"Defending" a PhD

I had the pleasure today of attending a stellar PhD defense by a student who did a rotation in my lab back in spring, 2006. That rotation involved several months of really intense work, and resulted in authorship on 3 really good papers. I loved watching that student present the outstanding product of his dissertation research over the past several years, even though he chose a different lab than mine in which to do that dissertation research.

But it got me thinking- why and how do we "defend" PhDs? Could we make the process better? Where did the word "defend" even come from-- who is "attacking"? Presumably, a main point of the defense is to convince an audience and a committee that the work was worthwhile-- both tackling important questions and coming up with compelling answers. Defenses typically have the "seminar" followed by the "closed session" with a dissertation committee, and it is the latter that actually decides if the student passes.

In cases like today's defense, the "closed session" that followed the public talk was not especially helpful. As in many good defenses, the committee felt obliged to ask questions and sound critical of tiny nuances even though they all thought the product was excellent. The student, meanwhile, is exhausted after the public defense and has to suffer through this "hoop". Perhaps a few pearls of wisdom or insights come up from the committee, but many such pearls will be forgotten amidst the ensuing celebration.

Worse yet, what happens when a defense is less-than-stellar? What happens if, at the closed session, major gaps are identified in the work or in the student's understanding? I think the answer is "usually nothing." In principle, such gaps should have been found in the "last committee meeting before the defense", but it's VERY common for many facets of dissertation projects to be incomplete at that stage, or holes to not be totally apparent because the committee doesn't have a fully elaborated document. Similarly, we expect advisors to prevent such awkward situations, but this doesn't always happen. This is bad for the student (who has an incomplete product and may be less competitive in applications), it's bad for the advisor (who either accepts a less-than-ideal product or assigns someone else to complete it), it's bad for the university (who's 'seal-of-approval' is stamped on an incomplete product), etc.

Here again, like so many things in graduate education, we have procedural inertia that fails us.

What are the alternatives? Let's start by going over the problems. One problem we face is that we don't want to humiliate students by having them give a public "ending" talk and then not allow them to leave afterwards. Another is that there's little or no "check" on changes to the dissertation (or associated research) after a defense. Finally, we create a situation where the student has to simultaneously prepare for a major public seminar as well as an evaluatory defense from their committee.

What if we instead had the closed session first, long before the public seminar has been announced publicly? The student presents the committee with a full draft dissertation and presents the work orally in much-abbreviated form (instead of the typical "closed session"). If there are holes in the experiments or analysis, the student will have some time to correct them (see below). Based on the closed session, the student is given a "pass" or "provisional pass" or "fail." Assuming a "pass" or "provisional pass", at a date no less than 2-4 weeks after the closed session, the student presents the public talk. Just before the public talk, the student also gives the committee the revised dissertation, noting what was done in response to their concerns (which may also be covered in the public talk). The committee attends this public talk already knowing that the work is solid and at least provisionally approved, and they just ensure that their concerns are addressed either in the talk or in the revised document. At that point, the committee signs off on the dissertation.

This splits the defense into two temporally separated pieces, swapping the traditional order, and it avoids the awkwardness of public shame if a student actually doesn't produce a satisfactory product in their first attempt. It gives the committee the chance to approve the final product (which bears their signatures of approval). And it gives the student more time to work on the public talk vs. the written dissertation separately.

There are problems with this approach, too, but I'd love to hear people's thoughts and/ or other ideas.

How Should I Teach a "Big" Class?

This semester was a teaching milestone for me- first time using PowerPoint for a whole class, first time having >110 students (enrollment was 293!), first time teaching basic genetics, first time trying to involve active learning, and more. I team-taught the new Bio102L introduction to genetics & evolution course with another professor, with my lectures focusing primarily on genetics and molecular evolution but a few lectures in other topics (evidence for evolution, speciation, etc.).

With only two lectures left, and feedback from mid-semester evaluations, I have a lot of thoughts on the experience, and I'd love feedback from all of you on your experiences either as a student or as a teacher. I'll split my nine comments into three areas: what I thought went well, what surprised me (in some cases requiring changes), and things where the jury's out.

WHAT SEEMED TO WORK OVERALL (in my opinion- the students can speak to it better!):

1) Low-stress assignments, especially daily pre-lecture quizzes they can retake based on their assigned reading. Many students have told me they appreciate having these, as they help them understand better what it is from the assigned reading I want them to walk away understanding. Even if they don't actually read the material, they're at least exposed to a few specific ideas (and questions/ answers) before class begins. A minority commented they felt it was an unnecessary "hoop", but far more commented favorably than negatively.

2) Technology. The students and I seem to both appreciate having a) videotaped lectures available online, b) PowerPoints available online, and c) assessments (quizzes & problem sets) easy to take at their own schedule on Blackboard (and automatically graded for us). Use of technology has also alleviated some of the burden from me, in that if a student asks me a question that was covered in class, I can give a shorter answer and also refer them to, "See slides 5-8 of my February 2 PowerPoints." Finally, I've really enjoyed using my iPad for lectures- see my other blog post about that.

3) In-class feedback system (via PollEverywhere). When you ask a class "How many people think A is the answer?" and get 20 hands up, and then ask about "B" and get 1 hand, does that mean that 95% of the class understands? What about the 200 people who never raised their hands? PollEverywhere has been great for me both to have the students engage in the material besides just listening to me drone on and to get an idea of REALLY what fraction of students understand (especially when I added an option that says "I don't know" to every poll). Because these polls are done anonymously, response rates are closer to ~60-70% of attendees rather than the usual ~10%. The polls take little time, and students discussing possible answers with their neighbors helps them hear a different way of explaining the material.

4) Spending time talking with students one-on-one. This was a huge personal benefit for me- I arrived to class 30 minutes early every day, chatting with whoever was there, and tried to walk through all the lab sections each week to interact a bit more one-on-one. I got a ton of very valuable feedback on what was clear vs. unclear, what things the students liked vs. didn't like, etc. Additionally, part of what I like about teaching is getting to know these interesting students- a few actually sought me out, but by walking around and chatting directly, I got to know more of them, and I really enjoyed that. I also did various activities with many that were very enjoyable, like flunches and other outings. They're a really fun group of people!

WHAT SURPRISED ME:

5) The premed stereotype was dramatically exaggerated. ~80% of the class are premeds. I heard "horror stories" from professors who taught other introductory, required classes for premeds about students attacking each question on a test trying to get more points, constant accusations of unfairness, general rudeness, etc. Frankly, I didn't see that at all. There were times when students pointed out alternate interpretations of questions, but it was always done politely, and frankly, many of the times they were correct. When I disagreed, I got a very polite, "I see your point- thanks anyway." Other students expressed concerns to me about their grades, but again, very respectfully and with an eye to what they can do to improve performance in future tests rather than special favors. On my test, the grades ranged from 50-100, so it wasn't that everyone got an A either. My point here is not that these horror stories didn't happen in the other classes, but that there's been too much overgeneralization to "premeds" as a whole.

6) If I think I "COULD" split something into multiple slides to explain better/ more thoroughly, DO IT! There are many concepts I thought would be straightforward, yet at the last second, I extended their coverage into more slides just to be sure. Almost invariably, even with expanded coverage, I still should have used more slides and more explanation. I think my lecture introducing recombination between Drosophila mutations went over poorly, and I had to devote much time in reviews and in one-on-one question/ answers to make up for my poor presentation initially. Since then, anytime I hesitate for even a second on whether to expand a discussion, I err on the side of expanding. It's also important to do it in slides and not just verbally, as the students study from their downloaded slides (and may have missed something I just said verbally).

7) Have multiple people read over all problem sets/ tests. This wasn't a huge issue for my material, but there were questions that I worded confusingly (or for which there were multiple interpretations) where I had to go back and give credit for alternative answers. When this happens, it's stressful for the students and more work for me, so it's really important to have diverse people (including non-native English speakers) read over the problem and test questions. I didn't do enough of that initially.

WHERE THE JURY IS OUT:

8) Open-book & open-notebook quizzes/ problem sets/ tests. We adopted this approach to remove the focus from "Do I have to know X fact?" to real understanding, interpretation, and implementation by the students. I liked this, and some students liked this. I received two kinds of concerns, though. One was stress-level: some students really worried that having "open book" tests meant the tests would be extraordinarily difficult. The other was that they worried they may not retain the material as well when needed in the distant future (e.g., for the MCAT).

9) Class timing/ bonus slides. It was extremely difficult for me to prepare material, especially involving some active learning, and know it would take exactly 1 hour 15 minutes. Part-way through the semester, I adopted a new strategy of "bonus slides." Basically, I'd aim for a 55 minute lecture. If we finished it early, I had some slides of more practice problems or discussion questions. If we finished those too, I had some more slides about "bonus material" that's related to what we covered but for which the students were not responsible- basically showing off-shoots that are of "general interest." It seemed to me that these last ones were often enjoyed by the students the most- perhaps because they didn't feel pressured to write things down and really just listened for entertainment. But I didn't get any formal feedback on that overall strategy.

I welcome your thoughts and feedback from personal experiences!

Lab management thoughts

It's graduate recruitment season, and we see lots of bright-eyed, optimistic prospective students coming through to visit. They've mostly had experience with research and are excited about science. But one obvious question often stumps them- what do you want to "get" out of graduate school? Many say things about mentorship and learning a lot of science and how to do it. The vast majority really don't know, though, beyond that they love science and want more. When asked what specific skills they'd like to acquire, they focus entirely on research or teaching and never mention "management."

I've posted in this blog before about how many standard graduate programs fail to adequately prepare students for many aspects of their job, beyond doing great science and sometimes grant- or paper-writing (which are obviously crucial). One of the biggest missing pieces that would be helpful irrespective of their final career is training in management. Some PhD students or postdocs will have supervised an undergraduate or two, and may have helped train new staff members. But formal training in management is basically nil in most programs.

Nonetheless, new (and old!) faculty struggle with management all the time. I've told new faculty that, for me personally, that's the area that causes me to lose more sleep than any other area directly associated with the job- more than teaching, getting grants, publishing papers, getting an experiment to work, etc. Some aspects one learns quickly, like being active in communicating both good progress and concerns early. Many (hopefully!) learn the big lesson of never to talk about other lab people's performance, especially concerns thereof. One of my biggest lessons was to schedule formal one-on-one time with everyone in lab, and if the meeting is short, then so-be-it, but at least a clear opportunity for communication is present and frequent.

Still, the transition from being "one of the lab" to being "the boss" is abrupt, and requires conscious behavioral modification. Jokes or teasing that were acceptable as a student or postdoc can be taken FAR more personally or worse. Similarly, you shouldn't just blindly Facebook-friend everyone who joins the lab- the relationship is too unequal for that (it's debatable whether you should accept a friend-request initiated by them, but I have been doing that). Generally, your opinion is taken with far more weight- some will not tell you if/ when they disagree. Further, frankly, there will be times when the lab folks just won't want you around because they don't want to have to be "on guard"- and they may not make that clear to you, so you should be careful not to overly insert yourself into their downtime.

I still struggle with this, even now 13 years into being a faculty member. The tone also changes with time, I think, particularly as your aging creates more distance between you and the increasingly relatively younger members of your lab. One aspect I find hard is dealing with disparity: some people in lab want to interact with you a lot, while others less-so. The apparent solution would be to adjust to individual's desires (to the extent you can with your available time), but this can create time inequities that are perceived as "favoritism", even if not initiated by the faculty member. Clearly, one has to make a conscious effort to be fair to all lab members in terms of professional and guidance-related opportunities, but informal interactions can be beneficial to the student and faculty member and may not happen equally to all students. In years past, I've had some lab members feel like I interacted preferentially with one person, when it was, at least partially, that one person who actively sought me out.

Other situational issues also arise. What do you tell lab people when someone is fired (or gently asked to leave)? Do you literally say nothing, even when they ask? How much do you let lab people know about your current funding, given that it's obviously zero-sum? How about celebrating successes- if one person has many of them, do you reduce celebration of those successes so as not to make the less-successful-recently folks feel bad? There are standard responses, like "It's a success for all of us when any do well," but we have to acknowledge we're also human and sometimes fall into negative emotions.

I'm curious from others of you- what challenges have you encountered (either directly or through observation)? Any advice to share? I should confess that I'm writing a full formal piece on this subject now, and if you convey a great thought, I may write you directly to ask permission to mention it!

The iPad for a Professor- Why I Love It

It's been interesting to watch FaceBook today- MANY of my FaceBook friends got iPads for Christmas, and a decent number got somewhat similar items (e.g., Kindles, Nooks). Not too surprising given the iPad was originally released in April of this year. I got my iPad in early October. Even though I don't use a Mac, I love it- not just as the "new techy trendy toy" (which I fully acknowledge it is that too!) but as a functional part of my work and play. Let me say upfront- I don't think iPads are for everyone. It's neither a laptop replacement nor a smartphone replacement, and yes, no one "needs" to have one- we all got by last year without them. But here's how I use mine and why I like it, primarily in the context of my job.

GIVING PRESENTATIONS

I use my iPad for many kinds of presentations, ranging from classes to invited talks, and it works fine (just need that ~$30 VGA adapter). If you want full animations like from a laptop's PowerPoint, the "Keynote" app works pretty well and can import PowerPoint files created on your computer. A few graphics or word sizes may need minor tweaks after importing, but the tweaks are fast, and the iPad is far lighter and subtler (literally looks like a leather-covered notebook in the folder I use) to carry to your talk than a laptop.

Personally, I favor the "2Screens" app over Keynote. This app leverages something that's harder to do on a laptop: you can actually use the tablet nature of your iPad. It will present PowerPoint, Keynote, or pdf files as well (albeit without animation), but you can also "draw" directly on your presentation (using finger or stylus). So, when presenting a Punnett's square, your original file can be just the blank square, and you can manually draw in various combinations during the talk, like from an overhead projector. Or you can temporarily make a blank screen for drawing and come back to where you left off in your PowerPoint. Plus, you can save right then and there what you drew. These are features I intend to use a lot when teaching genetics next year. Further, if you want to show something off a webpage, the "Expedition VGA browser" app works great, and you can switch between it and 2Screens in under a second.

ATTENDING SEMINARS

I take my iPad to seminars I attend to take notes, just like a lot of people do with paper pads/ notebooks. One advantage I have is that I can insert things into my notes wherever I want- something that wasn't clear may become clear later in the talk, and I can edit what I wrote earlier on the spot (rather than scribbling in tiny writing in the margins). Here's the bigger advantage for me- if I have a question, I sometimes Google it right there in the seminar and find the answer (or find why the question isn't even appropriate, saving myself from looking dumb). Sure, you could do all that with a laptop, but few people take laptops to seminars since they're clunky and the typing is noisier.

If using the "Notes" app, you can have it sync with your GMail, and it automatically saves everything in a GMail folder called "Notes." Months or years later, you can search your account to find which seminar talked about X topic that you vaguely remember- something not possible with a paper pad.

COMMITTEE MEETINGS

I take my iPad to all sorts of committee meetings- student committees, university committees, etc. For student meetings, I save the student's progress report in the "GoodReader" app right when they e-mail it to me. The night before the meeting, sometimes while reclining in bed, I'll read the committee report, make notes (you can add notes, highlight, whatever, and if you want, export the pdf), etc. Then, at the meeting, I have the document sitting there with my comments in the iPad. If a question comes up at the meeting, or someone vaguely remembers a relevant figure from a publication, we can pull the publication up right then and there in the meeting using "Safari" (the default web browser).

For university committees, documents tend to be saved in Blackboard, and the "Blackboard" app (finally upgraded this month to be allowed to run in the background) is very fast and efficient. Again, I tend to take notes in the "Notes" app.

Somedays, I find that the only time I have to deal with some urgent work-related e-mails is while walking between meetings (or in the 2 minute break between consecutive meetings), and the iPad gives me a reasonable platform with which to do this using "Mail" or the "GMail" apps.

AT HOME

I have learned to read pdfs of publications now using "GoodReader", as mentioned before for committee reports. I don't tend to keep these files permanently (since I can always download them again), but I like going through them on GoodReader, annotating them, and keeping them on the iPad through the "journal club" or whatever other discussion. If I did want to keep the files longer-term, it'd be trivial to e-mail or download them (yes, with annotations) to save on my actual computer.

But life isn't all work. Often, in the evenings, my wife and I will watch a TV episode on the "ABC Player" app, or stream something from "Netflix." Yes, we could do this on a laptop, but laptops are hot and bulky to keep with us while reclining in bed. At mealtimes, I've looked up recipes on "AllRecipes"- even some slightly more obscure things (tonight I looked up "eggplant with garlic sauce") are in there. If I'm bored, I'll read the news on the "CNN", "BBC News", or "NPR" apps, or weather on the "The Weather Channel MAX" app, all of which are really slick on the iPad.

IPHONE APPS

Keep in mind that the iPad will run all the iPhone apps, too, including thousands of games and utilities. Personally, I use "Alarm Clock", "Skype", "WorldMate", etc. when traveling, and I occasionally pull up "DukeMobile" here in Durham to check bus routes, balance on my DukeCard, or whatnot. I meet with people in my research team every week, and our meeting agendas are in Google Docs, which is super-easy to pull up, view, and edit on an iPad (either from Safari or directly from the "Google Mobile" app). If you're helping someone remotely (like a parent) troubleshoot problems on their computer, "TeamViewer" will allow you to see what's on their screen and help them fix it (though they have to install it, too, but it's free for you and for them).

And, of course, it's also a giant iPod, so save your music, movies, podcasts, etc., to watch/ listen.

WHAT IT DOESN'T DO

The iPad is not a laptop or desktop computer replacement. You can buy the "Pages" word processor and edit Word-style documents, but it'll not be as quick/ comfortable as doing so on your computer. You won't want to do any significant table editing or statistics on your iPad either.

Nor is the iPad a smartphone replacement. I can't imagine carrying that big thing while walking around a town and trying to use the "Map" app to find where to go. I wouldn't want to use the many coupon apps on it, since again, it's big and bulky, whereas my iPhone fits in my pocket or holster really nicely. And I definitely wouldn't want to pay a data plan for it.

It doesn't have flash. Yes, I wish it did. But it's no tragedy that it doesn't for my uses. It just slightly limits the videos I can watch from the web on it, all of which I can see on my desktop or laptop anyway. Nor does it have a camera, but again, my smartphone does. The iPad doesn't do "everything".

And there are "competitor" products. Personally, I think none of the ones out right now are serious competition given the number and quality of apps available for the iPad. That may change in 1-2 years, but this was not meant to be a purchase to last forever. Computers are often nearly obsolete in under 4 years, and I expect similar for devices like the iPad.

FINAL THOUGHTS

Still, the iPad is lighter than most laptops but with a bigger screen/ keypad than a smartphone, and does a lot of the functions of both along with a few of its own. It's extraordinarily simple to use. The battery is great- lasts far, far longer than my laptop battery. It boots up from off in under 30 seconds or from standby in 2 seconds. It switches very quickly and easily from "portrait" to "landscape" view. It doesn't get very hot when running even for a very long time (though that may be the leather case insulating it).

Although people made fun of the name a lot when it first came out, for me, the only thing it totally replaced is a "pad" of paper that I would carry around (though I do now use my laptop less, too).

Do I "need" an iPad? No. I got by fine before I had one. However, does it enhance my ability to work and play more efficiently (or with greater enjoyment)? Weigh that question against the cost, and you can decide for yourself. For me, the answer was, and still is, yes.

PS- And no, I didn't write this blog entry on my iPad. :-)