I read your comments on the PhDinfo seminar organization. Here is a summary with my comments:
| Label | Question | Responses |
| 1 | Do you think it is an useful exercise to give a talk? | I think that giving a talk in front of other student is for sure a good exercise. |
| No, I don't think so. | ||
| Yes (14 answers) | ||
| Yes, but I think that there are several different solution, ie PhD day, conferences | ||
| Yes, to improve the capability to give a talk | ||
| Yes. Students confidence and grip on the topic improves. Communication skills improves. This exercise will help students in the final degree defense. | ||
| My comments: | Most respondents agree on the usefulness of giving a talk | |
| Actions: | None | |
| 2 | Do you think it is useful to listen to other PhD students' talks? | Depends. If the topic is not relevant to my research domain then I may be waste time by attending. |
| I prefer to attend seminars or courses. | ||
| In general I think it is. However, considering my daily time constraints, sometimes it is just physically impossible. | ||
| In generale sì, talvolta però i talk trattano argomenti molto diversi e difficilmente comprensibili. | ||
| In linea di massima sicuramente sì. Ciononostante, talvolta i topic esposti sono fin troppo tecnici per chi non è esperto del settore. | ||
| It depends on the theme of the seminar. | ||
| It is useful if the topic is close to my research field or in some ways it can give me new knowledge that I can use for my job. | ||
| Not always. | ||
| only if it's in my area of interest, or can be interesting for my personal preferences | ||
| Si, se i talk non entrano troppo nello specifico delle materie trattate. | ||
| Sometimes (2 answers) | ||
| yes (7 asnwers) | ||
| My comments: | Many respondents agree on the usefulness. Some point out they would prefer topics which are close to them. But the aim of this seminars is exactly the opposite, i.e. to expose students to different topics | |
| Actions: | Ask presenters to be more pedagogical, to present basic concepts more than advanced topics, at least for part of their talk | |
| 3 | Why are you usually not participating to these seminars? | 1) the purpose overlaps with the PhD day 2) overllapping with the course of professor Bagnoli "Laboratorio di comunicazione scientifica" (the aim is to prepare a presentation of your research). Both are poorly attended. |
| a lot of work to do, not much works in electronics. | ||
| Because I have to work on my projects and training courses. Time is not enough to participate in these initiatives. | ||
| I always participate. | ||
| I had commitments that I couldn't put off. However, I would like to point out that even if listening to topics that are distant from one's own skills can be interesting, for those who do not know anything or almost about the subject, it becomes really difficult to follow. Furthermore, the linguistic knowledge of the listener, not always up to par, complicates things. | ||
| I have a lot of work and I prefer the PhD courses. | ||
| I have participated in all the seminars, except the last one. Unfortunately, I was busy with a project in the lab. | ||
| I have to reach Santa Marta on foot from my lab, and then go back to lab. This prevents my to partecipate. | ||
| I sometimes forget, and/or have something urgent that must be done, and/or find the topic to be too far from my research interests | ||
| I think that seminars are too distant from my area of study (biomedical area) an consequently not of my interest. | ||
| I'm usually participating to the seminars | ||
| In generale ho partecipato ai seminari. Ne ho persi 2 su 5 per impegni riguardanti il dottorato. | ||
| my PhD work includes collaborations with people outside the university and often the schedules of the seminars coincide with commitments of this kind | ||
| Perché sono stata quasi sempre occupata. | ||
| Purtroppo, visto che siamo in periodo di lezioni, spesso è stato usato il venerdì come unico giorno per fare il punto di avanzamento delle tesi in corso con i miei advisor (durante la settimana, per impegni accademici, i tesisti sono spesso seguiti dai dottorandi e una volta alla settimana viene fatto il punto della situazione). Inoltre, ho avuto delle call su cui non ho avuto margine di manovra per decidere giorno ed ora. Nonostante il mio comportamento non sia stato esemplare per i motivi sopra citati, ho cercato di partecipare il più possibile. | ||
| Two topics was not of my interest and twice i was busy in the laboratory for some deadline | ||
| Usually I participate. I did not participate only when I had doctoral commitments (meetings, etc.) | ||
| Usually I take part to the seminars | ||
| When I could I have participated to some of them. However, since the strict schedule I have this semester (soft skills at CLA, master student course at Morgagni, and working on publications between Santa Marta and the National Research Council) most of the time I just couldn't be in two places at the same time. | ||
| My comments: | Many respondents usually participate; many say they have other committments; some say something wimilar to question #2. Walking to S Marta should not be a real barrier.... | |
| Actions: | Maybe try a different time organization | |
| 4 | Do you think a different organization (day of week, time, room, ...) might help? In which way? | Dedicating one whole day of the month to this activity, e.g. the first monday, the last friday, etc. could be of help. |
| I don't think that it's an organization problem. | ||
| I don't think that the principal problem is the organization. Anyway, the seminar could be scheduled at the end of the day (4 or 5 p.m) so it will not interrupt the activities of each student. | ||
| I don't think the problem is related to the organization | ||
| I have no idea about it. | ||
| I sincerely think that once a week is a too strict schedule to balance all the work I'm carrying on. | ||
| I suggest to avoid friday expecilly in the afternoon. | ||
| I think not. | ||
| I think now it is ok | ||
| I think that it could be better to have seminars during the morning or just after lunch | ||
| i think that seminars are well organized | ||
| In my opinion seminars shouldn't last too long, in order to provide a general overview without going into too much detail. | ||
| maybe one time a month, and not at the end of the week. some people at the end of the week sometimes come back home. | ||
| No Idea. | ||
| No, però diluire i talk a una volta al mese potrebbe aiutare. In questa maniera è più facile anche per i dottorandi organizzarsi. | ||
| Non credo che cambierebbe qualcosa. | ||
| Non penso | ||
| Once a month | ||
| the listener must receive some sort of reward | ||
| My comments: | A few suggest once a month. Possibly not on Friday. The last comment (reward) is funny.... The reward is knowledge and relationship | |
| Actions: | I will conduct a survey on the best organization: Once vs twice a month; morning vs afternoon; thursday vs friday... | |
| 5 | What would you suggest in order to increase the interest and augment the audience? | As already mentioned, the seminars should not be too long in order to give an overview and therefore not be too incomprehensible for those coming from another area. |
| Establishing that *every* PhD student *must* have a 10 min (at least) speech about to summarize his research activity focusing on what he/she has done/attempted/read/attended last month, also inviting undergraduate students, University representatives, and business owners, could be of help. | ||
| Have lunch all together after the seminars, for example | ||
| I reckon that stretching the time between the seminars could be of help. I suggest once, or twice a month. To me it is just a personal time management problem. <br />I also would suggest to have more than a single group of seminars. What I mean is to have smaller groups with students whose research areas are more related. | ||
| I talk potrebbero essere più generali, in modo da risultare più facilmente comprensibili anche per chi non è esperto del settore. | ||
| I think that it would be better to organize seminars more generic. By now, are too specific and not of interest. | ||
| I think that to increase the audience it's needed to push our tutor to send us (or at least to enable us to come). I think this meetings have to be mandatory, except some important deadline. | ||
| I think the seminars are interesting, maybe we students could fill out a questionnaire at the beginning of the academic year in which we can express preferences regarding the topics of the seminars | ||
| I think this survey will help and give idea about students they don't want to come. | ||
| I would propose to deal with topics at a basic level, with presentations specially prepared for an audience that is not necessarily in the subject and cannot enter it in 15 minutes. <br />This requires further work which I believe should be considered an integral part of the doctoral course and as such must be assessed in terms of CFU, both to allow the student to have sufficient time to do the job, and to recognize this work at the expense of another less useful one. | ||
| It is probably necessary to review the rules of the phd program. For example by correcting the number and distribution of other credits to be obtained. | ||
| less time spent on presentation. | ||
| Make the seminar attendance mandatory and encourage collaboration between students. In some cases it's not so easy to partecipate to all seminars, or collaborate with the other students. | ||
| Non saprei. | ||
| Now it is ok | ||
| reduce the time of the talk. listen lot of minutes of subject that doesn't interest you it's difficult. So, or make a separetion in various area, but it will reduce further the audience, or reduce the talk to be sure anyone understand. | ||
| Talk più generali, in cui si presenta una tecnica o una metodologia e possibili campi di applicazione o limiti intrinsechi alla stessa, in modo tale da poter intuire l'argomento nella sua interezza (punti di forza e no). | ||
| There are many different topics, most of them far from the field of study of all PhD students. This carry, I thinks, to low partecipation because it is not always easy/intersting to listen. | ||
| To improve the presentation skill of the PhD student could be better if they can go to conferences. <br />To improve the friendship/cooperation between PhD student could be better an informal situation (lunch, dinner). | ||
| My comments: | Some suggestions are already contained in previus answers. A few suggest lunch together, why not! In the past we had GOL4lunch, a similar seminar series within our lab at lunch time, with food taken to the lab. If you wish to organize something similar, it could be nice | |
| Actions: | See above | |
| 6 | Would you give a talk if it was credited one CFU? | I did already |
| I think that would be a good thing. I explaint the motivations in above question. | ||
| I would like to present only if I think to have a valid argument and that might be of interest. Not for CFU. | ||
| No (5 answers) | ||
| No for me, because I already have all the credits, but I think it's a good idea. | ||
| No, i CFU dovrebbero essere dati per i corsi. | ||
| No, i CFU servono per formarsi in maniera tecnica e per quanto sia fondamentale l'allenamento fornito dal talk, non può essere considerato sostitutivo di un corso | ||
| No, I would give it even if no credits were given. | ||
| Probably (I have already gave a talk) | ||
| Probably, but I don't think that is a problem of CFU's. | ||
| Students participating to the whole day --> 2 CFU, half a day --> 1 CFU, not participating --> nothing. Undergraduates also should be given half a credit for a whole day of participation (all seminars = one exam) | ||
| Yes (4 answers) | ||
| My comments: | Ill posed question (when you say No it is not clear if you would not give a talk in any circumsatances or if you think you will give it even without a cfu....) - my fault... | |
| Actions: | None: question has been solved by the PhD committee: every presentation is worth 1CFU for the presenter | |
| 7 | Would you listen to more talks if this granted you some CFU's? | I'd go anyway. Except in the case of commitments in the lab. |
| No (5 asnwers) | ||
| No for me, because I already have all the credits, but I think it's a good idea. | ||
| No if I got already 45 cf's | ||
| No, i CFU dovrebbero essere dati per i corsi. | ||
| No, I would listen to more talks if the topics were a little more related to my own. I think that smaller groups could be of help. | ||
| Non credo che il tempo necessario per assistere ad un talk giustifichi l'ottenimento di CFU | ||
| Perhaps, but in this case it is not so important. The interest must be based on an objective curiosity / usefulness in terms of personal and professional growth. | ||
| Probably, but I don't think that is a problem of CFU's. | ||
| See above | ||
| Who would say no? Anyway, give credits to attend and listen for my point of view is the wrong way... we need to be encouraged not by that | ||
| yes (4 answers) | ||
| Yes. 1 CFU for at-least after listening 3 presentations. | ||
| My comments: | None: question has been solved by the PhD committee: no CFU can be given to participants | |
| Actions: | - | |
| Other comments or suggestions? | I suggest to talk with head of departments , so he/she encourage their students to participate in the PhDinfo seminar days. | |
| I think these meetings are very important and this moment is the only moment where we can discuss and at least know each other. I'm attending the 3rd year and just this year i've been able (thanks to your effort) to meet (at least) my phd collegue (after more than two year!!!!) | ||
| Penso che adottare un meccanismo di diffusione delle mail legato alla casella @unifi e non @stud.unifi possa garantire di raggiungere un pubblico più ampio e di ricevere feedback. <br />Inoltre, per incentivare a lasciare commenti, suggerirei questionari anonimi. | ||
| Thank you for your effort and kindness in any case. | ||
| My comments: | The question on email addresses is real: please you should contact csiaf in order to have your @stud.unifi.it address changed to your @unifi.it one |