To increase the effectiveness of graduate research training, many universities have introduced boot camps and bridge programs lasting several days to several weeks. National Science Foundation and National Institutes of Health currently support such interventions with nearly $28 million in active awards. Previous evidence for the efficacy of this format exists primarily in the form of anecdotes and end-of-course surveys. Here we show that participation in such short-format interventions is not associated with observable benefits related to skill development, scholarly productivity, or socialization into the academic community. Analyzing data from 294 PhD students in life sciences from 53 US institutions, we found no evidence of effectiveness across 115 variables. We conclude that boot camps and other short formats may not durably impact student outcomes.

Why self-directed learning is hard.

In an industry that changes technologies so often, learning is a matter of survival. Not only that, but research shows that it increases retention and engagement in employees. Yet, most companies leave employees to train and learn after work and in the margins. Let’s take a look at how you -- as a regular employee -- can help build a culture that encourages and rewards learning, even when time and money are tight. You’ll walk away equipped to start building momentum at any level in your organization towards constant learning and improvement.

How did they staff it? Reskilling existing staff.

Every company faces a learning dilemma: the smartest people find it the hardest to learn.

In early September I gave a keynote at Kiwi PyCon in New Zealand on effective learning for programmers. There were two pieces to the talk: one about …

The librarians who are thriving most consistently in the digital era are those who have found a way to operate as a node in a network of libraries and librarians. They are agents of change, actively creating the future instead of constantly reacting to it—or worse, resisting it.

Next-to-last bit from Allison re new work and changing what you do.

Can we teach the seemingly inefficient process of serendipitously encountering information instead of searching for it? Maybe not..

By Margaret Henderson, Published on 01/01/14

: Your passport to heritage skills

Computing has become an inextricable part of our lives.  While I can't argue that computer science is more important than calculus or statistics or a physical or natural science course, it's becoming extremely difficult to argue that it shouldn't be an equal player in that array of extraordinary human achievement.

The authors of this qualitative study set out to investigate self-assessment practices within the library profession. The researchers conducted semi-structured interviews with a purposeful sample of nine librarians coming from a range of library settings and possessing a diversity of library experience. Interviews were then transcribed and coded in NVIVO to identify emergent themes. This paper details some of the results of that study, highlighting motivations, limitations, and strategies with regard to self-assessment. The findings present a summary of a range of approaches to the practice of assessment as reported by the interviewees. One area of possible growth for our profession, as highlighted by the findings, is in the development of peer networks as a support for the individual practice of self-assessment. While the results of this small case study cannot be generalized, the authors hope these preliminary findings can open up the conversation around self-assessment both for individual librarians and for those librarians and managers working to shape their workplace culture.

Good stuff for the how-to-train chapter.

Good intro to Dweck's theories (entity/incremental, helplessness/mastery)