  
Vol 61 (1) ◽  
pp. 45-54 ◽  
Author(s):  
Anthony J. Onwuegbuzie ◽  
Qun G. Jiao
Keyword(s):  
Graduate Students ◽  
Anxiety Reduction ◽  
Fear Of Failure ◽  
Academic Procrastination ◽  
Graduate Level ◽  
Academic Tasks ◽  
Library Anxiety ◽  
Term Papers ◽  
The Relationship ◽  
And Task

Approximately 95 percent of college students procrastinate on academic tasks such as writing term papers, studying for examinations, and keeping up with weekly reading assignments. At the graduate level, an estimated 60 percent of students procrastinate on academic tasks. Academic procrastination stems primarily from fear of failure and task aversiveness. It has been theorized, though not tested empirically, that highly anxious graduate students typically procrastinate while engaged in library-related tasks. This study investigated the relationship between academic procrastination and library anxiety at the graduate level. Participants included 135 graduate students enrolled in three sections of a required introductory-level educational research course. Findings revealed that, overall, academic procrastination was significantly positively related to the following dimensions of library anxiety: affective barriers, comfort with the library, and mechanical barriers. A canonical correlation analysis revealed that academic procrastination resulting from both fear of failure and task aversiveness was related significantly to barriers with staff, affective barriers, comfort with the library, and knowledge of the library. Implications for library anxiety reduction as a procrastination intervention are discussed.

scholarly journals Racializing Experiences of Foreign-Born and Ethnically Diverse Black Male Engineering Graduate Students: Implications for Student Affairs Practice, Policy, and Research

2017 ◽  
Vol 7 (4) ◽  
pp. 925-943 ◽  
Author(s):  
Brian A. Burt ◽  
Alexander Knight ◽  
Justin Roberson
Keyword(s):  
Graduate Students ◽  
Cultural Identity ◽  
Student Affairs ◽  
Black Men ◽  
Graduate School ◽  
Graduate Programs ◽  
Ethnically Diverse ◽  
Promising Practices ◽  
Foreign Born ◽  
Domain Specific

Despite a growing body of work on the experiences of Black collegians, the higher education knowledge base lacks scholarship focused on Black men in graduate programs who are foreign-born and/or identify ethnically as other than African American. In this article, we provide a domain-specific investigation (i.e., based on students’ field of study), centering on nine Black men in engineering graduate programs. Three themes emerged regarding students’ racialized experiences and effects of racialization: (1) racialization as a transitional process; (2) cultural identity (dis)integrity; and (3) racialized imposter syndrome. We conclude with implications for developing and implementing promising practices and activities that aid students throughout graduate school. Such targeted efforts might also improve the likelihood of students remaining in the engineering workforce.

scholarly journals Graduate Students Academic Persistence: Academic and Social Integration Intertwined with Self-Directed Learning

2020 ◽  
Vol 13 (7) ◽  
pp. 1
Author(s):  
Moi Mooi Lew ◽  
Regena F. Nelson ◽  
Yuqian Shen ◽  
Yung Kiet Ong
Keyword(s):  
Graduate Students ◽  
Social Integration ◽  
Social Interactions ◽  
Academic Persistence ◽  
Academic Programs ◽  
Personal Factors ◽  
Self Directed Learning ◽  
Online Questionnaire ◽  
Program Coordinators ◽  
Directed Learning

This study aimed to explore influential personal factors that could affect graduate students&rsquo; academic persistence. Data were collected with an online questionnaire and one-on-one interviews. The findings indicated that graduate students had integrated into the academic environment and established a positive relationship with advisors and program coordinators. Participants have limited social interactions with classmates. This factor decreased the importance of social integration on persistence. Data indicated that participants&rsquo; self-directed learning readiness was moderately high. This study suggests that these three personal factors are intertwined in influencing graduate students&rsquo; decision to persist in the academic programs.

Creating Meaningful Research for Graduate Students to Prevent Degree Abandonment

2018 ◽  
pp. 152-171
Author(s):  
Amy L. Sedivy-Benton
Keyword(s):  
Higher Education ◽  
Graduate Students ◽  
Graduate Programs ◽  
Institutions Of Higher Education ◽  
Diverse Population ◽  
Graduate Degree ◽  
Advanced Degrees ◽  
Graduate Research ◽  
Brick And Mortar ◽  
Meaningful Research

Advanced degrees are becoming more valuable in the workplace. In turn, institutions of higher education are providing multiple venues for students to obtain advanced degrees. These venues tend to reach a population beyond those who would have attended a traditional brick and mortar institution. This reaches students from a variety of backgrounds, and institutions are trying to adjust and accommodate this newly recruited and diverse population. The expectations of graduate programs have not changed; students are to emerge from these programs with the knowledge, skills, and abilities to partake in research on their own. However, these students are limited on the readiness they possess to conduct graduate research. This in turn results in attrition from the program and leaving behind their opportunity for a graduate degree. This chapter provides an overview of the skills and issues of graduate students and a discussion of how those issues affect students finding success in graduate programs. The chapter concludes with suggestions and recommendations for addressing these issues.

Professional Skills Assessment

2015 ◽  
Vol 4 (1) ◽  
pp. 33-60 ◽  
Author(s):  
Sadan Kulturel-Konak ◽  
Abdullah Konak ◽  
Gul Okudan Kremer ◽  
Ivan E. Esparagozza
Keyword(s):  
Global Economy ◽  
Academic Programs ◽  
Assessment Model ◽  
Project Teams ◽  
Professional Skills ◽  
Traditional Assessment ◽  
New Graduates ◽  
Engineering And Technology ◽  
Complex Engineering ◽  
Engineering Projects

Today's global economy demands that new graduates excel in not only technical knowledge but also professional skills. In fact, the lack of professional skills in project teams has been identified among the most important factors contributing to the high failure rate of complex engineering projects. As a response, academic programs have incorporated professional skills in their curricula. However, there are challenges in the assessment of learning outcomes related to professional skills. This paper presents a novel assessment framework based on the Model of Domain Learning, to assess students' development in professional skills across different disciplines. The proposed assessment model can be tailored to various learning objectives and student levels to facilitate integration of the assessment of professional skills into an overall program assessment plan. An empirical study, which assesses the teamwork communication skills, is presented to demonstrate the applicability of the proposed framework and its advantages as compared to other traditional assessment rubrics in engineering and technology education.

Factors Affecting Development of Communities in 3D Immersive Learning Environments

2013 ◽  
Vol 4 (3) ◽  
pp. 18-34 ◽  
Author(s):  
Terry McClannon ◽  
Robert Sanders ◽  
Amy Cheney ◽  
Les Bolt ◽  
Krista Terry
Keyword(s):  
Graduate Students ◽  
Learning Environments ◽  
Survey Research ◽  
Sense Of Community ◽  
Graduate Programs ◽  
Factors Affecting ◽  
3D Environment ◽  
Research Questions ◽  
Immersive Environment ◽  
The Relationship

This study is based on survey research conducted in 2010 and 2011, involving graduate students using a 3D immersive environment for their coursework. Investigators examined students’ perceptions of community and presence via coursework offered in the immersive world. Utilizing the Sense of Community II index and the Communities of Inquiry survey, variables examined include students’ time within their graduate programs, time spent in the 3D environment, and their levels of immersion, as well as the relationship between the two instruments. Analysis showed significant results for each of the research questions for both instruments.

Sign in / Sign up

Export Citation Format

Share Document