Tag Archives: lecture

How do you draw the line between volunteer work and unpaid labour?

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A US university’s plan to recruit volunteer PhD-holders who are alumni to lecture classes, write grant proposals and serve on graduate thesis committees has raised concerns of possible exploitation of early-career researchers.

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But questions remain about the plan’s actual intent and its potential impact on US universities’ current and future policies around existing faculty members.

In April, Michael Molino, an English professor and an associate dean at Southern Illinois University (SIU) in Carbondale, sent an email to department chairs that outlined a plan to seek “qualified alumni to join the SIU Graduate Faculty in a zero-time (adjunct) status.” The appointments would last for three years. The letter encourages department chairs to nominate “some of your finest former students who are passionate about supporting SIU.” Continue reading →

Make a (sketch)note of Science!

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Raise your hand if you doodle while taking notes.

Taking notes is a time consuming – and occasionally boring – process, but doodling and using symbols can make it easier, more fun – and could be better for your studies, says Marianna Ricci.

https://youtu.be/qp3kdN58SD0

Personally I’ve always liked to draw and I think of myself as a “visual person”: I’m sensitive to paintings and photos as well as nice color combinations or a cool pattern.

When I need to study something, the easiest way for me is to write it down and draw a diagram. Especially in my veterinary medicine studies, I used mathematical symbols and diagrams as well as colour codes and eye-catching drawings while taking notes and summarizing the lessons. Continue reading →

A David Letterman-like countdown to the 10 biggest pitfalls in scientific presentations

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Making a good scientific presentation takes time, but awareness of common mistakes is the first step to improving performance.

Guest contributor David Rubenson

The slide presentation has become the most ubiquitous form of scientific communication and it is causing havoc.  Scientists spend enormous amounts of time preparing presentations, travelling to conferences to deliver them, and listening to them almost every day.   But most scientists simply aren’t very good at them – we should change that.

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David Rubenson

I previously argued that this problem underlies a significant communication crisis in research.  As I’ve learnt as a scientific presentation coach at Stanford, there’s a broad understanding of this problem, but insufficient incentive for the time-intensive training many scientists need.  Still, following simple lists of “dos” and “don’ts” is a great way to improve presentation skills.

In that spirit, and to supplement an earlier list of eight positive suggestions, here’s a David Letterman-like countdown of the 10 biggest pitfalls in creating and delivering a scientific presentation:

 

Continue reading →