Cell & Developmental Biology Department, University of Michigan Medical School, Ann Arbor, Michigan, United States of America.
Department of Pathology, University of Michigan Medical School, Ann Arbor, MI, United States of America.
PLoS One. 2021 Nov 22;16(11):e0260212. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0260212. eCollection 2021.
Postdoctoral training enables research independence and professional readiness. National reports have emphasized professional development as a critical component of this training period. In response, many institutions are establishing transferable skills training workshops for postdocs; however, the lack of structured programs and an absence of methods to assess outcomes beyond participant satisfaction surveys are critical gaps in postdoctoral training. To address these shortcomings, we took the approach of structured programming and developed a method for controlled assessment of outcomes. Our program You3 (You, Your Team, Your Project), co-designed by postdoctoral fellows, focused on discussing specific management and leadership skills agnostic of ultimate career path(s) in a structured manner. We then measured outcomes in a controlled manner, by systematically comparing perceived knowledge and growth as indicators of awareness and confidence in participants against that of non-participants as the control group. You3 participants self-rated greater growth in targeted competencies compared to non-participants independent of the number of years of training. This growth was shown by multiple criteria including self-reporting and associative analysis. Correspondingly, You3 participants reported greater knowledge in 75% of the modules when compared to controls. These data indicate that structured learning, where postdocs commit to a curriculum via a cohort-structure, leads to positive outcomes and provides a framework for programs to assess outcomes in a rigorous manner.
博士后培训使研究人员具备独立性和专业素养。国家报告强调，专业发展是培训期间的关键组成部分。有鉴于此，许多机构正在为博士后设立可转移技能培训研讨会；然而，缺乏结构化的项目和方法来评估除参与者满意度调查之外的结果，这是博士后培训的关键缺陷。为了解决这些不足，我们采取了结构化编程的方法，并开发了一种评估结果的方法。我们的项目 You3（你、你的团队、你的项目）由博士后研究员共同设计，专注于以结构化的方式讨论特定的管理和领导技能，而不考虑最终的职业道路。然后，我们通过系统地比较参与者和对照组（非参与者）的感知知识和增长，以有控制的方式衡量结果，将感知知识和增长作为参与者意识和信心的指标。You3 的参与者自我评估在目标能力方面的增长比非参与者更大，而与培训年限无关。这种增长是通过多种标准包括自我报告和关联分析得出的。相应地，与对照组相比，You3 的参与者在 75%的模块中报告了更多的知识。这些数据表明，通过队列结构让博士后参与课程的结构化学习会带来积极的结果，并为项目提供了一种严格评估结果的框架。
