ThinkWrite’s Dr Pete Moore delivering online training with flipchart

Strange times call for new ways of doing things. The SWW DTP team is keen to ensure that our PhD researchers still receive the training they need. Cue hosting our first ever PGR online training workshop.

The workshop was held on the 22nd April on ‘Writing Quality Papers’ with ThinkWrite’s Dr Pete Moore! Many thanks to Dr Moore for turning his training format around and adapting it to the requirements of the times.

This training has been run hundreds of times in universities throughout Europe, but never before online.  So the challenge was on to produce the same value and outcomes in a new way.

The workshop emphasised the importance of getting published as a key to academic success. It centred on a 10-step process that helps researchers get a head start in the process of creating publishable work.

One SWW DTP PhD researcher commented:

I think that the training was managed very well and I would like to thank Pete and those involved for adapting so quickly and delivering such useful training.

The training involved a ‘flip classroom’ concept, where students were introduced to key ideas before meeting other participants. These ideas were then applied whilst working together in online groups. The workshop consisted of three elements:

  • A 30-40 minute video that explains core principles
  • Two 90 minute Zoom sessions, in which discussed and applied the learning from the video.
  • Five follow-up emails that were sent out at weekly intervals to embed the ideas and actions from in workshop in context.

87.5% of the attendees said they learnt new skills and developed existing ones. 100% of attendees said the training was useful in terms of supporting their research.

Student responses to this new training delivery method were overwhelmingly positive:

It was useful to learn about the organisation of writing and the development of heading sections and subheading sections (when writing a paper). I also thought that it was very mindful to start asking about we were finding the writing and thinking experience under these circumstances. SWW DTP PhD researcher

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