Recognising, assessing and documenting your skills as a doctoral candidate and developing your e-Portfolio

22 October 2015

Mme Pam Alean-Kirkpatrick, M. Patrick Roth

Dre Pam Alean-Kirkpatrick, Dr Patrick Roth

For the increasingly competitive national and international job markets - both within and beyond academia - it is becoming more and more important to provide evidence of transferable skills to complement subject expertise in a specific research field. These include being able to apply project management, communicate to different audiences, take on responsibility, or work effectively in a team. The university research environment offers many opportunities for developing such transferable skills.

The objective of this workshop is to increase awareness of the range of skills that can be, are being or should be developed while carrying out the normal duties of a doctoral candidate. We will examine the contexts in which particular skills can be identified and developed, and look at how these skills can be documented and presented to potential employers in the form of an electronic PhD portfolio. The course will help to prepare participants in their search for employment, both within and beyond academia, by enabling them to relate and respond to the needs and requirements of employers.

An electronic PhD portfolio offers a way for doctoral candidates to monitor, build and reflect upon their personal development, not only in their subject area but also in the area of transferable skills. An e-portfolio has no expiry date, can be accessed worldwide and enables the owner to show to or share contents with other people. By the end of the doctorate, the e-portfolio presents a collection of the achievements and abilities of an individual student, which highlights both what has been done, together with the kinds of skills that have been developed.

The course offers participants an opportunity to set up their first e-portfolio. They will also receive the chance to join virtual follow-up sessions after the course (optional).

Content

• Self-awareness about skills: What skills do I have? Where do I have gaps?
• Opportunity awareness: Knowledge of opportunities to further develop skills and ability to find these
• Communicating skills in a convincing manner with specific examples
• Decision making: Making a plan for personal development
• The electronic PhD portfolio: how it works, the process for creating and sharing one's own portfolio, advantages for its use in building and communicating one's personal profile.

Methods
Short inputs from the trainers, individual exercises, group discussions.

Université de Fribourg

Date: Thursday, 22nd October 2015

Schedule: 9:00 to 17:00

Location: University of Fribourg (Perolles II)

Trainers:

Dr. Pamela Alean-Kirkpatrick studied chemistry at Durham University, UK, has a postgraduate certificate in education PGCE also from Durham, and a doctorate in chemistry from the University of Zurich. She has worked for ETH and the University of Zurich as an academic developer for over 20 years at Centres for University Teaching and Learning, at the Department of Biology UZH and in Human Resources ETHZ.

She has her own "one-woman company" called alean-academics: personal development in a university context. Her work focuses primarily on fostering the development of young academics from a range of disciplines, and on the advancement of women in academia.

As a freelance trainer, Dr Alean Kirkpatrick gives courses in transferable skills for researchers at institutions of higher education throughout Switzerland and in neighbouring Germany.

Dr. Patrick Roth is the Head of the E-Learning unit at the University of Geneva. He received his degree in Computer Science in 1997 and his PhD at the University of Geneva in 2002 in the field of Human Computer Interaction (HCI). Laureate of the LATSIS prize 2004, he then completed a Postdoc in the HCI group at the Humboldt University where he conducted research in the home automation field.

Since 2004, he works in the IT division where he concentrates on the integration of new teaching and learning software environments. He is also lecturer for the course "Man Machine Interaction" and supervises Bachelor and Master students in Computer Science.

Patrick Roth's interests include LMS, e-Portfolio, mLearning and usability. He is also an active member of the Moodle, Mahara and Chamilo international communities as well as several Swiss Special Interest Groups such as e-Portfolio, mLearning and SaMoo.

Participants are eligible for reimbursement of incurred travel expenses by train between the town of their university and the location of the workshop (half-fare card, 2nd class). For full-day workshops, lunch costs will be reimbursed upon presentation of original receipts (no photocopies or scans). A reimbursement form will be supplied to all registered participants for this workshop.

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