TEP5500: Taking charge of grad program success: a student perspective
This second article gets a student perspective on how an ISTEP course equips students to manage the significant changes in going from undergrad to starting a graduate program.
This fall, students starting their first grad degree, will soon realize the onus is now on them to take leadership in managing their program/project. Karl Wagner, a fifth year PhD student in the Milica Radisic lab, got first-hand experience of this and how courses, like ISTEP’s TEP5500: Research Methods and Project Execution can help.
“One of the most difficult parts of the transition from undergrad to graduate student, is going from provided structure to self-directed structure”, said Karl Wagner. “Every moment of your day is planned out for you in undergrad – going to classes at certain times, assignments, tests are all scheduled for you. This is not the case in a grad program.”
Wagner, had an added challenge developing his PhD work in bio-medical engineering: his undergrad and masters studies were in materials engineering. He said, “Figuring out and scoping what your project is going to be is such a daunting task when you start, and especially if you’re not an expert in your field like me.”
In 2019, he took the CHE 1102 research methods course (a precursor to TEP5500) taught by ISTEP’s Lydia Wilkinson, to help plan his project and work. Wagner commented, “[The course] was a really great experience, kick off my degree, and work on my research proposal and visual abstract. Conversations we had in the class about research ideas, project formulation and how to go from the big picture defining your overall goals and narrowing that down.”
Wagner highlighted the highly collaborative format and community of support that is formed through personal interactions in these courses, connecting with people outside of ones program and discovering techniques or equipment which can contribute to the student’s success. In the class he sat with four random people. One is now a best friend, and all four are going to one of the group members wedding!
Karl Wagner also has an interesting connection with the evolution of CHE 1102 into TEP5500. Following the course, Lydia Wilkinson reached and brought him on board to create an outreach website with all of the lesson plans, so any student could start their program and better understand doing a research degree. This site was an especially valuable online tool during the pandemic.
Summing up, Wagner sees TEP5500 as a great way to establish a base that will put students on the right track for the rest of their degree, learning how to scope a research project, define aims and goals.
“You’ll kind of create a really great map that you will use as a research proposal and for scholarship applications”, he said. “You can’t really make focused progress if you don’t have a really solid foundation of your goals”.