A support group activity for first year graduate students

The context of a presentation determines, or should determine, how you approach its preparation. The context includes many things, the audience, the purpose of the presentation, the occasion, what precedes the presentation and what follows from it. It will define what you expect from the audience, and will influence how you prepare yourself for the talk. A simple example. Suppose that you have been invited to give a series of lectures at a summer school. What more do you need to know, other than the topic? Here are a few of the questions that you need to have answered before you can start planning the course. 1. Is it an introductory course aimed at graduate students in their first year, or is it an advanced course more suited to graduates in their final year and young postdoctoral researchers? 2. Are the participants expected to ask questions during the lecture, or wait until the end? 3. Will there be any problem classes or discussion sessions? 4. Will lecture notes be handed out to participants before or after the lecture? 5. Will the proceedings be published, and if so, when? 6. What are the other lecture courses going to cover? 7. Will the basic theory already have been covered, or are they expected to know it already, or should you spend half of the first lecture going over it, just in case some have not seen it before? 8. If it is your job to give the basic introductory lectures, should you follow the standard approach in the usual text books, or should you assume that they have already covered that ground and try to give them more insight into the subject? 9. Will any of the lectures that come later in the school make any assumptions about what they have learned in your lectures? 10. Is there a social programme? If so, are you expected to participate in the activities and discuss the subject informally with the participants (which, from our experience, is always much appreciated), or can you spend most of the time in your room writing the next lecture?

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Finding Grace

Degrees of Difference ◽

10.5622/illinois/9780252043185.003.0008 ◽

2020 ◽

pp. 134-145

Author(s):

Aeriel A. Ashlee

Keyword(s):

Graduate Students ◽

Critical Race Theory ◽

Asian American ◽

White Supremacy ◽

Model Minority ◽

Racial Microaggressions ◽

First Year ◽

Critical Race ◽

Model Minority Myth ◽

Race Theory

This chapter features a critical race counterstory from an Asian American womxn of color about her doctoral education and graduate school socialization. Framed within critical race theory, the author chronicles racial microaggressions she endured as a first-year higher education doctoral student. The author describes the ways in which the model minority myth is wielded as a tool of white supremacy and how the pervasive stereotype overlaps with the imposter syndrome to manifest in a unique oppression targeting Asian American graduate students. The author draws inspiration from Asian American activist Grace Lee Boggs, which helps her resist the intersectional oppression of white supremacy and patriarchy present within academia. The chapter concludes with recommendations to support womxn of color graduate students.

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Predicting Scholastic Achievement of First-Year Graduate Students

Educational and Psychological Measurement ◽

10.1177/001316445301300216 ◽

1953 ◽

Vol 13 (2) ◽

pp. 322-329 ◽

Cited By ~ 5

Author(s):

Ralph E. Jenson

Keyword(s):

Graduate Students ◽

Scholastic Achievement ◽

First Year

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What Do We Know About War?. Edited by John A. Vasquez. Lanham, MD: Rowman & Littlefield, 2000. 420p. $75.00 cloth, $29.95 paper.

American Political Science Review ◽

10.1017/s0003055402254349 ◽

2002 ◽

Vol 96 (1) ◽

pp. 273-274

Author(s):

H. E. Goemans

Keyword(s):

Graduate Students ◽

Rational Choice ◽

Quantitative Study ◽

Statistical Analyses ◽

First Year ◽

War And Peace ◽

Current State ◽

Basic Understanding ◽

Choice Literature

The new collection of essays edited by John A. Vasquez in What Do We Know About War? provides a useful overview of the quantitative literature on war. This book makes no claims to move the field forward significantly but, instead, offers seniors and first-year graduate students a good basic understanding of how statistical analyses have been used to explain the variation between war and peace. The book has significant strengths and weaknesses. Its strengths are the wide array of questions addressed and the attempt to provide a systematic discussion of the current state of the quantitative knowledge on war; its weaknesses are the paucity of attention paid to new insights from the rational choice literature and their implications for the quantitative study of conflict.

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Words Matter: The Impact of “Catchy” vs Conventional Course Titles on Student Interest

The Canadian Journal for the Scholarship of Teaching and Learning ◽

10.5206/cjsotl-rcacea.2017.1.4 ◽

2017 ◽

Vol 8 (1) ◽

Author(s):

Joan Flaherty ◽

Bruce G McAdams ◽

Joshua E LeBlanc

Keyword(s):

Graduate Students ◽

Nous Avons ◽

First Year ◽

Student Interest ◽

Anecdotal Evidence ◽

Post Secondary ◽

Student Preference ◽

Premier Cycle ◽

The Impact ◽

Conventional Counterpart

Anecdotal evidence suggests that post-secondary institutions in Canada and beyond are experimenting with the practice of substituting conventional, discipline-centred course titles with more creatively phrased, learner-centred titles. However, we could find no scholarly research to affirm, challenge or guide this practice. This study represents a preliminary foray into that research. We surveyed 368 business undergraduate and graduate students at a mid-sized Canadian university to address, and explore the implications of, this question: "Does a catchy course title elicit more student interest than its conventional counterpart?" Our findings provide some, but not unqualified, support for the practice of using catchy course titles as a way of attracting student interest. We found the most significant influence on student preference toward conventional or catchy course titles to be year of registration (first year and fourth year students showed the most interest in catchy course titles; graduate students and those registered in second and third year showed a preference for conventional course titles). Implications regarding marketing and pedagogy are discussed, as is the need for further research. Des preuves non scientifiques sembleraient suggérer que les établissements d’enseignement supérieur du Canada et au-delà sont en train d’essayer de substituer les titres de cours conventionnels centrés sur la discipline par des titres centrés sur l’apprenant et formulés de façon plus créatrice. Toutefois, nous n’avons trouvé aucune recherche savante qui pourrait affirmer, mettre au défi ou guider cette pratique. Cette étude représente une expérience préliminaire dans cette recherche. Nous avons fait un sondage auprès de 368 étudiants de premier cycle et de cycles supérieurs en administration des affaires dans une université canadienne de taille moyenne afin d’explorer les implications de la question suivante : « Est-ce qu’un titre de cours accrocheur attire davantage l’intérêt des étudiants qu’un titre plus conventionnel? » Nos résultats présentent un certain soutien non qualifié à cette pratique qui consiste à utiliser des titres de cours accrocheurs dans le but d’attirer l’intérêt des étudiants. Nous avons trouvé que l’influence la plus significative sur la préférence des étudiants entre les titres conventionnels et les titres accrocheurs était l’année d’inscription (les étudiants de première et de quatrième année étaient davantage attirés par les titres de cours accrocheurs; les étudiants des cycles supérieurs et ceux inscrits en deuxième et troisième année semblaient préférer les titres de cours conventionnels). Les implications en matière de marketing et de pédagogie sont discutées, ainsi que la nécessité de faire des recherches plus avancées sur la question.

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