Graduate school can be stressful for students who
are unprepared for the tasks that lay ahead. As expectations rise, students may
not be ready to handle the different requirements of successfully navigating
graduate school at an increased performance level. Offering a graduate boot camp
can help in preparing students not only for the technological skills but also
the required study habits to achieve their goals.
I read a short paper by Posey and Pintz (2013) that discusses
offering an online course for helping student’s bridge the gap. Their course
focuses on helping students understand the expectations of graduate school, the
new writing requirements, how to search in the library and how to conduct basic
research.
The idea
presents some promise in helping students raise their caliber of performance
and understand new expectations. That doesn’t mean students would be
particularly interested in attending such a course. Few of them will want to
complete additional work outside of their core requirements. Who can blame
them?
Sometimes these courses offer a single credit or are
created as a requirement that fits into the mandatory courses each student must
take at the beginning of a graduate program. Each college finds whether or not
such a class works and if it fits within the college’s strategy.
Keeping students focused on the main learning
requirements for successful employment is important but a basic understanding
of how to write well and conduct research is important. A boot camp helps
students put with in proper perspective the rest of their graduate education.
Misalignment of student expectations with actual requirements
can create dissatisfaction with their graduate experience. The student may start
school thinking that the level of performance in the past will be sufficient
and then become disillusioned when their grades drop, professors want work
turned in on time, and they want a coherent paper with library sources.
Narrowing the expectation-performance gap is
important. Students should understand they are expected to work at a higher
level and should have the basic skills to get through the library, apply
information and write professionally. New expectations can be provided in a
boot camp or woven into the first few courses of the program. The information
presented to them prior to entering school should be accurate and still
positive so as to not create a false expectation.
Posey, L. and Pintz, C. (2013) Easing
Students’ Transition to Online Graduate Education. Ends and Means, 11 (1).
