“Moving the Science Forward”: Faculty Perceptions of Culturally Diverse Mentor Training Benefits, Challenges, and Support

This study applied social exchange theory to examine 74 faculty members’ perceptions of culturally diverse mentor training activities at 10 undergraduate institutions in the early stages of implementing grant-funded interventions focused on determining the most effective ways to engage and retain racially diverse students in biomedical research.

Faculty perceptions of information literacy skills: an investigation at the Florence University Campus of Social Sciences

Purpose The Florence University Social Science Library has for some time been engaged in courses for information literacy (IL), but so far, there has been a lack of collaboration with teachers. This study aims to investigate teachers’ perception of students’ IL skills. Design/methodology/approach The qualitative investigation was based on semi-structured interviews with 24 faculty members of the Florence University Social Sciences campus. Findings Knowledge of the IL frameworks is not widespread among the teachers of the campus, but following the discussion, most of the interviewees came to acknowledge its certain validity. The teachers tend to attribute an insufficient level of information skills to the bachelor’s degree students, a good level to master’s degree and a more positive level to the postgraduates. They express appreciation of the training activity of the library, but they, nevertheless, still tend to consider librarians, as their more traditional role would suggest, only as bibliographic research experts. No one seemed to believe librarians possess those training competencies they would need to get involved in teaching curricula. The recognition of the work that has been accomplished up to now represents foundations for an increasingly necessary partnership. There is an awareness, however, that a suitable strategy which requires determination and initiative will be difficult to implement. Originality/value This study represents one of the few contributions on the perception of IL skills by faculty members in Italian universities.

Faculty Perceptions of Mattering in Teaching and Learning: A Qualitative Examination of the Views, Values, and Teaching Practices of Award-Winning Professors

We summarize qualitative research conducted on the mattering construct and then describe a qualitative investigation focused on mattering as a key aspect of the relational factors which influence the learning and development of students. Semi-structured interviews were conducted with 12 professors recognized for their teaching excellence. Specifically, we assessed professors’ attitudes towards student perceptions of mattering and awareness of mattering in terms of their own self-reported beliefs, attitudes, and teaching practices that convey to students that they matter. Thematic analysis confirmed that almost all the award-winning professors interviewed recognized students’ need to matter and found effective ways to convey to students that they matter. These professors tended to be more similar than different in their approaches and attitudes. Key themes included the need for professors to show students they care about them as students and as people, seeing and treating students as individuals who are collaborators in the learning process, and the need to avoid anti-mattering micro-practices that can result in students becoming disengaged and disillusioned. We discuss these findings in terms of how an explicit focus on mattering promotion is warranted as a central attribute of effective teaching and learning, how the current findings enhance understanding of the mattering construct and how it should be assessed.

The Changing Landscape of Doctoral Education in Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics: PhD Students, Faculty Advisors, and Preferences for Varied Career Options

The landscape of graduate science education is changing as efforts to diversify the professoriate have increased because academic faculty jobs at universities have grown scarce and more competitive. With this context as a backdrop, the present research examines the perceptions and career goals of advisors and advisees through surveys of PhD students (Study 1, N = 195) and faculty mentors (Study 2, N = 272) in science, technology, engineering, and math disciplines. Study 1 examined actual preferences and career goals of PhD students among three options: research careers, teaching careers, and non-academic careers in industry, and compared the actual preferences of students with what they perceived as being the normative preferences of faculty. Overall, students had mixed preferences but perceived that their advisors had a strong normative preference for research careers for them. Moreover, students who ranked research positions as most desirable felt the most belonging in their academic departments. Further analyses revealed no differences in career preferences as a function of underrepresented minority (URM) student status or first-generation (FG) status, but URM and FG students felt less belonging in their academic departments. Study 2 examined faculty preferences for different careers for their advisees, both in general and for current students in particular. While faculty advisors preferred students to go into research in general, when focusing on specific students, they saw their preferences as being closely aligned with the career preference of each PhD student. Faculty advisors did not perceive any difference in belonging between their students as a function of their URM status. Discrepancies between student and faculty perceptions may occur, in part, because faculty and students do not engage in sufficient discussions about the wider range of career options beyond academic research. Supporting this possibility, PhD students and faculty advisors reported feeling more comfortable discussing research careers with each other than either non-academic industry positions or teaching positions. Discussion centers on the implications of these findings for interpersonal and institutional efforts to foster diversity in the professoriate and to create open communication about career development.

Multiple Mini-interviews for Medical Students’ Admissions: Students and Faculty Perceptions on Acceptability and Feasibility

Aim: To evaluate the acceptability and feasibility of the multiple mini interviews for selecting medical students for admission in a medical institution. Methods: The current cross-sectional descriptive study is a 12-item questionnaire-based survey with a four-point Likert scale to record the anonymous responses of the candidate students’ and the interviewer faculty perceptions. Descriptive statistics were used to analyze the data quantitatively with IBM SPSS Version 25. The study evaluated the acceptability and feasibility of the utility of multiple mini-interviews (MMIs) as an assessment tool for the medical students’ selection in the admission process at Avicenna Medical College, Lahore, Pakistan. Results: A total of 438 candidate students and 42 interviewer/assessor faculty members participated in the study. Most of the candidate students (92.2%) of candidates and 97.6% of interviewer faculty regarded MMIs better than the traditional interviews for the selection of medical students. Further, 99.4% of candidate students and 97.6% of interviewer faculty were satisfied with the MMI process’s general arrangements. Finally, a hundred percent interviewer faculty and 96.8% of candidate students perceived MMIs as a feasible assessment tool for the admission process of the medical institutions. Conclusion: The overall positive responses of the candidate students and the interviewer faculty for the acceptability and feasibility of the MMI process as an assessment tool in the admission process to select medical students provide evidence for future research on the use of MMIs. In addition, other medical institutions can adapt or modify the MMI process per the available finances and resources within their local settings. Keywords: Multiple mini-interviews, Medical college admission process, acceptability, feasibility.