Effective inclusive and scalable training in the life sciences clinical education and beyond

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hello and welcome to this webinar on effective  inclusive and scalable training in the Life   Sciences clinical education and Beyond I'm  Melissa Burke I'm the Australian biocommons   training and Communications officer today  I'm co-hosting this webinar along with Amy   Niselle from Melbourne Genomics who  is the genomics workforce lead there before we begin I'd like to take a moment to  acknowledge the traditional owners and their   custodianship of the lands on which we meet today  in my case this is the turrbal and jagera people   of meanjin and for Amy this is the wurundjeri  people of the kulin Nation we pay our respects   to their ancestors and their descendants who  continue cultural and spiritual connections   to Country and we recognize their valuable  contributions to Australian and Global Society at the Australian biocommons and at Melbourne  genomics training and continuing education   are core parts of what we offer the community  earlier this year the biocommons and Melbourne   genomics were lucky enough to join more than 30  other trainers Educators and training providers   in New York at the Banbury Center Think Tank  style meeting where we try to imagine how we   can help make career spanning learning in the  Life Sciences inclusive and effective for all   this project was initiated by Jason Williams and  Michelle Trachtenberg and today we're thrilled to   welcome our friend and colleague Jason to share  some of some of the outcomes of this meeting   Jason is the assistant director at the DNA  Learning Center at the Cold Spring Harbor   laboratory where he specializes in teaching  bioinformatics and data-driven science to   high schoolers PhD students researchers and more  Jason is amazingly passionate about connecting   communities globally and is the founder of the  life science trainers an International Community   and Forum that connects anyone and everyone who  does short format training in the Life Sciences   welcome to the webinar Jason I'm now going to hand  over to you to get started with the presentation wonderful uh thank you uh Melissa and Amy  and everyone and Australian biocommons   Christina Melbourne genomics everybody uh for the  opportunity to present so let me get started so we   have as much time as possible um for questions and  discussions and I am going to just put this into   the correct uh screen here all right excellent  and I'll also try to keep an eye on the time so   that we don't spend too much time listening  to me but perhaps uh have some questions so   um I'll put this on at the end uh but uh there is  a website called bikeprinciples.org which you're   free to look at um it'll be useful halfway through  the the presentation you know have it open but   pay attention to me for at least three minutes  before you get to that and then I'm on Twitter   at Jason williamsny uh and then my email address  will be at the end but um just want to make sure   folks who have more questions can follow up and  we'll get that facilitated as Melissa mentioned   um this work is really the work of many many  people and here are just about all of them uh   gathered with us last May in New York at the  Banbury Center which is a small unit within   Cold Spring Harbor laboratory where I work and  where I've actually worked with my colleague   Amy before uh and it's really a a think tank as I  said uh trying to bring people together across us   multiple disciplines to work on interesting  challenges and if you've decided to take a   little bit of time to join us today then perhaps  training is something that's interesting to you   and I perhaps will provoke some thoughts so I  want to just take a moment to acknowledge all   of those people there's two slides where I have  their names up right right up front I'll put them   up for a moment I know it will not really capture  all the gratitude for all of these people but I   just wanted folks to know that this really is uh  a a diverse swath of people that were involved in   in this work I also want to acknowledge funding  from the U.S National Science Foundation which   supported this the work of the meeting and our  time in developing some forthcoming manuscripts   okay um so are we wasting our time with training  I think every um good uh project starts with   anxiety and uncertainty about uh something  and this is a question that I I I've had   um and why would I have that question well one of  the reasons uh is this paper from 2017 uh which   was an interesting look uh in the United States at  Short format training for PhD students in the Life   Sciences uh and they had this really nice and I  guess um this is as close to a sensationalism that   you need to have when you're in a proceedings  at National Academy's paper it's really direct   that they find when they were looking at these  students who've taken short format workshops   that that this group really couldn't detect  evidence of the effectiveness of those workshops   um and this is was uh alarming to me um  nonetheless because I spent a lot of time   including in Australia I visited previously for  the sake of getting researchers and Educators   involved in in bioinformatics and data and really  the only vehicle I have to do that is short format   training so it really was interested in in that  question are there assumptions that we have about   the effectiveness of something that we rely on in  order to communicate our work new science and to   get other researchers on board and at the same  time for those of us and I suspect many who are   on this call do training we've seen the evidence  and the outcome of people who approach us people   who we work with who do take our workshops and do  find it to be beneficial so this is an interesting   thing uh and then there was another paper as  I was conceiving of a conference to really ask   that question amongst a group of people who are  smarter and more experienced uh and more diverse   than uh I would would be as an individual um  this paper uh which which is actually from the   national viewer of economic research uh actually  talked about the stem Workforce and it really   made an argument which I do think is true that  new technologies are coming along all the time   and it turns out you know I think the same  as in Australia as in the United States in   most countries um it's very common to hear calls  that we need to to produce more stem graduates   um there's a shortage of stem graduates we need we  need more um but what this paper made the argument   was that in stem the rate of change the rate  of new skills is so quick that actually what   tends to happen is that uh people older graduates  get to a point in which they're mature in their   experience of work but they may not be up on the  latest skills they may not have had continuing   professional education to allow them to take on  new skills and so maybe they can't get the next   promotion or they can't do the next research  project as effectively as as others entering   and so they made the argument it's that the  skills were scarce and not the workers themselves   um and some work that we did earlier at the  Learning Center when we were looking a few   years back at investigators who are funded by the  national Foundation we found that of the different   needs that those investigators had for cyber  infrastructure and working with big data biology   um the top three of a dozen or so needs were all  in areas of training that they felt that those   are the most unmet needs and so clearly there is  an appetite for training uh and my question was   is that something that we can make better one  of the things that I've really come to believe   in in thinking about some of the problems that  surround what we're calling short format training   which I'll Define now as saying uh training that  is uh showing up for a webinar sometimes at a   shortest perhaps where you might just have  an hour to a couple of days of a workshop   um that's not the same as what we traditionally  think of in education as long format training   when you are with a taking a semester-long course  which most of us do during our formal degree and   then not so much afterwards there are a number of  features that contribute to making a long format   teaching and a formal teaching in a classroom I  won't guarantee that it's always effective as some   of my education expert friends are but there are  at least some features that almost all of it has   in common one it's long so you're usually taking  it for a quarter a semester the format oftentimes   is lecture heavy although there definitely can be  Hands-On and there's certainly move uh to increase   the Hands-On in many cases in the Sciences um  oftentimes they're articulated and enforceable   prerequisites you can't take a 300 level class  before you've taken a 100 and a 200 before it the   Learners are often in the same track where they  have pre-specified preparation and needs that are   fairly uniform I'd argue and there's an  expectation that the person who gets in front of   the room is qualified to teach that they have some  ability and experience and qualification to teach   they may not have a degree in pedagogy but  they they do there's that expectation there's   also regulation there may be standards that the  university enforces for instruction accreditation   of certain programs there may even be legal  requirements that the university must meet   in order to call itself a functioning School um  there's often a sequence which means that that   learning takes place in the context of a major  and a minor where there are other prerequisite   or additional courses and uh when I this term I  call variance makes uh when you when you take if I   say that I'm a biology major at the University of  Melbourne or I'm a biology major at um Princeton   University or whatever University you'd like to  name there's going to be a lot in common that you   can predict about what those experiences might  look like enter a short format training which   is I've just marked it as a sort of blob because  there are areas where and sometimes it it might   look very much like long form training except for  maybe the the time um and it really depends right   a very experienced group of trainers like you're  likely to find giving a pitch for uh Australian   biocommons um that short format training may  look very different than a one-off short format   training done by two or three individuals  who are just getting some colleagues together   um so yeah it'll be short the focus often is on  interactive Hands-On prerequisites often though   are either unarticulated or unenforceable  you really have to deal with who came to you   Learners maybe various levels of preparation for  the experience that you hope to deliver and you   might not have much control the instructor there's  an ex there's an expectation the instructor is a   domain expert perhaps in science or medicine  but not necessarily A pedagogical expert or   even having any type of pedagogical experience  and it's also a lot less likely to be regulated   um in in many cases it may be more informal and  that there wasn't a university approval process   oftentimes other standards go by the wayside  including for accessibility if there is a   sequence available because there may often not be  it might be one single course or maybe a two-part   course it's really a lot of effort is placed on  the learner and so I rate this experiences very as   the variance of this experience as unpredictable  and and not really repeatable right if I say I'm   taking an rnac course with Australian biocommons  they may not really resemble I'm sure there'll   be some domain um overlap but it might not really  resemble the same type of learner experience and   teaching environment and attention to pedagogical  rigor that you would get in a one-off workshop   done by somebody who's never taught before at  some in place who they're an expert but they've   just never taught it one thing that all of these  experiences will have in common is that there is   formal evidence about teaching that applies and  so how do we Infuse that how do we get that and   other elements um to be applied to short format  training maybe making it a little bit more regular   well I'm going to obviously give you uh our  pitch as as to what the answer is but I also   like to keep in mind that um and there was  a great question which I guess we'll get to   because one of the pre-submitted ones about yeah  I've gone to webinars people presented things how   do we apply it right um and so what I want to  say at the back is that this is going to be a   big project to change any person's Behavior  or to recommend people try something new   so I think we will at this um in in this  webinar I hope to communicate a few uh   interpretable ideas uh if I'm successful uh but  the real project is going to be around building   communities and supporting communities around  these principles which I'm going to talk about   um because um you'll forget half the stuff that  I could say at this webinar more than half maybe   ninety percent um but if I can get across um  some principles some ideas that resonate with you   because you've probably been thinking themselves  and maybe we've put a label on them that resonates   um then I think that that's the first step to  moving forward um I thought so too when I first   started this project a few years ago as Melissa  mentioned and I'll put in another plug for live   SCI trainers.org this is a community online  it's it's slack it's free there's there's it's   all volunteer effort which was an attempt to  say um having had a chance to travel the world   being very privileged to meet so many wonderful  trainers across countries it was just a place to   put together a a forum for people to exchange as  many or as few ideas as they would like it just   so happens I I picked a slack question this was a  free thing you know I didn't know I was doing this   today for Melissa but there was a question for  Melissa and this exactly my dream of what this   uh slack would be maybe there could be more but  really for somebody to just throw out hey I have   a question there are not all that many people  in the world that concern themselves with short   format training professional development for life  scientists how can I ask them on that question so   please everyone feel free we have monthly calls  and uh there are questions at the end I can come   around to that but building a community which is  great I can put up a slack for free we can have   a little website um that that's a first step and  so how do we actually support the community with   tools or begin to support the community of tool  which is all of you with tools that could actually   um you know achieve more so hence uh this project  on what has now come to be known after the meeting   that we had in May and this idea of the bicycle  principles and as you kind of will guess there are   two cyclic uh sets of ideas uh and it so happens  that a bicycle is a nice metaphor for that so I'll   try to introduce this um one step at a time um  but I will mention yeah that that the idea here   the key idea is turning to reinforce that idea of  effective short format training what might that   look like inclusive short format training um how  are some I think every one of us might be excluded   in one way or another and how can we fight against  uh that that uh circumstance to become inclusive   and also career spanning uh where we think about  the context of the needs of individuals across   their entire career especially in world where  science and scientific domains medicine uh changes   um on a monthly basis in ways it might be  difficult to predict okay so the first part is   that this needed to be a Community Driven strategy  no one cares what I think as I'm reminded in many   ways including my donk who does not come often  unless there's guarantee that I've got food um so   how do we actually develop a strategy that really  comes from all of you so whether you were at that   meeting or not in in the Banbury Center the hope  is is that what we presented actually captures   things that you're doing and and brings you uh  to the table by by just sort of saying we we're   with you um and so hence that meeting that was  mentioned uh and then that is also acknowledging   here as wasn't an earlier slidey uh the organizing  committee which again uh spanned a global effort   and as you can imagine and things that happen at  meetings there's all sorts of loops and and ideas   and plans uh there's virtual especially since we  were hybrid uh Post-it notes I don't think you can   have an agreement of mines or that Post-it notes  and there was even a lunar eclipse that begun the   meeting so that we had really everything that we  could possibly have to try to get uh some success   out of this and so what we came up with uh really  was a set of principles we've known since Moses uh   that you know people can remember five or ten  things and you put them on a tablet and maybe   people will understand and remember at least that  there's this there's a few of them but as I said   um it's really there to label and capture the  best of what many but not everyone might do so   I suspect that many of these will resonate  but some of these may be areas where you're   you'll say to yourself you know I do want  to do that but I don't know exactly how   um the principles are also there to provide  a path for individuals or groups to develop   a more predictable experience of what short  format training could be um some people will   be functioning groups like biocommons like  Melbourne genomics but others will be really   sort of on their own at their own institution so  a set of principles could be a potential guide no   matter what your context is and then finally the  principles are are a mechanism to enshrine values   and practices which may get lost due to scarce  resources so by its nature you have limited time   um limited experience uh often and maybe even  limited awareness if you're doing it on your own   you may not know what other groups are doing and  how you could benefit from them so these are some   maybe not all but at least some that came to mind  in writing this talk uh of what the principles   could could do for us um so let me State the  core principles uh and then I'll I'll say what   the bicycle is so we do have these uh short Punchy  statements and then I'll try to come back around   to them um for people well and in the next slide  I'll tell you when it's useful to Veer off to   the website because you've gotten tired of me and  maybe you'll just put me in the background as you   look for yourself but one there are these sets  of core principles which we believe every short   format training experience uh should work towards  uh so one that all a training really needs to use   the best evidence uh uh in in developing  the the pedagogical core of that training   um there are recommendations existing bodies  of literature about how to design a teaching   experience long or short effectively whether  that's learning outcomes whether that's um taking   measurement of the progress of your learners  which I'll mention next but using committing   to an evidence-based practice and for short format  training interestingly um there will be a lot of   areas where there isn't published literature but  there's the experience of your colleagues uh who   have done things and tried them and so although  much of that work uh unfortunately doesn't get   captured in in formal Publications um it is out  there and our recommendations also uh address that   number two is uh this idea of catalytic learning  and simply stated what we mean there is that there   there's a formal responsibility to think about  the learner and what they're going to do after   um your your training your Workshop in some cases  your your your your short format training may be   just in time on training where there's only  a single skill a very simple thing like hey   here is the new website for using uh blast uh  We've made these three changes and you know what   ninety percent of the people that website that  webinar would probably be all that they need in   order to move to the next step but oftentimes  we are providing our Learners with more where   what we give them at the workshop is not going  to be enough to really do everything that they   need so how do we think about preparing them to  to be catalytic how do we uh demonstrate to our   Learners that that the experience that they've had  our training is actually effective in other words   uh proving to the learner and often really the  evidence comes from assessment or evaluation a   learner that they've actually can demonstrate um  that a skill that you try to communicate in your   Workshop is is something that they now walk away  being able to do so being effective means giving   that evidence to a learner and then the final core  principle is to be inclusive to really think about   how your training can maximize the ability of all  Learners to participate and benefit so that's the   set of what we call Core principles but as I  said there's another set of principles that one   could use and these are what we call Community  principles and these apply when your training   is going Beyond just reaching a single group or  a single experience at a single institution but   when you're actually trying to take that training  or those learning materials and scale it to either   other people who will do that training for you or  who will take what you've written and move it to   other groups and when you're trying to reach large  numbers of Learners so anything where you're now   going to a space where the training is going to  be collaborative so uh the first of three there   is reach um you should work to include new types  and larger audiences of Learners and um doing that   requires perhaps modifying training materials or  thinking about how those materials were developed   and that might not have been where  you started when we talk about scale   and that means supporting uh the the trainers  themselves so if you think about training the   trainers would be an example of working with  larger numbers of instructors and instructional   developers who again may have a different set of  needs in the learners and then finally sustaining   um once you've develop training materials how can  you use practices that might increase or at least   maintain the availability or the usability and the  relevance of those materials on the reliability   we know things go stale pretty quickly in The  Sciences what are other infrastructures that you   need in order for something to be made sustainable  how can we consider that and and plan for that and   do the best that we can or seek support especially  when a training is valuable to another community   so um if you are a small group and you're  not really looking to scale you might just be   using a unicycle where you use just the core  principles and if you're a larger group uh   there's the bicycle and that's where you have to  think about entire communities of people working   together to reach scale and sustain that training  so what comes next from this you know you have a   set of principles is actually the principles  are very high level obviously they're open   to interpretation but there's many layers of  guidance that you now need to think well how do   we actually turn something that's a bit abstract  into something that's a little bit more concrete   um well what the group Next developed and is  still in the process of uh you know developing   enriching fleshing out is recommendations to  help individuals Implement those principles   and this is what I'm very much excited to know  what you think in the audience and I'll mention   at the end the mechanisms that we're doing right  now to collect feedback and and help make things   um much more concrete again we've known since  in this case and yes in my second religious   metaphor uh you've known since Martin Luther  uh you can make lots and lots of statements   uh and then how people follow them there's  a variety of outcomes some good some bad   um so I'm going to go through them and as I  go through these recommendations I've become   fascinated with these text to image AI generators  if you've ever seen them where you enter a couple   of words of text on a website and then the  artificial intelligence actually draws a picture   uh and so almost all of my recommendations are not  really concrete and so you could just look at text   which is a little bit boring I think but do go  to bikeprinciples.org and you can see the full   text but so that I have an image that goes with it  and then possibly doesn't violate copyright from   trying to find some image to represent an abstract  concept for 14 different recommendations that I   have I each um recommendation I'm about to show  you and they're 14 of them will be accompanied   by an artificial intelligence generated uh image  and the image will have a prompt so you know what   I what I wrote in the machine so I wrote in you  know scientist and lab coat riding a bicycle and   it literally drew that so that's awesome because  if you've ever needed to put images in your slides   and you can't find just the right image if it's  not if it's not a figure of course this is my   solution for okay so credit to that website  which is at the bottom so let me go through   the recommendations rather quickly because I'll  I'll try to keep to just 10 seconds about saying   them and give you time for the image okay uh okay  so uh recommendation a uh was about uh The Prompt   is a doctor studying a textbook and you see the  image okay you get it it did a good job this is a   cartoon version uh this idea of professionalizing  uh the training a short format training   instructors and instructional designers uh so this  is a lot to unpack uh let me try to just say it in   a sentence or two um there are almost all of us  have taken a workshop or taught a workshop uh   but for those of us who are instructors um we may  or may not have gotten training in short format   training there will be other instructors that  come along after us how can we professionalize   that process so that all instructors who do short  format training have access to training materials   themselves that can work across many different  contexts as you'll see in this whole uh you know   the last few minutes here as I'm wrapping through  these very little of it it's specific to the life   sciences so there's lots of things that are  are broadly available and they also have people   um like Melissa and Amy who are on the call  who are instructional designers who may help   the instructors to design the curriculum or  support them in very various ways how can we   professionalize that process and that includes  not only learning materials for those for those   folks but even rewarding them and acknowledging  their work in a way that really makes that a   cohesive and important component of the research  community so that was run recommendation now the   next one was uh centralizing infrastructure for  short format training assessment and evaluation   so one thing that tends to happen not as well  as you might hope for short format training is   assessment most workshops do end with some type  of assessment how did you like the workshop uh   was the coffee good was it strong enough but  in a lot of cases we don't do rather rigorous   assessments for for various reasons but there  are ways and approaches and principles where we   could do better job and this is related to another  recommendation which would come later and one of   the first things we can do is centralizing that  effort by providing resources that instructors   could turn for for help with developing their own  assessments Next One support micro credentialing   for short format training instructors so if you  are an instructor providing the the ability for   you to get a credential in that area would be a  way to demonstrate to others that you are really   an accomplished instructor uh it would be a signal  um to Learners that you really are caring about   the discipline and so that's something that  is uh the ability to um within our realm of   possibility I'll also comment here since I had  to write a female student that the AI is a bit   sexist uh so I had to instruct it at certain times  because it wasn't getting quite a bit of a balance   okay upper this is oh this is many syllables  operationalize Equitable and inclusive practice   in short format training as an ethical  obligation okay what do I mean here uh well   I think all of us have a desire to work towards  inclusion and also accessibility but oftentimes   it really is uh an afterthought unfortunately  we are we have an hour to teach something we   have half a day to teach something we are very  focused on the science but if we really were to   consider the ethics and inclusion aspects of our  training as ethical obligations then that really   um you know increases the level of attention and  even the level of resources that we should command   I have available to us so that we can include  everyone in in the training events that we put on   uh deploy short format training to counter  inequity uh so one of the things I also care   about is the ability of short format training to  take researchers uh scientists clinicians who are   in one position in their job and in their career  who might be seeking to go to that next position   and and acknowledging that our colleagues across  the globe and often cases don't have the same   opportunities even though they may have the same  degree there may be skills that they haven't had   the chance to get and so thinking about how all  training in some way could contribute to the   effort of reaching the those who are not yet  reached uh and making sure that scientists uh   like I said the whole group of stakeholders has  a better chance at uh getting achieving their   career objectives by making sure that training  is accessible to them and that we actually direct   resources to accomplish that this next one is  the golden bicycle because the funders have the   money and so uh thinking about ways to present the  bicycle principles in ways that funding agencies   can incorporate into their requirements uh as you  I think you know everywhere funding agencies are   becoming very serious about data sharing and  there are policies and plans in place on that   level but funding agencies also support a great  deal of training and and professional development   that is in the short format category and so uh if  these principles really are of the community and   have the support of the community then it's in the  funders interest that when they support and fund   short format training that it follows principles  like these to make it inclusive and effective   and career standing the next one is this idea of  economic models that enable short format training   uh short format training is not alone in areas  of Academia where it relies upon labor that may   be uncompensated um and so there's also conflict  with some of the other recommendations because we   also do want training to be free so that everyone  can get it so there is a wider discussion that   needs to be have here needs to be undertaken here  and while compensation doesn't necessarily always   need to be money there are other ways to make  sure that we acknowledge and and think about   areas which things that we depend upon in short  format training might actually required laborers   and efforts that are currently uncompensated  and how can we work to make that more equitable   almost done there the next one is the idea of  High Fidelity sharing so there's my Hi-Fi radio   set drawn in an anime style did a good job uh what  we mean by this is that there are different groups   who know how to increase the reach and the scale  of their short format training they know how to   sustain short format training but oftentimes the  their models for doing so again I I keep throwing   a praise to Australian biocommons those models may  not be shared with everybody or communicated in   ways that everyone immediately knows how to apply  to their own context so creating ways to document   that creating ways to share those efforts with  Fidelity in other words that when we do replicate   things in other new contexts for new audiences  that we don't lose what made the original set of   training effective and inclusive uh there's also  the idea of applying Fair principles to training   materials so I guess somehow sharing training  materials is like sharing lollipops that's what   prompt I thought of uh and what we mean here  I think many people are aware of the idea of   fair that uh in in this case data should be made  findable accessible interoperable and reusable   uh other groups including uh this one have been  working to do the same for trading materials   and we think that that's a great practice  that everyone should really consider how   they can make training materials something that  everyone can benefit from and enjoy and share   uh the other thing is is the idea that training  should be registered in ways that people can   find it uh and there may be training that  happens in Australia that's interested uh   of interest to people in Argentina uh and vice  versa but oftentimes those training lists of   training opportunities and training materials  are siled and isolated and not connected and   while we don't think it's realistic to say  that there should be one truth source for all   trading materials everywhere um there are ways by  technology that training material Registries that   are created could be made to be exchangeable and  interoperable so that people could build and share   um as often as they would like the next one is for  the learners and it's to communicate to Learners   uh by creating systems of badging in other words  if a if a certain training meets a recognized uh   criteria for being inclusive uh doing things like  using a code of conduct living up to that code of   conduct well that training should get a badge that  Learners can use to differentiate a high quality   instruction from instruction that might not have  reached that level of quality yet and so this   gives an opportunity for Learners to have more  of a voice because often they won't know enough   just walking into a situation to ask for what  they would like but by creating standards that   everyone can agree on and that are transparent  then you empower the Learners to decide uh and   then when certain trainings don't have certain  badges that gives them the the encouragement and   motivation to achieve that badge because Learners  can decide what they would really insist on   um the idea of catalytic learning that was  mentioned earlier uh needs implementation health   and so uh doing actual research because it's a  novel construct uh was one of the recommendations   and we've got two more one uh the the  integration of diagnostic assessment so   this is related to what we said earlier  uh that we need to assess our Learners   um this one is more instructor focused or  instructor centered because instructors can   be prompted to do that individually whereas the  earlier recommendation on assessment was would be   for interoperable and centralized resources  which would be a larger project and finally   evidence-based guidance to support career spanning  learning so here is my I don't know maybe it could   be like a Pokemon map our trail map or something  or guide so that one in the anime style could   work the idea here is is that uh we often focus  a lot of efforts rightly so on early career um   whether it's trainees uh whether it's early career  faculty but really uh you know I think scientists   are loose are useful for decades in in most not  all cases but we want to make sure that across the   careers span there really are places where people  can look for especially if they are working in   an interdisciplinary context that might not even  existed when they started their career so really   thinking about providing those guidance okay  so that was a tour through the recommendations   accompanied by an AI generated image um so how  do we share these ideas and move to next steps   uh one as I said uh go to the website we will  post announcements there as we're doing things   and there is also a way for you to give us some  feedback so every one of these recommendations   is accompanied by a summary a little bit of  a vignette on how this might work um it talks   about related principles potential benefits  to Learners incentives to implementation and   also potential barriers uh there's also a survey  where we have an idea from different stakeholders   what they think have we have we described  these correctly is are we missing something   um and then to build out the community further uh  one of the things that you can do today uh on the   website or um well through this link or QR code if  you care to is uh we have a course on the website   a forum where people can ask questions uh openly  it's great to do it that way because other people   may have the same questions as you we have a  mailing list so that you can be advised especially   as the Publications become available um we're also  doing some focus groups and additional surveys   so if you're interested in giving us feedback  perhaps you can say a little bit more later but   I will have the privilege of traveling in person  um to Melbourne in a few weeks and there'll be   some activities around this but even before that  people can let us know if they'd like to give   us more feedback if they if they have questions  comments ideas and all of these things would be   um to set the stage for future funded efforts to  find which of these recommendations and have the   most traction and and what the uptake in the  community might be so we really invite you all   to share and join in um this really is meant to  reflect the best of what all of you do because   like I said I know that there are quite a number  of trainers who would come to something like this   so with that I will end my talk there uh  leaving us a little bit of time for time   and discussion I always end typically end with  this quote uh about uh the really just the need   for continuous relearning and acknowledge  my home institution uh and also one of my   project cybers which contributed to that and my  Twitter and my email there at Williams cshl.edu   and with that I will stop sharing and then um  hand off to discussion so thank you everyone thank you so much for that Jason I just adored  that walk um Melissa did you want to wrap up   the talk and then I'll um ask a couple of the  questions that were pre-submitted I think if I   find to go straight into questions but I'll just  remind people that if you do have a question and   we're getting lots of Applause coming up on the  screen as well if you do have a question pop that   into the Q a box and we'll do our best to answer  it for you so while people are possibly um popping   some questions in we did get a few um beforehand  Jason um I'll run through those now the first one   is is there a plan to promote the principles  through the research data Alliance communities   um these acronyms are new to me so I apologize if  I'm saying them wrong ethrd and IG all beyond that   uh so uh the answer to all of that will be yes  I don't always know how uh but I think that   um we are very eager for people to take  this back to their communities because   all of you will have more reach than  the initial set of us and of course   um the the publication which is forthcoming would  be a major sort of stake in the ground to or flag   in the ground to let people know and signal that  so my hope is is that we move to a place where   we've articulated things really clearly and  we Empower individual people who can believe   in the principles themselves and may have their  own take on them to go out and do that work for   us uh that being said we also hope to attract  funding for various agencies so if people are   interested in digging in or are interested in  promoting um we can support that work wherever   and however we can so please make make sure  you leave comments like that on the feedback   Forum ideas already starting to come in from  various ways and I'll I'll keep notes from this   um this experience so that we know who to reach  out but we we love your opinions and your help   in reaching those communities mentioned and any  others that might be interested in adopting this   I can attest to that when I was sitting in the  meeting at Banbury I think I was one of the only   people in the room that was coming from a clinical  genomics perspective and it was fascinating   constantly applying my thoughts about how these  would work in my world and um and you've supported   us and Australian biocommons are supporting you  to come to Australia and then we're leveraging   that so we're doing one of those activities in  Melbourne in December and some of the people   online today are going to be part of that so to  the person who wrote that question I've taken that   question and inserted is there a plan to promote  these principles through the clinical genomics   education communities and the answer is yes and  it's um it's an individual who can make that   happen as Jason said um the next question is how  much do you rely on participant feedback to gauge   the effectiveness of a training session and this  popped into my mind as well when I saw you put up   that particular recommendation I noticed that your  description of Effectiveness focused on actually   the learner knowing that the program was effective  for them and I always think of Effectiveness   as also being the stakeholders know that it was  effective as well so either the funders or whoever   it was so the question was how much do you rely on  participant feedback to gauge effectiveness yeah   so uh if I'm just answering that really directly  in terms of how you know how it might happen for   any short format training um uh you know the I  think the idea there and there were a number of   experts uh in assessment and education is that  um it's it's kind of a it's a conversation both   the learner and the instructor wants to know that  if I've if I've taught something that that you've   gotten it uh and that you you can demonstrate that  skill and also you coming to the course when you   first do that the thing that you learned on your  own I mean that's the evidence that you know you   you can do it now um so what what I think you know  none of that is new what I think um we are trying   to make a push for is to sort of say there's a  lot of short format training where we only capture   um sort of a sentiment analysis do you feel that  the training was a good training do you feel that   um the experience was pleasant and those are  important uh qualitative things to capture but   we also know from the research that people aren't  always the best judge of of what they think that   they learned uh and so it's an area you know that  that truth be told doesn't happen in a long format   where you do have a test and unfortunately you can  get an F I've gotten them it's not pleasant right   um so how can we balance those needs and and  a realistic assess a realistic understanding   of the time and context to do a bit more  and to think about how we structure the the   teaching process so that there are assessment  diagnostic assessments to use the more general   term built in to the to the training a  few you know a multiple choice question   um a challenge exercise what are the more  approachable things that we can integrate   so I hope that then answers the question but yeah  I think both groups oftentimes um I guess we have   this this day saying in the states and maybe it's  also in Australia that uh the customer is always   right uh so I think demanding that the learner can  can prove to themselves um we hope by extension uh   is is means that the the instructor can prove  to themselves that learning has has taken place   in the in the way that they hoped yeah and it's  also often a funding or a timing issue you know   being able to extend your evaluation so far that  you're getting workplace feedback that they've   accomplished and implemented what they've learned  in your program in your short format training   it's sometimes not possible we all strive to get  to that point that may not be feasible and the   last question that was pre-submitted was the new  approach Insight or information from a webinar or   a one-soft lecture is really applied it's a bit of  a depressing statement can this ever be overcome yeah uplifters Jason say yes so I mean the  question is do we want to take responsibility   for that as instructors um and if we do uh what  would that mean so I think it's uh except for   some few you know very basic skills like in that  just in time training where I literally just need   that five minutes of a YouTube video that shows  me what command to enter or that reveals something   that I just didn't pick up from from reading  through instructions you know that's sort of   I guess the trivial case what I think that  this question is speaking to is how can you   um with short format training  really move someone along   um a Continuum of path and their professional  development and so does that actually mean that   uh funders and unit universities who support uh  or projects who support short format training   are are doing a disservice by sponsoring or  thinking about the way they deliver short   format training as just isolated one-offs and  not saying if we're doing short format training   and the level of the topic is is of such  a level of sophistication then we actually   need to make sure that there are multiple  trainings or that there are trainings plus   the additional teaching materials post Workshop  that the learner could feasibly achieve this on   their own because you've just gotten to that  point that's one of the um that's what the   catalytic um recommendations about in the Catholic  principle is to really consider that in many cases   just for the sake of being practical and honest  we won't be able to do as Grand a sort of   um all-encompassing entry into short format  training that we would like to present to   the learners but there might be other realistic  things that we can do to support them in ways that   we kind of don't think about sometimes because we  just sort of say everyone had to win on their own   um and that's true and you know people will a  subset of people will but some people won't or   um some people you know the the the progress of  the science may be slower and in my mind I always   thought like what we saw with the pandemic there's  so many interesting and even pressing scientific   challenges if we can make something happen  ten percent faster that may not mean a lot   um so I'm all for you know rethinking  some of what we've come to accept   and especially as science becomes more  interdisciplinary and more challenging I was just thinking as well as as Jason was  replying that maybe we need to shift our   perspective on webinars and lectures a little  bit and what makes them effective it could be   that these are more about giving people a taster  of a topic so that they can decide if they do   want to pursue more training on that and that is  actually an effective and useful thing for those   people rather than it being the way that we try  to get people to apply skills so we as trainers   we need to be thinking about what type of event  are we doing and what do we want to get out of it   and do those two things match up as well I agree  so much with that um because I think that the very   first thing is to be honest the learner has no  idea how complicated or how how easy uh a given   subject might be if they've really had no exposure  to it but we probably as instructors probably do   have some sense and if we're being very honest to  sort of saying listen and in fact I I often have   Workshop slides that say here's what I cannot  teach you you are not going to get this in the   next couple of hours for me and and here's here's  all I can give you so I'm honest about that but   here's how you can get there once you're done with  what I am able to get you and just sort of that   mindset change I think even though it might sound  simple I think it's potentially quite valuable   because I have you know um is there anything more  desperate than uh well don't want to shout anyone   down but is there anything more desperate than  a graduate student trying to finish their thesis   and you are what's standing in the way that that  one technique or that one thing they really are   coming to you because they they they saw what you  had is exactly what they believe they need but we   don't want them to believe that what we are giving  is all that they need because oftentimes it's not   and so really having that humility and being  transparent with them and saying listen I know   where you're at I know you can make it here's  what I have to give you to help you there and   then here's a clear explicit set of things that  are are likely to get you you need to go if we   can not only say that but also ourselves get  evidence and gather evidence so that we have   a lot of confidence and what we're saying is  going to get them there that would be amazing   thanks Jason so moving on to the questions that  have come in live today this the first one uh   that is both a comment and a question  so I'll read it out for you it's I feel   each of the recommendations is an entire  lecture or long format training in itself   the one that I feel is important to drive progress  is make the bike principles actionable to funders   can you comment on how we do this or where we can  go for some self-directed learning in this space   all right thank you very much for that  question um so I agree with you these   uh the the bike principles right now the  website is at Stan is a bit of a brain dump   um it's it's still the edited version of a  much larger brain dump of a really 30 fantastic   um uh bright people that were in that meeting um  but each one of those let me answer the question   in two parts uh and it's slightly related to the  next question that I see from Paul that we'll   get to in a moment which is uh we are working on  also a sort of a road map which further digests   the principles and tries to provide some more  concrete ways where people can get started but the   for each of each of those recommendations there  are some recommendations that that individual   instructors could feasibly do by themselves and  there's some that they're not that it would take   actually a group of people coming together um  so that being said the answer about make the   by principles actionable to funders um that  have that will happen in many different ways   um so one for a funder to actually say  yes I want to mandate that my awardees   use the bicycle principles they're going to need  evidence so they may be willing to actually fund   um you or me or others here to test out some  of the bicycle principles and do a bit more   research to show that they really are achieving  their aims so I think that's why we have the   um the Forum that's there why we're going to  continue to use various spaces like these to see   who's interested in helping us because each one of  those principles may be relevant to one community   and in one context and perhaps not so much of  interest to another at the moment so for for now   we hope that the website will be an important  touch point to go and look at and see what's   happening what where their movements or where  communities coalescing on those so uh we're trying   we're very much at the beginning of this and then  could I possibly answer calls pretty quickly um who's finding the the principle is quite abstract  I definitely agree with that I'm suggesting that   case studies and things would be very helpful as  well yeah so I'll just reinforce because I know we   have to go to wrap up that we're working on those  um but for now there's at least a a body of work I   don't suggest you read them all unless you really  have nothing to do with your life uh but actually   find the few that are most interesting to you and  go from there um and then we we will have other   more digested versions that we hope people will  be able to see themselves in through those case   studies but I'm going to stop talking and turn it  back to Melissa because I know she has some final   comments for us I do unfortunately we are going to  have to wrap it up for today but this is actually   a really good point to segue into the wrap-up  because in December Jason well rather at the   end of November and in December Jason is coming  out to Australia and he's going to join us for a   couple of focus group style workshops where we're  going to pick and choose some of those principles   and really think about what can we do to put those  into action in our own training settings and kind   of take them from the abstract to their kind of  imaginable and doable thing so there are two of   these the first one is being hosted by Melbourne  genomics on the 5th of December and we'll have   a focus on clinical genomics education if you'd  like more information about that one please get   in touch with Amy and then the following  day we will have a very similar Workshop   but for people working in the Life Sciences and  digital research space this one is being hosted   by Australian biocommons and the details and  registration link for that are up on our website following on from that and continuing our  collaboration with Melbourne genomics on the   7th of December we will have another webinar which  will be looking at variant calling and taking it   from the clinic to the lab and Back Again we  have two different speakers joining us for   that and they're going to offer quite different  perspectives on the way that they're working in   this clinical genomics space again the details  for this webinar are up on the Via Commons website   to finish so thank you so much Jason for joining  us and for joining us in hours that are not your   usual working hours you are based in the US  like currently we're really looking forward   to having you here in December as well thank  you to everybody who's come along today live   as well if you would like to stay up to  date with what's happening in Australian   via Commons and Melbourne genomics you can  follow us on Twitter and you can also sign   up to our newsletters and you'll find subscribe  options on our websites thanks again for joining   us and we hope to see you again soon until  then have a great day and goodbye for now

2022-11-09

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