Over the past few months I have had the pleasure of working with Amelia Schirmer, a 3rd year Pathology student, as my Co-Director for the BIOTRAIN751 and BIOTRAIN754 courses. She is serving as the OBGE Administrative Assistant for the semester. We can tell you what the position is meant to be, but we wanted to give Amelia a chance to tell you about how her semester has been going:
Q: You have been serving as the OBGE Administrative Assistant this semester. How did you hear about it? What made you want to apply?
I learned about the position through an email sent out over the OBGE listserv. I am interested in teaching and developing those skills so it caught my eye. I had already completed the certificate of college teaching (CCT) program here at Duke and served as TA for the core pathology courses but this seemed slightly different because I would be more like an instructor of record, facilitating the administrative side. I was familiar with the BIOTRAIN courses from the first-years I mentor in our program and through a 4th year friend in the program who served as a small group leader for the 701 course. I talked to them about their experience with the program and looked online to read about the previous OBGE fellow Calla Telzrow. After learning more about the BIOTRAIN curriculum and goals, I felt it aligned with issues in responsible research I value and the position seemed like it would give me an in depth opportunity to be a part of the logistical side as well as develop curriculum for the course.
Q: What types of things have you been doing in this role?
The responsibilities of this role are split into two categories; logistical organizing and curriculum development. On the logistical side of things, I designed a lot in Sakai including uploading the course material and lecture videos, inputting attendance and linking quizzes. I also correspond with the lecturers and small group instructors about times, dates and logistics for their sessions. Lastly, I attend lectures to record, introduce the speakers and facilitate discussions in person. On the curriculum side, I worked with Dr. Crosby to develop quizzes for the online modules based on the material and develop discussion questions and case studies for the small group work. Specifically, I got to research and design one of the case studies and discussion questions entirely on my own which was a really fun experience to test out some of what I learned in my CCT program about learning objectives. I am really looking forward to hearing student feedback and seeing how that discussion goes in the small group sessions.
Q: Having seen ‘behind the scenes’ of running the BIOTRAIN courses, what has most surprised you about running a course?
Though most professors including Dr. Crosby have told me there is a lot behind the scenes, until you are a part it doesn’t quite sink in. I think that was surprising, just how many moving pieces there are to every class, every small group, every assignment. Also, though maybe not so much a surprise, being part of this has made me think about how important communication and format of information is when you are working with large groups. When you are the instructor for a course you have to think about how to make content and announcements clear and accessible for students and other instructors because that helps with engagement and makes a better experience for all. There is usually a lot of work on the front end that so far in my experience has helped things on the back end go smoothly.
Q: You’ve been involved in discussions about the content and format for the BIOTRAIN courses. What topic(s) have been most surprising/interesting/compelling to you?
All the guest lecturers have been exceptional for both courses but two lectures/topics stood out to me. The first was a lecture given by Dr. Johnna Frierson about diversity, inclusion and representation in science because she structured her talk using data to explain the importance of diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) in the academic setting. This is a topic which has been heavily discussed here at Duke and across the country in the last two years, but Dr. Frierson’s talk tied it directly to problems all the students including myself are aware of in academia and how that affects the responsible and rigorous conduct of research. I think for myself and others looking around the room, something about the way she presented it clicked into a framework that we all work in. The second topic I was very interested in was the question of where and when to publish and how open access data, preregistering and registered reports could change some of the more perverse incentives in academia and lead to more rigorous and honest research. This is a topic I feel strongly about having been immersed in my PhD for three years and realizing how difficult the publishing and grant writing process can be with the more closed data environment we currently work in. We have some more small group discussions about this topic as well and I am looking forward to these discussions and hearing how the students feel and how they feel they will navigate this changing environment in their post PhD career.
Q: As one of the students that has been around since before we revamped the RCR curriculum and introduced all the new BIOTRAIN courses, what do you think other students should know or understand about the BIOTRAIN courses that you may not have until you helped direct them?
I think though students may be at first opposed to the idea of a semester long course in RCR, they should know that with the new format, they can engage so much more with the material. I remember my first year when I attended the weekend long blitz of RCR, feeling overwhelmed by starting my PhD in general, meeting people and then by the intensive format. I also felt like I wasn’t at a place to understand how the topics discussed would appear in my actual academic career. I think the semester long format as well as the 1st and 4th year time spacing really helps because you have different context, you are actually in your lab work phase and you will be able to tie the topics things that are happening to you. I also think for the 4th years it is a really good time to reflect on the next steps and how you want to make your next moves while considering how to make ethical and responsible decisions.
Q: Has your experience this semester colored any of your thoughts about what you would like to do post-PhD?
Before helping out with these courses, I was already thinking about teaching being a major component of my post PhD career but working on these courses has strengthened this further. Despite being a lot of work, I really enjoyed coordinating with all the lecturers and instructors because I feel it gave my opportunities to connect with and learn from them. It has also been rewarding, especially after the COVID-zoom world of teaching, to see students come to class in person and ask good questions after the lecture that show us they were engaged with the material. This work specifically in the field of RCR also made me think about other roles working more directly on these issues of responsible and rigorous research. I think this topic and field will only continue to grow and become essential in the future as open data grows and the collaborative research grows. The course material and topics have further solidified that these are topics I want to teach and emphasize in my post PhD career, whether that be in a lab of my own, an industry team or through government work.