The focus this week will be on preparation. In terms Research Development, you will be reading more about Lean Canvas including stakeholder identification. You will then complete a mapping of stakeholders and share it with your research mentor. With respect to Matrix Mentoring, you will reflect on how your personal characteristics and values might influence your mentoring relationships or work within a team. Finally, we'll set the stage for your Career Development by exploring the changing nature of work, "future of work" skills, and a model for understanding the importance of self-efficacy beliefs, goal setting, and feedback.
Emphasis this week: Career Development
The focus this week will be on career development. We'll start by taking a look at how the nature of work is changing, the need to develop "future work" skills, and the importance of building a protean career.
The Research Development part of this week's module is something you should plan to discuss with your research mentor, so be sure you make an appointment to meet with them. If you do not yet have a formal research mentor, consider reaching out to a professor in your area, perhaps someone you are taking a class with (such as during their office hours).
Understanding the Stakeholders for your research can help you find the motivations (sometimes several) for your work, find literature about the problem of interest, and develop a network of people who can help you learn more about the problem. This week, you'll do an initial assessment of the stakeholders for your work. In later weeks, you'll actually interview several of these stakeholders personally. In addition to learning more about your problem of interest, you will also learn about the community of professionals that surrounds this problem and potential career paths within it.
Identify how your personal characteristics and values influence your mentoring relationships or work within a team
Develop SMART goals for mentoring
Understand types of mentoring relationships
IntroDuction
Did you know there are many forms of mentoring? Beyond the traditional mentor-mentee dyadic structure, there are other forms in which mentoring can occur. It's helpful to know which types of mentoring contexts you thrive in most. It is also useful to recognize what you bring to your mentoring relationships. Beyond your student identity, you have many other aspects of who you are and what you value who make you YOU! This week you will learn about the various forms of mentoring and the benefits of each. You will also explore how your character strengths influence your work within a mentoring relationship and research teams as well as how they impact your overall well-being. Finally, you will also start to develop SMART goals for mentoring.
Please Watch: Layers of Mentoring Video by Dr. Karen Tao
OverView of Learning Activities & Assignments
Your first post-class assignment for this week will require completing the VIA Survey, which is an empirically tested survey of character strengths. Character strengths are core aspects of your identity, often defined as positive traits that influence how you feel, think, and behave (Niemec, 2014). In the reading by Mayerson, you learned a bit about the research behind character strengths. To deepen you learning, you will complete an online self-assessment - the VIA Survey- and share some reactions to your results. Specifically, the reflection questions are designed to have you think about how your character strengths are leveraged within your classes, with your mentor, instructors, and peers. According the research on this the VIA, becoming more aware of your character strengths will help you enhance goal setting and accomplishment, well-being, and learn how to better manage stress.
Your second post-class assignment this week will be to start thinking and developing SMART goals for mentoring. SMART goals stand for a goal that is Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Relevant, & Timely. In any mentoring relationship, mentors and mentees benefit from identifying SMART goals, which will help cultivate your working alliance (clear goals, agreed upon tasks, and interpersonal trust) and enhance your research/project focus. Additionally, by articulating SMART goals with your mentor, mentees will start to develop career self-efficacy (a concept introduced by Dr. Metz this week) Throughout this course, you may develop various SMART goals with your peer, staff, scientific, and senior mentors. Depending on the focus of these mentorships, your goals may look a bit different. Have fun!
Understand how the nature of work is changing and the need to develop "future work" skills
Identify ways to raise low self-efficacy beliefs
Be able to articulate proximal influences to career decisions, goals, and actions
Adopt a growth mindset and a "Not Yet" attitude towards feedback
IntroDuction
The focus this week will be on career development. We'll start by taking a look at how the nature of work is changing, the need to develop "future work" skills, and how to build a protean career. We'll then take a look at a career development model that will help us understand the importance of self-efficacy beliefs, goal setting, feedback, and identifying barriers and supports.
Watch the above video first, then this one. (So you understand the context for this video): The Power of Yet
OverView of Post-Class Assignments
Throughout the semester, you will be accessing the myIDP website (https://myidp.sciencecareers.org/Links to an external site.) to complete the self-assessment tools and see what career paths fit your interests and skills. You will then read about different career paths that interest you and learn about sources for gathering additional information. Small assignments based on the myIDP have been created to help you gather the information that will be integrated into your final Career Development project - crafting an Individual Development Plan (IDP).
This week, you'll be reading about interests in the myIDP portal and taking the interests assessment. The assignment will help you think about how you can create a S.M.A.R.T. goal for pursuing one of your interests while still in graduate school.