Leveraging Institutional capacity for eFfective graduate student Training
Scicomm LIFT
Scicomm LIFT in your classroom
Oral and written communication are the top job skills required in all sectors, and it’s time Ecology, Evolution, Behavior and Conservation (EEBC) programs provide this training directly to students.
If you’re interested in being part of this change, please join us to test what kind of training works best in classrooms.
Principles of Ethical Scicomm
Together, Scicomm LIFT researchers and participating instructors (you!) will test if and how training based on our six foundational principles of ethical scicomm impacts instructors, students, career readiness, and motivation and confidence to do scicomm.
These principles have been developed from our team’s robust review of existing literature and extensive experience in the practice of scicomm.
Growth & Self-Efficacy
Do students recognize that scicomm is a skillset that can be learned and improved upon? Do students feel capable of learning and improving at scicomm?
Evidence-Based Research
Can students identify three evidence-based scicomm frameworks? Do students understand the risks of not using evidence-based approaches?
Reflection & Positionality
Can students articulate and account for their own biases while doing scicomm? Do they engage with the social, political, and cultural context of the scientific information they are sharing?
Assessment
Can students articulate why assessment is important in scicomm planning and implementation? Can they suggest or implement meaningful assessment efforts?
Respect & Understand Their Audience
Can students state a plan and actionable items to respect the knowledge of their audience?
Collective Action to Enhance Scicomm
Can students articulate which people they need to collaborate with to accomplish their scicomm goals?
The Details
Scicomm LIFT is a multi-phase research study investigating systemic barriers and solutions to scicomm training access for EEBC graduate students nationwide.
As such, Scicomm LIFT In Classrooms will test ethical scicomm training interventions at three intensities and assess longitudinal impacts of such training at a large scale across many institutions of learning.
The three levels of intervention will be:
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Incorporating a guest speaker for 1 hour in a disciplinary EEBC class
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Building a 1 week module of ethical scicomm into disciplinary EEBC courses
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Adjusting a full-term scicomm course to incorporate and enhance ethical scicomm learning
We are recruiting instructors of any job type and career level. We are seeking instructors of disciplinary EEBC graduate courses (e.g., behavioral ecology, evolution, genomics, conservation biology, etc.) and/or full-term scicomm courses to participate.
Participants chosen for any intervention type will receive compensation in the form of:
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A stipend
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A community of practice of scicomm teachers
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Access to vetted teaching resources
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Making a difference for your students and their futures!
