STEM doctoral students’ skill development: does funding mechanism matter?

Background A substantial monetary investment supports STEM doctoral students in the United States (U.S.) through a variety of funding mechanisms (e.g., fellowships, research, and teaching assistantships). However, we have limited knowledge of how students’ funding influences their development of career-relevant skills during graduate school. Using survey data from STEM doctoral students (n = 719) across 35 highly ranked U.S. institutions, we use exploratory factor analysis and nested multivariate regression modeling to understand how students’ primary funding influences development of: (a) research skills; (b) teamwork and project management skills; (c) peer training and mentoring skills, and (d) communication skills. Results We find significant differences in students’ self-reported development for all four career-related skills based on their primary funding type. Students with research assistantships reported higher research and teamwork and project management skills than those with teaching assistantships. Yet, students with teaching assistantships reported significantly higher development of peer training and mentoring than students funded via all other types. Students funded via external fellowships reported lower skill development than students funded primarily by research assistantships across all four career-relevant skills. Conclusions Doctoral students' development of career-relevant skills are not uniform across primary funding types. Particularly, the perceived benefits of external fellowship funding (i.e., prestige, autonomy, increased pay) may come at the cost of fewer opportunities to develop skills important for career success. STEM graduate education scholars, practitioners, and policymakers should consider and ameliorate the varied impacts that funding mechanisms can have on graduate students’ development of career-relevant skills.

Undergraduate teaching assistantships: exploring career readiness and relationality among Emirati students

PurposeThe purpose of this study was to pilot an undergraduate teaching assistantship for Emirati students, an area of scholarship underexplored in the Middle East. The teaching assistantship was developed to better prepare students for the workforce, amidst the push for Emiratization.Design/methodology/approachOver the course of one semester, four undergraduate teaching assistants documented their experience through reflexive journals that were analysed using a reflexive thematic analysis.FindingsUndergraduate teaching assistants characterised their experience as providing professional development and learning to connect with student learners. Findings suggest that relationality may be an important factor in student engagement and learning.Practical implicationsUnderstanding the experience of undergraduate teaching assistants can help develop targeted opportunities to enhance career readiness. Exploring the role of relationality could be important in the training and development of the Emirati workforce and help address some of the gaps in skills. Understanding the way in which undergraduate teaching assistants perceive their teaching experience can also provide faculty with insight into their teaching practices.Originality/valueThis exploratory study shows that students are able to acquire skills that may be applied in a variety of work settings (e.g. balancing multiple responsibilities). However, undergraduate teaching assistants expressed wanting to connect with student learners; this may be more culturally rooted and is less explored within the Emirati context. Given the socio-cultural context of the United Arab Emirates (UAE), female Emiratis may benefit from work-type opportunities, which to the authors’ knowledge has not been explored previously.

Virtual undergraduate teaching assistantships of pediatrics and social network medical education: a successful experience at an university in the south of Rio de Janeiro

Objective: To highlight the changes and adaptations resulted from COVID-19 in Medical Undergraduate Teaching Assistantships (UTA) activities at an University in the south of Rio de Janeiro, emphasize the importance of education in health through social networks and enrich the scientific literature with the theme of virtual distance learning in Medicine. Experience report: The adaptation of the UTA to the virtual environment prevented to be interrupted the development of effective communication and teaching skills, which are important bases for medical training, promoting the continuity of teaching, albeit in a limited way. Be that as it may, being an undergraduate teaching assistant in a virtual class leads to the consolidation and detailing of knowledge, providing flexibility in the learning process, encouraging the development of teaching and digital skills, teamwork, use of different resources and collaborative performance. This fact stands out the role of the medical student in the teaching-learning process, especially at a time of new experiences and adaptations. Final considerations: It is necessary to evaluate how medical education has been harmed or benefited by the changes arising from the COVID-19 pandemic and how it will have a long-term impact on medical training.

Recruiting and Retaining Graduate Students in Kinesiology at a Hispanic-Serving Institution

Over the past decade, there has been a notable increase in interest in master’s education in the United States. However, not much attention has been paid to recruiting and retaining master’s students in the field of kinesiology. This article describes recruitment and retention strategies that have been successfully implemented in a kinesiology graduate program at a Hispanic-serving institution. Recruiting from undergraduate programs, removing use of the Graduate Record Examination (GRE) in graduate admissions, awarding graduate teaching assistantships, creating new programs that flow with the evolving workforce, actively promoting the program at other universities and conferences, and building partnership with other universities are described for recruiting quality master’s students. Establishing a peer/faculty mentorship program and building a strong student network/organization have been shown to have a positive impact on retention. Readers may pick and choose the strategies that work best with the student population, faculty, and other resources available in the program.

Navigating the landscape of pedagogical training: The journeys of three mathematics graduate students

This article describes the landscape of teaching assistantships (TAships) in the Mathematics Department of a large, public, research institution. First, we present visualized data describing the terrain for all mathematics graduate students. Second, we focus on three specific journeys in that terrain. We employ an autoethnographical research methodology to analyze the pedagogical paths of three recent graduates through written reflection. We highlight some surprising themes that emerge, identify key moments in each reflection, and make three proposals, applicable in broader contexts, to capture and confer their benefits. Dans notre article, nous traçons le portrait de l’assistanat d’enseignement dans le département de Mathématique d’un grand établissement public de recherche. Tout d’abord, nous présentons des données sous forme visuelle de manière à décrire la réalité sur le terrain des étudiants en mathématique des cycles supérieurs. Ensuite, nous portons notre attention sur trois parcours particuliers. Au moyen de réflexions menées par écrit, nous utilisons une méthodologie de recherche autoethnographique afin d’analyser le parcours pédagogique de trois nouveaux diplômés. Nous soulignons certains thèmes surprenants, nous dégageons les moments clés de chaque réflexion, puis nous énonçons trois propositions – lesquelles peuvent être utilisées dans un contexte plus large – et nous en présentons les avantages.

A Survey of Horticulture Graduate Programs and Faculty Salaries at North American Universities

Surveys were sent to 53 North American universities offering horticulture curricula to characterize the types of degrees offered, student demographics, participation in distance education, remuneration and assistance available for graduate students, and faculty rank and salary distributions. Twenty-five institutions responded. This represented 10 PhD, 14 MS, and 12 M. Agr. or MS non-thesis professional degree programs in horticulture and 13 PhD, 13 MS, 12 M. Agr. or M. non-thesis degree programs in plant sciences or a closely related area. On average, graduate students were predominantly Caucasian (70.7%), followed by Asian (16.1%), Black (3.2%), Hispanic (2.6%), and Native American (0.2%). Most were supported by research assistantships (56.3%), with the second largest group being self-supported (13.8%). Teaching assistantships were a small source of support (4.6%). Stipends (12-month equivalent) where variable among fellowships ($2000 to $30,000), teaching ($6600 to $25,000), research ($2000 to $25,239), extension ($12,000 to $17,000), or combination assistantships ($900 to $26,000). Most assistantships included a stipend plus in-state and out-of-state tuition waivers: about half included medical insurance. Mean full-time in-state tuition and fees was $6,535, while out-of-state was $13,876. Participation in distance courses was greatest for non-degree students (18.3%), and low for all others (9.2% to 6.4%). The average academic unit had 15.1 professors, 8.9 associate professors, 6.8 assistant professors, 0.3 senior lecturers, and 1.6 lecturers with mean reported average salaries of $85,142; $70,132; $58,918; $55,608; and $37,887, respectively.