Training Activities Programme
Training Plan
Activities of the Doctoral School
Character
Optional
Hours
12
Description
It is planned as a course with compulsory attendance, with a theoretical explanation of each of the modules, which will be accompanied by a series of practical exercises which the participants must perform throughout the sessions.
Results
The doctoral student will acquire the necessary tools to access, evaluate, use and disseminate information in an ethical manner.
Assessment systems
It is an on-site seminar, and therefore attendance is compulsory and will be monitored by means of signatures for each of the modules. At the end of the activity the tutor will be given a report allowing an assessment of the acquisition of the skills associated with this activity.
Character
Optional
Hours
40
Description
These are intensive residential seminars lasting a week. They are conducted in English in an inter-disciplinary and multicultural environment. Forty researchers from each university, in their second year of doctoral training, receive extensive training designed for their future vocational integration in a socio-labour environment not exclusively linked to research at universities and/or public and semi-public centres. All the activities are dynamised by personnel specializing in the organization of doctorials and the facilitation of teamwork. The scheduled activities include visits to companies, research centres and cultural entities selected from both sides of the border, the testimonies of executive doctors and entrepreneurs and teamwork for the joint preparation of an innovative project which will be submitted at the end of the encounter. Participation in the doctorials is optional and does not entail any enrolment fee. All the maintenance, accommodation and transport costs will be financed by the organizing universities, with the help of the funding obtained from the Ministry of Education and Culture and the Aquitaine-Euskadi cooperation fund of the Basque government.
Results
The doctoral students acquire practical training in communication, innovation, teamwork, leadership and entrepreneurship. Based on the testimonies and experiences of different professionals working in companies and associations in the field of culture and language, as well as visits to companies and associations, the students come into direct contact with professional experience. These seminars have an inter-disciplinary approach, grouping the students together in units which combine different universities of origin and areas of knowledge. The experience should provide a wealth of knowledge about how to articulate a future professional project both in and outside the University.
Assessment systems
The whole procedure for the doctorials is overseen by a pedagogical cabinet, with professional advisers who will provide continuous feedback on the group activity and monitor the work done every day by the doctoral students. Once the latter have enrolled for the doctorials, attendance and active participation in the sessions is compulsory.
Program activities
Character
Optional
Hours
6
Description
This activity involves the presentation of the leading academic journals of the scientific field of Educational Sciences by a speaker. Specifically, issues such as their editorial line and policy, citation index and impact, positioning in different indexes, publishing timing, periodicity, quality indicators, etc. are addressed. Subsequently, a workshop is conducted where participants discuss practical cases.
Results
Doctoral students will learn the main features of the academic education journals which will allow them to design an appropriate strategy for the dissemination and publication of the results of their research work.
Assessment systems
Doctoral students must provide documentary evidence of their enrolment and attendance, along with a brief report of the activity. The whole control procedure of the activity will be conducted by teachers who oversee teaching the contents of this seminar. Students will be required to submit specific work on some of the aspects of the described programme. This work will be evaluated. Attendance and active participation in sessions is mandatory both for part-time and full-time students, at least once during their stay in the programme (three or five years). It is advisable for full-time students to perform this activity during the second year of stay in the programme and for part-time students during the third year. This activity will be adjacent to the training activity "Strategies for the Drafting and Publication of a Research Article" given their complementarity.
Character
Optional
Hours
10
Description
The activity is divided into three sessions: One is theoretical, consisting of two lectures given by experts from other universities or research centres, both national and foreign, addressing the subject matter of the Campaign. This session lasts three hours. The second more practical session entails raising and discussing the subject matter of each year. Audio-visual or written material is used for such purpose which is distributed to students to provide argumentative support to the intended practical discussion. This session features the participation of a person invited from international agencies or expert teachers. This session lasts three hours. Finally, the third session, which lasts four hours, involves the development of a small dossier by the participating students themselves in which the contributions of the Conference and personal reflections are collected, emphasising on the international perspective, including the counselling and mentoring of teachers responsible for the organisation of the conference.
Results
This activity is intended for doctoral students to gain knowledge of an important aspect of the Right to Education, understanding that this approach is critical to the objectives of any research approach and especially to part of the grounds of a doctoral thesis. Furthermore, the aim is to direct their activities towards an international view of the law and to reflect upon for the development of their doctoral thesis. The development of a dossier will allow students to develop their writing skills, encouraging further work in scientific research.
Assessment systems
Attendance to the seminar is compulsory for PhD students and shall therefore be monitored. In addition, active participation in the sessions and the practical work done by them will be valued.
Character
Optional
Hours
15
Description
1. Structure and style of a research article. Structural issues for the organisation of information and style guidelines (MLA, APA): recommendations for writing research articles. Group task: Analysing different aspects of several research articles (structure, style, quotations, ...) 2. Structure and style of a research article (continued). Typical structure of tables and graphs. Most common mistakes. Group task: Analysing tables and graphs for improvement, and publishing articles in academic journals. 3. Structure and style of a research article: specific issues for organising information in English. Organisation of sentence and textual components. Mechanisms of cohesion and consistency. Group task: Analysing the cohesion and consistency mechanisms in several research articles with special reference to the typical mechanisms used in English. 4. The process of publishing a research article: The peer review system. Biases and problems involved in the peer review system. Reliability and validity issues. Reports by reviewers ("referees"): how to respond. Group task: Analysis of various aspects of the publishing process. Analysis of academic journals. Analysis of evaluation forms of research articles used by reviewers of academic journals. 5. Selection and evaluation of journals. Review of journals for publishing articles. Bibliometric indicators. The impact factor. Strategies to increase the impact and dissemination of published articles. Group task: Analysis of the Web of Science database. Analysis of various Internet resources for scientific writing.
Results
Doctoral students will learn the usual structure and style of a research article, in addition to the keys to publishing in academic journals, facilitating implementing strategies that allow them to disseminate the results of their research by publishing research articles.
Assessment systems
Attendance to this activity will be mandatory. The whole control procedure of the activity will be conducted by teachers in charge of teaching the contents of this seminar. Students will be required to submit specific work on some of the aspects of the described programme. This work will be evaluated. Attendance and active participation in sessions is mandatory, both for part-time and full-time students. It is advisable for full-time students to perform this activity during the second year of stay in the programme and for part-time students during the third year.
Character
Optional
Hours
25
Description
IkerEztabaida is a biannual seminar for the presentation and group discussion of the thesis projects under development before an audience of visiting doctors, Master¿s degree students and interested individuals. Each session will be coordinated on a rotating basis by a doctor whose task will be: (i) to invite two PhD students to present their project; (ii) to invite two separate doctors to play the role of critical reader; (iii) to convene and manage the seminar. The procedure to follow is: a) Presentation of a 20 minute synthesis of the state of the thesis, previously outlined in writing in a document of no more than ten pages (title, goals, methodology, tasks performed and pending), b) A teacher of the team, other than the director of the thesis, will play the role of critical reader and will open a debate to the IkerEztabaida group who makes their contributions to the PhD student, c) Drawing conclusions as a group. It should be noted that IkerEztabaidak are not evaluation or thesis defence sessions, but exchanges of ideas and opinions in an informal and relaxed atmosphere to help doctoral students to enrich their work.
Results
(I) To become more aware of the parameters in which educational research is developed through the contributions of the participants in the activity. (II) To strengthen the motivation and commitment with research. (III) To have greater knowledge of the lines of research that are being developed in our immediate environment through doctoral theses.
Assessment systems
(I) In each IkerEztabaida, participants and the corresponding critical reader will have access to the document prepared by the speaking doctoral students. (II) The coordinator on duty of each IkerEztabaida will ensure that the seminar meets the requirements to ensure a successful participation and that the debate develops within an open and respectful atmosphere. (III) Information on each IkerEztabaida will be announced on the website of the doctoral programme. The control procedure of the activity will be the responsibility of the critical reader. It is proposed that the public presentation within a seminar organised for the purpose of the research work for full-time doctoral students takes place in the first quarter of the third year and for part-time doctoral students in the first quarter of the fifth year.
Character
Optional
Hours
6
Description
This activity involves conducting an annual seminar for presentation and discussion on the main research lines, themes and groups that are undertaken nationally and internationally within the framework of R+D+i. in the scientific field of Educational Sciences, before an audience of visiting doctors, Master¿s degree students and interested individuals. Each session will be coordinated on a rotating basis by a researcher who will have the task of (i) Inviting a renowned speaker who has extensive knowledge about the current situation in research in the field of Educational Sciences, in order to present this information before the summoned persons. In the development of each session, issues related to the most successful strategies used by research groups that have become more competitive in recent calls will also be addressed. And also, those that can be developed in research groups and researchers participating in the seminar, in order to improve their competitive ability and competence.
Results
(i) To have more knowledge of research lines and groups through those that are being developed in the Spanish state through public calls, (ii) To become more aware of the parameters in which research groups unfold to be competitive in calls for R&D research projects, (iii) To strengthen the motivation and commitment of groups to improve their participation in state research calls.
Assessment systems
(I) Information concerning the session(s) of the seminar will be announced on the website of the doctoral programme, so that each invited person can register in advance. (II) During the development of the session(s), one person shall perform the function of coordinator, and shall oversee making sure that the seminar meets the requirements to ensure greater participation and clarification of doubts of the audience. (III) To ensure further use, the most relevant information presented and discussed will be made available to those attending at the end of the session(s).
Character
Optional
Hours
100
Description
Depending on the possibilities, students will be able to undertake stays to study at universities with which the doctoral programme has specific agreements. The purpose of this activity is that students establish contact with international experts linked to the subject of their thesis in order to update their training and obtain the necessary assistance for the development of the doctoral thesis. Those PhD students who have obtained a predoctoral contract or scholarship and have scheduled the reading of their international thesis shall undertake a minimum stay of three months in one of the foreign research centres recommended by the Academic Committee or the director of the thesis. Furthermore, there is a vice-deanship at the faculty in charge of international relations and of conventions of the centre with many foreign research centres. Each of these stays involves an action protocol tailored to the achievement needs and skills of students and to the hosting capacity of the receiving centre. We currently have in place such an agreement with Queen's University (Kingston-Canada) for incorporating a scholarship to this university.
Results
This activity is intended for students to consolidate and contrast the theoretical and methodological tools related to the completion of their thesis from direct contact with people and research centres directly linked to the achievement of the thesis.
Assessment systems
Students will be assigned a tutor at the centre of origin and at the receiving centre who will act jointly. We will endeavour for the assigned tutor to be the director of the thesis. The evaluation to be made of the stay will consist of a report drafted by both tutors and another report in which the student will define the activities conducted.