Experiential learning: The publication process

Successfully navigating the publication process is one of the major challenges doctoral students face. Nevertheless, there are very few opportunities for them to gather first-hand experiences about this process before they publish their first paper, which often leads to suboptimal results. Our proposal addresses this problem: our planned course will provide an opportunity for doctoral students to gain insights into the publication process by participating in an experiential learning project. In this project, students go through all the phases of the publication process, from ideation to submission. They first learn about the disciplinary requirements of scientific writing in an online setting, then participate in a series of workshops in which they collaboratively develop a writing project. After the workshops, the last phase of the course mimics the peer review process, in which students provide and elicit peer feedback on authentic writing samples. In keeping with the principles of experiential learning, students work in a sequence of (1) experience, (2) reflection, (3) abstract conceptualization, and (4) action. For instance, they (1) collaboratively draft an outline for a writing project, (2) reflect on what made the process effective and efficient, (3) create guidelines for writing an outline for future purposes, and (4) apply these guidelines to their next writing project. This course design lays emphasis on the development of key competences, including teamwork, critical thinking, communication, and self-reflection.

The main objectives of the project are as follows.
1. To conceptualize and implement a novel and scalable course format for scientific writing that grants insights into the entire publication process
2. To meet the diverse scientific writing needs of students from various fields
3. To foster key transferable competences such as teamwork, communication, and diversity, in accordance with the mission statement of the MaP Doctoral School

To reach these overall objectives, we need to realize the following goals.
I. Develop and implement materials about scientific writing for asynchronous study on Moodle. These materials will include input, quizzes, and forums on all levels of writing: vocabulary, sentence structure, paragraph structure, and macrostructure. Students will first learn about stylistic and structural issues in writing, then practice and test them in quizzes, and finally compare the participants’ respective writing conventions in forums. These materials will be based partially on materials developed in the Innovedum project “”Autonomous gamified learning”, where asynchronous learning materials about academic language use have been developed for Master’s students at D-MTEC. These can be adjusted and elaborated on to be suitable for doctoral students at the MaP Doctoral School.
II. Create flipped-classroom materials for the workshops about (1) targeting journals, (2) the writing process, (3) creating a research story, and (4) providing context for one’s research.
III. Develop visual materials to complement the study materials on Moodle.
IV. Draft experiential learning materials for the workshops based on real-life problems (e.g., finding suitable journals, dividing responsibilities among co-authors). Details about online and in-class materials are appended to the application form in an Excel sheet.
V. Create aids for peer review, peer assessment, and the self-reflection task, including guiding questions, rubrics, etc.
VI. Trial the new course, gather feedback for assessment, make adjustments, and re-run the course.

In our experiential learning approach, students collaborate throughout the course, take initiative, assume responsibility, negotiate solutions, and reflect on their performance. They actively create knowledge and improve their method-specific, social, and personal competences. This is a radical departure from traditional lecturing, where students are (mostly) passive recipients of knowledge. Since doctoral students from MaP will be actively involved in the conceptualization and validation of the course materials, this approach will likely meet their expectations for learning.
For faculty, the experiential learning approach makes the course content more engaging, which is likely to improve learning outcomes. Our focus on the publication process and on competences makes it possible to teach a very heterogeneous group effectively.
The mission of MaP is to foster collaboration in a diverse scientific community. This course actively contributes to this goal by prioritizing teamwork and cross-disciplinary communication. Since participants will be more aware of the disciplinary similarities and differences of their respective writing contexts, collaboration may become easier.