[Plsfaculty] Journal clubs, spring 2013

Thu Oct 25 18:39:16 MST 2012

Dear all,

Thank you, Ramin and Bentley, for your thoughts. A few reflections:

1.  In fall 2012, we chose to offer two journal clubs for students in our
School. The expectation (and outcome) was that both would do this:

.... not only educate them (the students) about the most recent findings
but also to train the students to read and interpret the data
independently.

Karen's course has done so in the context of plant biology; the course that
I have coordinated with Dave and Rachel has done so in the context of
microbial biology.  Much as Karen has selected papers from wide-ranging
areas of plant biology, we too we have selected papers from wide-ranging
aspects of microbial biology.

Importantly, students from both of our graduate majors were free to enroll
in either course, or both, as they wish: there were no restrictions.

2. Further, we chose to have parallel courses in fall 2012 so that (1)
students could gain the aforementioned skills while being updated in the
areas of research into which their work broadly falls, and (2) discussion
groups would remain at a reasonable size.  The microbial biology course
typically has brought together 12-16 participants per week, for example,
which is a manageable size for a good discussion.

3. At present, there is no restriction on graduate students who might wish
to participate in journal club courses in other schools/departments.
Students from my group, for example, sometimes have taken discussion
courses in EEB. This enhances their graduate experience by complementing
what they get in their home department, and would 'count' as fulfilling a
journal club requirement.

4. Also, at present there is no restriction on our faculty with regard to
offering journal club courses within our School. I have offered such a
course for students interested in the recent literature regarding fungal
biology almost every semester since 2005. Should faculty identify a group
of students with strong interests it seems logical to provide a study
group/journal club forum.

5. Our goal for spring 2013 was to offer faculty the opportunity to teach a
journal club course that they feel would serve students in our School. Marc
kindly volunteered to lead one; the course he will teach will serve some of
our students very well. We could call this the 'school-wide journal club,'
but instead thought that it would be appropriate to complement it with a
course resembling Karen's excellent one from this fall, as some students
will have limited interests in fungi. This motivated my open call.

My highlighting Marc's generosity in offering such a course is not meant to
deter any other faculty from offering a thematic or plant-focused or
school-wide course.

6. Your idea of alternating PLP and PLS courses each semester strikes me as
a viable model and this is worth our evaluation as a faculty. My preference
is that instead of a 'professors on parade' kind of structure, journal
clubs be organized by one or a few faculty at a time; this tends to foster
more interactive discussion, in my experience, within a given semester.
Thus we would need buy-in from faculty willing to invest in this effort.

To conclude: these are my thoughts and are offered mostly to say thanks for
the points you both have raised. I believe that discussions in person are
likely to be more fruitful than by email, so perhaps we can raise these
issues in our Curriculum and Graduate Program committees, with warm
welcomes for input from interested faculty, and then can present a
perspective at a future faculty meeting?

In the meantime, I hope that we will find excellent journal club
opportunities  for all of our students in 2013. Thank you to faculty who
might be willing to lead one, and for all who would like to continue this
conversation with our committees/in person.

Betsy

On Thu, Oct 25, 2012 at 6:03 PM, Fane, Bentley A - (bfane) <
bfane at email.arizona.edu> wrote:

>  Ramin:
>
>  That is a very sound idea. Breadth of knowledge is becoming more
> critical.  In the absence of broad, school-wide journal club, perhaps we
> should expand on your idea. As many  faculty hold joint appointments in
> other departments and with the increasing emphasis on collaborative
> research, perhaps we should encourage students to alternate between a PLS
> journal club and one taught in another department?
>
>
>
>
>
>   On Oct 25, 2012, at 4:37 PM, Ramin Yadegari wrote:
>
>   Dear Betsy, et al.****
>  ** **
>  Perhaps it would be most beneficial to our students to alternate a PLP-
> and a PLS-focused journal club every semester. In line with the view of
> many of us who supported the idea of a school-wide journal club, this would
> encourage and enable a broader education of our graduate students and
> participation by our faculty members. The original idea was to help the
> students of all levels in reading and interpreting the literature that may
> or may not be directly related to their research area, as means of
> broadening their education and potentially creating research links within
> the school. My understanding of Karen’s journal club (PLS 595B) is that she
> chose papers from a wide-ranging area of plant biology in order to not only
> educate them about the most recent findings but also to train the students
> to read and interpret the data independently. I would prefer to see the
> same approach maintained by our faculty members in a consistent basis.****
>  ** **
>  Best,****
>  Ramin****
>  ** **
>  *From:* plsfaculty-bounces at CALS.arizona.edu [mailto:
> plsfaculty-bounces at CALS.arizona.edu] *On Behalf Of *Betsy Arnold
> *Sent:* Thursday, October 25, 2012 11:56 AM
> *To:* plsfaculty at ag.arizona.edu
> *Subject:* [Plsfaculty] Journal clubs, spring 2013****
>  ** **
>  Dear colleagues,****
>   ** **
>   A vital aspect of our graduate students' training lies in learning to
> critically evaluate the primary literature. To this end, students are
> encouraged to enroll in "journal club" courses throughout their graduate
> careers. In fall 2012, two such courses have been taught in our School: one
> by Karen Schumaker, and one by me, with co-leadership by Dave Baltrus and
> Rachel Gallery (SNRE).****
>   ** **
>   For spring 2013, Marc Orbach has graciously volunteered to lead a
> journal club focusing on Current Topics in Fungal Biology.  He expects that
> this will focus on signaling, development, and population biology, and he
> plans to tailor the topics to best serve the students who enroll. Thank you
> for teaching this course, Marc!****
>   ** **
>   At this point we are seeking another faculty member who might be
> willing to offer a plant-centric or 'thematic' journal club. Would you be
> willing/interested?
>
> Please contact me ASAP if you'd like to do so, and feel free to send
> questions my way.****
>   ** **
>   With many thanks,****
>   Betsy Arnold****
>
>
>
> --
> ---------------------------------
> A. Elizabeth (Betsy) Arnold
> School of Plant Sciences
> The University of Arizona
> Tucson, AZ 85721
>
> http://arnoldlab.net
> arnold at ag.arizona.edu
>
> ****
>  _______________________________________________
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> Plsfaculty at CALS.arizona.edu
> http://CALSmail.arizona.edu/mailman/listinfo/plsfaculty
>
>
>

-- 
---------------------------------
A. Elizabeth (Betsy) Arnold
School of Plant Sciences
The University of Arizona
Tucson, AZ 85721

http://arnoldlab.net
arnold at ag.arizona.edu
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